Ants on a Blog

As we all know, copy editing is an important part of any writing project and one that requires attention to detail and careful reading. In light of this, I have put together a Word document that outlines a potential Copy Editing Log and a list of potential procedures.Copy Editing Log

*In addition to filling out this Log, I meant to put a space down at the bottom where you could fill out who wrote what you are editing. Would that be something we would want to do? Do we want to keep track of who has written the piece we are editing?

It is most definitely important to keep track of who has done what, what they did and when they did it. Because our group is so small, I don’t think there is going to be much of a real problem keeping track of what is going on, but a Log will help us with figuring out any logistical problems that may arrise when it comes time to seriously edit.

Speaking of seriously editing, here are some rough outlines of our Copy Editing Protocol:

* Each document will be read by at least three other people.

* Each editor should fill out a Copy Editing Log after they have edited.

* Would it be easier to edit hardcopy? After editing the hardcopy of a document we could go onto the web and then make the corrections.

* In that case, there needs to be some form of communication between those who will be editing the same section: Blogs would be my vote because it allows for a lot of elaboration and we all have easy access to it. But, we need to be constantly checking them to find out the latest information.

* Perhaps we can have the people who edited discuss (in person or via their blogs) what changes they have made and why.

* On our Peer Editing days, maybe we can take some time and talk briefly about the status of the documents/graphics/whatever else people have been working on, just so we are all on the same page.

Do these seem like too much? One of the things I am thinking about is the time that these will take. Will there be too much time used up between editing, posting on your blog, having someone else read it and then you making changes? I don’t know, just something I was thinking about.

Related items

• Graphics and Copy Editing Questions
• First PE Tutorial
• This is my first blog ever
• About

In light of all the questions being asked of what each section of this project is going to be covered, I thought I would make a list of the things we should consider covering in terms of the Copy Editing and Graphics. There will probably be some over lap between these questions and others people have posted so lets take that into consideration.

 Here they are:

-What limitations are we going to put on graphics in terms of size, quantity and layout?

-How closely will a graphics style guide fit with the overall style guide?

-Should we include more than just screen shots?

-Are we going to put a cursor or some other pointing mechanism in our screen shots for clarity and ease of use?

-How many pictures/screenshots are we going to use per tutorial? Should it be determined on a situational basis?

-Will there be captions in/on the photos for quick reference?

-Are we going to crop the images so we can only see the parts that are necessary to the task at hand?

-Are we going to enhance or make the pictures more expressive and highlighted in Photoshop?

-Where will the photos be placed in the tutorial? Is that also a thing to be determined as the situation calls for?

-Will there be an overall organization of placement of the photos?

Some copy editing ideas:

-All of us need to read everything we write several times; we need to create a ‘Copy Editing Log’ so that we know what sections have been read and by whom.

-We need to have easy access to the ‘Style Guide’ so that we know what to look for and how to be as consistent as possible.

-Should there be an order in which things are edited?

-How can we make this process as efficient as possible?

Related items

• Copy Editing Protocol/Log
• First PE Tutorial
• This is my first blog ever
• About

To be honest, I really enjoyed doing this first tutorial. I don’t know how well I did or if it is what it should be, but my finished product does look pretty good. I am really excited to continue this project; I think we have a lot of potential and can create something that will be useful and worth-while. It will be really interesting to not only learn how to use Photoshop in the process of writing the Help system, but I think it will turn out to be a great opprotunity to learn team building skills on a very professional level.

I have saved my first draft of the Tutorial here:

Overview

Photoshop Elements is an incredibly powerful tool that can assist you in creating and designing your own images. Learning how to re-shape and re-size images is a valuable skill that will come in handy. Here are a few easy steps to help you learn how.

Importing The ‘banjo’ Image:
Click ‘File’ at the top of your window
Select ‘Open’
Find and select the filed named ‘banjo’ in your M-drive
Click ‘Open’

Rotating The Image
Click ‘Image’ at the top of your window
Select ‘Rotate’
Select ‘90O Left’

Re-sizing The Image
Click ‘Image’ at the top of your window
Select ‘Resize
Select ‘Image Size’
In the dialog box, change the Width to 400 pixels and the height to 400 pixels
Click ‘OK’

Changing The Canvas Size
Click ‘Image’ at the top of your window
Select ‘Resize’
Select ‘Canvas Size’
In the dialog box, change the Width to 8 inches and the Height to 8 inches
Click ‘OK’

Re-shaping The Image
Click ‘Image’ at the top of your window
Select ‘Transform’
Select ‘Skew’
Grab points will appear around the ‘banjos’ image: click and drag one of them to skew the image

To Save The Image
Click ‘File’ at the top of your window
Select ‘Save As’
Click the drop down arrow next to ‘Format’ and select ‘JPEG’
Save the image as ‘banjos2′ in your M-drive

Related items

• Copy Editing Protocol/Log
• Graphics and Copy Editing Questions
• This is my first blog ever
• About

Related items

• Copy Editing Protocol/Log
• Graphics and Copy Editing Questions
• First PE Tutorial
• This is my first blog ever
• About

The interview with Evelyn went very well and I think we got a lot of solid information, though some of it went against what we previously thought this project would entail. I will be starting out “trial tutorial” and I hope that we can learn some valuable skills on both using the Wiki and creating/designing a tutorial system. oorah.

Related items

• Copy Editing Protocol/Log
• Graphics and Copy Editing Questions
• First PE Tutorial
• About