SUMMART: Quick poll for non-US techwrlers: time notation
On our Web site, we often post announcements about online events that are accessible to people worldwide. The notation I've been using for the time of day follows this model:
11:30 AM to 1:00 PM EST (4:30 to 6:00 PM GMT)
The audience for these announcements consists mostly of senior executives of manufacturing companies (as opposed to airline pilots or network engineers, for example). The intent of the parenthetical time expression is to serve as a guide for people who may not know what "EST" means.
Questions:
1. Is this clear?
2. Would it be clearer to refer to UTC instead of GMT (assume that space is tight and I can't spell out the meaning of the abbreviation)?
3. Would 24-hour notation be more familiar (e.g., "1630 to 1800")?
I received several helpful responses from non-US writers:
The consensus was that the current form is clear, that some form of 24-hour notation might be preferable on the Continent (but not in the UK), that AM-PM notation would be clear to any English speaker (a big THANKS to Jo Honoré for pointing out the obvious fact that on English-language Web pages we are addressing only an English-speaking audience regardless of location). There was a further consensus that most people have no idea what UTC is.
Jo also suggested that "11:30 AM to 1:00 PM EST (= GMT - 5)" might convey the relationship of Eastern Standard to Greenwich Mean more succinctly and would be familiar to email users. However, it seems a bit cryptic to me, so I think I'll pass on that suggestion.
Other respondents (thanks to all) included:
Stan Schwartz
Graham Williams
Mark Levinson
Mark Emson
Erika Yanovich
Harry Thompson
The countries represented, as near as I can figure (as I forgot to ask), are UK, France, Israel, and Canada. Nobody responded from Asian, unfortunately.
Apologies if I missed anyone.
Dick
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