Every Word Counts
During the 2010s, I wrote an occasional blog, Every Word Counts, about writing for museums. Most of the posts were quick notes about timely topics—conferences and other museum news, temporary exhibits, or resharing of relevant content from other fields—so it didn’t make sense to port most of that to this new site. But a few of the posts were more detailed and still seem relevant:
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Better Living Through Signage, Part I
Best-selling author Daniel H. Pink has published five books about“the changing world of work,” the best known of which is probably A Whole New Mind.But he also happens to be, in his own words, obsessed with signs. Pink is so obsessed with signs that the most populated category on his blog is about signage. In…
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Neuromyths in Education, Part I: Introduction
For nearly a year I’ve been trying to write a blog post about neuromyths in education. But the topic is too vast; it warrants at least a book. And there are books. But it’s hard to find time to read outside your discipline, so here are some key points for museum folk: What is a…
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The Teachable Moment (Humans Are Apes, Too!)
On a recent zoo visit, my children and I spent a long time observing and admiring the gibbons. As I coaxed them away (my children, not the gibbons), my daughter said, “I love watching the monkeys.” “I think gibbons are a kind of ape,” I said, looking around hopefully for some signage to clear up…
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Sins and Synonymity (Writing for English Language Learners, Technique #2)
When I was in high school, preparing for the 1AP English test, students and teachers often referred to “twenty-five-cent words.” Twenty-five-cent words were long words that made us sound smart. They were to be used in our AP English exam essays, the more the better. We studied clusters of related words and the nuanced differences…
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Beware of Phrasal Verbs (Writing for English Language Learners,Technique #1)
We can make our institutions a little more welcoming to diverse audiences by making our labels as readable as possible for visitors who read English as their second (or third, etc.) language. This post will be the first in a collection that describes some techniques for improving readability for this audience. Technique #1: Minimize use…