[Foundation-l] Communicating effectively: Wikimedia needs clear language now

[Steven Walling]

On Sat, Feb 18, 2012 at 9:27 AM, Tom Morris <tom at tommorris.org> wrote:

> Commit to clear writing by adopting a policy of "copyediting almost
> always welcome" for chapter wikis, Foundation documents and as close
> to everything as possible. There are volunteers in the movement who
> happily spend hour after hour copyediting on Wikipedia and Wikinews
> and Wikibooks and so on. Give them the opportunity to fix up the
> language used by the Foundation and the chapters.
>
> Remember: how can community members support and become more deeply
> involved with the work of the chapters and the Foundation if they
> can't understand what you are saying?
>

First Tom, thank you for the constructive suggestions all around. If
everybody came forward with criticisms that also included options for
fixing things in a simple way, then Foundation-l would be a lot happier
place.

The only possible hitch I see in the idea to welcome more copyediting in
public documents is that, unlike say the Wikipedia article about cars or
the Simpsons or what have you, writing about Foundation work usually
involves describing things a volunteer doesn't know about unless they were
a part of doing the job. I don't mean they don't have the capability to
understand, just that if you're working on something that is not common
knowledge, how is it possible for random folks who come along to clarify
the language? There are no reliable sources to go read and cite, because
it's original research. ;-)

Seems like a Catch-22 to me: documents about what we do at the Foundation
are sometimes not plainly understandable, and yet you can't make them
understandable unless you know what it is you're supposed to be describing.

Best regards,

Steven