I usually shun social media memes and challenges. Recently, for the first time, I accepted a Twitter challenge to share seven books on seven days, without explanation.

1. Hamlet
2. Crime and Punishment
3. New Dictionary of Modern Finnish
4. Seven Brothers
5. Slaughterhouse 5
6. The Six Bullerby Children
7. Don Quixote

I started the challenge on April 17th with Shakespeare and finished it on April 23rd with Cervantes. Hamlet is my eternal favorite. I have to admit that I picked Don Quixote primarily because the final day of my challenge happened to be World Book Day, which marks the deaths of both Cervantes and Shakespeare.

Reading Crime and Punishment was a mind-blowing reading experience at a young age, and I eventually even wrote a thesis on it. The protagonist Raskolnikov also has a connection to Hamlet and his fevered mindset, so it’s no surprise that both are among my favorites.

With Aleksis Kivi’s Seven Brothers, I’m attracted by its rich language and its distinctive humor, which is also at the heart of Vonnegut’s novels – though the American’s humor is far more sarcastic than Kivi’s cosy wordplay. Astrid Lindgren’s children’s books are all popular in Finland, but I have never read any book more often than The Six Bullerby Children. Its popularity endures from generation to generation.

By explaining my choices even this briefly, I’ve now broken the rules of the #7books #7days challenge. In general, any list of best books always seems somewhat narrow-minded in the boundless world of literature, so this challenge probably will stand as both my first and last.

I’ve just read the newly published Nonfiction Writer’s Book by Tiina Raevaara and Urpu Strellman. Over the years, I have gone through several articles and books on this subject for work and for my own interest. So I was eager to see what new ideas the writers would offer me.

I was delighted to find that they apply the concept of argument. It seems like a useful tool for a variety of nonfiction texts. The argument is the author’s main claim, something the reader may agree or disagree with. The claim acts as a main thread of the text and combines various facts into a whole.

The concept of scene is another useful tool I noted. Scene is familiar from fiction; it is linked to narrative nonfiction. Things are not just described, but also displayed by action and dialogue. An incident can encapsulate some essential features of the subject, using the techniques of fiction but the contents of nonfiction.

Headings are such a worn-out topic that I didn’t expect much. However, I was interested in the way they were handled: the authors compared the contents of a dissertation and of a book written on the same subject. The titles and headings in the nonfiction  contained more interpretation and atmosphere than those in the dissertation. The writers also classified headings into different types and gave examples of each. 

The strengths of the Nonfiction Writer’s Book, in my opinion, are its rich examples and the authors’ wide knowledge of the genre. Experienced readers generally benefit more from analyzed examples than from direct instructions. Do you agree?

In the workplace, the only constant is change. As a result, people always need to learn new skills, follow new procedures, and master new information.

Except that’s not really true. What people need is to achieve new results, or different results, following such change. However, it’s not always necessary to learn in order to produce the desired results.

A job aid is external information someone uses on the job that reduces the need to memorize while enabling that person to produce the desired results. For many tasks, especially if they have many steps, or complicated steps, or if it’s especially important to do them correctly, job aids can lower or even eliminate the need to “learn” information. Checklists at a hospital operating room or on aeroplanes are a form of job aid; in critical situations people should not rely solely on their memory. Instead, the checklist is a faithful, patient reminder. In a crisis, a job aid helps you proceed step by step to the desired result.

Job aids even make staff training better. Instead of spending time on memorizing information that doesn’t need to be memorized, staff can learn in training how to do their work using the job aid – and apply that same guide, back on the job.

 This week’s guest writer, Dave Ferguson, has created job aids for organizations like GE, Kraft Foods, and the corporation that administers public-sector pensions for the province of British Columbia. He’s given workshops on building job aids at professional conferences, and shares examples and advice at Dave’s Ensampler.

Writing books won’t make you rich in Finland. Here, it’s a success if you sell a few thousand copies; most books sell fewer than a thousand. An author receives two or three euros for each book sold.

Last Saturday, the Association of Finnish Non-fiction Writers organized a panel for parliamentary candidates. Participants included Leena Kostiainen (National Coalition), Jouni Ovaska (Center), Oras Tynkkynen (Greens) and Pia Viitanen (Social Democrats). The politicians agreed on the need to strengthen the position of Finnish-language literature. In a small language area, support is needed to maintain a diverse community of writers. Books, reading and libraries are among Finland’s main strengths.

Writers received good news during the last parliamentary term, when Finland finally reached the level of other Nordic countries for government payments to writers whose books are in public libraries. Next summer, the VAT on electronic books will decrease, as has long been desired. However, concerns continue regarding non-fiction’s unequal share of library grants awarded, as well as a reduction of remuneration from copyrighted material. Non-fiction grants are based almost solely on the revenue from those remunerations.

According to the association’s executive director, Jukka-Pekka Pietiäinen, writers would receive a slight boost if people could buy books using tax-free recreation tickets from their employers. Until now, these have only been valid for sports and cultural events. The panelists agreed that this is a great idea.

I have been thinking about how legal language practices affect the readability of official government documents. Specifically, I want to explore which practices are justified and which ones are unnecessary.

For example, I am disturbed by the legal convention which first uses a full, legal name, followed by hereinafter and a shorter name. In ordinary writing, this sort of long-to-short replacement happens all the time without the officious legalism.

Here’s an example from some data protection guidelines with not one but two “hereinafters.”

 These guidelines provide practical guidance and interpretative assistance from the Article 29 Working Party (hereinafter “Working Party”) on the new obligation of transparency concerning the processing of personal data under the General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter ”Data Protection Regulation”).

