Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Next meeting Newsletter of the Canberra Society of Editors
Volume 19 • Number 9 • October 2010
27 October
6 for 6:30 pm
Specialised publications
Fellows Lane Ian Davis, the Chief Executive of National accountant, a fund manager, or a
Cottage Publishers, addressed our September meeting university administrator. They take
about providing specialised publications. government information and reprocess
ANU
it for different audiences. They produce
According to Ian, the general news media is
specialist newsletters – often on the
facing mounting financial pressures and
same subject from different angles –
Managing the difficulties in identifying their role and the types
for industry and professional
media in crises of information they want to communicate.
associations, major companies,
Increasingly, even quasi‐specialist newspapers
What exactly do you tell the superannuation funds and other
like the Financial Review lack the staff and
media when an Australian publishing and communications
resources to cover policy development in detail.
footballer is tragically killed companies in areas like banking,
The internet provides a huge volume of raw
while on tour overseas? insurance, health, and education. The
information, but it needs to be searched for and
And is it possible to newsletters are in the association’s
sifted through.
generate positive media name.
from a housing dispute that National Publishers specialises in government
The question–answer session at the
has been running for years? information, and provides difficult‐to‐find
end was very interesting. Ian described
information on government regulatory matters
Issues and crisis how he started National Publishers and
in simple, accurate, non‐specialist language to a
management is a crucial grew it into the company it is today. He
variety of audiences.
part of any organisation's also told us how he finds and tries out
communications strategy, Ian was a journalist for 20 years before freelancers. Editors beware—reliability
and our guest speaker for establishing National Publishers about 10 years was one of the key criteria Ian used to
October, David Pembroke, ago. decide whether he would use someone
will fill us in on what it is again.
He has built up a team of people with specialist
like to manage the media
writing and editing skills plus an understanding Natalie Maddalena
during times of crises.
of the perspective of, for example, an
David is the owner of
Canberra‐based marketing
and PR agency,
contentgroup, and an issues New venue for Yes, it’s CHRISTMAS
manager for a number of
key private and public
October again!
sector organisations across
The Emeritus Faculty of the ANU has This year, the Canberra Society of Editors
the territory.
kindly offered us the use of their meeting will be celebrating Christmas at The Brassey
room for our general monthly meetings. restaurant in Barton on 24 November.
We will go out for a light You’ll find us at Fellows Lane Cottage, The cost will be $40 for members, which
dinner after the meeting. Fellows Lane (off Fellows Road), ANU. includes two courses and a drink.
Please feel free to join us.
It’s not far from University House. Use the contact form at
<www.editorscanberra.org/about/contact>
Fellows Road joins both Garran Road and to make a booking.
Sullivans Creek Road.
See the map on the back page.
Your committee Training news:
President Training and plans for more Courses in the past two years:
Cathy Nicoll 6259 2984
Cathy.Nicoll@atrax.net.au
In December 2008, Martine Taylor conducted a Structural editing—Pamela Hewitt
Vice‐president survey of training needs, which has been very Design for non‐designers—David Whitbread
Claudia Marchesi
cmarchesi@netspeed.com.au useful in planning training courses for the past Building an online presence—Michael Cairns
Immediate past‐president
two years (see right). Editing essentials—Cathy Nicoll
Ted Briggs 6161 4924 Design essentials—David Whitbread
It is now time for a new survey to enable the
0407 018 433 Templates in Word—Brian O’Donnell
tedbriggs@grapevine.com.au committee to plan training courses for the next
Editing as a business—Pamela Hewitt
Secretary two years. The questions in the survey are
Small business essentials—Jean McIntyre & David
Eris Harrison below.
erisjane@bigpond.net.au Grantham
You can respond via email or via the website: The don’t panic workshop (editing annual
Treasurer
Tracy Harwood <http://www.editorscanberra.org/survey‐ reports)—Helen Lewis
tracyharwood@grapevine.net.au 2010/>. Please respond to the survey so we can Editing and publishing—Sue Wales & Cathy Nicoll
Public officer provide the training you need! Grammar essentials—Pam Peters
Helen Topor 6131 6508
Helen.Topor@afp.gov.au Martin Holmes
Training coordinator Survey of training needs
Martin Holmes 0431 268 948
Martin.Holmes‐ [1] In which of the following subject areas would you welcome a training course?
Forte@bigpond.com
i Editing and proofreading practice v Grammar and/or writing style
Membership secretary
Vacant
ii Indexing practice vi Wordprocessing
Web minder: contact
Cathy Nicoll iii Editing business practice vii Other editing and publishing software (e.g. InDesign)
Newsletter: iv Project management viii Website design, implementation and maintenance
Editor Kerie Newell
kerie1@optusnet.com.au [2] Can you suggest course topics (and presenters) not listed in Question 1?
Proofreaders: Damaris Wilson,
Martine Taylor [3] Do you prefer full‐day or half‐day courses?
Meeting coordinator
Briony Winchester
[4] Do you prefer weekday or Saturday courses?
0404 856 925
briony.winchester@live.com.au
[5] The cost of courses is usually in the order of $150 for full‐day courses and $90 for half‐day courses.
Do you have any comments on the cost of courses?
Catering coordinator
Liz Phillips 0403 941 058
liziphillips@gmail.com From the editor
IPEd delegate
Ted Briggs 6161 4924
0407 018 433
Welcome to the October issue of The Canberra Your newsletter’s regular contributors are
editor and the beginning of what I hope, as its new invaluable but it has been my desire to also include
IPEd Accreditation Board delegat
Larissa Joseph 6161 5216 managing editor, will be the next stage in its articles from other areas of importance and
larissa.joseph@gmail.com development to a more professional and interest to editors, such as graphic design,
Committee members informative newsletter. indexing, publishing and writing.
