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Subject:Re: Question about the Hackos book From:Michael Lewis <lewism -at- BRANDLE -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Thu, 12 Feb 1998 11:03:44 +1100
Seems to be no more than a confusion between general responsibilities
and specific tasks. A developmental editor probably puts on a copy
editor's hat from time to time. Indeed, in my copy of the book (and I
think it's the only edition to date), the context is "instituting
copyediting and developmental editing" -- the focus is on identification
of tasks, rather than on designation of task performer(s).
Romaine, Garret H wrote:
>
> I am curious about the distinction made in chapter 16 of "Managing Your
> Documentation Projects" between copy editors and developmental editors
> (page 376). From my vantage point, most editors today no longer have the
> luxury of simply checking copy. For example, here at Tektronix our lead
> editor develops templates, trains peer editors, oversees the proofing
> process, sits on a Design Advisory team to coach writers, and has other
> tasks as well. Which all sounds fairly "developmental" to me, but it
> isn't part of her job title.
>
> Maybe I'm hung up in semantics, but have other Hackos readers tripped
> over this? Are there still enough editors left that are 'simply editors'
> to make this moot? Perhaps there is a detectable continuum, and Hackos
> is merely arguing to get as far away as possible from the less
> value-added end...but before I put my own spin on this excellent book, I
> thought I'd check with 3,500 other experts...
>
> Garret Romaine
> garret -dot- h -dot- romaine -at- exgate -dot- tek -dot- com
>
--
Michael Lewis
Brandle Pty Limited, Sydney, Australia
PO Box 1249, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012
Suite 8, The Watertower, 1 Marian St, Redfern 2016 http://www.brandle.com.au/~lewism
Tel +61-2-9310-2224 ... Fax +61-2-9310-5056
