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English scholars may use such language as "stream of consciousness",while economists may speak of "market maximization".Unfortunately this makes it indecipherable to everyone else.Individuals not directly involved in the discipline, or arelated field, are left thinking that the language is convoluted and notworth the time and effort to understand. Perhaps there is safety inisolation but in this safety there is the potential for losing youraudience.Words, or rather the control of words and hence the controlof language, have given one a sense of power. If some language confuses,then there may be the impression that one is somehow superior oversomeone who does not understand the language. This is the greatdemocratizing feature of the Internet.Unfortunately there has now developed a separate languagethat has become exclusive to the Internet and it has hadthe effect of scaring many people away from active use ofthe net. It is true that there has been a phenomenal increase inbusiness on the net but in many cases the use is restricted to e-mailand basic research for papers or reports. Many individuals need a veryprecise explanation or understanding and yet while they are surfingaround the net they come across a word such as "e-zines" (which means anewsletter sent through e-mail) and now their enthusiasm is tempered.This is not to suggest that people using the net are linguisticallychallenged in some way. They merely want to understand the languagewithout having to resort to a technical dictionary.Perhaps the introduction of the Apple computer can serve as anillustration. When individuals began working on computers, there wasconstant frustration for people who were able to use the computer butwho were not literate enough to work their way through the myriad of DOSprompts. The concept of a user friendly system opened the door for Applewith its user friendly Icons and point and click method. What could beeasier? Now the computer could be used by everyone and not just thetechnologically gifted. Computers were now taking on some humanattributes - so to speak.This kind of democratization of the Internet is also necessary. Whyshould a potential user, especially someone who wants to set up a webpage, but who does not necessarily possess the technical expertise, befaced with phrases that talk of "switch off the external CPU cache inyour PCs Bios" or "paid-rank" search engine." This is a case where theold "kiss" (keep it simple stupid) would prove effective.There is a power in language but that power does not have to be hiddenthrough an over dependence on technical jargon. Gone are the days when acomputer firm would fearfully bring a programmer into a meeting becausethe typical programmer gave the impression of having lived in anothertime zone while operating as a social outcast.There is an interesting commercial on television that deals withadvanced networking capabilities that will allow inter-office and inter-branch communications. The president of the company comes up to theresident computer programmer and asks him to justify the expense usingless than 10 words. The programmer stops for about 10 seconds andanswers that the bottom line will be improved by 15% in less than oneyear. It was very simple, short and straight to the point. There was notechnical jargon, bafflegab or technical rhetoric. The justification forthe added expense was in the explanation. The commercial was extremelyeffective because it showed that, despite the complexity of the businessapplications, the solutions are very straightforward and simple.When discussing computers or web-sites one can read about "incorporatingCSS, DHTML, Flash, Shockwave, VRML, Java into your site, plus by usingSQL/mySQL, php3, ASP, javascript can add the ability to collate customerdatabase information and add e-commerce abilities."Translated this means that "you can incorporate amazing multi-media andinteractivity into your site, plus by using our highly skilled team wecan make it easy for you to see who your customers are, plus allow themto order your products on-line".In the same way when selling equipment you can advertise that you canpurchase a "12.1 active matrix laptop, 16+colours, with an AGP graphicscontroller, and a 2.5 MB of SGRAM video memory! Whats more - itincludes the L2 Cache running at the full clock speed, plus TWO extraPCMCIA slots so you can add a modem for instant Internet gaming!"Again this can be translated into "Purchase our amazing laptop withbrilliant colours, and exceptionally smooth graphics for playing games.Whats more- it can include extra memory to run games extremely fast,plus you can add extra functions such as a modem to connect to theInternet where you can play against other people."There willl alway be room for the technical jargon for the individualwho wants it. After the purchaser has been attracted to the product bygaining a straight-forward understanding of its capabilities, then, ifhe desires it, the technical capabilities can be covered by referring tothe specifications. Technical jargon, or statistical specifications, arenot necessary to sell the capabilities of a product or a service, butonly to explain it and to validate any claims that have been made.

About the Author

John Warzecha, who holds a teaching degree, a B.A., and an M.A., isV.P. of Communications at Wyka-Warzecha Enterprises,http://www.wyka-warzecha.com, a site devoting to helpingwebsite designers achieve amazing designing achievements.