[ATTW-L] [External] Re: [External] Editing textbook

[Timothy Giles]

"Gen AI -- many people in the world seem to hold a false position that
editing is no longer viable as a career due to advances in AI."
*Or more broadly, that TC will likewise disappear.  Such an attitude
betrays a lack of understanding of what 1. TC/Editors do; 2. The extent
that TC unconsciously (perhaps) anticipated AI, with the emphasis over the
last 30 years or so on studying usability, etc.*

*Tim*

On Sat, Jan 18, 2025 at 11:44 AM Joseph Robertshaw <jwr0015 at uah.edu> wrote:

> Hello,
> Of the Rude & Eaton Fifth Ed. I have not yet found an equal. The Rude &
> Eaton TE book is to Tech Editing what The Riverside is to Shakespearean
> Studies or even what Bizzell and Herzberg has been to Rhetoric.  The
> Internet Archive has a copy available for registered members:
> https://archive.org/details/technicalediting0000rude_m1w0
> and  There is this one Digital copy in Ann Arbor--
> https://search.worldcat.org/title/1036874921
>
> Here are the ones I have been looking at at replacements:
>
>    -
>    https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/view
>    <https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/view>
>    -
>    https://www.amazon.com/Technical-Editing-Practical-Editors-Hewlett-Packard/dp/0201563568?ref_=ast_author_mpb&asin=0201563568&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1
>    <https://www.amazon.com/Technical-Editing-Practical-Editors-Hewlett-Packard/dp/0201563568?ref_=ast_author_mpb&asin=0201563568&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1>
>    -
>    https://www.amazon.com/Technical-Editing-Introduction-Workplace/dp/0190872675?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A1KIF2Y9A1PQYE&gQT=1
>    <https://www.amazon.com/Technical-Editing-Introduction-Workplace/dp/0190872675?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A1KIF2Y9A1PQYE&gQT=1>
>
> The major problems I am running into are probably the same as everyone
> else who is searching for a replacement.
>
>    - No other text is as high value in content quality
>    - The cost is ridiculous
>    - Publishers are still trying to control the market to extract profits
>    with increasingly scammy digital and rental solutions
>    - Gen AI -- many people in the world seem to hold a false position
>    that editing is no longer viable as a career due to advances in AI. This
>    seems to have caused the forward momentum of new books in the topic to
>    stall even though we desperately need updated texts that take a realistic
>    (perhaps even pragmatic) stance on editing that includes the new tools
>    available.
>
> I am starting to think that I may have to start teaching from a *course
> pack *as I develop my own OER textbook.
> Sorry if this is more ranty than helpful. It is frustrating when pressure
> to cut textbook costs comes from above and there are no good options. Our
> students are NOT just consumers in some econ equation and should not be
> forced to absorb costs like this.
>
>
>
> *Joseph W. Robertshaw, Ph.D. (he/him)*
>
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-- 
Tim Giles, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Department of English
Georgia Southern University

tgiles at georgiasouthern.edu
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