Mantex

Tutorials, Study Guides & More

>> Home / Archives for Business

How to write a web page

by

creating effective text for on-screen reading

Web PageIn order the communicate effectively on the Internet, you need to know how to write a web page that is successful.

Web pages are available for the whole world to see – but you will no doubt have an audience in mind.

Your audience is the people you hope to be addressing. They might be – fellow hobbyists, opinion makers, customers for products, or fan club members.

So – you have your own target audience, but anybody else can read your pages. There is therefor another audience about which you can know nothing (in advance).

If you want to reach as many people as possible, keep this invisible audience in mind. Write in a clear and simple manner. Avoid jargon and complicated expressions.

Layout

A web page is not the same thing as printed document. It might look similar, but it does different things. Your writing needs to be grammatically correct and free from mistakes. But it will not be read in the same way as a book or even a magazine.

People scan a web page before they read it. They glance at the overall content first. They read headings and sub-headings, glance at pictures, and even look for links.

Reading text on a screen is much harder than reading it on a printed page. This means that your writing needs to be different in style.

Your objectives

The function of a web page will depend upon your objectives. The page could be designed to offer a number of things:

  • news
  • information
  • entertainment
  • instruction
  • advice

This will have an effect on the way you deliver the content. But no matter what the function, there are certain golden rules that will help to make any web page effective.

Style

All your writing should be split up into small chunks. Huge blocks of writing on a screen are very difficult to read. The short paragraph is an important part of writing for the Web. This allows readers to grasp what you have to say more quickly.

Have a look at online newspapers. They use short and even one-sentence paragraphs.

Employ as many devices as possible to break up dense blocks of writing. Use headings, sub-headings, bold, and italics. Add graphics where appropriate and use bulleted lists.

Short sentences are easier to read than long ones. This is true on paper, but even more so when writing for the screen. Put a limit of twenty words per sentence on your writing – and watch its effectiveness improve!

The most effective way to communicate with general readers is to write directly in a simple, friendly manner.

Don’t forget that only a small part of a long web page will appear in the monitor screen at any one time. In such cases it’s important that you offer readers clear signals to find their way around.

Vocabulary

The language you use will be conditioned by your subject and the audience you are trying to reach (as well as the extent of your own vocabulary).

If you have a specialist subject and audience (agricultural biology, jet engine design) you will naturally be using the specialist language of your subject (jargon). But if you wish to reach a wide and general public, it’s better to keep you language plain and simple.

There’s no point in using a term such as aerated beverages when fizzy drinks will be understood just as well.

Conventions

It’s not necessary to know HTML coding to write a web page. Most software will do this for you. But a little knowledge will help you control the appearance of the page.

Use the text editing menus that appear in Microsoft Word and the page creation panels of most blogging software (Blogger, WordPress). These will give you the option to put text in bold, italics, and even colour.

A screen of text with different fonts, colours, and emphasis splattered all over the page looks bad. The golden rule here is this – Less is more. Restraint will help you achieve a more impressive appearance.

  • Headings in bold and a larger font size
  • Sub-headings in bold
  • Italics for emphasis and foreign words
  • No use of underlining at all

Underlining makes text hard to read, and the underlining can be confused with a hyperlink.

Examples

You are looking at an example of a web page right now. This type of page is called a ‘How to’ in the language of Web commerce. That is, it offers simple guidance notes on a single topic. Here are three more very different types of page.

Historical document
The first is from the nineteenth century. None of the above guidance notes apply, because readers want the document in a form that is as similar as possible to the original.

Red button Henry James on ‘The Art of Fiction’

Essay
The second is to a short illustrated essay on an artistic movement. This is the sort of article that might normal occupy a few pages in a magazine or a weekend newspaper supplement. It has graphics, links to related subject, and it also contains advertising.

Red button The Omega Workshops

Newspaper
The third is the online version of a daily newspaper. Notice how this page is made up of very short extracts, with links to the full articles, which are located on separate pages. The front page is packed with links, graphics, and advertising. It is also composed ‘dynamically’ – which means that it is updated every few minutes with new content.

Red button The Guardian

© Roy Johnson 2010

More on How-To
More on literary studies
More on writing skills

How to Write Good

by

tips for guaranteed success with words

How to Write Good is a little catalogue of wisdom written by Frank L. Visco. It was originally published in the June 1986 issue of Writers’ Digest, where he claimed: “My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules.”

  1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
     
  2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
     
  3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They’re old hat.)
     