 Since the text that follows refers only to this Working Party, the phrase ‘Article 29‘ is omitted. Likewise, “General” is dropped from later mentions of the Data Protection Regulation. Ritually adding hereinafter to the first mention of each term provides no real clarification, since the meaning would be obvious anyway. The main result of this pointless specificity is unnecessarily complicated language.

I started my doctoral dissertation five years ago. I’m examining how to improve the usability of public-sector writing, an issue important for democracy and inclusion.

One reason I started this research is because I wanted to find better tools and evidence-based techniques to use in communication courses for the public sector. I also wanted to find out why efforts to make official text easier for the public have not yet delivered much success, despite good will and constant efforts to train people. Given my professional experience, I already had thoughts about these problems when I began, but during this study, my ideas have become more focused. Solutions must now originate with the top of the hierarchy, mainly by reassessing and revising official language practice and policy.

Writing the research has been an expanding experience. When researching and popularizing difficult texts for work, I don’t want to stumble over academic jargon. Inevitably, though, a dissertation requires special terminology, numerous references, and a detailed description of the research process. My writing risks becoming so tautological and tedious that even I won’t want to read it.

Once the dissertation has been reviewed and, hopefully, approved, I will publish a plain language summary of it online. With luck, you’ll find it clear enough that you understand the public-sector communication principles that I advocate.

Elaborate, ’to expand something in detail,’ originates with Latin. Elaboration is often used to explain or clarify – for example, in foreign language teaching.

Elaboration is presented as an alternative to easy-to-read text. Katriina Rapatti says in her article Text Interactivity as the Key to Understanding (available only in Finnish) that for a language learner an easy-to-read text can be verbally too narrow. If all abstract expressions and difficult structures are eliminated, the learner cannot expand his linguistic skills. Instead of removing all the difficult expressions, the text should provide explanation for them. This means in practice that the elaborated text often becomes longer than either the original or the easy-to-read version.

Elaboration uses the same methods by which native speakers facilitate the understanding of a foreign-language interlocutor. According to Rapatti, elaboration is the combination of two language forms: written language enriched with explanations used mainly in spoken language. The text becomes the reader’s understanding partner.

I think the difference between clarification and elaboration is more in perspective than in practical editing. In practice, easy-to-read texts often include examples and descriptive additions. However, retaining different levels of language, as elaboration stresses, is an important viewpoint.

I have worked a couple of years as an expert for The Finnish Centre for Easy-to-Read. When I started I thought I already knew everything I needed, since I have popularized texts throughout my working life. What an awakening I’ve had! I constantly learn new things from the Centre’s experienced professionals.

One important thing has been how to design an easy-to-read layout. At first, I used the recommended line length of 55 to 60 characters. However, an experienced colleague suggested even shorter lines.

For example, this line has 43 characters.  

I learned, with some effort, to use shorter lines with only one phrase or sentence in the line. Even official documents began to resemble a poem.

Meanwhile, my font size became larger. Now I use Arial 14 point in the body text. I think it is the smallest size which is easily read by older people. It was educational to watch an 85-year-old trying to read a twenty-page guideline from the city – in an 11-point font. That didn’t go well.

General layout instructions are the same as in other texts. People read popular fonts fastest. Lowercase letters are easier than capitals. Contrast is best when using black text on a white background. The left edge of the column is even, the right edge ragged. Highlighting should be used only with caution.

I was in Israel last week. Luckily, the signs were not only in Hebrew. I wouldn’t have survived well with my loanword vocabulary: amen, bagel, cider, hallelujah, kibbutz, klezmer, kosher.

However, different writing systems and variable transcripts caused headaches while driving. The names used in Finnish editions of the Bible were often difficult to recognize in the local names.

Jerusalem was Yerushalayim in Hebrew and Al-Quds in Arabic.

Jesus’ hometown Nazareth, where 70% of the population are Arabs, is called An-Nāşirah in Arabic and Nazerat in Hebrew.

Abraham’s residence Beersheba is written in the form of Be’ér-Sheva in Hebrew and Bi’r as-Saba’  in Arabic.

The town name Jaffa, which is very familiar to Finns, appears on signs as Yafo in Hebrew and Yāffā in Arabic.

The general confusion – in addition to the chaotic traffic – is increased by the fact that spellings can be different from one sign to another. So, if you go to Israel for a roadtrip, I only wish you mazel tov ’good luck’.

The Association of Finnish Non-fiction Writers published a collection of articles, Towards eSchool (in Finnish Sähköistyvä koulu) which can be downloaded from the association’s website. The collection aims to offer multiple perspectives on digital learning, and includes articles by 20 writers. I have picked three digital pros and three digital cons.

Digi cons

Antti Pirhonen: With digital learning, the expertise of teachers is not utilized, but pedagogical understanding is replaced by ”polished arguments of a local ICT supplier”.

Kai Hakkarainen and Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen: Teachers are using digital technology for everyday writing and basic tasks, but they are not applying it to larger projects and more demanding information building.

Timo Tossavainen: The advantages of elearning materials are mostly justified by automating the work of the teacher, not by new learning opportunities.

Digi pros

Johannes Pernaa and Simo Veistola: Challenging phenomena, for example in chemistry teaching, can be offered in an e-book as interactive simulations or animations.

Teuvo Sankila: If materials are in electronic format, the content is easy to translate and localize for different needs.

Kai Hakkarainen and Pirita Seitamaa-Hakkarainen: Mobile and wireless technologies make it possible to transform any location into a learning space.

In my own article, I recommended an additional benefit: the potential for global networking and the interaction of experts on my favorite channel Twitter.