Our panel of language mavens

The federal information technology community is home to a number of experts in the fields of plain language and Web content. Here are the four who contributed their ideas to this article.

Annetta Cheek, a communications consultant (www.annettacheek.net), serves on the executive board of the Center for Plain Language. Her 25-year career in the federal government included a four-year stint as the chief plain-language expert for the National Partnership for Reinventing Government.

Candi Harrison spent 24 years at the Housing and Urban Development Department, including 10 years as the agency's Web manager, before retiring in 2005. She was co-chairwoman of the Federal Web Managers Council and is now the proprietor of "Candi on Content," a blog for federal Web content managers.

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In this report:

Writing to be heard—and understood on the Web

CDC strikes a balance between accuracy and clarity

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Leslie O'Flahavan is co-founder of E-Write, a consulting firm that provides customized Web writing courses, develops Web editorial style guides and writes Web content. She is co-author of “Clear, Correct, Concise E-Mail: A Writing Workbook for Customer Service Agents.” She blogs at "Writing Matters."

Janice (Ginny) Redish, a specialist in plain language and usability (www.redish.net), advises federal agencies on how to improve the organization, writing style and usability of their Web sites. She is the author of "Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works."