  4. Employ the vernacular.
     
  5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
     
  6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
     
  7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
     
  8. Contractions aren’t necessary.
     
  9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
     
  10. One should never generalise.
     
  11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
     
  12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
     
  13. Don’t be redundant, don’t use more words than necessary, it’s highly superfluous.
     
  14. Profanity sucks.
     
  15. Be more or less specific.
     
  16. Understatement is always best.
     
  17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
     
  18. One-word sentences? Eliminate!
     
  19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
     
  20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
     
  21. Go round the barn at high speed to avoid colloquialisms.
     
  22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
     
  23. Who needs rhetorical questions?
     
  24. Abjure polysyllabic obfuscations.
     
  25. Finally, chech for pselling errors and typeos.

How to Write Good Also see 26 Golden Rules for Writing Well

Most writing guides will give similar advice – but without the fun. Here is a collection of style guides for different types of writing – from academic scholarship, to business communications and commercial report writing. These guides cover topics such as word choice, clear expression, grammar, syntax, and case agreement, plus punctuation, editing and proof reading. It’s important to note that there are specific style conventions for different types of writing. What works for scientific writing may not be suitable for an engineering report or a business proposal.

How to Write Good Writing Guides

More on writing skills
More on creative writing
More on grammar

How to write memos

by

guidance and writing skill for a common office document

What are memos?

The term memo is short for ‘memorandum’. Their purpose is to give information in a brief form.

Memos can be seen as notes, very brief letters, or micro-reports.

A memo is usually very short – a few lines or paragraphs at the most.

Memos

Some memos are even distributed on slips of paper.

Organisations usually have a recognisable form and layout for all internal memos.

Most memos are notices which pass between colleagues, sometimes within departments or to other departments or other sites.

The Internet has become a very popular medium for the memo. This is probably due to its brief format. Email messages can be seen as electronic memos in most business instances.

Memos should have a main heading stating the subject of the message, and sub-headings which lead into the message sections.

Memos usually bear the generic heading ‘MEMO’ at the top of the page. This acts as an advanced organiser so that the recipient is in no doubt of the document type and function.

The information in a memo should be set out in order of importance, with the most important item listed first.

Remember that effective business communication operates on the ‘punchline first’ principle. [It is only in a whodunit story or a narrative joke that we appreciate the withholding of vital information.]

Memos – the content

A memo should always contain the following information.

  • The subject of the memo
  • The name of the sender
  • The name of the recipient(s)
  • The date of posting
  • The message itself
Memos – types

There are various types of memo. These are the most commonly used.

  • Information
  • Announcement
  • Update
Information memos

An information memo provides information that is relevant to the recipient, or it replies with information that has been requested. The memo subject is stated in the title.

MEMO

SUBJECT
DATE
TO
FROM		 Quote for Budget Projections
18 February 2006
J. Brown, Training Manager
G. Thwaite

Background

You requested a quote from a printer to use in your budget projections on the current project.

Quote

The cost for printing 1000 brochures in the dimensions you cited will be approximately £2,000.

Source
I obtained this information from Streamline Printers.

Scheduling
Though you did not ask about scheduling, the information manager of Streamline printers stated unequivocally that you must allow three weeks from the date of delivery of camera-ready copy.

Announcement memos

A meeting announcement memo is one sent by an individual or department to other individuals, departments, or company representatives to advise them of a forthcoming meeting.

These usually contain the date and agenda of the meeting, although, they may simply announce the date.

MEMO

SUBJECT
DATE
TO
FROM		 Meeting about Sundeal Hotels
21 March 2001
Members of the Executive Committee
D. Henderson, Chair of Neatfit

Purpose
This meeting will consider a joint venture between Belsize Amusement Parks and Sundeal Hotels.

Time
The meeting will be held on 26 March at 9.30 am.

Place
The Board Room has been booked and refreshments will be served.

Agenda
The meeting will include two sessions.

General session (10.00 am to 12.00 am)

  • introductions of board members
  • AAAP Presentation
  • financial summary
  • questions and discussion

Executive session (1.15pm to 4.00 pm)

  • fiscal status Sundeal Hotels
  • decisions and recommendations

Confirmation
Please confirm your attendance by contacting Mary Golding Ext. 234

Attachments
The following documents are attached:

  • AAAP Annual Report
  • financial summary
  • preliminary paper on Joint Venture
Update memos

Update memos are notes which are transmitted between colleagues on a regular or frequent basis.

Because of the nature of the relationship of the authors, these are often quite brief and informal.

These are the sort of office communications that are now largely conducted via email messages.

MEMO

SUBJECT
DATE
TO
FROM		 Help me out!
12 March 1999
Jean
Sally

Quick! I need a list of all our products containing Zinc.

Sorry to dump on you like this but it’s more than my job’s worth to miss the deadline. (Tues)

Let’s have a coffee later in the week.

MEMO

SUBJECT
DATE
TO
FROM		 Staff Outing
19 December 2012
Brian
Trevor

Hi

I went to the Steering Group meeting yesterday and the subject of the staff outing came up.

