I mean, how are we supposed to compete with robots?
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April 7, 2011
Add 'copy editor' to the list of dying professions
April 4, 2011
Bad Headline: 'Samus, You Are One Tough Broad'
I’m rather stunned by this example of casual sexism. I guess this conforms to stereotype that all video game players are woman-hating fleabags.
Kotaku is a cesspit.
April 3, 2011
Sometimes grammar is the least of your worries.
From: @DanRyckert on Twitter
April 3, 2011
If you’re going to be publishing a photo, make sure it doesn’t indicate that you are doing something legally frowned upon, like pirating software.
Putting activate.adobe.com in Windows’ host file prevents Adobe products, like Photoshop and Indesign, from calling home and attempting to authenticate itself as a legitimate copy. I can’t think of a legitimate reason to do that.
From: BeyondtheTech at Twitpic.
April 3, 2011
Does this need a caption? The Irish Sunday Business Post should have known better.
From: @Judearoo from Twitter.
April 3, 2011
Bad Headline: 'Under the U.S. Supreme Court: Women may get the shaft in Walmart suit'
Perhaps using sexually suggestive language in a headline of a story about sexual discrimination isn’t the greatest idea.
From: Fark.com
March 24, 2011
Commas are important.
From: @sweetfletcher on Twitter.
EDIT: This has been Photoshopped. It isn’t real. The point remains, however!
March 21, 2011
ACES2011: Study says readers notice copy editing, and they like it!
Last week, a researcher from Wayne State University presented a study at the American Copy Editors Society gathering that focused on the impact copy editors have on readers’ perceptions. Their findings?
- Readers, especially those who follow the news closely, prefer professionally edited articles.
- Readers who read more news tend to be more critical than people who read less.
- Readers who spend more than an hour a day on news are more likely to think an article is badly organized than readers who spend less than one hour.
- Dedicated readers expect a higher level of quality than casual readers, particularly in terms of grammar and professionalism.
- Readers notice grammar errors and find them troubling and distracting.
- Readers see errors of consistency — a name spelled two different ways or p.m. versus pm, for example.
- Most readers are less concerned about errors of style and story structure than they are about professionalism and grammar. “They really don’t care if you abbreviate ‘road,’ Vultee said. “They don’t care if you start a paragraph with a number.”
- Readers notice writing that is garbled and confusing, and when words are misspelled or misused.
- Readers can tell edited from unedited stories in significant ways.
Duh. From: http://www.aces2011.org/aces-news/17/aces-sponsored-research-study-says-yes/
March 20, 2011
ACES2011: How one paper is handling the print/digital divide
This is an interesting article about how a newspaper is reorganizing itself to be more digitally-focused, starting with the copy desk.
As Jungman explained, part of the discussion started because the Missouri is a 6,000-circulation newspaper that has a website with about 15,000 unique visitors per day. So was the Missourian “Web-first”? Did it need Web producers?
And with students demanding a more web-centric experience, what should the school do?
At the bottom line, Jungman said, the faculty had to think about how copy editing is evolving in hybrid print-online and online-only newsrooms?
At a faculty retreat in August, master’s student Andrew Van Dam suggested print was “infecting” the newsroom and that it had to be quarantined. That may be overblown rhetoric, Jungman agreed, but the idea was to make a sea change in the newsroom processes.
Van Dam suggested separate the desks for print and online. And the bulk of the Missourian staff would spend the day just thinking about the website.
Jungman and Walter said faculty members decided to give it a try. The Missourian would have an interactive copy desk for the web and a smaller print copy desk. The newsroom really would be driven by the interactive side of the operation.
In designing the project, they determined that copy editors were closest to the readers, Jungman said. So to make the Missourian more interactive, they had to make the copy desk more interactive.
So they rearranged the furniture. They wanted to make the interactive copy desk the focal point of the room and push the print desk into an area by itself.
This is a thought-provoking article. How can publications deal with evolving customer demands?
From: http://www.aces2011.org/sessions/18/the-transition-experiment-looks-at-how-copy-editing-is-evolving-in-print-online-world/
March 20, 2011
Affect vs. Effect
Affectuate the positive, that’s my motto!
The key thing to remember is that affect is typically used as a verb:
On the other hand, effect is most commonly used as a noun:
- A bout of rheumatic fever in his youth had affected his health throughout his life.
- Participants were asked to volunteer for a study looking at the effects of stress on their health.
From: http://oxforddictionaries.com/page/affecteffect
March 20, 2011
ACES2011: The Associated Press announced some changes to AP Style!
Every year at the American Copy Editor Society gathering, the Associated Press announces some of the changes in the next edition of the AP Stylebook.
I never dreamed that the AP could top last year’s big change. I remember where I was when I found out that “web site” was out in favor of “website.” It may have been the happiest day of my life.
Until this weekend.
The AP announced at ACES 2011 that the correct word to describe electronic mail is “email,” rather than the long-preferred “e-mail.” Hooray!
“Smartphone” and “cellphone” are now two words! Yay! Use “CPR” now on first reference! Stupendous!
Also, “wineglass” is now one word. I don’t really understand that one.
March 20, 2011
ACES2011: Important math tips for copy editors
Math is difficult, both conceptually and, uh, fact-checkually.
“The biggest source of mistakes in newspapers in numbers,” Holden said in the tip packet’s introduction. “Whether it’s confusing millions with billions, calculating percentage of change incorrectly or confusing percent with percentage point, numbers have been baffling reporters and editors for years.”
The most important tip here is this:
Help readers understand the real meaning behind numbers in a story. When you are using numbers in a story, Holden said to make sure readers can visualize their exact scope. If your story reads “the land shrunk to 2.5 million acres,” find a way to give the number context. The wording could be reworked to “2.5 million acres, which is roughly the size of X.”
“Why would you as an editor allow numbers to go into a paper that are absolutely meaningless to 99 percent of your audience?” Holden said. “Don’t let them (journalists) get by with numbers that really don’t make sense whatsoever.”
From: http://businessjournalism.org/2011/03/18/afraid-of-math-a-veteran-editors-tips-to-ease-the-anxiety/
March 20, 2011
ACES2011: Future of copy editing: Making our jobs bigger
Copy editors should become content editors, says someone at the 2011 American Copy Editor Society conference in Arizona.
Fuhrmann said the idea that copy editors see things that others don’t is still a vital message. And, he asked, how clear can our vision be when we’re working so far from our readers (like in editing hubs) and there are fewer and fewer copy editors?
The key, he said, is for copy editors to make the point about their value to bosses in the glass offices by making their jobs bigger. Learn more, take a role in more.
From: http://www.aces2011.org/uncategorized/19/future-of-copy-editing-making-our-jobs-bigger/
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