‘All known knowledge’ obscures rather than reveals
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich wants prosecutors in his federal corruption trial to play all 500 hours of the FBI’s secretly recorded tapes of his conversations.
“Of course,” I thought when I heard the news. “He’s practicing AKK.”
AKK is The New York Times’ acronym for “all known knowledge.” That’s where — instead of carefully sifting through the information on your topic and building a cogent argument out of it — you dump all that information on your audience members and let them sort it out.
AKK doesn’t inform people; it just numbs them.
And that’s what Blagojevich’s defense team is counting on: burying jurors under so much information that they can’t think. (This is also known as the “That document you requested is somewhere in this semi truck filled with paper” defense.)
Unlike Blagojevich, you actually want to help your audience members understand your topic. So your job isn’t to forward AKK; your job is to find a tight story angle on the topic and communicate it efficiently.
Except when you don’t want them to understand. And then, by all means, drown your audience members in data.
Cut Through the Clutter
When you make your writing easier to read, your audience members will read it faster, understand it better and enjoy it more.
Master a seven-step system for making every piece you write easier to read and understand at Catch Your Readers — an online persuasive-writing workshop on Oct. 5-9.You’ll learn how to avoid causing your reader to skip your paragraphs … how long is too long for sentences that are easy to understand … tricks you can steal from Shakespeare, Lincoln and Churchill for rallying readers with your words … and a free tool you can use to measure readability.
Save up to $100 with our group discounts.
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