Could you let me have some ideas for a venue and flesh it out with a bit of detail?

Alton Towers was suggested but I’d prefer something more adult myself.

Cheers,

T

MEMO

SUBJECT
DATE
TO
FROM		 Interview Panel
12 October 2013
Brenda
Geoff

Dear Brenda

Glad to tell you you’re on the interview panel for the new PA job.

Interviews start at 9-30 next Weds. I’ve sent you the CVs of those shortlisted and hope you have time to go through them in time.

Wear your best frock and put them through their paces.

See you then

G

© Roy Johnson 2014

More on How-To
More on literary studies
More on writing skills

How to write scientific reports

by

conventions, structure, and form of reports

What are scientific reports?

Introduction

The purpose of this guidance note is to explain the criteria for assessment of English language skills in a written report.

1) It outlines the criteria of assessment
2) It summarises what a report is expected to contain
3) It comments on how you can help the reader

1. Criteria for assessment
  1. Communicative quality: is it easy to read?
  2. Ideas and organisation: is the information appropriate and clearly organised?
  3. Grammar and vocabulary: is there a good range of language used so that the meaning is clear and the text is not repetitive?
  4. Surface features: is the punctuation and spelling accurate?
2. What are scientific reports expected to contain

This section looks at the contents of the report structure, and presentation.

Structure

The structure of a report will normally consist of the following items as
a minimum:

  • title
  • authors
  • abstract
  • summary
  • table of contents
  • body of report
  • conclusion
  • references

You need to adjust these sections to suit the purpose of the report. But
each section has a particular role, as follows.

The title – tells the reader directly and at first glance what it is that you are discussing.

The abstract or summary and table of contents – gives the reader an overview of the report and a list of section headings. From these, they can see the points included and decide which ones to look at.

The body – consists of the introduction and component sections.

The introduction should state the purpose of the report and show that you are aware of its terms of reference. That is, you should say what the subject is, and what is its purpose. You should also state any method(s) used and any limitations, and finally indicate how the report is structured. It is important to justify, or say why you are writing the report. You should also give the reader a mind map of what is coming.

Sections of the report should be organised under headings. This forces you to classify information and helps you to remain relevant – in case you are likely to wander off the point.

The conclusion – starts by referring back to the purpose of the report, states the main points arising, draws conclusions, and possibly makes recommendations.

References and appendices. These list the material referred to in your work. Follow any guidelines on format for presentation of references. Appendices provide additional material not included in the text.

Layout and presentation

Layout and presentation involves matters ranging from clear title and section headings, to accurate spelling and punctuation. You must think of your reader. Presenting accurate text is equivalent to speaking clearly. Since you are not around to explain any problems to your reader, editing and checking your text is extremely important.

Scientific reportsJudith Bell, Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-Time Researchers in Education and Social Science, Buckingham: Open University Press (2nd edn) 1993, pp.176. Best-selling UK guide which covers planning and record-keeping, interviewing, reviewing ‘the literature’ of your topic, designing questionnaires, interpreting evidence, and presenting the findings. Each chapter has a summary checklist and its own suggestions for further reading. There’s also a full bibliography and index.
Buy the book from Amazon UK
Buy the book from Amazon US

3. How can you help the reader?

Apart from the points raised above about structure, layout, and presentation, the main tool you have is obviously the language. There are two main points to make: the first is about what we call “signposts”, the second about style.

Signposts

Apart from section headings, you can select language which gives your reader signposts to what you are trying to explain. Signposting helps the person read the text quickly by highlighting the main points and the logic of the argument or discussion. Some examples follow.

1. The first section of your report could start with “The aim of this report…” or “The aim of this project…”

2. Within the first section, the stages could be introduced with “The first stage is…”, “The second stage…”, “This section deals with…”.

3. When you want to give an opinion or evaluate something, you might signpost with “The problem with this is…”, “What is significant about this is…”, “It is important to remember that…”

4. To show that you are drawing a conclusion, introduce the point with “This means that…”, “The result shows that…”, “It is likely that…”

Style

Style means the tone of language you use to address the reader. There are three points to make. You should avoid repetition, avoid a narrative style, and avoid vague language.

Repeat only what is necessary. That is, key words or technical terms. The reader has a memory. To flatter this, you can introduce your repeated point with words like “As mentioned earlier…”, “As discussed above…”

Although it is acceptable to use “I” or “we” in a report, too many sentences with “I” and “we” become repetitive. Avoid: “I had to…” Use: “It was necessary to…”

The reader does not wish to know about everything that happened, but rather your objective assessment of the situation. Avoid: “First we discussed…then we decided…” Use: “The first step was to discuss…It was decided…”

Be precise and be specific. Avoid: “There was a problem so we…” Use: “A problem arose with … which meant it was necessary to…”

Conclusion and recommendations

Read over what you have written and check it against the guidelines. Pay particular attention to punctuation and spelling.

