Technical Editing in the 20Teens

Technical Editing in the Twenty
Teens
Adding quality to our
products through editing
Linda Oestreich
20 November 2010
STC-SD Workshop

Oestreich/20 Nov 2010
2
Editorial wisdom
“The work of a good editor, like the work of
a good teacher, does not reveal itself
directly; it is reflected in the
accomplishments of others.”
 The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter, Vol. 19, No. 4, July/August 1998

3
Who am I?
 STC Fellow & board member at chapter and
Society level
 Strategic analyst
 Technical communicator: manager, editor,
writer
 Teacher, trainer, instructional designer

4
Why me?
 Writer/editor for science/engineering
 Communications manager and editor for geophysical
software development company
 Policy and procedures writer/editor for corporate
offices of young software firm
 Executive of small communications consulting firm
 Editor for large software development firm
 Lots of experience in different roles—writer, editor,
and manager

5
Who are you?
 Writers?
 Editors?
 Managers?
 Liberal arts? Science/tech/IT?
 Companies?
 Why here?

6
Warm-up exercise!
 Hurricane exercise
– Copy edit…spelling, punctuation, etc.

7
Topic Overview
 What’s in your editorial toolbox?
 Do the mechanics change?
 What makes your product usable/readable?
 Do you edit online or on paper?
 What’s it like in today’s work place for
editors/editing?
 References for us all

8
What’s in your editorial toolbox?
 Basic necessities & physical items
– Style guides (general & industry-specific)
– Dictionary/grammar checker
– Check lists (see ref)
– Editing system (proofreaders marks, etc.)
– Software
 Soft skills & knowledge base
– Use of English language
– Data presentation (information architecture)
– Content strategy
– Editing types/levels
– Editorial commenting
– People skills

9
Style guides
 Chicago Manual of Style
 Elements of Style
 GPO Style Manual
 American Psychological Assoc.
 Modern Language Assoc.
 Associated Press
 Council of Biology Editors’ Style Guide
 Microsoft Manual of Style

10
Proofreaders’ marks
 Insert letter
 Insert period
 Transpose
 Delete
 Lowercase a letter
 Uppercase a letter
 Italicize a word (unitalicize?)
 Boldface a word (unbold?)
 Stet

Why editing types & levels?
 Establish a common language
 Help manage schedules
 Facilitate budgeting and labor tracking
 Provide guidelines for peer edits
 Levels are based on combination of types to
create higher and higher “levels” of attention
and quality
11

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1. Sample editing types
 Copy edit
– Textual markup of language
– Grammar, punctuation, style
– Focus: Sentence-level, word-level
 Substantive edit
– Inserting queries or comments about the content
– Organization, usability, logic
– Focus: Topic-level, paragraph-level

2. Sample editing types/levels
1. Legal review
– Ensure compliance with legal requirements
2. Format review
– Ensure compliance with publishing requirements
3. Minimum copy edit
– Spelling, punctuation, accuracy, consistency, adherence
to corporate and departmental style
4. Standard language edit
– Appropriate for primary audience, organized appropriately,
clear
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3. Classic “Levels of Edit” from Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (1976)
Type Level of Edit
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5
Coordination X X X X X
Policy X X X X X
Integrity X X X X
Screening X X X X
Copy Clarif. X X X
Format X X X
Mechanical X X
Language X X
Substantive X

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Editorial commenting
 Comments are statements that an editor makes to
the author to improve the information.
 Types of comments:
– Imperative - an editing comment based on facts, guidelines,
standards, or requirements and that must be addressed in some
way
– Suggestion - An editing comment that presents an alternative way
to address a problem and that the writer can choose to implement
– Opinion - An editing comment that represents the opinion of the
editor and does not reflect a specific guideline, standard, or
requirement.
– Query - An editing comment that aims at pointing out ambiguity of
information, or that expresses a need for the editor’s
enlightenment.
 Tone, style, and content

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Comments in Acrobat

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Objective editing
 Correct all misspelled words and punctuation errors
 Correct errors in grammar
 Coordinate text, figures, tables, indexes,
breadcrumbs, etc.
 Check for consistency in such things as spelling,
abbreviations, names of things, and numeral usage
 Check facts and references
– Mathematical/scientific notation
– Zero or O
– Tables & figures content

18
Editors and writers as allies
 Keep reader/user in mind
 Agree ahead of time on rules and roles
 Cosmetics or neurosurgery? (levels of edit)
 Ask questions: understand the purpose
 Listen and explain
 Review the logic
 Reference everything you change

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Editor or predator?
 Exercise!

