Re: Levels of Edit

["Patricia Egan" <capdev -dot- communications -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Hi Mike,

I found URLs for the articles.

Donald Samson's piece on Degrees of Edit may be found at
faculty.weber.edu/sthomas/3140/TE-PDFs/Degress_of_Editing.pdf

The piece published by the team from Los Alamos at the 1998 STC conference
may be found at
www.*stc*.org/confproceed/*1998*/PDFs/00055.PDF<http://www.stc.org/confproceed/1998/PDFs/00055.PDF>

If these links do not work, just search under "Donald Samson" "Degrees of
Edit" and "STC" "New Levels of Edit".

Pat







On 4/10/08, Mike Starr <mikestarr-techwr-l -at- writestarr -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Hi Patricia
>
> The list does not allow attachments. Can you post URLs for downloads?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Mike
> --
> Mike Starr                            WriteStarr Information Services
> Technical Writer  -  Online Help Developer  -   Technical Illustrator
> Graphic Designer    -    Desktop Publisher   -       MS Office Expert
> (262)  694-1028  -  mike -at- writestarr -dot- com  -  http://www.writestarr.com
>
> Patricia Egan wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > In case you are interested, I am attaching two subsequent articles from
> > STC
> > on levels of edit. One is by Donald Samson, who wrote *Editing Technical
> > Writing,* Oxford University Press. The other is by a superb group from
> > Los
> > Alamos. They extend the work initiated by the publication of the JPL
> > approach.
> >
> > FYI,
> > Pat
> >
> >
> > On 4/10/08, Blount, Patricia A <Patricia -dot- Blount -at- ca -dot- com> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi, Tim,
> > >
> > > Glad you liked The Levels of Edit doc from Bonnie.
> > >
> > > My two cents? I've used that document in a former management role
> > > where
> > > no formal QA or editorial process existed.
> > >
> > > You've heard that old saying, "Fast, cheap or good, pick any two?"
> > >  That
> > > was how I applied the levels of editing concept here. In our
> > > environment, development was a team process so my "edit levels" had to
> > > align to each team member's responsibility, i.e., instructional
> > > designers, trainers, writers, artists, and computer programmers. I
> > > wanted to make sure I wasn't wasting the time of six people by having
> > > everyone checking for typos. We followed the JPL principles and began
> > > classifying who should be responsible for what. IDs were responsible
> > > for
> > > ensuring the instruction could be measured in terms of performance.
> > > Programmers were responsible for the accuracy and completeness of
> > > procedures. And writers were responsible for typos, grammar, brand
> > > identity and so on. (There was more, but this gives you an idea...)
> > >
> > > Next, we tried to classify our deliverables according to some sort of
> > > importance rating. Which ones truly needed to be reviewed by every
> > > team
> > > member? For example, a course description did not require a computer
> > > programmer's review, but did require an instructional designer's and
> > > writer's, while an instructor guide required everyone's review - which
> > > I'd consider to be equivalent to JPL's 'substantive' edit.
> > >
> > > We then built the reviews deemed required into the process.
> > >
> > > Now, you know what happens in the real world... inevitably, someone
> > > directs you to produce a full deliverable in a fraction of the time.
> > > Effort is effort - it cannot be squeezed to fit a schedule without
> > > sacrificing something else, i.e., budget or quality. With our levels
> > > of
> > > edit process, it was easy to push back and say "X is what we can give
> > > you...if you want Y, we need Z."
> > >
> > > Feel free to contact me off list if you want more details.
> > >
> > > Patty B.
> > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > >
> > > Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats
> > > or
> > > printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista &
> > > 2007
> > > Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
> > > http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList<http://www.doctohelp.com/TechwrlList>
> > > <http://www.doctohelp.com/TechwrlList>
> > >
> > > True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
> > > Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
> > > documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
> > >
> > > ---
> > > You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as
> > > capdev -dot- communications -at- gmail -dot- com -dot- 
> > >
> > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> > > techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > > or visit
> > >
> > > http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/capdev.communications%40gmail.com
> > >
> > >
> > > To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > >
> > > Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> > > http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> >
> > Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats
> > or printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
> > Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
> > http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList<http://www.doctohelp.com/TechwrlList>
> >
> > True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
> > Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
> > documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com
> >
> > ---
> > You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as
> > mikestarr-techwr-l -at- writestarr -dot- com -dot- 
> >
> > To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> > techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > or visit
> > http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/mikestarr-techwr-l%40writestarr.com
> >
> >
> > To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> >
> > Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> > http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
> >
> >


-- 
Patricia Egan
P. O. Box 194391
San Francisco, CA 94119-4391
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or 
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.