[NIFL-HEALTH:3608] Writing and Designing Guide - free copies available, second edition in

From: Jeanne McGee (jmcgee@pacifier.com)
Date: Fri Mar 08 2002 - 17:36:42 EST


Return-Path: <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov>
Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id g28Magu21649; Fri, 8 Mar 2002 17:36:42 -0500 (EST)
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 17:36:42 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <3C893CA7.7DC9560@pacifier.com>
Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov
Reply-To: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov
Originator: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov
Sender: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov
Precedence: bulk
From: Jeanne McGee <jmcgee@pacifier.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov>
Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:3608] Writing and Designing Guide - free copies available, second edition in 
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en]C-NSCPCD  (WinNT; U)
Status: O
Content-Length: 2474
Lines: 50

Hello everyone,

Three years ago, I wrote a manual of practical advice, examples, and
resources to help people create culturally-appropriate information
materials for low literacy audiences. I wrote it with help, advice, and
examples from many individuals and organizations, including a number of
people who participate on this list serv. My work was supported by a
contract from the Health Care Financing Administration (now known as
CMS, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). The full title of
this 316-page manual is Writing and Designing Print Materials for
Beneficiaries: A Guide for State Medicaid Agencies (HCFA publication
number 10145, October, 1999). It includes a six-step model for
developing and testing print materials, as well as guidelines for
writing, graphic design, and language translation. It features a
detailed Checklist for assessing features that affect the suitability
and effectiveness of print materials for audiences in general, and those
with low literacy skills and cultural diversity in particular. When the
Writing and Designing Guide was first published, the government sent
copies to many federal and state agencies. CMS also sends copies to
others on request, at no charge.

I’m delighted to announce that CMS has asked me to create a second
edition of this Writing and Designing Guide, to be released in summer
2003. I am changing the emphasis from Medicaid to explicitly address a
broader audience, including Medicare and SCHIP (State Children’s Health
Insurance Program). I have started to update the resources and expand
the manual to include some new topics.

If you have used the Writing and Designing Guide, I am eager to get your
feedback. I welcome your suggestions for improvement, ideas about
examples to include in the next edition, and suggestions about others I
should contact. I would also love to know about organizations, projects,
publications, websites, and other resources to include in the updated
chapter on resources. If you have never seen the guide, you can still
get a free copy, since there are some left from the second printing done
last year. To get an order form, just call me or send an email. Also,
please contact me if you would like to be on the list to receive a copy
of the second edition when it is printed.

With thanks for your feedback and help,
Jeanne

Jeanne McGee, PhD
McGee & Evers Consulting, Inc.
1924 NW 111th Street
Vancouver, WA 98685
Phone (360) 574-4744
jmcgee @pacifier.com



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Jan 17 2003 - 14:41:29 EST