Donovan-Wright Associates

Everywhere you look and everything you read is all about how critical good writing skills are in this age of digital communication. In business, the memo is passe, replaced by email, now the mainstay of communication. Instant messaging is used in some environments, but it is being replaced by text messaging. Websites, blogs, forums — all demand good writing skills. Then there are reports, PowerPoint presentations, proposals, and letters — more traditional formats, but writing intensive as well.

Regardless of whether you own a small business or are an employee in a large corporation, you need to be able to write and to write well.

Most of us know about, and we English types shudder at, the general demise of the English language from its pure and correct form. The causes are rampant and many, hailing from all ages and all segments of society, but the effect is the same: the “almost” acceptable use of the plural pronoun (they, them) with a singular antecedent (student, customer), use of big words and complex sentences to appear “important,” sentence fragments, run on sentences, and the list goes on.

But recently I’ve run into quite a conundrum. In my attempts to “market” using the many social networking vehicles out there, I’ve come across many English as a second language business folks trying to do business with US-based customers. Opportunity! I approached several such folks and offered my services as teacher and editor/writer. Understandably, many either did not reply or politely declined. However, one individual did respond and took me up on my offer to edit for him. Only ….

Without giving details, the problem in this instance, and in many others, is that some ESL people either are not aware of, or refuse to admit to, their inabilities to write correctly in English. Granted, English is a nasty language to learn — right up there with Russian, Chinese, and Arabic. But to do business in this culture requires an ongoing commitment to learn the language and write it well.

What to do when you are an expert, in this case — writing — and an English as Second Language (ESL) comes along and says you can’t write? I should have known when he criticized my first submission and I couldn’t find anything wrong. Right then and there it should have been exit stage left. But retrospect is golden.

The plot thickened when I edited a 16 page, horrible document that he wanted in three days. He also wanted me to do it using Word’s Track Changes feature. And so I did. However, as I went on, his meaning was so obscure that I did what I could highlighting those areas in yellow. As I trudged on, I told him that we would definitely need to make another pass because of the number and complexity of changes.

Let me add that also in the course of this business liaison that this creep had one of his employees get into my computer (admittedly I did allow it), but the guy wreaked havoc with it and now it has been in for repair for two days. The repair techs tell me the problems are a direct result of what they did.

Back to the 16-pager. On a Saturday evening, while relaxing with my family, I got an absolutely unbelievable email ripping my work apart. I ran his email by my partner and several friends and they were, as I, appalled.

Okay — examples, buddy, I want examples! I got the examples and I flipped out. There was nothing wrong with two of them — he said they were wrong, and the third was an error on his part in downloading and dealing with the Track Changes feature.

So, here’s the deal, I think we writers should test clients before we take them on. And especially beware of ESLs who think they know it all.

I’ve been gnawing on this issue for a while now, especially since as a function of (ahem) age, multi-tasking is not a ready-made skill. Far from it.

And, I was absolutely delighted to read this morning, mono-tasking may be re-emerging as an art once lost, now found.

It seems like yesterday when my daughter first starting talking about “friending” people. Huh, my feeble mind wondered? Just another one of those passing kid things, I thought and brushed it out of my consciousness.

Today it is not possible to brush those terms from consciousness. In fact, if you’re working in many professions today, it’s plastered all over the place and summarized in the term “networking.”

Now mind you, networking is no longer your mother or father’s brand of networking. It is no longer going to a few meetings a month, talking to some colleagues on the phone, taking on an office or two in an organization or two, and handling some work off line, on your own time, in a relaxed and focused fashion.

Nope, not like that anymore at all. Today it is a whirling dervish of Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin, Delicious, Wordpress, Blogger, Twitter, text messaging, email, and myriad other digitally-based networking and communication options. Not the least of it is is that today’s super-networkers are doing five or six things at one time. They are involved with a list of groups too long to fit on a single screen. They are constantly in your email, Twitter, etc., their smiling faces making you wonder when they get any “real” work done.

