7 weeks of editing is almost done

This week is our last week of our seven week intersession course for Editing Print and Online Media.   It seems as though the weeks have flown by, but it made me look back.  Though seven weeks is not that long, it got me thinking as to what I have learned within that time frame.  I tried to think of what I knew about editing before I began this course compared to what I know now.  I would like to think that I have learned tips and tricks to use in the future.  The main thing I’ve learned though is how appreciative we should all be for editors.  Here are a list of items that I learned throughout this course:

• Steps to editing a story
• Spotting screwups
• Working with poll writing
• Writing headlines properly
• Laying out a website for readability
• Dangers in legal writing
• Spotting urban legends

Although I like to think I am a better editor now, it’s definitely not an easy task.  It takes a trained eye to carefully edit letter after letter, word after word, sentence after sentence, and so on.  I am ashamed to admit that even after everything I’ve learned, I still managed to send an email with a spelling mistake.  I only caught it when it was too late, right after I hit the send button. 

I have a new found appreciation for editing, as I never really thought of the mechanics and hard work that lay behind it.  Editing takes time, precison, and a good eye to catch things that other people may not have noticed.  Though I’m still working on my editing skills, I am happy to have taken the course and am now more aware of editing.

With whatever position I end up working in after my second year of CreComm, I know editing will come about at some point.  When it does, I can look at the piece and know I have backup, such as the info stored in my head, hand-outs, Caps and Spelling and the trusty CP Stylebook on my side.

Pictures need editing as well

In my Editing Print and Online Media class, we often discuss grammatical and spelling errors in various pieces of writing.  

However, what about errors that are made when trying to alter a photo in Photoshop?  Here is a website with some examples of Photoshop editing gone wrong.

http://photoshopmistakes.com/

Mad Libs: oh the fun we had

Today's blog post has a similar feel to my last post. The reason being is an experience that I had this past week at Chapters. I was browsing the fantastic gift section, just looking at all the neat gifts. I then came across a table of toys which is where I saw it.

Mad Libs.

I haven't seen a Mad Libs book since I was a "tween", as the kids call it nowadays. I remember looking through the Scholastic catalogue that we would get in school and then ask my Mom to buy it for me. I used to love filling in the spaces in the Mad Libs book with my friends and then read the story out loud to everyone, while laughing at how much it didn't make sense. But what really got me thinking was that among the hilarity, I was actually learning English grammar.

For anyone that has never seen a Mad Libs, it is a series of short stories with various word omitted. You then fill in the blank based on it asking for a noun, adverb, verb, or adjective. Once you have filled in all of the empty spaces, you then read your creation out loud.
So obviously you must know what a noun, adverb, verb, and adjective is or you wouldn't be able to play properly. And since I played it as a younger child, it definitely helped with my learning and understanding, while having fun!

Now I'm not even sure if kids still play with Mad Libs, because it's probably not "cool" anymore. But I think it's fun for all ages. So I searched the internet and found a couple sites that are all about Mad Libs. So here they are....happy playing!

www.madlibs.com

www.itsamadlibsworld.com

                                                              image credit

Grammar Games: Not Only for Children!

Over the last couple of weeks in my intersession course, we have been talking about text shorthands.  We were discussing that people, especially the younger generation, use abbreviated words thanks to texting, Facebook, and Twitter.  That made me think about how I learned grammar growing up.  That thought then drifted to Sesame Street, which I remember watching all the time.  Now Sesame Street really only teaches numbers and the alphabet, but that is definitely a good foundation for grammar.  So it made me realize how much more enjoyable it is to learn something when fun is involved. 

I'm sure many people do not think of fun when it comes to grammar.  So here are a couple of sites which help learning about grammar a little more enjoyable.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/

http://www.yourdictionary.com/dictionary-articles/interactive-grammar-games.html


No matter how old you are, games are always fun.  And just think, you're not wasting time while playing these grammar games.  Instead, you're learning something you never knew or refreshing your memory!

So happy playing!

The Wonderful World of Websites

Editing is obviously an important part of any piece of writing to ensure everything looks, sounds, and is spelled right.  However, what about when it comes to creating domain names?  A company's name may be spelled correctly on paper, but what happens when the company name is put all together?  There are many website names that create an unfortunate alternate meaning when spaces are removed.  Here are a few examples of what I mean:

Spanish Holiday Rentals

choosespain.com

Who Represents?

whorepresents.com

Pen Island
penisland.net

Lake Tahoe

gotahoe.com

Mole Station Native Plant Nursery

molestationnursery.com

So even though the company's name may be spelled correctly, when editing for a domain name, it doesn't mean it transfers well.

Once you click on a website, that can make all the difference as well.  Even if a company has a normal domain name, and everything is spelled correctly, design also plays an important role.  If a company has a poorly designed website, it can be hard to ignore.  There are many examples at www.webpagesthatsuck.com.  Here, you will find many examples of how companies make it difficult to pay attention to anything except how bad the websites are.

All in all, if a company doesn't have a proper domain name or website design, good editing can mean little.  People have to be able to make it past the aesthetics to reach the carefully edited "meat and potatoes" of a company .  

So Not Everyone is Crazy About Spelling Mistakes?

I am currently taking an intersession course at RRC called Editing Print and Online Media.  It's a seven week course, twice a week for two hours a class.  Even though it's summer break, I figured it was totally doable and would be advantageous for 2nd year CreComm.  So here I am about to begin the second week of the course, along with a handful of fellow CreComms.  We have been instructed to make a weekly blog entry about anything that relates to the course. 

Yesterday I was at my sister's house.  I was reading an invitation that she had attached to the side of her fridge and I noticed a spelling mistake.  I mentioned it to her and she said that she doesn't notice those things like I do.  That got me thinking about my hate for simple spelling mistakes.  Now I'm not saying that I never make spelling mistakes because obviously I do.  However, whenever I notice a spelling mistake it makes me wince a little bit.  

This brings me to my next thought.  Do I notice spelling mistakes more often now that I have gone through my first year of CreComm?  Has spending the last year agonizing over correctly spelling all kinds of words made other people's mistakes more noticeable to me?  I can safely say that the people I know do not care about spelling the way I do.  However, I think that it's a good radar to have when it comes to incorrect spelling.  As I will be entering the communications field in about a year, spelling something incorrectly can be damaging to one's credibility.

So I'm proud to say I don't mind noticing spelling mistakes and am happy to point them out, even though my friends and family may find it annoying.  Having this detailed eye will only help me in the future.

A New Tenant

It's that time of year again for the city wildlife to emerge (i.e squirrels and rabbits).  It's always guaranteed that we have a rabbit living in our backyard for the summer. 

I like them.  They don't really eat the flowers and they usually have babies, which are so darn cute!

I think they always keep coming back because of the amazing bunny digs we have for them.  We have a deck with a gazebo around it in our backyard.  Under the deck is, I would imagine, a bunny condo full of I'm not sure what.  The bunny also made a front door and back door.  Large warm covered house, what more could a bunny want?  It seems like she would be the envy of all her bunny friends. 

So anyways I saw her a few days ago and she is a big bunny, so I'm hoping for some little ones soon!  But anyways, I tried to leave leftover pancakes for her on Sunday, but she doesn't seem to be a fancy bunny.  She didn't eat any of it.  So today I left her a lettuce leaf.  A few hours later I looked outside and she was happily munching on it!  So needless to say, the bunny has it pretty good. 

Oh and I named her Wilma, just seemed to fit.