February 2013 - Health Literacy Lab

As I mentioned in my last post, the National Weather Service is asking for public comments as it tries to simplify its weather alerts so more people can understand them.

Here is one that is posted on their test page today:
———————————————————————————————————
(Original Message)

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS ISSUED A

WINTER STORM WARNING FOR FREEZING RAIN AND SOME SLEET...

IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON EST TODAY.

WHICH IS

Vs.

(Proposed Alternate)

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BLACKSBURG HAS NOW ISSUED AWARNING  FOR A DANGEROUS COMBINATION OF FREEZING RAIN AND

SOME SLEET UNTIL NOON EST TODAY.

--------------------------------------------------------

Wardrobe Malfunction #1 (as I see it)

1. Adding "now" ---"now issued" just adds one more word to

read.  It doesn't fix the passive verb form.

Why not:  "WARNING...Dangerous.....

Wardrobe Malfunction #2

2. ALL CAPS HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE HARDER TO READ than

normal font ( I know this is still debated but I err on the side of not using them, especially for low literacy and older readers).  Normal font allows readers, especially the 50% of the adult in the US who have trouble reading ( low literacy) to see individual word's landscape.

Some references on typeface and readability:

I like Ellen Lupton’s essay “Science of Topography” .

Briggs, R. & Hocevar, D.J. (1975). A new distinctive feature theory for upper case letters. The Journal of General Psychology, 93,87-93.

Gump, J. (2001). The readability of typefaces and the subsequentmood or emotion created in the reader. Journal of Education forBusiness, 76(5), 270-273.

Williams, T.R. (2000). Guidelines for designing and evaluating thedisplay of information on the web. Technical Communication, 7(3),383-396.

Watch, Warning, Advisory – the National Weather Service is beginning to think that these words, along with their weather broadcasts more generally, may not be understood very well by the public.

So, they are asking for input as they trip down the linguistic cobblestones of simplification lane. ( This came to me via a contact in Australia, Ian Mannix on his blog).

NWS says – “Here are the specifics of how we’ll create the alternative language for the demonstration this winter.

For all current, official winter weather hazard messages that lead with the phrase:

“THE NWS HAS ISSUED A _____ WATCH”

We will convert this text for demonstration purposes only to:

“THE NWS FORECASTS THE POTENTIAL FOR ____”

with the hazard type (snow, ice, wind, etc.), level of certainty, timing and expected impact(s) clearly stated in the blank space.”

Deadline for comment – March 31 2013. I urge you to help them out. Really.

The Weather Forecast for Today is….

Month: February 2013

The Weather Forecast for Today is….

National Weather Service Wants to be Clear