Agency in Editing

By

Obododimma Oha

INTRODUCTION

Who edits the other? Is that assignment necessary? Who are editors? Is editing a recognized job or is it self-imposed?

In this lecture, we are going to discuss this some of the agents in editing, such as the teacher, the computer,  and the professional editor. 

It should also be pointed out that, even though we focus primarily on  the written text, editorial work extends to video-making and other visuals. They require a professional touch, based on what is good for the market. 

The Teacher as an Editor

Teachers have the commitment of pointing out act good path in learning. In the process, they can spot out unacceptable usages in students' texts. But they are not fault-finders and the red pen used for correction is not supposed to be dreaded. The red pen used by the teacher shows that texts are supposed to be processed to find out where their producers are headed. So, teachers are naturally editors of texts in learning and of behavior. 

Teachers leave comments on the scripts, hoping students would read those comments and act appropriately. So, are not supposed to be casual and meant to be read in response. 

 

Teachers sometimes use abbreviations and symbols in making comments. Those are supposed to be understood and corrections would help learning, not when students just see their grades and that is all. 

The idea has become common that the teacher knows it, is the reference for the correct answer Orr soundness of the idea. Yes, a teacher should know but should also be a facilitator, helping students to think. Editing also calls for knowing the soundness of  the idea, whether it can go public or not and it is aware of other ideas. Thus editing by teachers tells us about other people who are going to evaluate us in their reading and to try to measure up. 

The Computer as an Editor 

The computer is also an important editor. It can edit photographs, texts, etc and there are software for particular editing. 

As a machine editing and artificial intelligence, it depends on what it is told to accept or reject. That means that some words that are correct but from language other than that of the computer configuration would be marked as being incorrect. 

Also, as in translation, machine editing is unable to deal with syntactic issues and matters that border on  text quality. 

Platforms for text creation like Word and Correll Draw already have editing capabilities. Word uses Traack Changes 

Professional Editors

Professional editors are employed to edit before publication. In that case, their role is very important. They are not faultfinders but people who have to posture as future consumers of the item and look for better publications.

Professional editors need to be trained on the language and should be familiar with the language of editing. They should also be familiar with editing ideas.

It is taken for granted that professional editors know the house values or ideology and so have to keep them. They should also be aware of some social security challenges, like staff being arrested by law enforcement officers or libel charges in court.

Concluding Remarks

These are not the only agents of editorial work, although they could be seen as significant forces. What is crucial is they are brought in to make the edited material better.

It is important to remember that they can individually bring in problems but these need to be solved for the good of editing.