Sports columnist Bill Simmons (”The Sports Guy”) also puts out the most downloaded podcast on the ESPN.com website, called the B.S. Report. Usually, his guests center around sports, but I want to recommend two recent podcasts to those interested in media and writing generally.

The first recommendation is his June 29th two-part interview with pop culture observer and author Chuck Klosterman (Fargo Rock City; Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs). They have a great discussion on writing, the use of Twitter (Simmons does @sportsguy33, Klosterman doesn’t) and celebrity. One particularly interesting point made is that the advent of the internet has required people to write more and has also encouraged people to write more via blogs, Twitter etc., than ever before. Think about the number of emails we send, blogs we write, Twitter posts and Facebook musings.

The second recommendation is his July 8th interview with ESPN radio and TV personality, and former Portland sports personality, Colin Cowherd. It is fun listening to two sports commentators talk about their different approaches to communicating, how the prep for shows and columns, and how they got their start.

You can download the BS Report for free from iTunes or from ESPN.com.

When I received this link to the State of Oregon Library’s new website called “Plain Language” my first reaction was to laugh. After working around government for 14 years I can tell you that bureaucrats definitely need to learn to speak in “plain language”. Too often they speak in a government code full of acronyms and insider catch phrases. This makes navigating government impossible for average citizens.

The reality, though, is that this problem isn’t exclusive to government. Business communication often suffers from speaking and writing in acronyms and codes. When a business falls into using insider language, how do clients or customers feel?

According to the Plan Language website a document succeeds when it:

• Uses everyday words that convey meanings clearly and directly
• Uses the present tense and the active voice
• Uses short, simple sentences
• Defines only those words that cannot be properly explained or qualified in the text
• Uses type of a readable size
• Uses layout and spacing that separate the paragraphs and sections of the document from each other

The main addition I would make to this list is to avoid jargon and acronyms whenever possible.

How do your documents stack up?

Kevin