I know of one woman whose face is ALWAYS in mine, digitally of course, whose always leading some seminar or other, who is a member of countless groups and organizations, and an office in just about as many. Oh, and did I mention that she has her own business and is an ordained minister? Phew. She makes me tired. She makes me tired in several ways. First is simply the act of reading and thinking about all she does. Second is that her constant presence is just plain tiresome. Can there be such a thing as overdoing your brand in a digital milieu?

I do believe so. I once asked her how she gets any work done. She didn’t like the question. She didn’t answer. What does that mean?

My son and I were talking about this issue last night, and I proffered that we wise ones are perhaps the last of generations that deal in depth. What I mean is, we have been trained to take an issue, think about it, study it, and delve into it in a deep and thorough way. I think our approach tends to offer results that are more complete, and dare I say, of a higher quality? I mean, if you’re focusing on just one thing instead of multitasking, there has to be a difference in results!

As for the younger set (my 25 year old son does not consider himself a member of this group), the approach is more of a skimming off the top, never delving too deep, and striving to get “it” (whatever that might be) done as quickly as possible.

To conclude: there is obviously a major difference in styles here, and I, for one, have concluded that to try and adopt the multi-tasking, fast-paced style of the digital networking set is simply not going to work for me. In fact, it is a formula for disaster. So stuff it, I say.

The cool thing is, it seems like other people are saying the same thing.

From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism by Fred Turner
The University of Chicago Press

It took me a few moons to do so, but I finally finished Fred Turner’s really captivating From Counterculture to Cyberculture this past weekend and my mind will remain reeling from his unusual ideas for some time to come.

Let me see if I can do justice to its premise. Basically, Turner sets about to prove the point that the evolution of culture as it is today is directly correlated to the protest, hippie, and commune movements of the 1960’s, specifically as orchestrated by influential entrepreneurs from San Francisco area, led by Stewart Brand. .

He talks about the bureaucracy of organizations in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and of the resultant authoritarian rule and subsequent corruption. He talks about the age of the Whole Earth Catalog, the hippies, and communes as a counter-culture response to conservatively driven bureaucracies. He makes a tight parallel between The Whole Earth catalog and its emphasis on functionality to the world of the Internet and the web. He talks about how the Internet harbors groups and forums where people of like minds can gather, as in the days of communes and protest marches.

From the back of the book:

“Fred Turner details the previously untold story of a highly influential group of Bay Area entrepreneurs: Stewart Brand and the Whole Earth network. Between 1968 and 1998, via such familiar venues as the Whole Earth Catalog, the computer-conferencing system WELL, and, ultimately, Wired magazine, Brand and his colleagues brokered a long-running collaboration between San Francisco flower power and the emerging technological hub of Silicon Valley. Thanks to their vision, counterculturalists and technologists alike joined together to reimagine computers as tools for personal liberation, the building of virtual and decidedly alternative communities, and the exploration of bold new social frontiers. Turner’s fascinating book reminds us that the distance between the Grateful Dead and Google, between Ken Kesey and the computer itself, is not as great as we might think.”

Although bogged down by the language for academics, the book is still worth reading, albeit at a slow pace, to instigate new ways of looking at and thinking about our present day Cyberculture as well as, ourselves.

Why is it that some people insist on writing in all capital letters? I love to peruse the Saturday real estate section in the local paper, and enjoy reading the descriptions of my “dream homes,” except for the ones written in all caps! It’s not that I’m trying to make a point, it’s that I seriously can’t read the darn things. Reading in all caps is difficult. You have to really sit down and concentrate on the letters, and then on how they go together. Not to mention, writing in all caps is one of the no-no’s of professional writing specifically because it “feels” to the reader like someone is shouting!

I came across another example yesterday. I was going through a social networking site and came upon the page of a writer that was written in, you got it, all caps! It surprised me that a writer did not know better about presenting herself in her own medium.

On point: please don’t write in all caps, and here’s why:

1. Hard to read
2. Shouting at readers
3. Looks unprofessional
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Filed under: Digital Literacy, Writing by Mary Anne

My most favorite daily email is a little feed called Dumb Little Man. I get a lot of email news feeds every day, as well as a lot of just plain emails, and this is the one I rush to open every day.

