RE: Automatic editing?

["Lauren" <lt34 -at- csus -dot- edu>]

I've read about "automatic writing" as a form of divination.  Sometimes, I
have felt that my technical writing was the product of "automatic typing."
I wonder if people got psychic insight from some of the stuff that I wrote.

Lauren
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On 
> Behalf Of Chris Borokowski
> Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 11:48 AM
> To: 'Techwr-l'
> Subject: RE: Automatic editing?
> 
> Is it related to this?
> 
> 
> Automatic writing is the most direct of Surrealist
> techniques. 
> 
> Sit at a table with pen and paper; put yourself in a
> 'receptive' frame of mind, and start writing. Continue
> writing without thinking of what is appearing beneath
> your pen. Write as fast as you can. If, for some
> reason, the flow stops,leave a space and immediately
> begin again by writing down the first letter of the
> next sentence. Choose this letter at random before you
> begin, for instance, a 't', and always begin this new
> sentence with a 't'. Although in the purest version of
> automatism nothing is 'corrected' or re-written the
> unexpected material produced by this method can be
> used as the basis for further composition. What is
> crucial is the unpremeditated free association that
> creates the basic text. 
> 
> -- Surrealist Games (Alastair Brotchie, Redstone
> Press) 
> 
> http://www.duke.edu/web/lit132/automatic.html
> --- Lauren <lt34 -at- csus -dot- edu> wrote:
> 
> > So it isn't the News station.  It's an AP error. 
> > Google produced three (or
> > 3) copies of the same article.
> > 
> >
> http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Thirty-1-year-old+Martin%22&;
> sourceid=navcl
> > ient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS210US210
> > 
> > Shouldn't the AP have editors to catch this?  How
> > important was the article
> > that it should have been sent out without some
> > decent editing?  I imagine
> > that the headline, "Six indicted for "cheese" heroin
> > distribution," probably
> > warranted some hasty newsworthiness for "cheese
> > heroin" because that's a new
> > term we should keep in mind if we hear teens mention
> > that they need
> > "cheese."  Perhaps the AP writers and editors are
> > little over-worked.
> > 
> > Lauren
> >  
> > 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From:
> > techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> > >
> >
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
> > On 
> > > Behalf Of Bonnie Granat
> > > Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 11:16 AM
> > > To: neilson -at- windstream -dot- net; 'Techwr-l'
> > > Subject: RE: Automatic editing?
> > > 
> > > Could be that "31-year-old" was moved from another
> > place and 
> > > changing the
> > > "1" was missed when they changed the "3" -- it
> > happens to 
> > > editors, too. :0
> > > 
> > > I would otherwise agree with your hypothesis, but
> > I don't 
> > > think that's the
> > > case here. Besides, with an AP sourcing, it may
> > not have been 
> > > the TV station
> > > at all. My understanding is that if you run
> > something like your story
> > > (http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6620358),
> > you run it 
> > > the way AP
> > > wrote it. I have this opinion because of the
> > identical 
> > > stories I see from
> > > time to time, all credited to AP.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Bonnie Granat
> > > http://www.GranatEdit.com
> > >  
> > > 
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: 
> > > >
> >
> techwr-l-bounces+bgranat=granatedit -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > 
> > > >
> >
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+bgranat=granatedit -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l
> > > > .com] On Behalf Of neilson -at- windstream -dot- net
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 12:30 PM
> > > > To: Techwr-l
> > > > Subject: Automatic editing?
> > > > 
> > > > The following paragraph is from an online report
> > on the web page
> > > > of KLTV in Tyler TX (near Dallas).
> > > > 
> > > > "Thirty-1-year-old Martin Laguna is charged with
> > conspiracy to
> > > > possess heroin with intent to distribute, plus
> > distribution of
> > > > heroin. He's also charged with possession of a
> > firearm during a
> > > > drug trafficking crime."
> > > > 
> > > > Thirty-1 ??? How did they accomplish that?
> > Whaddya bet that as a
> > > > TV station, they're not putting much effort into
> > editing for good
> > > > journalistic writing. So they have a
> > smell-checker that tries to
> > > > apply some AP Style Guide rules: (a) Numbers
> > from 1 to 10 
> > > are spelled
> > > > out, and everything else is in digits. (b)
> > Sentences do not 
> > > begin with
> > > > numbers in digits. Applying both rules at once
> > gives 
> > > amazing results.
> > > > 
> > > > I'm sure it's from automatic editing; no human
> > editor, reporter or
> > > > typist could do something so ridiculous, even if
> > not a native
> > > > speaker of English.
> > > > 
> > > > So you saw it here first--the oncoming
> > automation of copy editing.
> > > > As tech writers we tend to regard MS Word's
> > grammar and spelling
> > > > suggestions as occasionally helpful and
> > frequently quite silly.
> > > > We ignore them when we know they're wrong. But
> > the Bulldozer of
> > > > Future Standards is upon us, and we will be
> > crushed by it. We will
> > > > see our finished writing pushed through an
> > automatic Grammar
> > > > Grinder and ruined in the name of improvement,
> > and the result
> > > > will become the new standard.
> > > > 
> > > > [Neilson emulates the Grammar Grinder on
> > previous graf:]
> > > > So you were here first. The outcome automates
> > copy editing.
> > > > As technical writers tend to regard Ms. Word's
> > grammar and
> > > > spelling suggestions... [Geez, I gotta stop; my
> > head hurts.]
> > > > 
> > > > --Peter Neilson
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > >
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> 
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> 
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