Another unintelligible official document, a complicated loan agreement, a confusing instruction manual or a medication leaflet that only a doctor or pharmacist can understand? Many official texts and documents are written in an overly complicated manner. To improve communication, any office, bank or telephone operator can use Jasnopis, an application developed in cooperation between SWPS University and the Institute of Computer Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), which helps people to write clearly and concisely.
Problem
Unintelligible documents and public administration letters
Many of us encounter difficulties when trying to comprehend official documents, manuals for various types of equipment, and medication leaflets. In fact, up to a third of complaints to the Commissioner for Human Rights arise from individuals misinterpreting public administration letters or legal documents received from offices or courts. Such misunderstandings frequently result in financial losses or missed opportunities to seek legal recourse. However, it's essential that texts of significance within the public domain are accessible to all. This accessibility significantly influences both our safety and our engagement in public life.
Do official documents have to be written in such a difficult and incomprehensible language? Is it possible to write them in a way that is clear and understandable to everyone, not just a section of society?
Solution
Jasnopis – an application that helps people to write clearly and concisely
Jasnopis is an application developed in cooperation between SWPS University and the Institute of Computer Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). The tool helps people to write clearly and concisely. The development of the tool was led by Professor Włodzimierz Gruszczyński, expert in linguistics, who worked at our Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in Warsaw for many years. Thanks to special algorithms, the application evaluates the clarity of texts, highlights complicated fragments, and proposes amendments aligned with the needs of addressee groups. Jasnopis allows not only to assess readability of texts, but it also helps to simplify texts of many documents, such as agreements, regulations, public administration letters, product instructions, and even simple notes.
The algorithm may be adjusted to meet the requirements of individual users or specific industries, for example the public administration, bank and financial sector, pharma industry, or telecom companies. The tool has been designed to address the needs of specific users and ensure that data security and confidentiality is maintained. Jasnopis may also be used as a plug-in for different text editors.
Jasnopis measures the complexity of a text on a scale from "1" to "7". "1" stands for the simplest texts, understandable by any reader, "7" for extremely complicated ones, intended more for professionals and requiring specialist knowledge. The application also suggests corrections: breaking long sentences into shorter ones or replacing difficult words with with more accessible alternatives.
Why?
We are committed to empowering everyone to participate in public life
Linguists, psychologists, computer scientists, and statisticians from SWPS University and IPI PAN encountered a problem that affects almost all of us. Their investigation revolved around a fundamental question: What defines the understanding of a text, in the context of Mr. Smith for instance, and how can we quantify the depth of that understanding? More than 3,000 people participated in the research, and the results led to the creation of Jasnopis. The researchers identified the text features that most significantly influenced the research outcomes. Then, through complex statistical calculations, they assigned an appropriate weight to each of these features (indicating the extent to which they influence comprehensibility), ultimately resulting in the creation of a long and complicated formula which the app uses to calculate the Text Comprehensibility Index.
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