With thanks to Esther Daborn

© Roy Johnson 2004

More on How-To
More on literary studies
More on writing skills

How to write surveys

by

skills for planning, designing, and writing surveys

What are surveys?

Surveys are usued to gather statistical data, first-hand evidence, or customer feedback and opinions.

Surveys are commonly used to gather information about

  • voting preferences during elections
  • government public health surveys
  • market research on commercial products
  • public opinion on controversial social changes
  • population surveys and census taking
  • data for an academic project or test

Surveys

Surveys are often a form of specialist product research. They are often created by someone who has been trained in market research.

Graduates in Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Mathematics, or Business Studies are often asked to construct and evaluate the results of a survey as part of their coursework.

However, people working in other disciplines are increasingly asked to write surveys as part of their work.

Surveys – the process

If you attempt your own survey, you need to be aware of the procedure outlined here in this example.

  1. Establish the goals of the project – What you want to learn
  2. Determine your sample – Whom you will interview
  3. Choose interviewing methodology – How you will interview
  4. Create your questionnaire – What you will ask
  5. Pre-test the questionnaire, if practical – Test the questions
  6. Conduct interviews and enter data – Ask the questions
  7. Analyze the data – Produce the reports
Surveys – Example

Statement of objectives

I intend to find the main reasons why Mighty Box is more popular than Pink Bucket as a gift container in the north west of England.

Rationale

The results of this survey will inform the marketing team regarding the next advertising campaign due to start 18 May 2014.

Methodology

I will carry out my research by distributing survey sheets to 5000 consumers.

I will create a database which will analyse my results in terms of a stated hierarchy of preferences and reasons.

Implementation

My consumer profile comprises women aged 25-50 in social groups C2 and D.

Location

My survey will be carried out in 17 shopping centres in the north west.

Human resources

I will employ experienced market research personnel in each of the target areas.

Costings

17 researchers @ £7 per hour x 18 hours = £ 2,142.00

Database technician @ £150 per day x 2 days = £ 300.00

Analyst @ £20per hour x 40 hours = £ 600.00

Total cost £ 3,042.00

Surveys – the two main types

There are various purposes in carrying out a survey. Here are the two main types, categorised by the types of question posed – open and closed.

  • Open survey
  • Closed survey

Open questions – What are they?

Open questions are those that allow the respondent to make up their own answer and express it in their own words.

Here are some examples of open questions.

  • Describe your feelings about the rail-crash.
  • What is your current opinion of the NHS?
  • How do you deal with distressed patients?

Closed questions – What are they?

Closed questions have a prescribed answer, as in multiple choice questions. Yes or no answers follow closed questions.

Here are the same topics expressed as closed questions.

  • Do you feel angry, sad or depressed about the rail crash?
  • Do you agree that the NHS is declining in quality?
  • Are you able to control distressed patients?

When are open questions more appropriate?

  • In a survey, open questions yield more authentic opinions and therefore can widen the scope of a survey. This is because the participant may express ideas that you have not thought of.
  • If you are genuinely attempting to find out what a group of people do think or feel, open questions are effective.

When are closed questions more appropriate?

  • When you are seeking to categorise a set of known symptoms, behaviour, beliefs, or feelings, closed questions are more efficient.
  • When you are seeking a certain response, to a given idea, then closed questions can assist your project.
Surveys – Open

Enlightenment

This is an ‘open survey’ – one for which there is no preconceived notion of result.

In other words, you need the result to be as authentic as possible, otherwise it will have no value. You have no vested interest except to know the facts. You will use these facts to inform your next sales strategy or publicity campaign.

Constructing the survey content needs extremely careful thought, planning, and trialling. An inefficient survey can cost you dear.

The open survey. To find authentic information, questions of a very different order are required. Here are some examples of open questions.

Q: I see you have bought a Mighty Box. Please state in one sentence your reason for choosing it.
A: I chose the Mighty Box because it is easy to carry and it is suitable for boys and girls.

Q: Indicate how often you read women’s magazines.
A: Never – every week – every month – every three months.

Q: Tick the content of women’s magazines in order of your preference.
A: None – articles – stories – adverts – horoscopes – readers letters

Q: With which of the following magazines are you most familiar?
A: Hers – Glamour – Lifelong – Woman’s Groan – Modern Girl – none of these.

Surveys – Closed

Publicity and politics

This is a ‘closed survey’ which seeks to gather the information which will support a belief or a statement of belief. In this case you know at the outset what result you are seeking.

For example, if you are a toothpaste company and you want to use statistics in your advertising campaign, you need to find those people who already use your product and are happy with it.

If you want to convince your management team that the main office is in need of refurbishment, you might construct a survey which will give you results to convince them. In this case, you might even include some Health and Safety issues to create a more powerful effect.

The closed survey demands ‘closed questions’. These are most likely to give you the responses you seek. Here are some examples of closed questions with their predicted answers

Q: How long have you been enjoying Mr. Stipling’s cakes?
A: Ever since they came out in 1976.

Analytical statement: ‘X number of people stated that they had enjoyed the cakes for many years’.

Q: When you relax and read Woman’s Groan, what do you like best about it?
A: I only read Woman’s Groan for the horoscopes. I don’t read the rest of it.

Analytical statement: ‘In a recent survey, over X thousand women said they found Woman’s Groan relaxing.’

Surveys – Guidelines for user-friendliness

1. Decide at the outset which of two methods you will use:

  • hand over the questionnaire for each subject to complete
  • read out the questions and fill in the results yourself

2. If you hand over the questionnaire, you need to –

  • Make all your questions simple and clear
  • Make the text large enough to be legible in the street
  • Make the questions answerable with a tick or one word

3. If you decide ask the questions, you need to –

  • phrase questions so that they sound like a spoken sentence
  • keep the survey out of sight of your subject, so that they actually listen rather than read over your shoulder

4. Always explain the context and the purpose of the questionnaire.

5. Avoid including the individual’s identity, or if you need it in some cases, ask permission to include it.

6. Always thank your subject for co-operating with your research.

Processing your data

7. Creating a database is the best way of dealing with survey results. This way, you can find a variety of results which will be done automatically, saving you hours of manual labour.

8. A database will also help you to generate results that you may not have anticipated at the outset.

Using the data

9. Use the data to inform your activities in as many ways as possible. The authentic survey is extremely valuable for such purposes as

  • correcting an ineffective publicity strategy
  • checking on the efficacy or usability of a product
  • assessing public relations in your company
  • using ideas generated by your employees
  • checking on employee morale

10. When acting on the results of your survey, publish your results as an integral part of your action statements.

11. For example, if your survey has shown that employees are not happy with the level of Health and Safety in your organisation, state that you are responding to their input into the survey.

12. If, as a result of the survey you need to make changes to your product or service, give your employees the benefit of the survey results.

Expressing the results of your survey

13. Charts, diagrams or tables are better than narrative explanation when it comes to expressing survey results.

14. A graph or bar chart showing preferences makes a bigger impact than a page of written text on the subject.

15. There are many easy-to-use electronic applications for creating graphics such as those needed to express statistics. They work in conjunction with databases.

16.A spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel can output its data in the form of bar-charts, columns, and pie charts.

© Roy Johnson 2014

More on How-To
More on literary studies
More on writing skills

Internet Marketing and Promotions

by

practical guide to e-Commerce on a budget

We are living in the middle of a gold rush. It’s the worldwide exploitation of the Internet as a medium of commerce. Companies like Amazon.com and CD-Now have jumped from spare-room start-ups to multi-million dollar enterprises whilst other people have been deciding whether to upgrade their software. It’s claimed that many people are making a quick fortune. But if you lack pots of start-up investment capital, how can it be done? Internet Marketing and Promotions shows how.

Internet Marketing and PromotionsPeter Kent and Tara Calishain have produced a guide which is a follow-up to the best-selling Poor Richard’s Web Site. These are do-it-yourself on-a-budget tips from people who really have done it themselves. They kick off with a few remarks on Internet trading, pointing to the opportunities, the pitfalls, and the need for realism and hard work. Only after this do they go through the technical requirements for creating a good Web presence.

The ‘Poor Richard’ approach means that a lot of the programs they recommend are shareware, cheap, or even free. It’s all very practical, and aimed at the average reader with answers to basic questions such as ‘Where do I get this? How much does it cost? How does it work?’

After an introduction on information management, they go through the complex issues of preparing Meta-tags and submissions to search engines in great detail, then cover all the other available avenues for promotion. These include newsgroups and mailing lists, creating your own newsletter, banner ads, and email advertising. When something doesn’t work or isn’t worth the trouble or expense, they’ll tell you quite frankly. This sort of approach will appeal to the small-scale entrepreneur, who normally has to put up with business advice which involves raising $50M in stock market floatations.

There’s a very useful section on tracking your results which cuts through a lot of the mystification and encourages us to be sceptical about hyperbolic claims. Did you know that a normal page with one picture counts as two hits – one for the text, the other for the graphic? Those sites with twenty buttons on the homepage claiming 10,000 hits a week are actually getting 500 real visitors.

