The society's May meeting celebrates the launch of the new Commonwealth Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers, 6th edition. Enjoy an evening discussing communication trends and standards in Australia with other people who care about them.
The society has been invited to join the Australian Graphic Design Association, ACT Chapter (AGDA ACT) and the Australian Society of Indexers ACT Region Branch for a dinner meeting at the National Press Club on Wednesday 29 May at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m. The cost, $35.00 members (all societies) and $55.00 non-members, includes a two-course meal.
The speakers will be Loma Snooks, who managed the Style Manual publishing project and was an author and editor for it, and David Whitbread, who was the book's art director and on the author team. Copies of the manual and of The Design Manual by David Whitbread (published by UNSW Press, 2001), will be on sale.
To book, please send an email or fax by 27 May to Bill Pearson (AGDA ACT president) at bill@design1.com.au or fax 02 6230 9174. On the night, you pay at the door, with one person from each group confirming the membership status of that group (to receive the members' or non-members' entry price). Please include the membership details of all members of your group on the message to Bill Pearson, to speed entry on the night.
Next meeting
CSE Vice-President
The President's column
The latest in digital printing presses
English!
How to assess an index
Email addresses
National notes: Victoria
New members
News and notes
Dates for your diary
Copyright notes
We are pleased to announce that Kerry MacDermott is now vice-president of the society.
I read in the newspaper the other day about the court case of a delivery driver who had damages awarded against him for running into a pedestrian who had ignored all the signals about leaving the footpath at a crossing. The facts of the case as presented in the report seemed to suggest that the pedestrian had behaved idiotically, and that the driver had been just plain unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The sole gratifying note in the whole affair was that, on appeal, the damages were reduced from half-a-million to under $100,000. But the jaywalker - as we used to call such people - 'won'. My trusty old, home-office dictionary defines 'to jaywalk' as 'to cross a street carelessly or in an illegal manner so as to be endangered by traffic'. Quite so.
Why this story? Well, it's just to remind you, if you needed reminding, how cockeyed the society we live in sometimes seems; in which we are all at increasing risk of someone having a go at us no matter what the rights and wrongs of the particular circumstance, if indeed those words have any absolute meaning any more. You cannot fail to have read or heard about the problems that many voluntary groups are having in meeting ever-increasing insurance premiums to protect them from 'public risk'. Some groups have simply ceased to function.
The Canberra Society of Editors is not immune to these changes, though we are lucky to operate in what appears to be a low-risk area. Nevertheless, we need to move to safeguard our members, and particularly the committee members, who at present are collectively and individually liable for any action that might be brought against us. Fortunately, it seems it is easy to go a long way towards rectifying this by incorporating the society, and that is what we intend to do. What incorporation does is, among other things, 'create a legal entity that is separate and distinct from that of the individual members. This is important because incorporation distinguishes the liability of an association from that of its members'. I understand that this means that anyone who sues the society cannot 'win' any more than the assets of the society, and while we have a small investment set aside it would seem to me to be not enough to be worth the legal cost and effort of action against us: the costs would be much greater than the benefits.
What differences will incorporation make to the normal operations of our society? Very few, we think. There will be an establishment cost and there might be compliance costs over and above those we incur at present, to prepare annual reports and so on. So there might be a case for a nominal increase in the annual subscription to cover these extra costs: we'll consider that in committee. In order to be incorporated we are required to adopt 'rules' in lieu of a constitution. Some matters in our current constitution may need to change to satisfy the incorporation requirements: any changes would need to be approved by society members.
We've had some advance information about the state of planning for the national conference to be held in Queensland, most likely at Brisbane, in the second half of next year. This is a Council for Australian Societies of Editors' (CASE) activity being masterminded by a working group convened by Robin Bennett of the Queensland Society. Louise Forster is our delegate to the group. 'After Gutenberg and Gates - gazing into the future' has been suggested as a theme for the conference. That sounds pretty cool, though I'm personally not so sure about the Gates bit. The conference might focus on, among other things, the changing nature of the market for editors and others involved in the publishing industry, and the need to market the editing profession - ways of going about this and the skills editors will need.
