Re: Editors and writers; was: Re: job title nomenclature on biz cards

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

In all of the companies I have written or managed for, none of these
functions would be
considered "technical editing."  A "technical editor" would be an individual
who has sufficient
knowledge of the subject matter to be able to spot minor errors in content.
One example I
can cite:  one of my former companies produced systems that processed the
glass substrates
for LCD displays.  Our system preheated the glass to 400 degrees C.  On one
occaision, a
writer accidentally typoed a functional description to say "4000 C."  Our
technical editor
returned the draft with the comment, "Wouldn't 4000 C melt the glass?"

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Neeley" <dbneeley -at- oddpost -dot- com>

> In my experience, companies hire "technical editors" who are expected to
check details--grammar, punctuation, page numbering, and the like--and
little more. Thus, they are often considered less skilled than technical
writers and are usually paid much less.
>
> I believe this is somewhat wrong-headed. To me, it makes more sense to
hire as an editor someone who is a very skilled technical writer and team
leader, who can both handle the sorts of details necessary, but who can also
serve to help educate the tech writers to follow the organizational style
guides, to better organize their materials, and, in general, how to make
their writing more effective and efficient. This would be much more the sort
of "editor" that publishers employ.
>
> In many organizations, from what I have experienced, there is seldom
enough of this kind of ongoing quality check.




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