Allan Jackson – Allan Jackson Communications

Death of print ‘greatly exaggerated’

February 7, 2017February 7, 2017 by Allan Jackson

Many owners and managers of small and medium-sized business have heard that print is dead and don’t even consider using it as part of their marketing mix.

Mark Twain once wrote that the reports of his death were greatly exaggerated and the same is true of print and other technologies. Remember all the panic and confusion in the music industry after digital downloads became the most popular way of getting new music?

The last rites were read for vinyl records after almost everyone agreed they had passed their sell-by-date. But a funny thing happened on the way to the funeral because vinyl refused to be buried.

Including all the facts

February 7, 2017December 13, 2016 by Allan Jackson

One of the most important things to remember when communicating in writing is that you won’t be around when your audience sits down and tries to make sense of what you’ve written. You therefore need to write simply and clearly and be careful to answer all the questions that your readers are likely to want to know the answers to.

Anticipating those is pretty easy if you take a leaf out of the reporters’ handbook and include the 5Ws in any informative writing that you do. As a junior reporter I was introduced to them and taught to check my writing to make sure they were all included before hitting the send button on any story I wrote.

So what are the 5Ws? They are What, Why, Where, When and Who and can be applied to any situation. For example:

Language matters # 3

January 3, 2017October 28, 2016 by Allan Jackson

I was at a presentation the other day where the author had obviously confused their and there.

Their is possessive as in their dog or their first meeting.
There is used to indicate the position of something as in she put it over there.

Language matters # 2

January 3, 2017October 18, 2016 by Allan Jackson

Getting apostrophes right is not hard when you remember they are used to indicate possession or there are letters missing in a word. This week I saw:

… you’re brother …

Your is one of those words that indicates possession and doesn’t take an apostrophe. The apostrophe indicates there are missing letters so that you’re means ‘you are’ which is clearly wrong in that context.

See my presentation on Slideshare with more info on using apostrophes.

Language matters # 1

January 3, 2017October 14, 2016 by Allan Jackson

One very common writing mistake is the incorrect use of words and I will be drawing attention to some I notice. This week’s misused words are:

compliment & complement

If there is a pli in the word it means there is no cost for something or that praise is being given. If there is a ple the word refers to things that complete each other.

Examples

Jane complimented me on my writing and handed me a voucher for a complimentary meal.
Bob and Jane complemented each other perfectly and made a lovely couple.

The responsive web**

January 3, 2017May 10, 2016 by Allan Jackson

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about websites and their content and have begun to think about a checklist of things one really needs to consider as a site owner or as someone planning to launch a new site. Two of the most important are how quickly the site loads and how it looks to the visitor, no matter where they access it from and what device they use.

Knowledge obsolesence

January 3, 2017January 20, 2016 by Allan Jackson

And a free skills upgrade for Queenslanders

Links in chain of learning. — Links in the chain of learning.

There was a time when the knowledge you gained at the beginning of your career would more or less serve for your entire working life. These days things move so fast that some or all of what you know can become obsolete overnight.

This was rammed home forcefully late last year when my position was made redundant and I decided to use some of the spare time I gained to polish my skills. My main focus has always been content creation but I have had a sideline in developing, maintaining and hosting websites since the early 1990s. I therefore decided I would take a course or two on the subject and was amazed at how much had changed while I wasn’t looking.