Dr. Annetta L. Cheek

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  www.scsun-news.com/news/ci_10307926 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 8/22/2008    Last Visited: 8/26/2008  

  Government officials "know who their audience is, and they should write for them," said Annetta Cheek, a spokeswoman for the Plain Language Action and Information Network, a group of federal employees who advocate for clearer language in government communications.
  
  Cheek said the group asked three plain language "translators" to examine the 18 pages of Road Home documents.

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  www.govexec.com/features/0708-01/0708-01s3.htm - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/1/2008    Last Visited: 7/9/2008  

  For more than 15 years, the chief flogger for clear government communication has been Annetta Cheek, chairwoman of the Center for Plain Language.Cheek retired from the Federal Aviation Administration last year to advocate for the plain language bill.She and her colleagues lobby lawmakers in part by skewering particularly wordy federal documents, then showing how the language improves under plain language practices.
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  During the Clinton administration, Cheek coordinated an assault on bureaucratic language that was launched as part of Gore's reinventing government effort.The group's current push for plain language is a descendent of the Gore effort.He awarded a Gobbledygook Elimination Prize to federal employees who effectively clarified public documents, and President Clinton ordered agencies to use plain language in new documents, including letters, forms and notices.
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  Today, plain language programs remain in pockets of the government where they have become ingrained in office culture, according to Cheek.The National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Benefits Administration, FAA and the Social Security Administration all have maintained programs.
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  "It's pretty clear that agencies aren't going to do anything unless they have to," Cheek says.

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  misterthorne.org/set_in_style/2007/03/07/making-the-inc - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/7/2008    Last Visited: 2/10/2008  

  A rewrite offered by Annetta L. Cheek, Vice-Chair of the Center for Plain Language - "We consider a filing to have occurred when all those who must receive the filing receive it."
  
  Another Department of Justice regulation - "No payment shall be made to (or on behalf of) more than one individual on the basis of being the public safety officer's parent as his mother, or on that basis as his father."
  
  Another rewrite offered by Cheek - "We will pay only one person claiming to be the public safety officer's father and only one claiming to be the mother."
  
  This entry was posted 7 March 2007 at 19:27 and is filed under Copy, News/Events.

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  lsureveille.com/1.613633 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 8/27/2008    Last Visited: 9/2/2008  

  Government officials "know who their audience is, and they should write for them," said Annetta Cheek, a spokeswoman for the Plain Language Action and Information Network, a group of federal employees who advocate for clearer language in government communications.

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  www.jcfloridan.com/jcf/news/local/article/hurricane_rec - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 8/22/2008    Last Visited: 8/27/2008  

  Government officials "know who their audience is, and they should write for them," said Annetta Cheek, a spokeswoman for the Plain Language Action and Information Network, a group of federal employees who advocate for clearer language in government communications. Cheek said the group asked three plain language "translators" to examine the 18 pages of Road Home documents.

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  www.kentucky.com/513/story/502930.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 8/22/2008    Last Visited: 8/26/2008  

  Government officials "know who their audience is, and they should write for them," said Annetta Cheek, a spokeswoman for the Plain Language Action and Information Network, a group of federal employees who advocate for clearer language in government communications.
  
  Cheek said the group asked three plain language "translators" to examine the 18 pages of Road Home documents.

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  www.rcreader.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/4/2008    Last Visited: 6/5/2008  

  Annetta Cheek, chair of the Center for Plain Language (which describes itself as a "corporation established to propel the belief that government and business communication can be clear and understandable"), said she is cautiously optimistic about the bill."It'll be a tough fight," she said."Those of us that are plain-language advocates understand that passing a bill does not mean that the government's instantly going to start writing in plain language.It's just a step along the way."
  
  Cheek worked in the federal government for 25 years, including with Vice President Gore's National Performance Review, an office that attempted to spread plain language throughout the federal government.She also helped found the Plain Language Action & Information Network, a group of federal employees who advocate for plain language in government.
  
  Cheek said she supports Braley's bill but also finds flaws."No bill is ideal," she said.She noted that although although agencies would be required to make reports to Congress periodically, there would be no repercussions for those that fail to follow the bill's mandate.
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  Still, Cheek said she's hopeful that plain language is gaining a foothold in government.
  