The impetus for my comment on it, actually I could comment on it most every day because of its never-ending cascade of jewels, but this one was titled “20 Things I’m Glad Life Taught Me.”

Do take a moment to read the article — it is priceless.

Yesterday I finished up work for the day and went out to get the mail. Strange, there was an airmail letter from Montreal. I opened the letter and out dropped a check for $2990. Pay dirt, I finally hit it, my luck was changing — the thoughts that flashed through my mind. The check was accompanied by a 2-page letter instructing me what I was to do with this money only a small amount of which was supposedly to become mine. The key words I saw after skimming it were “Mystery Shopper.”

Shower time, and after my initial bliss, reality dawned along with the water washing over my body. Water has always afforded me clarity. Okay, shower done, time for a close read. Here’s what it said. In sum, “my assignment” was to take this check for $2990 and either cash it or deposit it into my account. Then I was to take $2570 of this money, go to Western Union, and send it to a designated receiver. My alleged purpose was to evaluate the service and premises of the Western Union dealer. The next part of the assignment was to go into two well-known retail stores and buy $50 worth of merchandise. I was then to complete a form on each store answering a series of “consumer-ish” questions. After all this, I was left with $200 — my fee.

After a close read, this thing screamed scam. Not only was the whole deal very fishy and suspect, even though return address on the letter was a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning company in Manvel, Texas, the return address on the envelope was some random address in Montreal.

I Googled Mystery Shopper scam, and sure enough, I found that other people were receiving something very similar. I then called the HVAC company, number on the letter. There was indeed such a company, and they were indeed aware they were being used as a front for this scam.

Now if I’d gone ahead and cashed this check, in two weeks I would be contacted by my bank, or the police, and informed that I was out $2990 because the check turned out to be bogus.

Most of us are aware of such scams these days, but those meaty checks can still be awfully tempting. From a professional communication standpoint, the letter was written well, but it lacked the polish of a truly legitimate professional communication. Also, who would ever send a legitimate check for $2990 through the mail without requiring receipt signature?

So, friends, don’t let greed tempt you. It never fails: if it’s too good to be true: IT IS!!!!

In just the past two days I have come across two articles, both of which “how-to’s” about good writing, both of which were rife with writing errors. What errors? Passive voice, pseudo-academic style (in other words, difficult to understand), agreement of pronouns and antecedent (That person caught their coat in the door), crazy sentence construction, and frankly — text that sounds like it was written by an ESOL (English as a second language) writer. Take a look for yourself (be sure to come back, I’ve got lots more to say.)

English maven that I am, I left a comment on the site basically saying what I am saying to you. But I want to say MORE to you, because the great highway in the virtual-sky is becoming clogged with crap that multiplies explosively moment by moment. Let me tell you why.

The marketplace is turning inside out, upside down as brick and mortar gives way to the virtual shingle (website, blog, SNS, etc.) I’ll spare you the technical mumbo-jumbo, but to make an Internet presence means to generate content, content content. Translated: articles, essays, blog entries, reviews, how-to’s,m features, interviews. When businesses take the approach of wanting to throw up a bunch of content to get ratings, traffic, etc., they don’t care about quality. They do care about keywords, key phrases, and Search Engine crawlers. What you get on these sites is often times, crap. And, you get crap written by offshore workers whose main language is NOT English, but they are cheap, cheap, cheap.

My purpose here is threefold:

Granted, the space is small, and the characters limited to just 140. But let’s go for the ultimate challenge – forget the abbreviations and truncations, and go for the gusto instead! Craft your writing correctly within the confines of 140 characters; let it float in the air like sea foam in the breeze. Okay, okay, I remain the proverbial English teacher, but I am also a fan of doing things right. When I see Twitter posts that are filled with “trash,” and I don’t mean that the content is trash, I can’t deal. These tweets might as well be in another language, so what’s the sense?

Do I like Twitter? Yes, under the right circumstances. And I’ll expound on that later. But for now, I challenge you to work on your writing skills so you can fit it all in in 140 characters.

Twitter Away