In the nature of this post, let’s start off by defining what jargon is…
Jargon is a word, phrase or an acronym, that makes sense to an individual or people in the same organisation or knowledge sphere, but to anyone outside of that, the term may not mean anything or has a completely different meaning to them, which will lead to confusion.
For example, if I was to use the phrase ‘regulator’ when talking about steam locomotives, those who have prior knowledge of steam locomotives would know exactly what I was talking about. However, those who don’t know much about locomotives, are very unlikely to know that a ‘regulator’ is a jargon way of saying that ‘this handle makes the locomotive go faster’.
WHY IS jargon A PROBLEM?
The truth is that we all use jargon, we certainly have far too much in our museum world – and we often don’t realise or are aware that we use it! But, if we want our audiences to feel welcome and included in our experiences, the language that we use with them is something that we should all be mindful and conscious of.
Speaking in a ‘language’ which only a few people can understand will always make people feel unwelcome or even ‘not-smart enough’ to be part of the conversation. Jargon will always, unintentionally, alienate an audience that you are having conversations with.
It can also lead to misunderstanding or a misconception if people can’t follow or understand what you are trying to talk about.
Recognising when we use jargon can be really difficult, it is so deeply engrained in our everyday work, and it can even be surprising that people don’t understand the things that are so familiar to us. But we need to put our audiences at the heart of our experiences, and we need to critically reflect on the language we use with them and whether we are helping them to feel welcome and included in our experiences – or not.
JARGON BUSTING
When it comes to dealing with the issue of jargon, in the public/ audience engagement Academy training that we deliver with our teams, we suggest two key approaches for tackling the tricky issue of jargon.
The first thing to do is to reflect and consider whether it is essential to use that word or term in the context of your interaction or experience.
If the answer is no, then you should think of an alternative way to describe what you are doing or replace the term with a more commonly used ‘everyday’ word that everyone will recognise and clearly understand – being careful to avoid replacing, or defining, jargon with even more jargon!
However…you don’t always need to avoid using key and relevant terminology. It can be a good opportunity to introduce people to new words and phrases in the context of the activity you are doing.
In this case, what is important is to make sure that the ‘jargon’ phrase or term is clearly and explicitly defined early in the interaction and then use that term or phrase consistently throughout.
IN SUMMARY
When used correctly, terms and phrase that are central to the work we do can be a good thing to share with audiences to help give them informed insights into our work.
But there is still a lot of unnecessary jargon that is used, and we need to work hard at recognising when we do and take action to address it, if we are to help make the experiences that we deliver more inclusive and accessible.
Overwhelming people with technical words and phrases won’t help them to feel welcome in our museums, or invite them to engage and participate in a science engagement event. Instead we need to help more people to make meaningful connections with the science and engineering and to help them to recognise the value and relevance of it in their everyday life.