Unlike many of the other books on Net commerce available, theirs is based on the results of practical experience. They tell you what’s worked for them; they’re prepared to reveal their mistakes; and at every stage they will say ‘This worked for me, but here are some alternatives – and here’s a free option. It’s written in a breezy, straightforward style without ever slipping into marketing-speak or nerdish jargon. I particularly liked some of the sparky colloquialisms which seem to echo the tone of Tara Calishain’s weekly newsletter: “Don’t get blindsided by a no-brainer”

They deal with the very latest feature of Net commerce – setting up affiliate programs, in which you are paid a 5-15% commission on the purchases of customers you send to somebody else’s site. There are also a lot of free services which will track and update references to your website on Internet traffic, plus email promotion services – all listed, complete with up-to-date URLs. This is amazingly valuable information. They also spell out how to use email and mailmerge programs for effective press releases, and they end with a variety of strategies for [shock-horror] selling:

What are most new Internet marketeers reading? They’re reading mostly geek stuff…setting up Web sites, and creating web pages

What they’re not reading is how to do business on the Internet, and Kent and Calishain offer a bracing antidote to this nerdishness. Their argument is that if you want to move Widgets, you have to take a step beyond the self-indulgence of good design which has no effect.

A neighbour of mine has a web site which is so elementary it might have been designed by a teenager using a Dummies primer over the weekend. But he’s shifting £500,000 of a single product each year from an attic room in his house. He won’t win any prizes for design, but he’s grasped the principles of Net marketing. These authors would be proud of him – and as a matter of fact he’s mentioned in the book. You see – it can be done!

© Roy Johnson 2000

Internet Marketing and Promotions   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Internet Marketing and Promotions   Buy the book at Amazon US

Peter Kent and Tara Calishain, Poor Richard’s Internet Marketing and promotions: How to Promote Yourself, Your Business, Your Ideas Online, Colorado: Top Floor, 1999, pp.404, ISBN: 0966103270

More on eCommerce
More on media
More on publishing
More on technology

Interviewing

by

practical guide to interviewing techniques and skills

Interviewing is increasingly a core part of commerce, the professions, and in education, yet few people are aware of the many skills needed to be a good interviewer. This book is an resource for all those looking to improve their interviewing skills. It’s important to stress that the advice offered is for those who will be conducting the interviews, not those on the receiving end. The first part deals with different types of interviews – from people offering advice over the counter on reception desks, to telephone, TV, and job interviews.

Interviewing Next comes the relationship between interviewer and respondent – how empathy and rapport can built; issues of anonymity and confidentiality; and then truthfulness in representing the purpose of the interview. Anyone who has been asked questions in the street will know how common it is for interviewers to conceal their real purpose or client. Next come the important issues of constructing questions and framing the structure of the formal interview – including feedback loops. This is followed by guidance on interpreting the responses of the person being interviewed. How do we act fairly to judge non-verbal messages for instance?

The latter part of the book deals with specific examples of different types of interview – for academic research, interviewing children, adolescents, older people and those with disabilities; then interviewing people in different cultures, and people in stressful and even antagonistic situations.

It’s written in an accessible style, and is based on a solid framework of both theory and research. Nothing is explored in any particular depth, but for those who might find themselves having to ask the questions, make employment decisions, and either extract information or select personnel, this will be a very reassuring starting point.

© Roy Johnson 2000

Interviewing   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Interviewing   Buy the book at Amazon US

Daphne M. Keats, Interviewing: a practical guide for students and professionals, Buckinghamshire: Open University Press, 2000, pp.162, ISBN: 0335206670

More on study skills
More on writing skills
More on online learning

Organising and Participating in Meetings

by

how to run meetings and produce the paperwork

Oxford University Press have just brought out a series of short beginners’ guides on communication skills. The emphasis is on compact, no-nonsense advice directly related to issues of everyday life. In this case it’s organising and running meetings, creating the documents which support them, and participating in them to best effect. Judith Leigh usefully starts off Organising and Participating in Meetings with the language of meetings and the roles of key figures such as minutes secretary, chair, and observers.

Organising and Participating in MeetingsShe then describes how to recruit suitable people to participate in a meeting and serve on a committee, and how to arrange the practicalities of booking venues and travel arrangements so as to maximise the chances of a successful outcome. She then covers the key documentation of meetings – discussion papers, agendas, and reports. This includes the order in which items should be tabled and recorded, plus tips on dealing with documents in paper and electronic form.

There’s a chapter on participation which includes both the ‘rules’ of debate and argument, as well as advice on doing Powerpoint presentations. Then comes the most unpopular task of all – taking the minutes. You’ll be lucky if you can get anybody to volunteer for this job.

Then comes a real gem I haven’t seen in books of this kind before – how to participate in meetings conducted by telephone, email, and video conferencing. She finishes with a checklist of steps to be taken, a glossary of Latin terms and financial jargon, and some templates for meeting papers and agendas.

