Key Takeaway: If people don't like, or can't use, the way you present knowledge
in products (e.g., books, ... Book | Don't Make Me Think, by Steve Krug.
KM Basics: A Follow-Up Handout
Simone Parrish | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs (JHU·CCP) |
[email protected]
I.
Usability and Design
Key Takeaway: If people don’t like, or can’t use, the way you present knowledge in products (e.g., books, brochures, checklists, websites, presentations), they won’t absorb your knowledge. You can’t please everyone, but you should teach yourself some design basics. For Further Reading: Usability and product design are very broad disciplines. These are good resources to get started. •
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Website | http://www.nngroup.com/: “NN/G” is the Nielsen Norman Group. Jakob Nielsen is a guru on web usability (though his design aesthetic makes my teeth hurt). Donald Norman wrote The Design of Everyday Things, below. The Articles section on their website, http://www.nngroup.com/articles/, is a treasure trove of research on usability issues. I recommend starting with http://www.nngroup.com/articles/website-reading/. Jakob Nielsen created the 1-9-90 pyramid, as well: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/participation-inequality/. Book | The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman. This book changed how I look at product design. It was published in 1988, so some examples are outdated, but it’s still my #1 choice on usable design. http://www.jnd.org/books/the-design-of-everyday-things.html
Silent Learners
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Book | Universal Principles of Design, by William Lidwell, et al. A beautiful look at design principles—well-known ones like Ockham’s Razor and the Golden Ratio, and more obscure ones like “Progressive Disclosure” and the “Desire Line.” Sadly, it is out of print, but you can get it from alibris.com: http://goo.gl/fgF7F4
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Book | Don’t Make Me Think, by Steve Krug. Specifically about web usability, this book is straightforward and practical. http://www.sensible.com/dmmt.html
Prepared for the Global Health Knowledge Collaborative | The Global Health Knowledge Collaborative (GHKC) is coordinated by the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project. K4Health is supported by USAID's Office of Population
II.
Readability and Jargon
Key Takeaways: Speak—or write—to your audience. Think about how they speak and read. Recognize jargon, and define your terms for outsiders and newcomers. Tools and Further Reading: •
Website | https://readability-score.com/ analyzes pasted text against five readability indexes. It also links to Wikipedia articles about each index.
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Website and (Short) Books | Jargon Finder, http://www.comnetwork.org/category/jargon/: The Jargon Finder suggests “plain English” translations for common jargon terms (primarily from the philanthropic sector perspective). It was inspired by three useful—and funny—anti-jargon works by Tony Proscio: In Other Words, Bad Words for Good, and When Words Fail. They are available as eBooks or PDF downloads here: http://www.comnetwork.org/2010/08/jargon-books/.
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Application | Microsoft Word: If you use Microsoft Word, there are handy readability statistics built into the “Spelling and Grammar” tools. When you run a full spelling and grammar check, the readability statistics show up at the end. Here are the results for this handout: Word counts are good to be aware of, but they’re mostly important if you’re trying to fit a passage into a particular space. I don’t care about most of this stuff, though I’d be happy if I could easily write shorter sentences. (I’m a bit chatty, as you might have noticed during the webinar.) Here’s where it gets interesting: The Flesch Reading Ease index is scored out of 100, where 100=easiest to read. This handout is more complex than I’d like—I was hoping for a 50-55—but I can’t avoid phrases like “readability indexes.” (Read more about this scale on the next page.) Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: The number of years of formal schooling a native English speaker would need to understand a passage the first time they read it. An American 10th-grader ought to be able to understand this handout.
KM Basics: A Follow-Up Handout | Page 2 of 3 Simone Parrish | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs (JHU·CCP) |
[email protected]
These kinds of readability tools are not infallible. Spending the time to simplify your text to hit a particular number isn’t necessarily worthwhile. I aim for a range, and treat the scores like a thermometer. They’ll tell you something about your writing, but not necessarily how to make it better (that’s what editors are for). Here’s more detail about the Flesch Reading Ease index, from here: http://www.ravensheadservices.com/readability_checker.php.
Recommended reading ease for the general English-speaking public
K4Health’s website content—what we aim for This handout K4Health’s web content—where we usually end up (because of phrases we can’t avoid, like “knowledge management for family planning and reproductive health.”)
KM Basics: A Follow-Up Handout | Page 3 of 3 Simone Parrish | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs (JHU·CCP) |
[email protected]
