Adventures in Content Strategy
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." Benjamin Franklin
Last week, at Mad*Pow’s annual Health Experience Design Conference, someone asked me “what is the correlation between health literacy and social determinants of health?” This was during a workshop on health literacy and plain language. This isn’t a simple question to answer, so let’s explore it. Social Determinants of Health What are social determinants of…
Rick Allen and I led a workshop on writing for health literacy this morning, as part of the Health Experience Design conference. I’m so grateful to have had a great group of participants. We were able to discuss how health literacy is impacted by social determinants, and resources to write for plain language. Health Literacy…
What can a content strategist do during a pandemic? Help communicate important information using plain language. I’ve defined plain language before, and even presented on how healthcare writing can benefit from plain language. Now we put it into practice to help people. People need content strategy – they need plain language during a pandemic. Why…
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and guilty because everyone in Twitter is suggesting books to read and ways to make this “the best time of you life” but you can barely get out of bed in the morning, please know: this is what depression feels like. — Marli Mesibov (@marsinthestars) March 22, 2020 Lately I’ve had…
It’s hard to write during the coronavirus pandemic. For one thing, it’s hard to focus on writing. My brain is pivoting to fear and worry, and also to nonessential things. What’s for lunch? How long is my hair getting? What happens if I get sick? Did anyone cough on me during my run yesterday? What’s…
If you missed my webinar on how to write in plain language, never fear! I have the slides, and a recording, so you can still learn how to help patients and caregivers understand what you’re saying. Ultimately, if you work in healthcare and you want “healthy” language? You need plain language. There are many reasons…
As an ex-SEO hater, it almost pains me to say this: SEO taught me to be a better writer. I didn’t think of it this way until I read a 2018 article by Jill Kurtz, called “Ditch Your SEO Baggage and Focus on What Matters.” Suddenly, as I read Jill’s perspective on SEO, I saw…
Forbes recently wrote an article titled There Are Three Kinds Of Content Strategy: Which Are You Doing? but really, are there only three types? I don’t think so. However, I was intrigued. What types of content strategy do I do? What types do you do? Forbes: Three Kinds of Content Strategy According to Forbes, these…
Looking for a quick-n-dirty guide to accessible design in 20 minutes? I gave this talk to my team as an intro, and I’m happy to share it. It’s full of tips and tricks. Accessible Design and Content in 20 Minutes from Marli Mesibov Looking for More on Accessible Design? Here’s a more detailed article on…
I know very little about UX in civic design. The day after an election, or a caucus (like yesterday’s), I rely on more knowledgable civic design folk. People like Dana Chisnell and Andrew Maier educate me. As Dana says, “every day is a civics lesson.” As we await the results of yesterday’s Iowa caucus, it’s…
