[stylist] Critiquing and editing with JAWS

Mon Oct 17 19:12:40 UTC 2011

Speaking of JAWS, I have a question about reading with JAWS.  A 
lot of my professors insert comments using "track changer", I 
think it's called, but after some very confusing attempts to read 
their comments that ended with me just printing the essay out and 
asking a sighted person to read them, I try and remember to ask 
professors every year to just put all their comments at the end 
of a file or in the body of an e-mail message.  Does anyone else 
find track changer confusing, or is it just me? If it's not just 
me, is there a mode or somethst you can set where JAWS can read 
it in a less confusing way?
Allison Nastoff
 ----- Original Message -----
From: Bridgit Pollpeter <bpollpeter at hotmail.com
To: <stylist at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:51:28 -0500
Subject: [stylist] Critiquing and editing with JAWS

Jackie,

First, I edit and critique in the manner in which I learned, and 
what
makes sense to me.  In my experience, pointing out specific 
things to
both work on as well as what is working, helps much more in the 
revision
process than vague comments.  If you like something, great, but 
why? And
if you don't like something, give the reasoning, it helps the 
writer
better understand what to focus on.

I spent four years at university critiquing and commenting in 
this
manner.  We took studio workshops where we critiqued each others
manuscripts in a similar fashion.  We not only provided written 
comments,
but we discussed as a group each others work, and when your work 
was
discussed, you weren't allowed to speak.  It was intense, but I 
learned a
lot.

I also believe in critiqueing and affirming at the same time.  I 
may make
suggestions based more on preference than what is right or wrong, 
and I
definitely focus on grammar, but I also search for the golden 
parts of a
piece.  Specifics help us know what to work on and what our 
strong areas
are.

As for using JAWS, it doesn't take any more time, for me, than a 
person
using sight, or Braille.  I do have a Braille display, but due to 
a nerve
condition, I can't read it as quickly.  I've adjusted to using 
JAWS
predominantly.  To truly read through a piece and provide helpful
comments, it takes a bit whether you're sighted or not.  I first 
like to
read a piece through in it's entirety.  Then I read Para to para,
focusing on grammar, content and structure.  Depending on 
structure, I
may read sentence to sentence making sure each one is 
structurally
correct as well as having clarity.  I definitely do this with my 
own
writing.

Finding grammatical errors or structural issues isn't that 
difficult if
you know what you're looking for.  I rarely have to go character 
to
character or even word to word.  I do slow JAWS down a bit to 
fully take
in what I'm reading.  And hearing it read out loud is actually 
helpful.
They always tell writers to read their work out loud, and though 
JAWS
isn't a human voice, once you adjust to it, it's quite helpful to 
always
hear back what you're writing, or reading.

I will also turn on the all punctuation feature with JAWS and 
read
through a couple of times, hearing any punctuation.

It took me about an hour going through Brenda's piece, but again, 
I read
through a lot, each time focusing on different aspects.  When 
really
looking to critique and comment on writing, this isn't any longer 
than
sighted people or Braille users.  It also depends on how invested 
you are
with reading through a manuscript.  I know what to look for, and 
in terms
of grammar and structure, though I claim to be no expert, and I 
make
plenty of my own mistakes, I'm a pretty good judge on what's 
right and
wrong.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/

"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

Message: 3
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:32:28 -0700
From: "Jacqueline Williams" <jackieleepoet at cox.net
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [stylist] Stephen King Fans
Message-ID: <52407CE70188486BA0331806EA073C0C at JackiLeePoet
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Brenda, Brad, and Bridget,
How about an alliteration with Br words?
The  purpose of this e-mail is to comment on critique styles, and 
how
those might affect a beginning writer.  I would have thought that 
Brad's
might inspire more confidence in continuing the effort, dealing 
more
with thoughts and structure, and Bridget's might be compared more 
to a
teacher stressing accuracy.  She will correct grammar, 
punctuation,
capitalization and word choice  using a red pencil.  I was wrong.  
Brenda,
you utilized both critique's to there ultimate and came up with 
an
improved piece.  It reminds me of my poetry critiquing class.  It 
is down
to eight people, and I can go around the table and know with 
absolutely
surety which one will concentrate on word choice, which one,
punctuation, and so forth.  All are essential as long as the 
positive
comments are emphasized first.  I remember when I started, I felt 
that
many did not recognize my talent.  Time surely fixed that as I 
learned
how little I knew about poetry.  Now, I worry that someone hated 
my piece
if he or she wrote nothing and therefore said nothing.  I love 
critical
looks at a piece.  It engages the mind.  One question for you 
Bridget.  How
can you critique so effectively with the detail you do unless 
your JAWS
is set to read absolutely every character.  That would slow you 
down a
great deal in reading anything.  On the other hand, to read a 
piece just
one word and punctuation mark at a time looking for errors, would 
be
equally time consuming.
With great respect for all those who give their valuable time to
critique and give feedback on the results of that.  Truly 
remarkable.
Jackie

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