And we're not very literate, according to an OECD study A "severe literacy deficit" haunts the world's most developed countries. Between one-quarter and three-quarters of the world's adults don't have a "suitable minimum skill level" for coping with the demands of modern life and work. That's according to the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), a large-scale … [Read more...] about We are the world
Archives for May 2012
‘Is the juice worth the squeeze?’
Reach readers by thinking like readers When I presented a writing workshop at FedEx a couple of months ago, diversity program manager Janas Jackson told me this story: "At my previous company, the CEO would give quarterly 'state of the business' speeches to employees. At the end of each message, a Vietnamese employee who didn't speak fluent English would always ask, 'Does … [Read more...] about ‘Is the juice worth the squeeze?’
Illustrated journalism comes of age
Get read, shared & revisited with graphic storytelling When Campus Progress ran "An Education in For-Profit Education," Susie Cagle's graphic story on education finance, the piece: Was featured on the front page of The Huffington Post Was picked up by LifeHacker Got more than 4,000 Facebook shares and likes Garnered more than 700 tweets Received more than 800 … [Read more...] about Illustrated journalism comes of age
Read it; feel it
Your brain on description Read the words coffee, camphor or eucalyptus, and the part of your brain most closely related to the sense of smell responds. Read the words bingo, button or bayonette, and they don't. The words you choose not only have the power to change your readers' minds. They can also change their brains, according to new neurological research. "Brain … [Read more...] about Read it; feel it
Three’s company
Compare & contrast positions The Portland, Ore., mayoral race is boring, pundits say, because you can't tell the candidates apart. To bring a little life to the proceedings, Willamette Week held a fake mayoral smackdown in which it pitted local favorites against each other — a bacon maple bar, for instance, and a Paul Bunyan statue. The bacon maple bar won two rounds … [Read more...] about Three’s company