The chapters of this book are short, but almost every page is rich in hints and tips. The strength of this approach is that it avoids the encyclopedic volume of advice which in some manuals can be quite frightening. This is a book which will reassure those who need it.

If you’ve never run a meeting before, this tells you everything you need to know. And it’s all presented in a clear and simple manner, with the emphasis on achieving a positive outcome. That’s a long way from some of the farcical, corrupt, and often pointless meetings which I’ve had to sit through in the world of education in the last thirty years.

© Roy Johnson 2004

Organising and Participating in Meetings   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Organising and Participating in Meetings   Buy the book at Amazon US

Judith Leigh, Organising and Participating in Meetings, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, pp.144, ISBN: 019866284X

More on study skills
More on writing skills
More on online learning

Poor Richard’s Web Site

by

web site design and maintenance on a budget

This publication has an interesting history. Peter Kent is an author of best-selling titles, yet when he wrote Poor Richard’s Web Site, a plain folk’s guide to the most rapidly expanding part of Information Technology, publishers didn’t want to touch it. He therefore released it himself in the form of Word files on disk. This fortunately led to print publication, in which form it now comes to us in a new second edition, swathed in well-deserved commendations.

Poor Richard's Web SitePart I offers four introductory chapters on choosing an Internet Service provider and domain name. This is very logical, but somehow I think its position at the front of the book might deter readers who want to more rapidly approach the meatier and less abstract matter of planning and designing their site. Part II on the creation of a site is where the book really comes to life. He covers the basics of the site and its purpose.

There’s an introduction to HTML; choosing authoring tools; making the site interactive; and how to use auto-responders and email to enhance commerce generated by your pages. He includes a brief guide to the many sources of information which are available free on line. Lots of resource centres are listed for HTML editors, scripts, and graphics. A beginner would save the price of the book in the space of two or three downloads.

Part III deals with the commercial aspects of registration and promotion. He offers multiple sites to check your pages for browser compatibility – an important feature during the on-going browser wars. The going gets a little complicated when discussing CGI scripts – but he does his best to be reassuring.

His approach is emphatically clear, logical, and (as his rum sub-title claims) full of common sense. At every stage of his exposition he points to examples. There’s a list of award-winning sites, and even a list of the worst – some of which are quite funny. He’s certainly done the spadework of analysing Web sites on behalf of the reader, and in this respect this publication is very good value as a guide and a source of reference. The inclusion of so many Web addresses is particularly useful for UK readers who (paying for local telephone calls) can’t afford to surf freely for this information like their US counterparts.

The first edition was written two years ago. Quite a bit has changed since then. There are better ways to connect, better and more software is available, and there are more services out there. This new edition covers the basics, but it also discusses newer issues like registering and modifying your domain name, the additional service offered by Web hosting companies, and how to use e-mail more effectively. It’s a shame that there’s no bibliography, because he mentions en passant a number of useful-sounding publications. However, by the time you read this they might have been added to the book’s own web site, where the 800 plus links are listed.

© Roy Johnson 2000

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

Peter Kent, Poor Richard’s Web Site: Geek-free, Commonsense Advice on Building a Low Cost Web Site, Colorado: Top Floor, second edition, 2000, pp.418, ISBN 0966103203

More on web design
More on digital media
More on technology

Remix: The Copyright Wars

by

Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid  Economy

Lawrence Lessig is a lecturer in law at Harvard University and a leading authority on copyright and intellectual property rights in the digital age. He helped to found the Creative Commons movement, and he’s a former member of the Electronic Freedom Foundation. His works are a passionate defence of the rights of the individual to the creativity of the past, and a crusade against those forces which try to limit the free exchange of information. Remix: The Copyright Wars is his manifesto on the topic.

Copyright warsThis is the latest in a long line of books he has written in support of such causes – explaining in non-legal language the way in which human rights have been eroded by the vested interests of big business. Whilst upholding the right of all content originators to make a living from what they create, he believes that the current copyright laws restrict the free exchange of information. He also argues that all creativity builds on the creativity of the past, and it is modern technology which has democratised and speeded up the process.

In the past, you could own the ‘source code’ to Shakespeare’s works, but only printing press owners could make copies. Now, as soon as something becomes digitised, any kid in his back bedroom can copy at will. This has given rise to a panic over copyright, which he explores in some depth.

First of all he examines the ‘war against piracy’ in the American courts by a close inspection of the terms in which it is commonly pursued:

In my view, the solution to an unwinnable war is not to wage war more vigorously. At least when the war is not about survival, the solution to an unwinnable war is to sue for peace, and then to find ways to achieve without war the ends that the war sought.

