By Charles Watkinson—Copyediting adds value to author manuscripts but is expensive and time-consuming. To what degree can technology ease this thorny part of the production process? How can we introduce electronic workflows without freaking out our skilled editorial colleagues?
These problems were the focus of a hugely successful web seminar, organized by the SSP Education Committee in collaboration with the Association of American University Presses. One hundred fifteen registrants (many sharing their registration with colleagues using projectors and conference phones) attended the meeting, held during a lunch break on May 7.
Ably hosted by Greg Suprock of Cadmus, the seminar featured two case studies: University of Chicago Press was a leader in moving to an all-SGML workflow, and John Muenning of UCP led participants through this elegant machine. He was honest about some of the challenges, including the problems of converting a bespoke and deeply-interconnected system to XML. “There is no such thing as future proof,” he warned.
No less elegant, but perhaps more in-reach to most of those on the call, was the Columbia University Press system presented by Michael Haskell and Scott Beebe (now at Oxford University Press). While the final output is XML, the Columbia system is based around Word and InDesign. Using custom-built macros, Michael and Scott bravely presented a live demonstration of the system at work on a real manuscript.
Questions focused on practical issues and were honestly addressed by the presenters. After 90 minutes of intense and productive learning, participants got up from their computers, stretched their legs, and set off to upgrade their own copyediting workflows. Further exciting web seminars are planned.
Join the Conversation
You must be logged in to post a comment.