Introducing Toggle 2.0: A New Writing Style for a New Year

The first edition of Toggle was released in summer 2016, and since then staff have already compiled dozens of stories and interviewed countless technology executives. Though it hasn’t been long, we’re re-examining our style.

Below, you’ll find a letter from our recently appointed managing editor, Blake Davis, which explains (in our new writing style, of course) how and why we are making some changes.

So go on, give it a read and see what 2017 will bring to you, our features and readers, and our staff:

About two thirds of the way through putting together this edition of Toggle, I asked one of the writers if he’d been able to schedule an interview with Eric Romero, director of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Information Services Department, who we planned to write about. He hadn’t. The reason why not? Around 7 trillion gallons of rainwater.

The city had just been pummeled by a storm that dumped three times the amount of rain as Hurricane Katrina did back in 2005. Under the best circumstances, Romero, who heads a major city department, would have been tough to reach. We were contacting him just after a natural disaster the National Weather Service says happens once in a thousand years.

Somehow, just days after the flood waters receded, Romero found time to be interviewed by the writer, and the resulting story is one of our best so far, this being the third edition of Toggle.

Unlike many other trade magazines, Toggle is dedicated to portraying this shift in entertaining stories that are accessible to everyone, not just people with a technology background.

What I like about the story, which focuses on the role of Romero’s department in responding to the storm, is it shows how IT professionals are taking on broader and more complicated roles in government and industry across the U.S. For instance, in the Baton Rouge story, Romero’s department modified existing apps and approaches to map the extent of the flooding, unclog phone lines and arrange for the city to schedule debris pick-ups. Ten years ago, when Katrina hit, no IT department would have been able to do that much.

Unlike many other trade magazines, Toggle is dedicated to portraying this shift in entertaining stories that are accessible to everyone, not just people with a technology background. In order to do this, I and staff use anecdotes, include personal details and rely on simple, direct language that lets the people we feature shine through rather than burying them beneath the layers of their accomplishments like a story version of their resume. The result, I hope, is more and more stories like the one on Eric Romero and Baton Rouge. Give it a read.

Best regards,

Blake

… this story hasn’t published yet. But we encourage you to come back and read it — as well as the other features in our upcoming edition. Stay tuned!