Marketing the profession and raising its profile are things that most of the Australian societies of editors are currently working on, including us. It was part of the rationale behind our public launch of the new freelance register in March, and we are now considering the possibility of organising and running some sort of public competition to recognise and reward good publications editing.
hope that there will be a good roll-up of editors to the joint graphic designers-editors-indexers celebration of the publication of the new Style Manual at the National Press Club on 29 May. It should be a grand evening, and the celebration of what is one of the bibles of our profession would surely not want to be missed by anyone.
Ed Highley
Simon Longden gave an informative talk on digital printing at the society's April meeting. Ed Highley introduced Simon by saying that, at the society's visit to the 'Treasures' exhibition in February, members were fortunate in seeing an example of the book - Gutenberg's Bible - that started the printing revolution. Now members would learn about the latest quiet revolution in printing. Members' many questions were ably answered by Simon, whose depth of knowledge about digital printing was gained over 13 years' experience in a digital printing company in the UK and 18 months at Trendsetting Pty Ltd in Fyshwick.
Digital printing is as unlike the printing process used by Gutenberg to print his Bible in 1455 as, say, a modern car is from the horse and cart. The result is the same - text printed on paper - but the process is now almost 'hands-free' and thoroughly computerised.
Although the latest method of digital printing is now based on traditional printing processes, digital printing's genesis lay in xerography, the dry, toner-based photographic copying method used by photocopiers. Electronics enable the process to work, and a short definition of digital printing could be 'image on paper through electronics'.
Digital printing has been producing short runs of four-colour printed material quickly and easily since 1994. First-generation digital printing presses, such as Trendsetting's Chromapress, have their limitations - the process demands specialised paper with a low moisture content to accept the toner and the level of heat that fuses it to the paper. Despite the limited range of available paper, the Chromapress is still in constant use because it is a web (paper on roll) press. It can print material many metres long and impossible to print on any other digital press, such as long narrow posters and banners, and leaflets with many folded pages.
The second-generation digital printing presses such as Trendsetting's Fuji Xerox 2060 can print on a wider range of sheet paper, although the limitations of using toners are still there. These presses print small runs at moderate cost but there are no economies of scale as there is a 'click charge' (a charge levied by the manufacturers of the machines) for every page printed.
The latest, third-generation digital printing press - the Heidelberg Quickmaster DI - has recently arrived in Canberra. This generation of digital presses has left its roots in xerography and returned to that stalwart method of printing for the last 90 years, offset lithography. Unlike the earlier digital printing presses, the Quickmaster DI uses printing plates and standard printing inks. And unlike traditional offset lithography the process is waterless and virtually chemical-free.
The 'DI' in the Quickmaster's name stands for 'direct imaging', which means that the printing plates are directly imaged in the press. There is no labour-intensive prepress work - no physical imposition of pages, camera work, film development, assembly or dangerous chemicals.
What this means for editors, designers and their clients is that their finished jobs can be emailed to the printer, checked, proofs made, and multiple copies printed only 20 minutes or so after the proofs are approved. Turnaround times of 24 hours are common.
But it's not quite as simple as just pushing a button.
The Heidelberg Quickmaster DI is a complex machine. It is controlled by a desktop computer which runs the Heidelberg Delta RIP software. The RIP (raster image processor) converts the information on the files supplied by the editor or designer into a form that can be printed. This process, called 'rasterising', converts the information into 'bits', which make up the solids and half-tones on the printed pages. The 'bit' size is equal to the resolution of the output device, for this press 1270 dpi (dots per inch) - not to be confused with lines per inch (lpi), which is the screen ruling (resolution) of a half-tone image. (The Quickmaster can print half-tones at 200 lpi - impressive.)
