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Re: Editing soft vs. hard copy?

Subject: Re: Editing soft vs. hard copy?
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 11:09:54 -0800

Hart, Geoff wrote:

My hypothesis to explain the fact that we miss things in online editing
includes several factors. First, editors always miss something in the first
pass, which is why we routinely make two or more passes through any
document. Obviously, if that first pass is an onscreen edit, that means it's
the onscreen edit that misses the errors. Second, it's still true that our
eyes get fatigued faster reading on computer screens than reading print, and
that means we're more likely to miss things from simple visual fatigue as
the day progresses. Third, changing media seems to let our minds examine the
text in a sufficiently different context that we see things we'd otherwise
have missed. All three reflect my personal experience, supplemented by
anecdotal evidence from many colleagues.

For what it's worth, I have heard the suggestion that another reason is that the computer screen reminds us of the TV screen. We don't use our critical judgement very much when watching TV (to say the least), so, when we're in front of the computer screen, we tend to relax and be accepting of whatever we see. I've even heard that the quality of light that comes off both a computer and a TV screen encourages us to be less critical.

I don't know that I believe these ideas, but I pass them on as a conversational tidbit.


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Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

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Editing soft vs. hard copy?: From: Hart, Geoff

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