Techie Editors?

[Daniel Wise <dewise -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

Colleagues,

The question was:  Do editors need to be techies?  Geoff gave us a very good
answer.  At least some technical knowledge is needed.  Either that or the
editor needs a sixth sense to be able to have some inkling of whether an
argument hangs together logically.

I have worked as a writer/editor in chemicals, light metals, military
rocketry, aerospace, ship building, and electric utilities (including
nuclear).  My degrees are in Industrial Administration and Business
Administration with a minor in speech and a core background in physical,
natural, and social sciences.  I have a smattering of knowledge in a lot of
areas.  For that reason, I can quite often detect instances when B does not
logically follow A,; C, B; D, C; etc.

I know nothing about SMEs, on-line (or online) help, and HTML because I have
never worked as a software/hardware documenter.  I am sure that I would not,
at least initially, perform very well in these areas.

BTW, if you think a copyeditor does not need any technical knowledge, I
suggest you go lurk in copyediting-l for a few weeks.

Dan Wise
dewise -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com

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