The original files are preferably supplied in PDF (Portable Document Format), but other types of files, such as PostScript files or files in word-processing, desktop-publishing or graphics applications such as InDesign or Photoshop, are accepted. They are converted by the Quickmaster's computer into PDF format for the Quickmaster's RIP to colour-separate and rasterise. Before the files are RIPed, they are given a 'pre-flight' inspection. This involves checks for potential problems such as missing, damaged or conflicting fonts; missing or low-resolution images; and incorrect colour mode, page sizes and file formats. The pages are then RIPed and imposed. The file is sent to the toner-based digital printing press to produce two proofs. One is kept by Trendsetting as a 'control' and the other is sent to the client for approval.
Once approved, the file is sent to the digital press's four computer-controlled lasers, one for each process colour.The lasers directly burn the separated images into four printing plates at the same time. These plates, unlike the conventional offset plates that are chemically treated to attract ink or to attract water (and hence repel ink), comprise two layers with their own ink-attracting or repelling properties. The lasers burn holes in the ink-repelling silicone top layer through to the ink-attracting polyester layer beneath.
When the make-ready (ensuring that the inks and paper are being printed correctly) is completed, pages are offset-printed in the conventional way.
Thanks to a fast-pulse of infrared light in the stacking unit, the printed sheets can be turned around immediately and printed on the second side.
The printed, folded and trimmed booklets, leaflets or posters can be delivered to the client within a mere 24 hours, although 48 hours is more usual.
The fast turnaround time is only one of the benefits of the Heidelberg Quickmaster DI. It fills the niche between a small print run of 250 copies and a moderate-size print run of 5000 to 10,000 copies, and produces a high-quality result.
It is economical, due to fast plate-preparation. It has economies of scale, as extra copies (run-ons) can be printed while the press is still set up.
There is less paper wastage, as clients need only specify the number of copies they actually want. This helps the client respond to market conditions by having smaller numbers of copies printed more often. Trendsetting archives the print-ready files so that more copies can be printed in the future, at only a few hours' notice.
Because the Quickmaster DI is an offset press, a wide selection of paper can be used: coated, uncoated, recycled, label, from 80 gsm to 300 gsm. Even mylar can be printed. There is one drawback: the maximum paper size is oversize A3 (SRA3: 460 mm wide x 320 mm). Large number of pages are therefore not economical as the press can only print four A4 pages at a time.
The choice of inks is up to the designer, as the press can print just in black, or in four process colours, or in any Pantone ink (such as metallic). It handles spot varnish, too.
Importantly, the press is environmentally friendly. It uses very little solvent and the plates are recyclable.
What would Gutenberg have made of this apparently magical machine?
For more information about the Heidelberg Quickmaster DI, check out Trendsetting's website at <www.trendsetting.com.au>.
Ann Parkinson
This little treatise on the lovely language we share is only for the brave. It was passed on by a linguist, original author unknown. Peruse at your leisure, English lovers.
Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:
Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why haven't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
PS. Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick'?
Contributed by Jenny Cook
When preparing a book for publication, the editor must also assess its index. Whether the index has been prepared by the author, or it has been commissioned, the rules for its assessment remain the same.
As a general statement, the index must complement the text. It is not meant to stand alone as some sort of edifice, nor is it meant to be an alternative to the text. The index must serve two different functions. Firstly, it must allow the reader who is not familiar with the contents of the text to determine the subject coverage. Secondly, it must enable the reader who is familiar with the book to find particular pieces of information within the text. These two facets must be borne in mind when evaluating the quality of an index. In addition to these general considerations, a more specific assessment of an index may be made. I have divided this process into four stages.
Make a complete, sequential reading of the index in order to gain an indication of its comprehensiveness, depth and level of indexing. Consistency in layout and terminology, adherence to any conventions and typographical errors will also become apparent. Similarly, the editor will be able to see whether cross-references have been included to assist the reader.
At this stage, it is also useful to check that the index is proportional in length to that of the text. Assuming that the index is double-columned, the following general percentages should provide a guide: for very light works, the index should be approximately 3 per cent of the number of text pages; for general works (for example, a Penguin paperback), about 5 per cent; for an academic work, 7-8 per cent; and for a specialist work, 12-15 per cent.
The number of page references in undifferentiated strings should also be checked. There should be no more than seven or eight (although some of my colleagues set a maximum of ten) before subdivision is essential.
