Electronic Editing:
The Wave of the Present
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November’s speaker, John Muenning, began his career in publishing in 1987. He has worked as a manuscript editor, as a programmer specializing in publishing applications, and as an instructor in the Graham School of General Studies at the University of Chicago. Today he is the Development Manager in Production and Publishing at the University of Chicago Press. He has helped develop and implement software programs and coursework to aid editors in what he calls “the wave of the present”—electronic editing.
Copyeditors must be vigilant because they are the keepers of the flame, upholding the standards of the Chicago Manual of Style. Traditional copyediting concerns include checking a manuscript for errors in spelling, typos, capitalization, hyphens, grammar, punctuation, style, consistency, and sense, as well as the accuracy and formatting of bibliographic information. Mr. Muenning advises editors, “don’t let the technology distract you from these tasks and their quality” especially in an industry where publishing standards are falling in general due to cost management and tight deadlines.
Some advantages of electronic editing include saving money and time in production, imposing greater consistency, potentially increasing editing speed, and greater author satisfaction. Authors appreciate that their keystrokes are being used to typeset the book. Electronic editing also allows the editor to have more control. However, there is a learning curve for editors who may be distracted by the technology and may miss things if they’re used to editing on paper. Other disadvantages include conversion problems, reduced quality control, a de-emphasis of proofreading to the point of nonexistence, and the introduction of different types of errors. Ergonomic problems, such as carpal tunnel or repetitive stress syndrome, are also potential risks for editors.
Mr. Muenning’s efforts to condense his three-day workshop on electronic editing into a two-hour crash course were impressive. His thoroughness, knowledge, and enthusiasm were evident, and although he had much more to say, he promised to make his PowerPoint presentation available on the Chicago Women in Publishing Web site. The November program was sponsored by The Graham School of General Studies. Heather McLane is a volunteer writer for Clips and is currently an Editorial Services Coordinator at Anthology, Inc. in Arlington Heights, IL. She can be reached at heatherjmclane@hotmail.com. |
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By definition, electronic editing is “the process of transforming the content of electronic manuscript (usually the keystrokes performed by the author) into a finished product: a typeset book or article, electronic text chunks for online products, CD-ROMs, etc.” Manuscripts are becoming electronic by default and a computer is becoming the standard tool on which copyeditors perform their work.
One example of the technology available for electronic editing is the track changes feature in Microsoft Word. This interactive tool, when activated, allows editors to see their edits as they make them in the document, make comments or queries to the author, or compare versions of the manuscript before and after editing. The editor can accept or reject changes by using the tool bar, or see a clean manuscript by manipulating the viewing feature, which shows different versions such as “Final” or “Final Showing Markup.” Editors encounter an equal share of advantages and disadvantages by using electronic editing tools such as these, which Mr. Muenning described in detail.
Mr. Muenning prefers electronic editing to manual editing and prescribes several edicts for editors. He insists that editors make sure they have the final version of the manuscript from the author and perform their own conversions. Managing versions of a manuscript is of key importance, and editors should never send a file that they’re working on back to the author or to anyone else. He also advises editors to keep a style sheet, learn the keyboard shortcuts to expedite their work, spell check the work before they begin editing (but not rely on it), and save their work often, especially before executing a global search and replace.