Writing, Editing, and Rights Grab Bag

Here are some items related to writing, editing, and content rights that have caught my interest lately…

TOP OF THIS LIST: Fifty Writing Tools, the workbench of Roy Peter Clark (Senior Scholar, the Poynter Institute). This 50-part weekly series, currently in progress, features articles on specific practical writing tips, with examples. They’re intended for journalists, but can apply much more widely. Take all of the tips together and you’ve got a pretty good style guide. Registered Poynter Online users can get each new tip by e-mail as they’re published.

Read the rest of this list…

Four Academic Plagiarists You’ve Never Heard Of: How Many More Are Out There? Chronicle of Higher Education, Dec. 17, 2004, by Thomas Bartlett and Scott Smallwood. I’ve mentioned before how stupid it is to plagiarize anything in the online age. It’s just too damn easy to get caught. Well, apparently some of the most prestigious scholars in academia haven’t gotten that message. Excerpt: “Among the cases [this Chronicle investigation] found were a political scientist who swiped five pages of his book from a journal article, a historian who cribbed from an unpublished dissertation, and a geographer whose verbatim copying appears to span his lengthy career. While this article delves into a few cases we uncovered, our reporting suggests that what we found is not exceptional. Indeed, an editor at History News Network receives so many tips about purported plagiarism that he now investigates only those involving well-known scholars.” Hey, can you spell “honor code?” (Thanks to Cathy Dold for this link.)
No news this week: only publish what is useful, by Gerry McGovern, New Thinking, Dec. 13, 2004. All I can say is AMEN! There is indeed too much dreck on the internet. I believe that a key source of low-quality content is the unfounded maxim that bloggers and other online publishers must publish every day. Really, no one is going to read or listen to you every day! Publish only when you have something worthwhile to say. It’s that simple.
Putting Context into Context, by Jared M. Spool, User Interface Engineering, Jan. 4. Context is perhaps the most important yet most elusive concept for any communicator to grasp. It is perhaps the top lesson I teach my writing coaching clients. In this excellent article, Spool explores how context is a constant theme in our worlds, and how it makes effective action and communication possible. While not specifically about editing or writing, every writer and editor should read this nontechnical article. (Thanks to Column two for this link.)
Understanding Language, by Dean Esmay, Dean’s World, Dec. 20, 2004. A thoughtful exploration of the much-misunderstood topic of ebonics. Personally, I agree with Dean. It is indeed an emerging language, and it does indeed have its own grammar. Objections that it is “ungrammatical” reflect a lack of understanding of what grammar really is and how languages evolve and emerge. For more on this subject, read The Language Instinct and Words and Rules, both by Harvard linguist Steven Pinker. (Thanks to Anil Dash for this link.)
Website Content Usability, by Meghan Whitmore, WebPro News, Dec. 10, 2004. Excerpt: “The best [web site] navigation in the world will do you no good if your visitors are navigating around bad content.” The article offers very basic editorial tips – good for an introduction or refresher to this subject.
Three Important Benefits of Personas, by Jared Spool, Dec. 7, 2004. This article is actually about a technique of user interface design. However, it’s the same basic idea as a key principle that I hammer home to my writing coaching clients: First and foremost, you must define your target audience and envision those people as clearly as possible. No writing can succeed if writers don’t understand who they must reach, and why. This principle in fact applies to all kinds of communication and interaction, including user interfaces. (Thanks to Column Two for this link.)
National Handwriting Day: Jan 23. On a date selected to commemorate the birthday of John Hancock, the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association (WIMA) has declared a national holiday in the US. Well, I don’t know how official this is, but I think it’s cool. Speaking as someone who developed a very unique and flourish-laden script in high school (of which I was exceedingly proud, but which annoyed my teachers to no end), I treasure the art of writing by hand. Unfortuately, for the last couple fo decades I’ve confined the practice of that art largely to signing checks and writing in my journal. Damn computers!
Sometimes, it’s just too tough to read…, by Scott McCulloch, ASM Weblog, Aug. 22, 2004. A delightful rant about writing quality. Wel sed.
Lore: E-Journal for Teachers of Writing. I haven’t had time to explore this much, but it looks interesting and useful. Mainly geared toward teaching in a university setting. (Thanks to Nancy White for this link.)
BookCrossing: Now here’s a neat idea. Book crossing is the practice of sharing books by leaving them in public places, to be picked up by strangers for free. Ordinarily this is an act of anonymous kindness/karma. However, this site allows you to register a book that you’re “releasing” in this fashion. You note that information in the inside front cover, with the site’s URL, and other people can go there to register who picked it up and what they did with it. Intriguing… (Thanks to Matthew Oliphant for this link.)
trAce: Pretty good UK resource/training center for online writing. Much of it appears to be free.