You would almost think he was talking about the Americans in Afghanistan – but no, this is the ‘copyright wars’.

He cites many examples where companies have paid out legal fees ten times greater than the lost revenue they were seeking to recoup.

He agrees with Chris Anderson and Cory Doctorow that the Nay-sayers and prophets of doom on all this are wrong. The future is not likely to be an either/or choice between prohibition and control versus unbridled anarchy. It’s much more likely to be a creative symbiosis of past and future technologies.

He then addresses the central theme of the book – how much is it possible to quote from someone else’s work in a new work for private or public consumption? The rules and general practice are quite different, depending on the medium. With printed text it is a perfectly normal, accepted practice to quote from someone else’s work. In fact academic writing specifically requires a knowledge and accurate quotation of previous works in the same subject.

But use the same approach with audio recordings and you’ll end up with a solicitor’s ‘cease and desist’ letter from Sony or Decca. And his argument is that this restriction is a brake on both creativity and freedom of information.

On mixed media he also makes the very good point that the sort of well-edited video clips with over-dubbed sound tracks shown in TV political satire (and now on blogs) are more effective than long-winded essays taking 10,000 words to make the same point.

Most people today don’t even have time to read long articles. They get their information in much shorter chunks. As he puts it, very pithily – “text is today’s Latin”. It’s an extreme view, but you can see his point.

A propos of which, he also practices what he preaches. He developed a style of presentation which uses rapid display of short, memorable phrases or pictures. Here’s an example which takes a while to load, but is well worth the wait. It’s quite old now, but it demonstrates a technique of presentation which will not date: sound and text being used together for maximum effect.

One thing about his writing I found quite inspiring is that for every bold proposition he makes, he looks at the possible objections to it. (In fact a whole section of his web site is devoted to criticisms of his work.)

He makes a profound distinction between what he calls read-only (RO) and read-write (RW) culture. Both are important, but they have the difference that RO encourages passive reception, whereas RW encourages a written, that is a creative response. This leads him to argue for the enhanced value of all ‘writing’ – by which he means not only text, but the manipulation of other media, such as the audio and video files which are the stock-in-trade of the mashup artists.

His point is that these collage-type works are definitely not examples of parasitic imitation, and that in almost all cases they reveal a skilled appreciation of the medium.

The second part of the book is an investigation of eCommerce – conducted at a level just as radical and profound. He looks Google, Amazon, and Netflix as examples of businesses that have become successful by defying the normal laws of commerce. They allow other companies to share their information, and in Amazon’s case they even allow competitors onto their site. By doing this they make more money, and they control more of the field.

For the sake of those people who didn’t catch it first time round, he explains Chris Anderson’s Long Tail Principle. He then looks at the ‘sharing economies’ to which the Internet has given birth – the Open Source projects and the Wikipedias which exist on the voluntary efforts of volunteers.

Next he passes on to what he calls the ‘hybrid economies’ – companies such as Slashdot and Last.fm who offer a community but make money by advertising revenues. The subtle distinctions between these different models have to be handled carefully – otherwise sensibilities (and revenue streams) might be affected.

He looks at the ethical and practical conflicts between Old and New economies – those based on greed and naked competition, and those based in the ‘hybrid’ sector of sharing and cooperation. Eventually this takes us back to the issue of copyright, where he has some radical proposals for reform.

The first is that basically all genuinely amateur use of copyrighted material should be exempt from prosecution. It is pointless issuing legal writs against some kid sampling and posting on YouTube. The second is a suggestion that copyright is returned to its original status – a fourteen year term which is renewable if the owner so wishes.

Next comes a suggestion called ‘clear title’ – which means that the item being copyrighted needs to be clearly defined. Then comes the de-criminalisation of P2P file sharing, and the end of prosecuting sampling and mashups. As he suggests, supported by people in the pop music business, there is no evidence to prove that a sample or mashup detracts from sales of the original. All of these seem perfectly reasonable – though I suspect vested corporate interests would think otherwise.

This is a passionate and thought-provoking book on the ethics of copyright and creativity in an age of rapid technological change. It is radical, free-thinking, and a challenge to anyone participating in the digital world right now. Lawrence Lessig is a voice to take note of. But you’ll have to move fast. He seems to be in a permanent state of rapid development, and by the time you’ve read this, his latest book, he’ll have moved on elsewhere. If you go to his official site at lessig.org you’ll see what I mean.

Remix: The Copyright Wars   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Remix: The Copyright Wars   Buy the book at Amazon US

© Roy Johnson 2010

Lawrence Lessig, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, London: Penguin Books, 2008, pp.327, ISBN: 0143116134

More on eCommerce
More on media
More on publishing
More on technology

Get in touch

info@mantex.co.uk

Content © Mantex 2016