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All posts for “politics”
Interview with Patrick Sharma, Newsbound's Explainer-in-Chief
Posted by: leelefever on October 24, 2012- 12:54pm
Categories: Explainer Profile, Explanation, journalism, news, politics
A while back I noticed that an organization called Newsbound posted a job opening for an "Explainer-in-Chief", a title I love to see. Curious, I followed Newsbound and eventually met Patrick Sharma, the person who now fills that role. He's been kind enough to answer a few questions and share a remarkable format the company is using to package explanations.
1. Tell me about Newsbound and your role there. What's the company's mission and story?
Newsbound is a San Francisco-based digital media... Continue Reading
Video: Explaining The US Election Process
Posted by: leelefever on October 10, 2012- 12:29pm
Categories: election, Explanation, Explanation, politics, video
This time of year, politics is everywhere, and so is confusion. Electing the US president is a complex subject with lots of moving parts.
That’s why we chose to explain it with a simple, non-biased video that uses visuals to make it understandable. It’s one of my favorite videos in our library and I hope it will be helpful to you and people you know. Please feel free to share it.
Looking for more videos like this? Check out our library of video explanations. Or build your own explanation... Continue Reading
Bill Clinton Shows Why Explanation is an Art
Posted by: leelefever on September 9, 2012- 1:21pm
Categories: Art of Explanation, empathy, Explanation, packaging, politics, Speaking
Late last week I got a text message from my politically-conservative brother in North Carolina that said “Has there ever been a better political speaker than Bill Clinton?” Indeed, wherever you stand on the political spectrum, it’s difficult to deny the effectiveness of Bill Clinton as a speaker.
E. J. Dionne published an opinion in the Washington Post where he said:
Bill Clinton is typically described as the empathetic, feel-your-pain guy. But his greatest political skill may be as a... Continue Reading
Explanations Lower the Cost of Figuring Something Out
Recently Jay Rosen published a fascinating article on his PressThink blog that focuses on politics and how the parties have learned to exploit an “electoral blind spot”. As Rosen puts it:
The blind spot is the point at which voters stop paying attention because the costs of figuring out what’s really going on are too high.
It’s a fascinating article, and I really love this idea of “costs of figuring something out”. The article is about politics and the press, but I think the idea applies... Continue Reading
The White House Goes Whiteboard
Posted by: leelefever on September 29, 2010- 5:00pm
Categories: Explanation, Explanation, government, politics, whiteboard
A while back I was a part of a panel with Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin and one of his big points during the session was the use of visuals in politics. This was in the middle of the healthcare debate and he wondered why no one, Obama, Republicans, members of congress, etc. were using visuals to make their cases. I agreed whole-heartedly. Glenn Beck seems to make it work, why not put visuals and whiteboards to work for serious policy discussions?
Today I saw that the White House... Continue Reading
Healthcare Reform Explained by Dan Roam
We often get requests to make a video about healthcare reform. Unfortunately, it's a subject that's very fluid - by the time finished a video, it may be out of date.
Thankfully, our friend Dan Roam (who wrote the book Back of the Napkin) has stepped up to the challenge and created a simple way to explain healthcare/insurance reform. Check it out:
Healthcare Napkins
View more documents from Dan Roam.
Study: Americans Overwhelmingly Demand Simple Communications
Posted by: leelefever on January 13, 2009- 4:00pm
Categories: business, Explanation, news, plainenglish, politics
Siegel+Gale recently completed a year long study of 1,214 American
homeowners and investors that shows huge demand for simple, plain
English communications. A few interesting quotes:
Fully 84% of all consumers say they are more likely to trust a company
that uses jargon-free, plain English in communications. And 79% say
they think it is “very important??? that President Obama “mandate that
clarity, transparency, and plain English be a requirement of every new
law, regulation and policy... Continue Reading
Through nearly 50 comments and 15-20 emails, you have spoken. You don't want to see politics on Common Craft. I agree that it is the right move - political discussions will not appear on the Common Craft web site. We may make videos about events that relate to government, but these will not reflect personal/partisan views. A couple of things:
1) First, wow. We are both so excited to see such amazing comments. The thoughtfulness is inspiring. Thank you so much for being involved - we are... Continue Reading
Sachi and I have an ongoing discussion that I want to share with you, dear reader, because I want to hear your feedback.
When I was a consultant, people would ask me what subjects are appropriate for a blog. Inevitably I would say that it should reflect the person behind the blog and what is important to them. It should be multi-faceted and provide personality along with on-topic content. I would also say that context matters - company blogs deserve special care, for instance.
So here I... Continue Reading
Hi, I am a teacher at a middle school in Ohio, I just shared your electoral college video with my kids and thy got it!!!!! Your explanation is the best I have ever seen. Now my kids want more of your stuff. Just thought you'd like a big cheer from Ohio.
Here's to kids getting it! Yay! The video is here.