What traits make a good editor?
 Personality?
 Skills?
 Talent?
Class discussion!
20

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Editor or writer: do you agree?
Typical editor traits:
 Generalist
 Wide focus (“forest”)
 Short project cycles
 Multiple projects
 General familiarity
with many products
or services
 Likes stability
Typical writer traits:
 Specialist
 Narrow focus (“trees”)
 Long project cycles
 One project at a time
 Intimate familiarity with
a few products
or services
 Likes “cutting edge”

22
What about the mechanics?
 Any changes in last 50 years?
– Spacing?
– Language?
– Date driven
 What gray areas do you feel strongly about?
– Capitalization? Serial comma?
– Good style guides eliminate gray areas!

23
Reviewing punctuation, grammar,
and usage
 Colons, semicolons,
and commas
 Hyphens and dashes
 Parentheses and
brackets
 Parallelism
 Lists
 Subject/verb agreement
 Dangling modifiers
 Noun strings
 Passive voice
 Style sheets!

24
Rewrite by using a list:
You should sign block 23 of form 2139 if you
make over $50,000, are a resident of the city,
and are under age 65, or are self-employed
in the city.

25
Untangle these danglers
1. Now you can recondition your furs while hanging in
the closet.
2. By wearing carefully selected glasses, the scars
were completely hidden by the side pieces.
3. Being only 3 feet tall, you can easily see why the
bus ran over the child.
4. The couple sat watching the sun set in sandy
bathing suits.

26
Misplaced modifiers
 The ticket agent told us eventually the train
would arrive.
 Sharon decided the next day to start
studying.
 A train stopped at our town only on
weekends.

27
Humorous mistakes
 I once shot an elephant in my pajamas…how
he got there, I’ll never know!

28
Active and passive
 Passive Mother Goose
– Hickory, dickory, doc, the clock was run up by the mouse.
– Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the moon was
jumped over by the cow.
– The tuffet was sat on by Little Miss Muffet while her curds
and whey were eaten.
 When the subject of the verb is acted upon, the
sentence is in passive voice.
 When the subject of the verb acts, the sentence is in
active voice.

29
Ambiguity
 After stirring for 10 seconds, add three drops
of solution to the iodine mixture.
 The manager told Mr. Jones and then he told
me.
 The records include all test reports for
engines received from the new test facility.
 John said during lunch he would take a walk.

30
Five C’s always good baseline
 Clear
 Concise
 Consistent
 Correct
 Concrete

31
Practice
 There are at the present time in the vicinity of
Dayton three similar systems installed and
operating, and each system generates a
monthly quantity of reports equal in volume
to approximately one-half its total 2005
output (about 300 pages), then these reports
are stored on location or distributed for
reference purposes.

Practice reviews
 Trade papers with someone and let them edit
your edits!
32

33
Do you edit on paper or online?
 On Paper?
– Benefits
– Challenges
– Practicality
 Online?
– Plain text
– Microsoft Word
– Adobe Acrobat/PDF
– Other programs?

34
Editing online or on paper?
 Two or more passes
 Online style sheets
 Spelling and grammar checkers
 Accepting and rejecting comments
 One editor’s opinion

35
Writer checklist: Completed when submitting
information for an edit

Managing editing
 Changes
 Quality and metrics
 Getting it done
 Usability
 Localization needs
36

37
What’s it like in today’s work place for
editors/editing?
 How to get it done
– Who does it?
– How to hire when you can
 Expectation exists that professionally
produced documentation will be edited
 International outsourcing increases the need
 Clear communication is a valued skill or is it?

38
Editing choices
 No editing
 Self-editing
 Peer editing
 Writer acting as editor
 Manager as editor

39
No editing?
 Despite an increase in unedited communication…
– E-mail, text messaging
– Blogs
– Podcasts
 . . . editing is still a widely recognized need

40
Self-editing?
 Good writers self-edit
 New writers should self-edit
– Editing checklist
 But technical communication needs more
– A fresh set of eyes
– An objective review
– A usability review
– Quality assurance

41
Peer editing?
 Can use in combination with a formal technical
editor
 Most common alternative
 Difficult to allocate the time needed
 Difficult to maintain consistency
 Difficult to settle disputes
 Who will own the style guide?

42
Writer acting as editor
 Ad hoc appointment
– If editor moves to another group or quits
– Stopgap measure imposed by management
 Political consequences within the group
 Sink or swim for an inexperienced editor
 Opportunity for professional development

43
Manager as editor
 Can work in some situations
– If manager is experienced editor
– If group is new and uncongealed
– If group is small
 Blurs distinction between two very
different roles
 Difficult to allocate time

Editorial checklist?
44

Editing “cheat sheet”
45

What do you measure?
 Defining quality and value
– Adhering to guidelines
– Meeting defined criteria
– Exhibiting quality characteristics
– Satisfying customers
– Improving usability testing
– Increasing productivity
46

47
Quantifying your measurements
 Any metric is valid: if consistent and applied
appropriately!
 Begin with baselines, then use same metrics over
time
– Track # of hours spent on various edits
– Develop metric for average # of pages per hour
– Track editing of new vs. changed pages
– Track percentage of deliverable edited
– Caveats: Some industry standards exist, but those based
on your context and your productivity are best (for example,
what is a page or a topic? what is the markup style?)

