plainlanguage.gov
About
The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) is a group of federal employees from different agencies and specialties who support the use of clear communication in government writing. Originally called the Plain English Network, PLAIN has been meeting informally since the mid 1990s.
Our goal is to promote the use of plain language for all government communications. We believe that using plain language will save federal agencies time and money and provide better service to the American public.
To promote plain language, we:
- develop and maintain the content of this site
- manage the plain language community of practice
- offer free half-day training sessions to federal agencies
- sponsor occasional seminars about plain language
We meet monthly to discuss plain language issues. Our meetings are open to all federal employees. Subscribe to our mailing list to learn about upcoming events.
Please contact us if you have questions about how to promote plain language within your agency.
Our officers
Kathryn Catania
Co-chair
Chief, Plain Language and Content Division, Office of Communications
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Katherine Spivey
Co-chair
Web Content/Social Media Manager, Plain Language Launcher
General Services Administration
Miriam Vincent
Web manager
Staff Attorney, Office of the Federal Register
National Archives and Records Administration
Jamie Stark
Training coordinator
Writer-Editor, Office of Customer Engagement & Strategic Communication U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
About the site
This site launched in 1994, and was redesigned in 2004 with volunteers from PLAIN and student work facilitated by Thom Haller.
In 2017, we partnered with 18F to redesign the site and make it more accessible in modern browsers. plainlanguage.gov is built with the U.S. Web Design Standards and is hosted on Federalist by the General Services Administration.
We are continuing to improve the site and welcome your feedback.