A little history of the society
Loma Snooks, then Principal Editor of Kinhill Engineers,
started it all, back in 1990, when she moved to Canberra and began looking for
well-qualified editing staff for Kinhill. Discussions with freelance editor
Chris Pirie and publications manager Dr Sandra Child firmed up the idea of a
society of editors in Canberra, similar to those already existing in Melbourne,
Sydney and Adelaide. That led to an invitation, in May 1991, to address a
meeting of the publications staff of a number of government agencies.
Loma's address led to the formation of a steering
committee, which advertised the proposal for an editors' society in the newspapers
and circulated it to 'any organisations where editors might be hiding'. A good
response to this publicity led to the first general meeting in May 1992, with
58 attending. An interim committee, appointed with Graham Grayston as
President, sent out a questionnaire to members and, based on the reponses, did
much to set the pattern of subsequent activity - meetings, newsletters,
speakers, training seminars and so on - aimed at fostering professional and
social interaction between members and promoting editorial standards and
services. The newsletter was first published in June 1992—issues of its
successor, The Canberra Editor, from 2001 to
current, are available on this site and can be opened from the home page.
At the first AGM, in September, 1992 Loma was elected
President, Nigel Harding Vice-President, Maureen Wright Secretary and Sandy
Paine Treasurer. Roger Green was newsletter editor and Peter Judge and Gregg
Berry were the other committee members. Stefanie Pearce was elected President
in 1994, followed by Peter Judge (1996), Clare Booth Steward (1998), Louise
Forster (1999), Lee Kirwan (2000), Ed Highley (2001), Claudia Marchesi (2003),
Virginia Wilton (2005) and Ted Briggs (2007).
The society has grown steadily and now has about 200
members: 2 Honorary Life Members (Loma Snooks and Peter Judge), 146 Full, 46
Associate, 5 Student members and 2 Corporate. Besides its regular monthly
meetings, it has put on well-attended training seminars. Its 'Commissioning checklist' (1994) offers a guide, for
employers and editors, to the questions that need to be resolved before
commencing editing work. It has now been to some extent overtaken by the Australian Standards for Editing Practice
(2001), available at <www.editorscanberra.org/standards.htm>.
Peter Judge produced the first register of Freelance
editors in Canberra in 1993 with 34 entries,
updating it in 1994 and 1995; Leonore Hardy took it on in 1996 and 1997, and
she was followed by Sylvia Marchant in 1998 and then Margaret Pender with the
7th and current edition in 2002, which ran to 59 entries. These registers are
mailed free of charge to several hundred potential employers, and seem to work
well for both the employers and the freelances - see the 'freelance' page on this site.
The society's website was brought into being by Peter Judge
and launched on 24 June 1998. Quite early on it included a page, which now has
56 entries, modelled on the printed Freelance Register. Full members of the
society could put their entries on this web page at no cost, but an entry in
the print version cost $50. This seemed discriminatory, so at the suggestion of
President Lee Kirwan in 2001 both were made gratis when the current print
version was being prepared.
An online discussion group was initiated in 2001, to
facilitate an exchange among members of their views on a wide variety of
professional matters.
A member survey at the end of 1996 identified
professionalism as a key issue, linked to the issues of criteria for 'full'
membership of the society, training and eventual registration or certification.
These are large questions that really need addressing at the national level,
and a meeting in Melbourne of the presidents of six out of the eight societies
of editors in Australia on 2 August 1998 initiated moves towards this. The
meeting resolved to establish a Council of
Australian Societies of Editors (CASE), comprising the presidents of
the eight societies or their delegates; to develop a set of national
standards for editorial services; to investigate
models for accreditation for discussion by
members of the State and Territory societies; to develop objectives and a business
plan for a national magazine; to set up a
national web site and to plan a national conference for
2001.
The national web site never got off the ground and the
national magazine didn't continue past its second issue, but everything else
has happened or is under way. CASE was superceded at
the 2005 national conference by the Institute of Professional Editors, IPEd, which was registered as an Australian Public
Company in January 2008. IPEd’s aims are to
advance the profession of editing, by planning and implementing national
initiatives—an accreditation scheme, promotion and communications campaigns,
training and mentoring—and other activities to support Australian societies of
editors and their members, and editors in general.
IPEd also supports biennial national
conferences of editors, which have been held in Brisbane (2003), Melbourne
(2005) and Hobart (2007). The next will be in Adelaide in 2009. The conferences
are organised and hosted by the local society of editors. Its website is at
<www.iped-editors.org/>.
What next? But this is history, not futurology. Clearly it
will need regular updating... watch this space!
(Abridged and brought up to date
from an article by Peter Judge (written with much help from Loma Snooks)
originally published in The
Canberra Editor 6 (7), August 1997, revised June 09.)