Re: What to look for in a technical editor

["Janice Gelb" <janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com>]

> "Janice Gelb" <janice -dot- gelb -at- sun -dot- com> wrote 
> 
> > My primary function is to make sure that 
> > the document serves the reader well, is organized in a way 
> > that best presents the information, does not contain errors 
> > of factual inconsistency, is not lacking in sufficient 
> > information to explain a concept or task, uses language 
> > correctly, and follows the style guidelines determined by 
> > our company.
> 
> And how do you expect to do that with any degree of precision if you don't
> understand the subject matter? How can you serve the reader if you have no
> understadning of the information the reader is getting? 
> 

First of all, I am not arguing that the editor can be totally 
ignorant of the technical *field*. What I am saying is that 
the editor does not have to be so familiar with particular 
product that he or she can be expected to be responsible for 
technical accuracy.

Secondly, I have (twice now) provided examples of ways in 
which editors can serve the reader without a precise 
understanding of the technical content. You can catch 
structural problems where the information is not being 
presented in a logical way. This *can* be done without 
understanding the precise details of the product or 
field. You can catch logical inconsistencies. You can 
catch procedures where the writer has not adequately 
explained consequences or choices. You can catch areas 
where the writer has been expansive versus other areas 
that don't seem as well covered. You can catch convoluted 
paragraphs that can be reworded so that the sentences are 
clear and understandable. And so on.

> I would even go so far as to say that an editor lacking subject matter
> expertise can actually CAUSE more problems then they resolve. In the process of
> imposing stylistic consistency and "readability" a content-ignorant writer
> could change the meaning of the document, thus causing information to be
> misleading or inaccurate.
> 

Perhaps part of the problem is that you seem to be working 
in environments where the editor goes in and changes text 
directly, and I work in environments where I provide a markup 
to the writer and the writer incorporates the appropriate 
changes. The writer can ignore changes that would cause 
information to be misleading or inaccurate. And any decent 
editor can spot places where a correction might affect the 
content and indicate that accordingly. 

As for those who say that this forces the writer to read 
through markup that might not be relevant, I would be 
willing to bet cash that the number of marked changes 
that make the document better for the reader far outweigh 
possible markup that would affect content negatively.

Finally, I don't know what kind of editors you people 
have been dealing with, but the changes I recommend rarely 
could affect the technical content one way or another! I 
have a feeling that some of these comments are made because 
people have been dealing with incompetent editors, not just 
non-technical ones.

-- Janice

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