RE: Writers vs Editors

[Brent -dot- Jones -at- Level3 -dot- com]

Lisa Wright wrote on Tuesday, December 26, 2000 11:15 AM"
 
> Andrew Plato on the role of editors:
> > Editors do not generate content, they rearrange and 
> reformat existing content.
> > Editors must have a good eye for how to express things 
> properly - but they do
> > not need an extensive understanding of the content. Editors 
> are great at
> > enforcing standards - like a style guide.
> 
> Actually, I think editors who understand the content area can provide
> more value to a doc than one who doesn't. Like a technically adept
> writer, a technically adept editor can identify where content 
> may not be
> complete or accurate.

I agree. In my experience, a good technical editor has nearly as much, if
not more, content expertise than the writer. This makes sense because an
editor reviews the docs for all of the writers working on a project or for a
functional group, and thus sees _all_ of the content for a given subject
rather than one writer's piece of it. A good editor becomes a valuable
repository of general subject matter expertise, and often asks informed
content questions of the writer based on his or her broad view of the
project: "You say here in your install guide to do this; in Sue's syad guide
she says to do something else--why the disjoint?"

Note that I said a good editor, one interested in the subject matter and
with a mind capable of assimilating and retaining lots of information as he
or she reviews. An editor who doesn't do this, who just reviews for format,
consistency, and adherence to company style, is about as useful as a writer
who shoves SME information into a template without any understanding of the
subject. In other words, not very.

However, with regard to format, consistency, and adherence to company style,
don't give them short shrift. While they have no purpose without good
content, they can and do have a subtle but powerful effect on a reader's
perception of the quality of the doc or doc suite, and thus on the doc's
usefulness to the reader. A whole suite of docs that have a consistent and
appealing format and writing style (even if produced by different writers)
can have a strong confidence-inspiring effect on the reader. I would never
entrust editing/enforcement of these items to an admin type.

If I'm reading an application's docs and come across typos, ungrammatical
constructs, or inconsistent structure and format between docs, it
immediately makes me question the content itself. If the writer can't get
the presentation right, he or she may well have messed up on the content
too. And that seed of doubt planted in the back of my mind colors my
perception of the usefulness of the doc and even the product it discusses. I
think writers who dismiss the importance of presentation (consistent style,
format, word use, etc.) risk dissatisfied users and unhappy clients.

brent
--
Brent Jones
brent -dot- jones -at- level3 -dot- com 
"In the Kingdom of Boredom, I wear the royal sweatpants."
--Mark Leyner, _My Cousin My Gastroenterologist_

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