Martin Blaszczyk
Gil Garcon The Canberra Society of Editors has recently seen The Canberra editor provides regular articles from
Damaris Wilson a wonderful change in the layout and content of well‐known and professional editors but there is
its website and a new logo design. Over the next always room for more. If you would like to
few months, I and other Committee members will contribute to the newsletter, please read the
be working with the CSE’s logo designer to simple guidelines for all articles at
develop a new masthead for The Canberra editor. <http://www.editorscanberra.org/newsletter‐
guide‐2010/>. Details of the deadline for all copy
While the newsletter team is growing, with
and email addresses can be found on the back
Martine Taylor and Damaris Wilson now
page of the newsletter.
volunteering to be proofreaders, there is still an
opening for someone to format/layout/typeset I hope you enjoy this issue of your newsletter.
the newsletter. All it involves is putting the edited And remember, any comments about your
text into a Word document (or your software of newsletter or the Society are always welcome.
choice) and then sending it out for proofreading.
Kerie Newell
Please get in touch with us if you can help out.
New publication
Ruth Colman’s The Briefest Punctuation Guide Ever! is a concise and practical guide to punctuation. Ms Colman lives in
Maitland, NSW and is a semi‐retired teacher and copy editor. Published by UNSW Press, the book was launched in
September and is available for $16.95.
If you have any invaluable information for this column, please contact the editor at <kerie1@optusnet.com.au>.
IPEd news
News from the Institute of Professional Editors Limited accreditation exam, scheduled for May 2011; updating its
August–September 2010 Procedures Manual; and setting the criteria for renewal of
accreditation. Work on the first is ongoing; the other two are
IPEd held its 2010 annual general meeting on 5 September by
virtually complete. The Procedures Manual is a substantial
teleconference. Activities and progress over the 2009–10
document detailing exam procedures and the activities and
year will be covered in an annual report in preparation. At
responsibilities of every member of the exam team before,
the AGM, Rosemary Noble (Vic.) retired as Chair of the IPEd
during and after the event. Accredited editors wishing to
Council, and Rosemary Luke (SA) was elected to the position,
remain so will need to apply for renewal of accreditation
with Tina Thornton (Tas.) as Deputy Chair. The Council
every five years, success being dependent on, among other
extended its warm appreciation to the noble Rosemary for
things, continuing employment in, and contribution to, the
her steady guidance of institute activities over the past year.
profession.
She remains as a councillor.
Revision of the Australian Standards for Editing Practice, first
At its regular monthly meetings in August and September,
published in 2001, is being managed by Ted Briggs of the
Council monitored and discussed progress on several current
Canberra society. A first draft has been produced and
projects.
circulated for comment. More work is needed to bring the
The redevelopment of the website is proceeding apace. The standards in line with contemporary practice, particularly the
final design has been approved but the magnitude of the task major and continuing impact of electronic editing, publishing
of populating the site has resulted in a postponement of the and communication technologies.
launch date, originally scheduled for 1 September. Various
In consultation with the societies, a group in WA headed by
councillors and committee members have written updated
Anne Surma has revised IPEd’s policy on ‘The editing of
copy for the site and the content is being managed by
research theses by professional editors’, first developed in
Communication Committee stalwarts Rowena Austin and
2001. The revision was made to take account of the changing
Rosemary Luke, both members of the SA society.
environment in which editors and students work, particularly
In parallel with the new site, an A4 flyer promoting the value in relation to electronic or on‐screen editing. The Council will
of editorial services has been produced and will be freely now seek endorsement of the revised policy by the Deans
available to societies and their members. Only a few have and Directors of Graduate Studies committee of the
been printed, its primary use being seen as an electronic Australian universities.
document. The Council hopes that editors will find that the
The call for contributions to the IPEd Occasional Papers series
flyer has many uses including, for example, as an appendage
was launched earlier in the year. The period for submissions
to project bids.
has been extended to 31 October.
The Accreditation Board has been occupied with three main
Ed Highley, Secretary
tasks over the past two months: development of the next
Another issue is that the program is set to automatically The Accreditation Board is now reviewing venues and other
insert a double space after a full stop, which is odd, given requirements, and would welcome an indication of
that double spaces are not necessary when using a word whether you intend to sit the exam. This does not
processor. represent a commitment on your part, but it will help with
the work to be done in the months ahead. We are also
On the positive side, when I manage to speak calmly and
seeking to gauge the interest of state and territory society
naturally, and use words the program can cope with, the
members in alternative formats and modes of delivery for
speed is definitely better than my fastest touch typing.
the exam.
Opening programs with speech recognition also works well,
probably because the spoken commands are repetitive. I Please complete the survey by logging into
find it very satisfying to say ‘Start Word’, ‘Start Excel’, ‘Start <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RTKMV2K> and
Outlook’, etc, when I turn on the computer and see the submitting it by the closing date: Friday 22 October 2010
programs magically open. Larissa Joseph
Contents The Canberra editor
Next meeting: 27 October 1 Published by the Canberra Society of Editors
Specialised publications 1 PO Box 3222 Manuka ACT 2603
It’s CHRISTMAS again 1 19th year, number 9
Training news: Survey of training needs 2 © Canberra Society of Editors 2010.
From the editor 2 ISSN 1039‐3358
Stacking sentences? 3 Opinions and statements in signed articles are
Thinking about words: 4 those of the author.
Vale Clare Booth Steward 5
Membership secretary wanted 5 Newsletter schedule
Insurance 5 The next newsletter will appear in November
Out and about 6 2010 and for that issue the copy deadline is
IPEd news 6 1 November.
Speech recognition 7 The editor welcomes contributions by email
IPEd accreditation exam: survey 7 to: <kerie1@optusnet.com.au>.