RE: If you had only 1 hour to learn onscreen editing...

["technical writing plus" <doc-x -at- earthlink -dot- net>]

Respectfully: the title to this thread ought to be 'how do I present a one
hour thing on onscreen editing, what topics ought the presentation have,
what kind of successful learning will the audience experience, how can I
maximize that, etc....' 

<g> I think that ProTechwriter's comment offers you a good approach. That's
all that anyone else can give you - an approach, a method, a strategy, for
communicating the stuff that you need to communicate. How you package up all
of the relevant information, and how you rate the information (as to
relevance) is entirely up to you. 

Of course you are not going to teach them everything there is to know about
that topic in that timeframe. You've got to begin the presentation, I'd say,
by telling the audience that you're only going to be giving them a short
overview in the next 50 minutes. 

That opening statement will serve as a kind of navigational aid in their
minds - they'll refer to it mentally as you present the stuff. It should
help them understand. 

Jim Jones

-----Original Message-----
Hi Geoff: Here are my picks.

Ch 11 - Automating your editing
Ch 16 - Solving the proofreading problem*
Ch 18 - Putting the theory to work: a four-step implementation process

Maybe:
Quick overview of creating a style sheet with a handout because, in my
experience, a lot of people do not know how to do this!

What I have the most trouble with on screen editing doesn't appear in the
table of contents (or I did not recognize it?). It is probably in there
somewhere: logic and consistency errors in content (not writing, per se, but
in the "big picture" edit where maybe the writer has contradicted
themselves, or written what was supposed to be the same concept twice, but
in a way that changes one meaning). With hard copy, I can flip pages back
and forth and compare them, and make notes, but that is more difficult on
screen.

Maybe the style sheet topic addresses it somehow?

I like it that you have some topics about avoiding injury, but eyestrain is
common, because what we think of as "static" on screen is in fact moving,
and our eyes know that even if our brains work it out so the image looks
stable.

And, FYI, I spent five years full-time as an editor for scientific
applications, so I have done the job full time. Any training is wonderful,
and all of the topics you list are good ones.

Good luck with the presentation. I am sure it will be wonderful!

PT
On Dec 20, 2007 10:42 AM, Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:

> ... what topics would you want covered?
>
> I've been asked to give a presentation on onscreen editing at next
> year's STC conference (http://www.stc.org/55thConf/index.asp), which
> is great. The downside is that they are now using 1-hour timeslots,
> which is too short to really cover the topic. ..

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