Modern legal persuasion is no longer limited to finely tuned written words, “incorporated by reference” throwaways to a mountain of non-text-indexed “attached” exhibits, or tightly framed arguments.
There’s more.
“Packaging” matters in the digital world. Even your “paper” letter or brief can (and more likely will) become digital within moments.
[Example: a letter written and printed on paper from the White House counsel, poorly scanned, and posted to the White House’s website.]
Email, social media, electronic-filing databases, and crowd-sourced repositories like DocumentCloud.org are other (but not the only) channels.
Several design attributes can increase usability in the digital environment. So let’s stop pretending that the consideration is not on the table. It’s never left—even though some prefer to ignore it like the relative they don’t want to acknowledge at family gatherings.
In fact, now it’s taking up more space. It will take up even more tomorrow. This is not about whether one should ignore holiday-crashing Uncle Eddie.
Don’t lump digital-document packaging in the same class as Uncle Eddie—something that you’d rather not deal with.
Digital-document packaging is manageable!
Why? Again, it centers around usability. Arguments, considerations, or messages work only when they are accessed and understood by the audience. Thought-out digital packaging eases the persuasion burden. Poor (or no) planning alienates the audience and hurts the perception of one’s position.
This platform will explore, recognize, appreciate, and reconcile these digital “usability” rabbit holes.
