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Monday, December 17, 2018

Duncan Green — When to write in DevSpeak; when to use Plain Language? More handy tips


DevSpeak is devspeak for "technical jargon." It's related to overuse of mathematical expressions for effect. The question for writers to ask is how the language they choose affects the signal/noise ratio for the intended audience. Useful post.

Oxfam Blogs — From Poverty to Power
When to write in DevSpeak; when to use Plain Language? More handy tips.
Duncan Green, strategic adviser for Oxfam GB

Related

Lars P. Syll’s Blog
Why statistical significance is worthless in science
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

Also

Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
Why do sociologists (and bloggers) focus on the negative? 5 possible explanations. (A post in the style of Fabio Rojas)
Andrew Gelman | Professor of Statistics and Political Science and Director of the Applied Statistics Center, Columbia University
at

2 comments:

  1. Noah WayDecember 17, 2018 at 4:59 PM

    Where is our resident "material competence" expert to opine on these maters?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Clint BallingerDecember 18, 2018 at 12:19 AM

    "international development" and everything related to it is largely a joke. People making work for themselves. Their "jargon", as always, is a defense mechanism to hide the fact they do fuck-all.
    Jargon ALWAYS hides that. There is NEVER a time for "technical" language. Anyone who truly understands a field, ANY field, can explain it in plain language. In fact, WILL explain it in plain language. Often to the chagrin (and jealousy) of their colleagues.
    Jargon users are bullshitters. Period.

    Yes, Same goes for math in the social sciences btw

    ReplyDelete