Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Friday, February 04, 2005
Friday, January 21, 2005
BogieLand: Information Design & Information Architecture Company:
"Information anxiety comes from the tsunami of data. People rely on information which value is set by its usability, usefulness, and desirability. Information design improves the creation, sharing, and dissimination of knowledge. To facilitate understanding."
"Information anxiety comes from the tsunami of data. People rely on information which value is set by its usability, usefulness, and desirability. Information design improves the creation, sharing, and dissimination of knowledge. To facilitate understanding."
Design Council | About Design: "Design Council - This section features in-depth information and advice on design issues and disciplines. "
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Friday, December 17, 2004
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Friday, October 01, 2004
Callum McCarthy, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Britain's financial watchdog, has warned that consumer education and clearer documents are needed to make financial competition work. Speaking to the Reuters news agency, he said:
"In Britain, 23 per cent of adults, if presented with the Yellow Pages directory and asked to give from it the name of a plumber, cannot do so; over 20 per cent cannot do simple percentages ie are unlikely to understand either of my last two statements. Yet as a country we are moving a number of the most important financial decisions for health provision, for education, for pensions from institutions to the individual, even when many individuals are poorly equipped to take those decisions. Nor is the position a good one in terms of relevant and comprehensible information being given to customers by providers of financial services: too often the product, already complex, is made still more complex by a specialised and difficult to understand
vocabulary I suspect that not many here this evening will admit to understanding what a reversionary bonus is.
"We are requiring firms to provide basic information in standard form (to make comparison of competing products easier), and requiring fuller and clearer disclosure (of life products, for example). So we expect progress towards clearer, relevant information."
"In Britain, 23 per cent of adults, if presented with the Yellow Pages directory and asked to give from it the name of a plumber, cannot do so; over 20 per cent cannot do simple percentages ie are unlikely to understand either of my last two statements. Yet as a country we are moving a number of the most important financial decisions for health provision, for education, for pensions from institutions to the individual, even when many individuals are poorly equipped to take those decisions. Nor is the position a good one in terms of relevant and comprehensible information being given to customers by providers of financial services: too often the product, already complex, is made still more complex by a specialised and difficult to understand
vocabulary I suspect that not many here this evening will admit to understanding what a reversionary bonus is.
"We are requiring firms to provide basic information in standard form (to make comparison of competing products easier), and requiring fuller and clearer disclosure (of life products, for example). So we expect progress towards clearer, relevant information."
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Monday, July 26, 2004
Monday, June 28, 2004
Tough translations
A few weeks ago we reported on a survey by the firm Today Translations (www.todaytranslations.com) revealing the ten legal expressions which were most difficult to translate. This week they produced two similar lists covering general words in English and other languages.
The most difficult non-English word to translate is apparently ilunga, a word from Tshiluba, a language spoken by the Bantu tribe of the southeastern Congo. It means 'a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time.'
The most difficult word for translating from English is reported as plenipotentiary: 'a special ambassador or envoy, invested with full powers'.
And ironically for us gobbledygook came second in the list. We were quite surprised to see this, as we have seen equivalents in at least four languages, including French (charabia), German (kauderwelsh), Dutch (onzin) and Italian (gergo incomprensible). We'd love to hear any translations of the word into other languages.
A few weeks ago we reported on a survey by the firm Today Translations (www.todaytranslations.com) revealing the ten legal expressions which were most difficult to translate. This week they produced two similar lists covering general words in English and other languages.
The most difficult non-English word to translate is apparently ilunga, a word from Tshiluba, a language spoken by the Bantu tribe of the southeastern Congo. It means 'a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time; to tolerate it a second time; but never a third time.'
The most difficult word for translating from English is reported as plenipotentiary: 'a special ambassador or envoy, invested with full powers'.
And ironically for us gobbledygook came second in the list. We were quite surprised to see this, as we have seen equivalents in at least four languages, including French (charabia), German (kauderwelsh), Dutch (onzin) and Italian (gergo incomprensible). We'd love to hear any translations of the word into other languages.
Sunday, June 20, 2004
We all know far too well how to write everyday English, but few of us know how to write elegant English — English that is expressed with music as well as meaning, style as well as substance. The point of this feature is not to suggest that people should try to emulate these examples of elegant English but to show that the language can be written with grace and polish — qualities that much contemporary writing is bereft of and could benefit from.
We are accustomed to think of ourselves as an emancipated people; we say we are democratic, liberty-loving, free of prejudice and hatred. This is the melting pot, the seal of a great human experiment. Beautiful words, full of noble, idealistic sentiment. Actually we are a vulgar, pushing mob whose passions are easily mobilized by demagogues, newspaper men, religious quacks, agitators and such like. To call this a society of free peoples is blasphemous. What have we to offer the world beside the superabundant loot which we recklessly plunder from the earth under the maniacal delusion that this insane activity represents progress and enlightenment? The land of opportunity has become the land of senseless sweat and struggle. The goal of all of our striving has long been forgotten. We no longer wish to succor the oppressed and homeless; there is no room in this great, empty land for those who, like our forefathers before us, now seek a place of refuge. Millions of men and women are, or were until very recently, on relief, condemned like guinea pigs to a life of forced idleness. The world meanwhile looks to us with a desperation such as it has never known before. Where is the democratic spirit? Where are the leaders? — Henry Miller, Good News! God Is Love!
http://www.vocabula.com/index.asp
We are accustomed to think of ourselves as an emancipated people; we say we are democratic, liberty-loving, free of prejudice and hatred. This is the melting pot, the seal of a great human experiment. Beautiful words, full of noble, idealistic sentiment. Actually we are a vulgar, pushing mob whose passions are easily mobilized by demagogues, newspaper men, religious quacks, agitators and such like. To call this a society of free peoples is blasphemous. What have we to offer the world beside the superabundant loot which we recklessly plunder from the earth under the maniacal delusion that this insane activity represents progress and enlightenment? The land of opportunity has become the land of senseless sweat and struggle. The goal of all of our striving has long been forgotten. We no longer wish to succor the oppressed and homeless; there is no room in this great, empty land for those who, like our forefathers before us, now seek a place of refuge. Millions of men and women are, or were until very recently, on relief, condemned like guinea pigs to a life of forced idleness. The world meanwhile looks to us with a desperation such as it has never known before. Where is the democratic spirit? Where are the leaders? — Henry Miller, Good News! God Is Love!
http://www.vocabula.com/index.asp
Monday, June 14, 2004
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