Particularly for commissioned indexes, it is essential that the indexer has understood what the book is about and for whom it has been written. The index should reflect the tone and level of the author's treatment of the subject matter. This should have been brought out in the initial discussions between the editor and the indexer, or at least should have been clarified by a read through of the preface or introductory matter of the book.
By analysing a substantial section of the text, the application of headings to the topics covered may be evaluated. This amounts to a brief indexing task in itself. Open the book several times at random, then, by reading the double-page spread, check that the index accurately reflects the subject matter contained in those pages. Although I mentioned cross-references earlier, at this stage particular care should be taken to check the adequacy of cross-references that are, or seemingly should be, employed.
This is the obverse of the previous step, but taking the view of the user rather than of the indexer. It simply consists of looking up in the text the indicated passages from a selection of index entries. The object is to see that the page references are accurate, although obviously, in the course of doing so, the impression of adequacy and appropriateness of the headings themselves may be reinforced.
Once the editor has undergone these four basic steps, she or he is in a good position to give a fair assessment of the quality and suitability of an index. I suppose one final thing I can say about publishing and indexing is that a good book will certainly be enhanced by the addition of a good index, however, a poor or mediocre book will remain poor or mediocre regardless of how good the index might be.
Max McMaster, President of Assessors
Australian Society of Indexers
This article first appeared in Stylewise, Volume 3 Number 2, 1997. It is reproduced here at the request of Helen Topor and with the permission both of its author and of the present editor of Stylewise, Stephen Donkersley.
Have you changed your email address recently and not told us? A growing number of messages are now being returned undeliverable. If you think YOU may be at fault, email Peter Judge at <peter.judge@alianet.alia.org.au>. There's no need for any message - just a subject heading like 'How's my email?'.
Also, if you have an entry in the web register of freelance editors, please double check it - out-of-date information is not good publicity for you. We know that some emails are wrong, ABNs are missing and so on... If it's worth putting in, it's worth getting it right!
This article about the Society of Editors (Victoria) Inc., resumes the series about the other editors' societies around Australia, begun in 2001.
The Society of Editors (Victoria) Inc has more than 300 members. The majority of our members work freelance, some work solely in-house and some undertake both in-house and freelance work concurrently (how they find the time, I'm not sure). And of course, some of our members are not working directly in editing, but have an interest in the society's activities anyway.
In the past three years or so that I have been the membership secretary for the Victorian society I have noticed an increasing trend in people joining from Victorian country regions, and in people who are members of the society and have been freelancing for some time moving away from the Melbourne metropolitan area. I haven't undertaken any particular research, but having been asked to write about the Victorian society, it was something that came to mind as being of interest - rather than just rehashing our web page, which was my first inclination. (It's well worth a look, at <www.socedvic.org>.) The decentralisation of our membership shows how very portable our work is, and I believe it is a positive thing for the future, at many levels.
One of the major projects that we, like the Canberra society, undertake on behalf of our members is our freelance register, which has more than 80 entries. It is available on-line as well as being distributed annually and free of charge to book publishers and other organisations.
We maintain an active training program, led by professionals experienced in their fields. The courses are well attended, not only by our members but by non-members as well - they often become members as a result. In the past couple of years we have covered on-screen editing (a course that is in particularly high demand), proofreading, structural editing, project management, grammar basics and indexing.
The society meets monthly, generally on the first Wednesday of the month at Rhumbarella's, a restaurant in the heart of Melbourne. We use a private room upstairs, and after either dinner or finger food we are able to listen to various people talk about different facets of editing. In the past twelve months, speakers have ranged from Elizabeth Murphy talking about plain English, to Erica Wagner regaling us on her foray into setting up her own imprint, to a panel discussion led by experienced editors where everyone had a chance to air their pet peeves. Other meetings were about editing and new technology, the ergonomics of editing, and editors' rights and expectations as contractors and service providers. The most popular discussion that I have attended was on the subject of being a freelancer and all that it entails.
In addition to the monthly meetings, the email listings and a newsletter (printed ten times a year) keep members up-to-date.
