Printing error nullifies exam?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Dan Goldstein wondered: <<Does your document control procedure  
compare printed documents with electronic files? See http:// 
tinyurl.com/yowzga
"NCES officials had reviewed a computer file of the exam before it  
was printed. A printed copy was sent to NCES in fall 2006, but the  
error wasn't noticed until the following summer, when the results  
were being analyzed.">>

Interestingly, this is one of the reasons for not relying exclusively  
on soft-proofing I hadn't fully considered. (I discuss other reasons  
in Chapter 16 of my book; see below.)

 From the details presented in the Washington Post story, it appears  
that it was actually the printer who screwed up -- they should never  
have changed the page layout without approval from the publisher --  
but in the traditional printing process, the people who prepared the  
printing files would have received blueline or other proofs and would  
have had a chance to spot the error.

That's not to say they would have caught the error, but the chances  
of catching it would have been much greater, particularly if the test  
booklets had been paginated. In my experience, publication designers  
rarely actually read the text they're given to lay out, but most  
would have noticed the even-numbered pages appearing on the wrong  
side of the two-page spread. (Verifying the page sequence is one of  
the first things you learn to do when checking paper or blueline  
proofs.)


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
***Now available***  _Effective onscreen editing_
(http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm)


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