Time for a plain-language revolution

Making it easier is the job of John Strylowski, an Interior Department regulatory analyst who doubles as a Johnny Appleseed of plain language in his role as a trainer for government workers.

The challenge, he said, is to get folks to write for a general audience. And even if they are writing for experts in a field, "you're going to succeed if you write in a straightforward manner."

Seeking green ideas

A friendly reminder that federal employees have until Saturday to submit their ideas for the White House GreenGov Challenge, a chance for rank-and-file folks to share their ideas on how to improve the government's environmental sustainability.

More than 10,000 federal workers have logged on to www.whitehouse.gov/greengov to submit ideas and vote on other submissions, according to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The winning suggestions get included in a final report about the government's environmental sustainability.

"There's no winner or loser. We're just trying to harness the collective wisdom of 1.8 million civilian and military personnel, and you have to come up for a different approach for that than just having it all go into an e-mail account," said White House New Media Director Macon Phillips.

The contest "is a way for people across the country to participate in the business of government that I think historically has focused on Washington, D.C.," Phillips said. "If you look at the locations of people submitting ideas, they're all over the place."

The Office of Management and Budget's recent SAVE Award used a similar format to solicit cost-saving ideas from workers. The White House will include the best savings ideas in President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget.

Staff writer Ed O'Keefe contributed to this column.