I clicked through to a Google map today, for an office location, only to see my screen peppered with YouTube screengrabs. Each one then linked to a YouTube clip. Fine, I guess, as after all Google does own the clip sharing site. But to me it’s also another example of Google dissipating it’s core promise of Read More
Month: August 2010
Top tip of the week – Copyright
#10 Beware copyright! Just because you CAN copy something, does not mean that you have permission to. Ask – do I have permission to copy, adapt, translate or use this? See more top tips here.
Reading is not a social activity
One of the wonders of writing for an audience is that each member of your target group is usually unaware of how many other people are reading the same piece. In fact the mark of good/great writing is that wonderfully direct link between the words on the page and the message unfolding inside your reader’s mind. Only when they Read More
Privacy and deception
How far should privacy go? The Human Rights Act seems to make it clear: “Everyone has the right to privacy of their private and family life, their health and their correspondence,” it says in so many words. Yet what are the boundaries? This crucial question is raised again because the golfer Colin Montgomerie has won Read More
Making every word count
…often means counting your words as well. “Don’t take out the odd word here or there. Take out whole sentences; whole paragraphs” stated Rudyard Kipling (former copywriter) in his advice to fellow writers. It’s still good advice. Especially when writing for an online audience. Resist the urge to drown your audience in data. Try to edit your message down to Read More
Top tip of the week – News writing
#8 Advanced news writing – Use hook intros when you want to change the pace of news in a news section or you are chasing the story and can’t break it with a summary intro. See more top tips here.
Brackets — how to use them
I was asked by a customer of our e-learning Grammar course about how to use brackets in writing. My first quick answer is: don’t, unless you really have to. They break up sentences (you see). They contain subordinate information, not primary information. I often skip brackets when reading (they immediately signal that the information in Read More
A news dilemma
I was training a team recently that had a news dilemma. They are a consumer specialist weekly going out to an older readership and they are about to launch a website. News is huge part of the print publication. They have one major print competitor and, because of their subject matter, their news often gets Read More
First impressions leave a mark…
I know that my colleague Margaret is currently absorbing the gems in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink, and so she may well post a piece shortly… For my part, the overriding “impression” I had from reading his excellent – though slightly overworked – treatise is the incredibly robust nature of the first impressions we gain in every aspect of Read More
Top tip of the week – Grammar
#7 Grammar – If you can say “of”, then it’s OK to use the apostrophe. If you are knocking out letters, then it’s OK to use the apostrophe. Be careful with it’s (it is) and its (belonging to it) See more top tips here.