View this email in your browser

Welcome (back) to 10 Things: eclectic links for purposeful procrastination. 
 

This time we’ve got a collection of stories on inclusive, empowering language, but we’re kicking off with a lament: why is so much good stuff still being published in PDFs (especially in our sector)?

• "The solutions to all our problems may be buried in PDFs that nobody reads"
• "A blog post is a search query to find your people"
• "Oxfam’s new inclusive language guide"
• "Dehumanizing “the” labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French"
• "Language choices can reinforce unhelpful myths about the end of life"
• "What are your thoughts on the term SEND?"
• "We need subject experts"
• "Real patterns of internet usage in India, China, South Africa, Brazil, and the Middle East"
• "Museums need more confidence"
• "Collections pages and how to make them more visible"

"The solutions to all our problems may be buried in PDFs that nobody reads"

Christopher Ingraham wonders if the answers to all our problems exist, but aren’t being applied, because they’re in PDFs that no one reads.

I was reminded of this almost 10-year-old article recently, about how the World Bank found that:

‘Nearly one-third of their PDF reports had never been downloaded, not even once. Another 40 percent of their reports had been downloaded fewer than 100 times. Only 13 percent had seen more than 250 downloads in their lifetimes’.

All these years on, and so many organisations are filling their websites with PDFs rather than just putting the information on an HTML page.

"A blog post is a search query to find your people"

A short blog post by Austin Kleon summarising a longer post by Henrik Karlsson on the serendipity of blogging. The whole post is worth a read, but if you don’t have time, this is a great summary. I love this quote:

‘A blog post is a search query. You write to find your tribe; you write so they will know what kind of fascinating things they should route to your inbox. If you follow common wisdom, you will cut exactly the things that will help you find these people.’

This is why I wish more people wrote about their work - it’s how we find each other and build community. Take this as your nudge to write that post about that weird little aspect of content that you’re really interested in. And send it to me. (Also, another reason why your organisation should be putting stuff on HTML pages not in PDFs - it’s easier to find.)

"Oxfam’s new inclusive language guide"

Helen Wishart introduces Oxfam’s new inclusive language guide.

Some great insights in this on why to move away from using terms like third world, developing nations, beneficiaries, and recipients. And, of course, more inclusive terms to use instead. Unfortunately the guide itself is a PDF (how very apropos).

"Dehumanizing “the” labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French"

Ettie Bailey-King on the AP Stylebook’s now deleted tweet, and how to avoid homogenising language.

If you missed it, the AP Stylebook tweeted (and then deleted) this:

‘We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing “the” labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, the college-educated. Instead, use wording such as people with mental illnessess. And use these descriptions only when clearly relevant.’

Many Twitter lols ensued, and Ettie has curated the best ones, while also digging into the serious point about generalising language.

"Language choices can reinforce unhelpful myths about the end of life"

Compassion in Dying’s David Pearce on what the charity learnt about the language of death and dying as they rebranded.

This post has some very useful research-based insights into how to talk about death and dying. It’s also a good read on why it’s so important to stop using euphemisms and treating death as a taboo subject. (Compassion in Dying are a client of mine, but I was not involved in this work - no sneaky self-promo here.)

"What are your thoughts on the term SEND?"

A Twitter thread on the use of the term SEND (special education needs and disability).

The term came up in some IA work. I know that it’s a highly recognisable shorthand for some parents, but I had reservations about using it to describe people. I asked Twitter for advice and got some great replies from a range of different perspectives. I found this one from Jack Garfinkel very helpful:

‘Short version: we talk about “SEN support” as a thing people can get. Not about “special needs” as something people have.’

"We need subject experts"

Scope’s Jack Garfinkel (again!) on the three different types of feedback to get from subject matter experts.

Working with subject matter experts can be tricky: you need their help and expertise, but sometimes what they see as good content can clash with what you see as good content. In this post, Jack gives a really useful, steal-able process for involving experts in a productive way.

"Real patterns of internet usage in India, China, South Africa, Brazil, and the Middle East"

In her book, The Next Billion Users: Digital Life Beyond the West, digital anthropologist Payal Arora explores how people in Global Majority countries are using the internet. And it turns out it doesn’t fit with the picture that many people in Global Minority countries have.

How am I only just finding out about this book? It’s full of fascinating insights, from teenagers in the Himalyas who share not just a computer, but passwords and profiles too, to women in Riyadh who run fashion shows on YouTube.

"Museums need more confidence"

One Further’s Georgina Brooke on why a lack of strategy is harming museums. Based on pretty extensive research, the post has some very interesting, but worrying, insights for the sector:

• Many cultural professionals have low confidence in their organisation’s ability to develop a strong digital strategy
• A lack of strategic prioritisation makes it more difficult for museums to articulate why they do what they do and what purpose they serve
• Digital talent is leaving the sector

"Collections pages and how to make them more visible"

Another story from Georgina, on how cultural organisations can use collections pages to grow their audience.

Georgina’s Cultural Content blog is a great series of posts looking at the different types of content arts and culture orgs need - well worth a follow.