48
What makes your product
usable/readable?
 Can it be readable and not usable?
 What about the reverse?
 What makes something well-written?
 What about localization/translation issues?

49
Readable or usable or both?
 Readability is commonly defined as reading ease.
The Literacy Dictionary defines it as "the ease of
comprehension because of the style of writing."
 In human-computer interaction and computer
science, usability studies the elegance and clarity
with which the interaction with a computer program
or a web site (web usability) is designed
 ISO defines usability as "The extent to which a
product can be used by specified users to achieve
specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and
satisfaction in a specified context of use."

50
Localization considerations
 Exclude all culturally-specific idioms, conventions and
expressions since they are hard or impossible translate to
another language
 Include the open written forms of all abbreviations and
acronyms the first time they are used. And the rule here is: the
less, the better
 Include a Glossary which should define all the technical terms
and concepts used in the source document.
 Include a Unit and Measurement Conversion Chart
 Include a list of terms and concepts that should NOT be
translated and used as-is since they may sound awkward in the
local language when translated.

International edits
 Consistent wording—saves money, adds clarity
 Passive voice—saves money, adds clarity
 Phrasal verbs—not “speed up” but accelerate; not
“look over” but review
 Metric equivalents—use them!
 Articles—clearer construction (XYZ allows air to
intake manifold)
 White space—use it—other languages will use it!
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Thoughts on value
 Value of editing: can anybody do editing?
 Language correctness: how exacting? When do you
yield? If customers won’t notice, should you?
 Process and organizational flexibility: Are you willing
to compromise?
 Interpersonal dynamics: Who has the authority?
What if you’re wrong? Do you justify every edit?
 Record keeping: Do you keep all edited drafts? A
logbook? Lists of agreements?

53
Editor’s relationship to writing
“An editor’s relationship to writing should be the same as a
bartender’s relationship to drinking . . .
s/he should be fond of an occasional drink,
but it shouldn’t be a regular habit.”
(Gordon van Gelder, Night Shade Books discussion area:
http://www.nightshadebooks.com/
discus/messages/378/3395.html?1099195815)

54
My mentor’s advice
“A good way to improve editorial skills is to teach
someone else in a one-to-one, tutorial
relationship. With a bright, assertive apprentice
who questions and challenges every aspect of
the work, you’ll find yourself reviewing rules
you’ve grown careless about, looking up items
you’ve taken for granted, sharpening style—all
because you had to take a fresh look at things
that had become so familiar you didn’t even see
them any more.”
 “Lessons from 50 years Editorial Experience,” Lola Zook, Substance & Style, 1996, EEI Press

55
References for us all
 “Training the Editor: Skills Are Not Enough,” Lola M. Zook, STC Proceedings,
1967
 Guide for Beginning Technical Editors, Wallace Clements and Robert G. Waite,
STC-112-83
 “The Editor as Ally,” Laurel K. Grove, Technical Communication, volume 37,
number 3, 1985, pp. 235-238
 The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter, Vol. 19, No. 4, July/August 1998
 http://www.website-articles.net/Article/Technical-Writing---How-to-Generate-
Localization-Ready-Technical-Copy-With-Pre-Production-Guidelines/30714
 http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html Jakob Nielsen's
Alertbox:Usability 101: Introduction to Usability
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readability
 Levels of Edit, http://www.technical-expressions.com/learn2edit/levels-of-
edit/levels_of_edit.pdf

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References (continued)
 Hart, Geoff. Effective onscreen editing. http://www.geoffhart.com/books/eoe/onscreen-
book.htm
 Baker, Donna L. Adobe Acrobat 9: How-Tos, 125 Essential Techniques. Adobe Press,
2009.
 Kelly, Will. “How to Use Adobe Acrobat for Online Document Reviews.”
http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/09/03/how-to-use-adobe-acrobat-for-online-document-
reviews/
 Troffer, Alysson M. “Editing Online Documents: Strategies and Tips.” Proceedings from
the 49th Annual STC Conference.
 Crognale, Heather. “Long-distance editing: Tips for editors on managing the writer/editor
relationship.” Intercom, July/August 2008, pp. 17-19.
http://www.stc.org/intercom/PDFs/2008/20080708_17-19.pdf
 Oestreich, Linda. “Editing with heart” workshop presentation to 49th STC Annual
Conference, May 2002
 Corbin, Michelle. “Effective Editing Comments” Webinar presented to TE SIG in 2009.
 Adobe Acrobat User Community: http://www.acrobatusers.com/
 Zook’s article
 Tice, Anne L., Data General, “Levels of Edit: An Introduction and A Strategy,”
(presentation) 18 May 2000
 Intercom, Dec 2001, Angie McNeill, Oklahoma chapter “technical editing 101”

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