  "We understand that this is a long process," Cheek said, "We haven't come this far to let it lapse because of we're not paying attention to what the government's doing."

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  www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=169&sid=1387197 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/15/2008    Last Visited: 4/15/2008  

  Annetta Cheek, Chair, Center for Plain Language
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  On Tuesday's Daily Debrief, host Amy Morris spoke with Annetta Cheek, Chair for the Center for Plain Language, about the fact that the House voted in favor of the Plain Language in Government Communications Act on Monday -- and the Senate might not be far behind.
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  Cheek says the bill will require agencies to 'translate' documents -- a feature she finds necessary from personal experience.
  
  Having been a federal employee for 25 years, I know what all of that stuff looks like, and it's often so bad that it really [needs] a translation into the English language before you can give it to someone and have them have a hope of understanding what it says.
  
  The movement, while small at first, has been catching on.
  
  Cheek says her group has been working on making government documents more understandable to the general public for about 15 years now -- a feat that she says has been met with some resistance.
  
  Having been a fed, I do understand because, first off, it's hard work.Writing clearly is not simple.People that have been writing in the government way for years find it difficult to transition to something that's plainer.The old convoluted forms are much easier to just keep writing, partly because you don't need to think about them very much and when you're writing and when you're writing plainly, you have to be thinking clearly, which is an added challenge.
  
  Cheek also notes that she understands translating these documents could also eat into a very valuable resource: time.
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  Cheek says that even after the law passes, her organization will still have work to do.
  
  We're there to help and the federal group called PLAIN is there to help their agencies.We're also there to keep an eye on things to encourage gently, as we've been doing for the past 15 years.There are reports required by the bill and we'll certainly be commenting on those reports.
  
  Any agency that is nervous about moving to plain language should look to the Securities and Exchange Commission.Cheek says they've been the model for creating a plain language instruction guide called -- what else -- The Plain English Handbook.
  
  It's an excellent book that we recommend to people looking for guidance that's been out there for a number of years.They have regulations requiring that certain parts of financial documents, such as executive summaries and risk factors, must be in plain language.Currently they're working to get, for example, the costs of funds that you buy to be clear.
  
  Cheek says the Department of Housing and Urban Development is another agency that's jumping on the bandwagon.In addition, she notes that Veterans' Benefits has been working for a number of years to make their documents more readable for the general public.
  ...
  On Tuesday's Daily Debrief, host Amy Morris spoke with Annetta Cheek, Chair for the Center for Plain Language, about the fact that the House voted in favor of the Plain Language in Government Communications Act on Monday -- and the Senate might not be far behind.
  ...
  Cheek says the bill will require agencies to 'translate' documents -- a feature she finds necessary from personal experience.
  
  Having been a federal employee for 25 years, I know what all of that stuff looks like, and it's often so bad that it really [needs] a translation into the English language before you can give it to someone and have them have a hope of understanding what it says.
  
  The movement, while small at first, has been catching on.
  
  Cheek says her group has been working on making government documents more understandable to the general public for about 15 years now -- a feat that she says has been met with some resistance.
  
  Having been a fed, I do understand because, first off, it's hard work.Writing clearly is not simple.People that have been writing in the government way for years find it difficult to transition to something that's plainer.The old convoluted forms are much easier to just keep writing, partly because you don't need to think about them very much and when you're writing and when you're writing plainly, you have to be thinking clearly, which is an added challenge.
  
  Cheek also notes that she understands translating these documents could also eat into a very valuable resource: time.

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  www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/26/2007    Last Visited: 12/26/2007  

  Annetta Cheek, chair of the executive board for the Center for Plain Language in Washington, D.C., worked on the House version of the bill.
  
  What's at stake is more than the annoyance of impenetrable government documents, she said.
  
  "Sometimes it's beyond annoying.Sometimes people don't get benefits because they don't understand the requirements.Sometimes people are denied their rights," she said.

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  uxnet.org/archives/date/2006/05?cat=3&m=200605 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/1/2006    Last Visited: 12/10/2007  

  We support the views expressed in the testimony of Dr. Annetta Cheek, Professor Joseph Kimble, Professor Thomas Cooley, and Mr. Todd McCracken in your March 1 hearing.

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