Standards, training, certification:
An update from the International Plain Language Federation

Hannah Sapunor-Davis
Managing Editor

At our recent online conference, Access for All: Plain Language is a Civil Right, board members of the International Plain Language Federation shared the ongoing work of this umbrella organization for plain language. Some highlights of these discussions include:

  • how the work on the ISO standard is progressing, and how the working group has asked the International Standardization Organization to use “you” in the standard, which has never been done in an ISO standard before
  • how the Federation is exploring ways to help countries implement the standard once it’s adopted
  • how feedback from PLAIN’s members about training and resources has led the Federation to explore the possibilities of guidelines and programs for training and a library of resources for plain language professionals.

The Federation’s current priorities are standards, training, and certification. We wanted to highlight all of the impressive progress that has been made so far in this issue of the e-journal. Furthermore, this issue will be made available to everyone, not just our members, in the hopes to promote the international advancement of plain language for everyone.

To get us started, Chair? Vera Gergely sets us up with an overview of the Federation, including the why, how, and what of it all. For those of us
(myself included) with little knowledge of how international standards are developed, Christopher Balmford’s article about the mechanics behind this process is enlightening.

Then, we have some updates from various Federation committees. Gael Spivak discusses how this standard can be implemented at the national level, and how it might look different around the world.

In effort to professionalize plain language, the Certification Committee has been hard at work researching the most effective and sustainable
way towards certification, as outlined by Neil James.

And how could someone potentially reach certification? Training is one approach, and David Lipscomb reviews a few methods and resources that the Training Committee has examined so far, along with their next steps.

But before all that, there was the definition, a cornerstone to international plain language. Annetta Cheek gives an overview of the detailed work  that went into sculpting this short and seemingly simple text, which has been a critical tool for a lot of us.

And just in case you need more convincing that a standard for plain language is something to get behind, Cheryl Stephens, co-founder of PLAIN, shares some fascinating neuroscience behind reading and processing information.

And finally, we have 3 perspectives from our members who are on the frontlines of the plain language movements
in Europe. Lorenzo Carpanè (Italy), Natalia Nechaeva and Emma Kairova (Russia), and Uwe Roth (Germany) share the challenges of advocating for plain language in their respective countries while also discussing the progress made towards reaching a common understanding and expectation of clear communication.

We hope to highlight more work and perspectives like theirs from our members around the world. Do you have something to share about the state of plain language in your country or language? Be sure to keep your eye out for calls for contributions for future issues or send an email to PLAIN.