How to Present Your Content

How to Present Your Content How to Present Your Content How to Present Your Content By Mark Nichol During a drive yesterday, I noticed again two ways that, in casual contexts, people are careless about their communication. For the first time, however, I realized that unfortunately, there’s a close analogy between the way many amateur writers present information and the way some well-meaning professionals (or other serious writers) do it. First, I noticed handwritten signs posted along roadsides: advertisements for yard sales and the like. You’ve likely noticed too how poorly many of these signs are executed: The sign maker begins to scrawl some information and runs out of space, compressing a phone number or other key information so that it is barely legible. Or perhaps the penmanship is poor, and the details are illegible. Or perhaps the print is too small or too wordy (or both) to be read by someone driving by at thirty or forty or fifty miles an hour or, worse, the message is styled in cursive writing. Occasionally, a sign exhibits a combination of some or all of these problems. Second, I passed between two small groups of people wielding signs at the crossroads of a small town. There were about a dozen protestors altogether, and though I had slowed to twenty miles per hour to negotiate the narrow road, I couldn’t focus on more than a couple of words on two or three signs before I had passed them. My passenger, who was at more leisure to read the messages, learned little more than I had: The people were on strike, but where they were employed and what they were striking for remained a mystery even though each of us had a few seconds to scan the signs, because, again, the print was sloppily written or too small or both, and the message was too wordy for motorists to take in during the brief opportunity. Unfortunately, handwritten signs aren’t the only form of communication in which communication fails because of poor planning and execution. We’ve all seen professionally prepared billboards with print too small to read, newspaper and magazine advertisements dense with tightly packed wording, and websites and blogs with poor design. The takeaway is the same, whether you’re selling knickknacks at a garage sale or widgets on a website: Don’t make your readers work hard to acquire your message. Produce the content carefully: Think about how readers will engage with the content at work, at home, on public transportation, in a passing vehicle? and design it accordingly. Plan your approach, trying several layouts and deciding which one works best for the purpose. Prioritize the information: What do you want readers to see first, second, third, and so on? Write the message, adapting the tone and the appearance to the readers’ circumstances and, if space is limited, trimming the content to the essentials. Ask for critiques, and return to the product later with a fresh set of eyes, then revise according to others’ suggestions and your own realizations. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Business Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Fly, Flew, (has) FlownFlied?On Behalf Of vs. In Behalf OfEnglish Grammar 101: Prepositions

Fractals Essays - Fractals, Fractal, Benoit Mandelbrot, Free Essays

Fractals Essays - Fractals, Fractal, Benoit Mandelbrot, Free Essays Fractals Fractals Review The videotape Fractals was narrated by a writer of science fiction, R.C. Clark, who is the creator of 2001 Space Odessy. Individuals interviewed, experts on the subject included professor Stuart, Dr. Michael Barnsley, Steven Hawkins, author of A Brief History in Time, and creator of the Mandelbrot set, Dr. Benoit Mandlebrot. These men introduced us to their insight of fractals, provided people with much new and fascinating information on this obscure topic, and left the audience with questioning minds. The scientists and experts reporting on fractals gave detailed descriptions of these images. They explained that a fractal is based on simple principles, rather than complicated components, and it was not discovered until the era of modern computers. A fractal is an image comprised of the equation Z z +c, which was formulated by Dr. Mandlebrot. This equation is defined by coordinates and positions on a plane that locate a spot. Fractals are images that are the same all over and their changing patterns can be magnified unlimited times. The patterns and bright colors change regularly and are very consistent. With continuous magnification, a baby Mandlebrot set can be found in every image. Fractals are fragmented; they are fractional images that we are surprisingly accustomed to. These images can be observed in objects we see every day, specifically in nature. From the edges and appearances of clouds, trees, rocks, ferns, and flowers, the fine structure and resemblence of fractals is obvious. Certain objects are examples of the entire fractal, including the Mandela, a religious symbol, stained glass designs in many church windows, the sculpture of Buddha, paintings and the design of blood vessels. It is understood that the fractal can be perceived, but what purpose does it serve? And this is what the scientists are still researching, the actual application of fractals. Fractal dimensions are applied primarily through data, making them a major tool in descriptive science and engineering. The military and NASA also have a use for fractals, which compress data for less difficult transmission to satellites in space. Fractals make pictures of leaves in collages and can reconstruct colorful and precise details of a magnified image. Other than these examples, fractals are presently useless to the common person. However, experts will soon be developing new devices to utilize, but it is practically certain that it will take some time for them to really figure out the fractal.