I hope professional business writing goes and dies in a fire

Professional writers must be the most miserable people on the face of the earth.

Think about it.  Professional business writing must be done in a third person voice, show no opinion, be factual, source everything, and sound formal.  Sounding formal can be anything from using technical jargon, to big words that requires a doctorate to be able to read and understand.

I was tricked into attempting to write like this – never again.

Recently I was asked to write a blog post (previous post) regarding mobile computing and the long term healthcare for work.  I’m used to writing on my own website/blog but once you start thinking of writing something that is going to appear on an actual website other than your own  - thoughts start to go toward being more formal. 

Formal.  I hate formal.  I hate formal wear.  I hate formal speech.  I hate formal syntax and I hate formal writing.   This became even more apparent when I tried writing the above mentioned blog post.  Besides the impossible task of trying to keep a post relevant about ever changing computing, I also attempted to write in a “formal business writing” style.  The results?  Well I’ve seen vomit that was more readable than what I had produced.  I tried.  I really did.  I tried to make a witty introduction, used formal words, sourced all my information and used a third person writing style throughout the entire document.  I finished the first eight versions of the post – and just could not get it to work.  A portion of the last of the first version read as:

On May 20th, 2007 at the All Things Digital conference Bill Gates talked about his vision for the future of computing.  He talked about a future in which people carried around not only one device, but multiple mobile devices and relied on the PC less.  One device he described was a larger tablet form factor computer with an optional keyboard attachment, the other being a smaller device which could fit in pockets and was geared more toward media

<snore>

I tried as much as I could to get that to work but no matter how much time and work I put into it – it sounded like one of those horrid press releases which is instantly sent into that secret black hole called your trash bin.  To get past it, I deleted the post entirely keeping it only as a reference in a backup which you must travel through a small hole while reciting the Klingon alphabet while at the same time solving various physics equations without a calculator.  (I went through a lot to get the above quote – but its worth it just for you).  Without any history to upset me with I started out to write the post again, this time writing it in my writing style.  Third person formalized business writing style be darned.

The result?  The result was something I was happy with. 

I could never imagine having to write in formal business writing again– if I had to ever write a paper like that I think I would rather just quit and move into a cardboard box.  Doing that would be more acceptable then attempting to live by those archaic rules of “business writing.”  Anything else that I write – be it on this or another blog/website will be written in my style with my voice, with my opinions, observations and (sometimes lack of) wit which I poses. 

I guess its true – in whatever you do – be true to your own voice.  Unless you’re a voice actor – then you can use someone else’s voice.

Information as distraction?

I guess NBC was wrong when they launched their “The More You Know” campaign many years back.  Apparently, information can be a distraction.  At least thats what were being told by the President.  

While speaking to graduates at Hampton University President Obama said:

“And with iPods and iPads, and Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it’s putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy.”

What the President fails to realize is that information/news has evolved to be consumed by the masses at large through mediums which people are familiar with.  While some of the techniques adopted do appear to entertain while only pretending to present information, the majority of news outlets are dispensing helpful relevant news.  The iPad, iPhone, iPod, Xbox and PlayStation(from now on called devices) are prime outlets for video news streams, video podcasts, and audio podcasts.  They also allow for integration and constant updating of services like Twitter, where news often breaks quickly and faster than traditional news sources.

News, to stay relevant, has had to evolve in both delivery and content means.  No longer is it acceptable for news to be just people sitting behind a desk reading off a teleprompter with a window floating above their up-right hand corner with a picture of an artist rendition of what a snapshot of the news story should look like.

Instead you have the current new eco system.  You have people looking for a discussion and analysis of the news.  They don’t want to have to wait to go home to get the latest and breaking news but want it when the event occurs and when they are on the go.  They also want news from all sides of the political spectrum, not just one which benefits their own agenda.  They may get upset from “the other side” of the isle but it also helps them keep informed in what is going on in the world.

For the most part we do not have a populace who is content on getting day old news in a news paper. The news has to be current and up to the minute.  One of the down falls is that sometimes that news is inaccurate, but if you look over the news cycles of the past year, any news which has been incorrect or inaccurate has usually been updated and corrected relatively quickly(hours to days).  If you were to rely on a newspaper or magazine, it may be days or months for the news to be updated, and then it would only be published in a specific section of the publication which everyone may not see.

No Mr. President, information is not a distraction.  It is a method by which people are able to keep themselves up to date on what is going on in the world.  There are some who do not like this and to them I say that they need to either bring themselves into the current world, or just accept that news is now being consumed on a 24/7 cycle and accept that news corporations no longer control the news.

We have moved beyond the need to have news controlled and have moved to an era where everyone helps report, comment, and shape news events as they unfold.  True, some news may come in a slightly entertaining fasion, but that doesn’t always appeal to everyone.  News through entertainment is a method of delivery used to convey important information, it is not something that subtracts from the message of the news. 

If to be informed is to be distracted, and a bad thing, than I say you can not have to much of this bad thing.

To the President I say NBC got it right, the more you know, the better of you are.