The Victorian membership is steadily increasing - as I've been writing this article this morning I've received two emails applying for membership. Overall, the Victorian society is dynamic and energetic, responding to changing work conditions and technology.
Any Canberra visitors who find themselves in Melbourne on the first Wednesday of the month are most welcome to attend our meeting. Visit our web site for details of forthcoming events.
Helen Bethune-Moore
who is also a member of our society
This month we welcome Jane Sandilands as a new full member. Jane has been editing magazines, such as Philanthropy, and the National CommunityLink Magazine for the National Australia Bank, and is currently editing a book on gold mining.
We also welcome as new associate members Catherine Hall and Melissa Taylor.
The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, together with the Charlesworth, is pleased to announce six awards which recognise significant achievement in the field of learned and professional publishing.
The awards are international, and are open to all eligible publishers and others; organisations may submit as many applications as they wish in each category. A panel of independent experts will judge the applications, and the winners will be announced at the prestigious ALPSP Annual Dinner in London on 19 September 2002. The deadline for applications is 31 May 2002.
For details on each award and how to apply please go to: <http://www.alpsp.org/awards2002.htm>. Perhaps you can encourage publishers you work for to apply.
Publicity Matters: Strategies for Cost-effective Results
Sydney, Wednesday 29th May; Melbourne, Friday 31st May, 9.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.
Speaker: Andy Palmer (Publicity Matters), one of Australia's leading book publicists with 17 years experience in the industry.
Cost: (GST incl.) $450 for APA, Publish Australia, Galley Club & Society of Editors; $490 non-members. To register or to receive more information please contact Libby O'Donnell on (02) 9281 9788 or <Libby.Odonnell@publishers.asn.au>.
18-19 May, the Annual Getting Published Weekend, at the Canberra Museum and Gallery, Civic Square.
Topics on 18 May include: Grants; contracts, copyright, royalties; the role of the literary agent; what writers need from editors and what publishers want from writers; promoting yourself as a writer; freelance writing, quoting for work, generating income; and more. Presenters include: Craig Cormick, Robert Piani, Rob Pullan, Fran Bryson, Carl Harrison-Ford, Kaaren Sutcliffe and Francesca Rendle-Short.
Cost: $60 members/concessions and $80 non-members for all Saturday events including morning and afternoon tea and evening wine OR $15 members and $20 non-members per individual session on Saturday. For much more detail, or to book, call the ACT Writers Centre, phone 6262 9191.
On 19 May, Rhonda Whitton gives two workshops. First, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., 'A Decent Proposal - Pitching to A Publisher', focusing on the importance of targeting publishers and preparing a book proposal. Then, 2-5 p.m., 'Writing and Selling Feature Articles'. Cost of each workshop: $33 members and concessions, $76 non-members. Bookings: 6262 9191.
In a Pennsylvania cemetery: 'Persons are prohibited from picking flowers from any but their own graves.'
On the grounds of a public school: 'No trespassing without permission.'
On a Tennessee highway: 'When this sign is under water, this road is impassable.'
Thanks again to Ara Nalbandian, via Peter Judge, for sending these.
From an article on David Hicks, the Australian Taliban fighter, in the Canberra Times, 12 April:
'At present, he is imprisoned in a 2.5 m by 2.5 m cell at Camp X-ray, along with several hundred other prisoners.'
Spotted by Peter Judge
18-19 May: ACT Writers Centre 'Getting published'
29 May: The society's May meeting
29-31 May: APA course (see above)
31 May: Closing date for ALPSP Awards
26 June: The society's June meeting
The Canberra Editor is published by the Canberra Society of Editors, PO Box 3222, Manuka ACT 2603. © Canberra Society of Editors 2001. ISSN 1039-3358
The deadline for the next regular issue is
31 May.
Mail contributions on a 3.5 inch disk, using Word for Windows
(essential) or email (preferable) to:
Ann Milligan
Science Text Processors Canberra
PO Box 3161, Belconnen MDC, ACT 2617
phone/fax: (02) 6259 3080
email: scientex@actonline.com.au
If mailing, always provide a printout as well.
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