Writing for Change: An Interactive Guide to Effective Writing, Writing for Science, Writing for Advocacy
Full Review

Reviewed by: Kristen Elsby, Communications Manager, United Nations University, Japan
Review posted 1 September 2005
Review No. 58

CD-ROM Information

Content: A CD-ROM designed to develop skills to write effectively and purposefully, and to write for science and advocacy through self-learning and/or taught workshops.
Publication Date: 17 January 2001
Audience: Researchers, campaigners, scientists, fundraisers, project managers, social activists and people who train writers; primarily for those working in the not-for-profit sector.

Size: 48MB
Price: £20 / Free online
Manual needed: Yes. Included with the CD-ROM
How to order:

Order online*

Order by mail:
Fahamu
Frewin Court
51 Cornmarket Street
Oxford OX1 3HA, UK

E-mail: info@fahamu.org
Tel: +44 (0)845 456 2442 or +44 (0)1865 727006
Fax: +44 (0)845 456 2443 or +44 (0)1865 727909

Fahamu website*

Access CD-ROM content online for free*

*This link takes you outside the ADBI website. Please use the back button to return to ADBI.org.

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Full Review

This CD-ROM is a self-directed or group-based learning and reference tool aimed at building effective writing skills and preparing specialized written documents for different audiences. It provides a wealth of information that will assist a wide range of writers; particularly scientists, fundraisers, and campaigners, to better communicate a messages and write in a more reader-friendly style. It also shows how to produce writing for publication in specialist journals and how to tailor writing for articles, newsletters, and more.

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Content

The CD-ROM is divided into three training sections and includes a resource center with navigable, bookmarked PDF files, a version of Acrobat Reader (4.0), and a simple text editor (EditPad for Windows and Stickies for Mac OS). A printed Users’ guide accompanies the CD-ROM and offers users information to determine their preferred method of self-study while working through ‘Writing for Change’. There is also a section on planning group workshops that suggests using the CD-ROM as a basis for the workshops or as a supplementary learning resource.

Effective Writing-Core Skills: This section gives practical information and writing tips to help users develop effective writing techniques. The section teaches a range of core skills such as how to design a message, organize and structure ideas, write a first draft, and how to edit writing for clarity and meaning. Users are encouraged to complete this section first in order to build on these new writing skills in the following two sections of the course.

Writing for Science: This section contains specialized information needed to write articles for publication in scientific journals and improve the likelihood of getting those articles published. Emphasis is placed on determining publishing goals, considering the targeted reader, establishing a writing framework, preparing the first draft, abstract, and references, as well as participating in the publishing process.

Writing for advocacy: This section offers specific advice on writing for advocacy and non-specialist audiences, and provides targeted ideas about writing for distinct types of public information material such as articles, pamphlets, leaflets, posters, newsletters, and press releases. The advocacy section underscores the importance of developing persuasive writing skills so that a message will appeal to "the hearts and minds" of the target audience.

Each section is clearly structured, well organized, and well written. However the lack of graphic content to vary and break up the textual information makes using this CD-ROM a very text-intensive experience. And while the content is thorough and the user has abundant opportunity to practice new skills, the lessons could benefit from the inclusion of more examples of good and bad writing, both in the body of the lessons and screenshots of actual documents/published material.  This would encourage users to compare their own work product against actual examples of good writing to see where and how their writing could improve.

The additional resource section contains a recommended reading list, a list of scientific journals and magazines (only useful to those in the field of agricultural biodiversity), and links to relevant websites. The highlighted web addresses take the user to the Fahamu homepage where there is a search field into which you must re-enter the desired link information to arrive at the link. This method of integrating links certainly works, but is inconvenient for the user. There is also a trainer’s manual to accompany the printed Users’ guide.

Since producing this CD-ROM, Fahamu has developed a writing training course, JustWrite* that combines interactive exercises, tuition, and online discussion with a course CD-ROM based on ‘Writing for Change.'

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User-friendliness & Navigability

The course content is undoubtedly this CD-ROM’s greatest strength yet an unfortunate number of serious usability issues impede the user from getting the most of out of the product.  Because the CD-ROM was produced in 2000 and released in early 2001, it was designed to work in an optimal computing environment of nearly five years ago.

In the current computing environment the CD-ROM does not appear to work at all on Windows XP and does not function correctly in a Classic environment on Mac OS X, forcing a Mac OS X version of Acrobat Reader to launch in order to view the PDF files contained on the disk. Surprisingly, the program will run in a Windows XP-simulated environment within Virtual PC on Mac OS X. For many users, particularly those in developing countries who are still working on older PCs with older OS versions, this may not be an issue.

Navigation through the chapters of the CD-ROM actually behaves differently between the Windows (Virtual PC) PDF version and the Mac PDF version, and the Sitemap does not always behave as expected.  Also, users wanting to progress through the program in a linear order cannot jump immediately from the end of one sub-section to the beginning of the next sub-section without having to return to the Sitemap.  Fortunately users can view the Bookmark window for all sections and sub-sections from any content page within the CD-ROM. This allows users to move freely through the content in any order and use the built-in text editor.

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Interactivity

The only interactive feature available is a small built-in text editor (EditPad) that is included to allow the reader to make notes while proceeding through the CD-ROM.  However, the CD-ROM does not appear to work on Windows XP, and EditPro does not work in a Mac environment because it is a Windows .exe file.  As mentioned above, it will run in a Windows XP- Virtual PC environment on Mac OS X.  The instructions section notes that the ‘Stickies’ program should launch for Mac users, but since the CD-ROM did not operate as designed within the review-computing environment, this did not work.  Stickies is not part of the Mac OS X system.

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Distribution

English, French, and Spanish versions of the CD-ROM are available for purchase online for £20.00 (plus £2.00 postage and packaging to a UK address and £5.00 to an international address). It can also be purchased from the International Development Research Centre* through Renoufbooks’ e-commerce website for CA$45 (plus shipping costs of between CA$6.50 and CA$30.00, depending on the purchaser’s country of residence).

It is noteworthy that neither website mentions the computing environment restrictions which limit CD-ROM operability on some computers.

The full content of the CD-ROM can be viewed freely online in English*, French*, and Spanish* as a series of simple, hyperlinked HTML files, which are relatively low in bandwidth, compared with having to download the PDFs. The English version* can also be viewed online on IDRC’s site.

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Sustainability

Since there is a continuous and ongoing need for good writing within research, fundraising, and advocacy organizations the majority of content on this CD-ROM remains as relevant and useful now as it was when it was produced five years ago.  However, the optimal computing environment required for using this CD-ROM is no longer commonplace and therefore limits both its usability and sustainability.  Fortunately, the CD-ROM content is freely available online.

* These links take you outside the ADBI.org website. Please use the back button to return to ADBI.org.

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