[nabs-l] copyediting symbols

[Brice Smith]

I am coming to realize there is a huge difference between lecture
based courses and practical courses. This course might very well put
all my advocacy skills to the test, in part because the instructor,
while helpful and knowledgeable, has very limited computer skills and
experience. Kerri, while media in general is moving online and to
electronic formats, that hardly helps when your instructor requires
close readings of the print (yes, print) newspaper every day and uses
printed news stories from the 80's and 90's as writing examples in
class. The instructor's student assistants can certainly scan these
stories into PDF files, but the quality is questionable and using a
tool like Omnipage is of little help.

Sure, the NFB has Newsline which you can view on the web. But
Newsline, while a great tool for reading the contents of papers, is
disappointedly not actually organized like a newspaper. That is, when
a student brings up an article on the front page or something on page
3B, I have to hunt the article down. Newsline organizes papers by
sections and categories but not by pages which makes following class
discussion exceptionally difficult. This morning's front page story in
print was buried under the category "local and state" on the Newsline
interface. Likewise, the next print story was a national story in a
different category on the Newsline site.

I still believe I will succeed in the course. At least, I have to
succeed with nothing less than a B+ for my public relations major and
I've come up with enough methods and work arounds for many issues.
Luckily, the instructor is very kind although admittedly elderly and
somewhat out of touch with modern media. Ignasi's suggestion may work
well and I believe I can pay to access a PDF of my local paper which,
according to my parents, is actually organized just like a printed
newspaper. But I still worry I'll spend more time trying to access the
material than actually studying or accessing the material, something
that should always be minimized or avoided as much as possible.

Brice

On 8/16/10, Kerri Kosten <kerrik2006 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Bryce:
>
> I'm a journalism major in college. I've never had this.
>
> Maybe you could use a reader or have someone read the test orally to
> you and maybe somehow you could tell them which symbol to mark?
>
> Hmm...may not work but just a thought...I have no idea!
>
> I want to be a sports reporter but I want to do online and multi-media
> not print...I thought most journalism is online now and I thought most
> stuff was done via the computer...
>
> Also, I would suggest subscribing and posting your message to the
> Blind Journalists list...maybe they would have some suggestions?
>
> Hope this helps some...and please keep us posted on what solution you
> come up with as I hope I don't run into this problem!
>
> Kerri
>
> On 8/16/10, Brice Smith <brice.smith319 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm taking a journalism class this semester, and one of the
>> requirements involves copyediting tests. According to the instructor
>> these are pencil editing tests using symbols that will be given out on
>> the first day of the class.
>>
>> Has anyone used these before? I'm trying to figure out methods for
>> completing the work, and or If I need to come up with any adaptations
>> since this involves printed visual symbols.
>>
>> -Brice
>>
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