I'm looking for a term of art. What do you call a letter/card/notice mailed to a customer (or in our case a voter) that includes both information and a form to be returned? @cjforms.bsky.social

Fascinating discussion of error rates and help procedural errors are calculated in a high stakes metric. We make it hard to administer. Then we fine the states And punish recipients. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-big-be... @cjforms.bsky.social

Check out the piece referenced by @besttrousers.bsky.social on @donmoyn.bsky.social's Can We Still Govern here: donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-can-b...

Important read from @civicdesign: Their four principles for designing clear, effective government forms: 1⃣ Make it trustworthy. 2⃣ Explain the problem clearly. 3⃣ Be specific about the problem. 4⃣ Tell them how to take action successfully. More here: civicdesign.org/form-letters...

In Crossfit, hero workouts recognize extraordinary lives and effort. They are often first responders or military personnel. It's tragic to have to say this, but we should honor the service of legislators and election officials, too.

Team work time: in person, remote and hybrid. How do you decide on a case by case basis. I'm looking for research on the advantages and when each mode works best/not as well

It’s amazing what happens to turnout when campaigns actually speak directly to groups they want to vote for them on platforms and in places they actually are

This quote keeps rattling around in my head from Julius Caesar "Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war.'

Well, I gotta hand it to Amtrak for being even worse at customer service than the airlines,, and with much less customer protections in place. Will the train leave? Won't it? Who knows. Apologies don't replace information.

Another entire department of people doing great work in the federal government to mourn

Pete Buttigieg is a master of deft communication, breaking down misunderstood ideas into accurate but easily digestible protein bars for the masses. In short, I want @petebuttigieg.bsky.social to explain the end of Lost to me.

So happy that the personas that we created for A Web for Everyone now have a second home on the Know About Accessibilty website. knowaboutaccessibility.org rosenfeldmedia.com/books/a-web-...

It's that kind of morning, as I spiral down into the news. This one makes me saddest of all for all the reasons in the article, and because someone I know was the UX lead for this amazing project. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-death-...

Why we can't fix the forms for @cjforms.bsky.social "Our forms still look like they’re from the eighties and nineties in part because ...They are digital versions of the paper that preceded them, because that’s what we have an approval process for." open.substack.com/pub/eatingpo...

Movies for today's news, April 16 edition: The Mauritanian with Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tahar Rahim

Hmmm.

Fight Fiercely Harvard by the inimitable Tom Lehrer (jump to 1:25 if you just want the song) www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m9O...

Great perspective from @lflegal.bsky.social on hacking audible pedestrian traffic signs www.lflegal.com/2025/04/aps-...

Louise Erdrich's "The Night Watchman" “[I]f you should ever doubt that a series of dry words in a government document can shatter spirits and demolish lives, let this book erase that doubt....

Read this thread. It brings me back to a party where I was quizzed about my work on cancer.gov as though it was a commercial website.

Does anyone know if any of the people creating backups are including: vote.gov eac.gov and the whole US Web Design System

Raise your hand if you think it's a good use of a central government to.... - accurately report on the weather - keep nuclear weapons safe - make it easier to get passports and pay taxes - combat an Ebola outbreak - make it both easier and more secure to login (just to name a few) Oops. Too bad.

18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight. Read our letter to the American people: 18f.org

In today’s episode of #FixThrForms, @joelanman.bsky.social celebrates an idea we are both very proud of - and that took a surprisingly large amount of work by many folks to make happen. Extra-large radio button and check box targets on GOV.UK. Quicker for everyone and more accessible.

New, from me: Musk is not just destroying core government functions, he is also destroying the tech capacity of government. The people with serious tech skills who care about fixing govt have been fired. Both 18F and the US Digital Service are gone. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/skilled-te...

ProPublica spoke to about 150 people who had lived in homeless encampments when cities cleared them out in “sweeps.” We distributed notecards so people could tell us about the toll in their own words. This is what they wrote.

Love this "go where the people are" approach to using pop-up voting locations to support unhoused voters with ballot markers, mail ballot dropoff, and registration support. Kudos to the LA election office + the centers. boltsmag.org/los-angeles-...

Great post from a Deputy Town Manager "...the benefit of plain language isn’t having a better document, or a streamlined presentation. It isn’t writing better emails. The real benefit for us in local government is serving our community the best we can." centerforplainlanguage.org/plain-langua...

Every once in a while something like this happens: an Executive Order that makes a big change in a quiet way. Thanks to all the people pushed this along over the last 30 years. It's a giant step forward to make government responsive to people. www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing...