Fred, I agree with your philosophy. Of course we all try to do our best to write it right the first time, but things will escape us, and there will always be "better choices" that could be made (such as a more common example).
The writer should definitely do a spell check and re-read what they have written to look for best word usage/punctuation/capitalization issues. Also check for spacing and graphics issues. We will probably agree that SMEs should be available to check for content and usage. In our company, the trainer determines the order of the topics, so they would check that. I would also maintain that other English-major-types look at the doc for structure, consistency of style and format and double-check for punctuation, spelling and capitalization. It seems that the only time anyone here disagrees with this, is when an error slips through. Then out comes the tar and feathers for the writer...never for the other FIVE people who looked at it. ? -----Original Message----- From: Ridder, Fred [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 3:31 PM To: d.mossfritch at comcast.net; Art Campbell; Natalie Bircher Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com Subject: RE: OT - Who should be responsible for proofing? What you have described is much deeper than what I would call proofreading. I would put some it under the heading of SME content review (which shouldn't get sidetracked in issues of grammar or punctuation), and most of it under editing (which really has several of its own subcategories). No one set of eyes is ever going to pick up all classes of errors and issues. And if the number of different people available to review/edit/proofread a document is limited, you'll still get better results if those people do multiple passes through the document with a limited scope for each pass. My opinions only; I don't speak for Intel. Fred Ridder (fred dot ridder at intel dot com) Intel Parsippany, NJ -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:framers-bounces+fred.ridder=intel.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of d.mossfritch at comcast.net Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 3:19 PM To: Art Campbell; Natalie Bircher Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: OT - Who should be responsible for proofing? Good Day Art and Natalie, If you are looking at only spelling and grammar, perhaps. However, the problems encountered at our site deal more with content (complete procedures, no link from the help file to an application's Help buttons, lack of option and data column descriptions, and more) and the structure of documents. A couple of years ago our expert (of spelling and grammer) reviewed a contractor's publication and offered a couple of comments. What the expert had missed was the description of the software application was backwards of the application's actual purpose and operation. Afraid I must say that proofing a document depends upon the purpose of that proofing. Best, Denise L. Moss-Fritch -------------- Original message -------------- From: "Art Campbell" <[email protected]> > In practical terms, it should be the person who gets zinged if there's > a mistake and/or the person in the organization with the best spelling > and grammar skills. > > If you're asking a process question, I'd say no, it should never be > the writer because he/she has looked at the copy too much to look at > it with fresh eyes. > > But back in practical terms, if the writer is the best speller / > grammarian, he/she is likely to get stuck with the job. > > Art > > > > On 12/15/06, Natalie Bircher wrote: > > This is off topic, but something that we all must come across as > > writers. Who should be responsible for the final proofing of the > > documents you write? Should it ever be the writer? _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as fred.ridder at intel.com. Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/fred.ridder%40intel. com Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
