PLAIN eJournals

Virginia St-Denis
Managing Editor

So much has happened in the global plain language community since the ISO – International Organization for Standardization published ISO 24495-1:2023 Plain language Part 1: Governing principles and guidelines. The (Plain Language Association International) PLAIN eJournal has published some quick updates since then — mainly in the form of closing articles from the president of the International Plain Language Federation.

The time is right for a more in-depth update. So this issue focuses on all aspects of the ISO plain language standard. Our contributors for this issue have a lot of exciting news for you, so I’ll try not to give anything away while I introduce each article.

We start this issue with a look at what has been happening with Part 1: Governing principles and guidelines since its release in 2023. Gael Spivak , Chair of the Federation’s Localization and Implementation Committee, shares updates on adoptions, localizations, translations, communications, presentations, and more in her article “Implementing the ISO plain language standard.”

If you have implemented Part 1, consider writing a case study. It can help build credibility, gain support for your next project, and promote your services or team, as Cinzia Theobald and Nadja Green write in their article, “Showcasing the value of plain language: a step-by-step guide.”

In “Four plain language principles in action: Insights from a Canadian project,” Chantale Audet and Amélie Bourret share a case study for their ClearMark Award–winning work. Find out how they transformed the research-intensive Canada’s Guidelines on Alcohol and Health into a plain language public summary.

But there is so much more happening beyond Part 1. Clarity International president Julie Clement has exciting news about ISO 24495-2 Plain language Part 2: Legal communication in her article, “ISO 24495-2: A Global Standard for Plain Legal Documents.”

ISO 24495-3 Plain language Part 3: Science writing is also under development. It is in the enquiry phase with ISO members and still needs approval before publication. We’ll share more details in a future issue once it is further along in the approval process.

Organizations that want to be certified in plain language would need to follow ISO 24495-4 Plain language Part 4: Requirements for implementing the plain language principles in organizations. In their article, “An ISO requirement standard for organizations,” Torunn Reksten and Sarah Slabbert share why certification is needed and describe their team’s process.

If you enjoyed our spring issue of the PLAIN eJournal on plain language design (Vol. 7, No. 1), you will want to read Rob Waller article, “ISO 24495-5: Toward a plain language standard for document design.” He discusses his committee’s process for ISO 24495-5 Plain language Part 5: Document design, including the development of a document pattern library as a related resource.

While technically not part of the ISO 24495 plain language standard, ISO 24896 Notation for business reporting is closely related and being developed by the same ISO working group. If you want to apply plain language principles to business documents, including tables and charts, you will want to read “Business reporting made easy” by Angelika Vaasa and Ciego Berea.

We also have reports from the Federation’s Certification Committee, with an article from Sarah Slabbert called “Shaping the future of plain language certification.” And Milva Finnegan, PhD , Lynn Dare, PhD , and WD Stallings discuss certification of individual practitioners in “Global survey shows strong interest in individual certification in plain language.”

Building on that, this issue wraps up with an article from Neil James, who looks at how the plain language community has evolved. He ends by discussing some possibilities of what we could consider for the future for certification.