Copy desk,
You folks have, for months, done a fantastic job of including internal links and following the myriad requests I've made of you (adding stories to special sections (themes) ,embedding video, etc.) .
Given our need to keep everyone at the appropriate number of hours during the furloughs and Liz's leave, I'll ease the burden of these "extras". Please, perform this duty when you can, but if you can't, e-mail me and I'll do what I can in the morning (although I'll be helping the day desk quite a bit over the next couple of weeks and likely won't be in as early as usual).
I appreciate the enhancement you have added to countless stories. Just keep me posted on what's left undone.
Thanks,
— Brian O.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Page proofs
With the furloughs and such, I'm trying to find a better way to get Life, GO! and Everest Herald page proofs edited in a timely, efficient manner so the evening copy editors don't have to edit many, if any, pages. I've tried two ways:
1: The honor system, in which I leave them near Amy Kimmes and hope people find the time to edit a page or two.
2: The draft, in which I drop pages off at editors' desks (sometimes when they aren't there) and expect them to find time.
Does anyone have a third way?
1: The honor system, in which I leave them near Amy Kimmes and hope people find the time to edit a page or two.
2: The draft, in which I drop pages off at editors' desks (sometimes when they aren't there) and expect them to find time.
Does anyone have a third way?
Monday, January 26, 2009
Copy desk meeting today
From Mark T.,
I have instructed Kerry to call together a copy desk meeting today to address who will do what tasks to get us through the first quarter. We'll be calling on all able-bodied page proofers and page designers to ensure we're adequately staffed each day.
I propose we meet at 5 p.m.
I have instructed Kerry to call together a copy desk meeting today to address who will do what tasks to get us through the first quarter. We'll be calling on all able-bodied page proofers and page designers to ensure we're adequately staffed each day.
I propose we meet at 5 p.m.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Age in obituaries
We had a glitch in a Stevens Point obituary that was caught before publication. It said the woman was 89 years old when she died, but she was born in 1922. That means he was 86 years old when she died.
I assume most, if not all, Macs on the copy desk have a calculator on the dashboard. It makes sense to do the math before an obituary runs.
Monday, January 19, 2009
In case you didn't know ...
I've found the following Web site, Noble Desktop, http://www.nobledesktop.com/shortcuts-indesigncs2-mac.html, that show shortcuts for InDesign. I'm guessing we all know some of the shortcuts, but not all of them.
The Web site also has links that lead you to other Adobe programs.
The Web site also has links that lead you to other Adobe programs.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Maintaining quality control
Serious topic here.
In light of the recent staff furloughs, in combination with Elizabeth's current maternity leave, I feel strongly that the copy desk will need some serious help in the coming weeks. Looking at the schedule as it now stands, I am reminded of when Ben Schultz quit right before the holiday vacation season started in December 2007 and how it threw the scheduling into disarray. We have almost constantly only 3 people on staff nearly every day, with only one day in the next four weeks where we'll have four people on staff. Suffice to say this is going to be a very exhausting system that I worry is going to burn out copy editors in the long run.
Even the reduction in the newshole isn't a significant help to us, because there are no fewer essential pages (covers, 3As, region, and obituary pages). These all still need to be paginated and proofed every day, and pagination takes a good chunk of time.
Now, scheduling is something we can't really change right now, it's just something we are going to have to live with. But I think there are ways we can maintain our level of quality control in these rough times without adding staff or hours, and I want to get some dialogue going on how we can do this.
One idea I have — and one that will require cooperation from the editors at all four sites — is for copy editors to get stories on Night Desk as soon as we can get them, as in edited by site editors as soon as can be done. When we can get pagination done earlier, we have more time for proofing, but when we're waiting for stories that could've been done sooner, it leads to a mad dash at the end of the night, and that's when easy mistakes get made.
Any further ideas? If we ignore the problem, we're just going to end up with an exorbitant amount of overtime on our hands, in which case we may as well have not furloughed at all. And I mean real, concrete ideas, not just "work smarter, not harder."
In light of the recent staff furloughs, in combination with Elizabeth's current maternity leave, I feel strongly that the copy desk will need some serious help in the coming weeks. Looking at the schedule as it now stands, I am reminded of when Ben Schultz quit right before the holiday vacation season started in December 2007 and how it threw the scheduling into disarray. We have almost constantly only 3 people on staff nearly every day, with only one day in the next four weeks where we'll have four people on staff. Suffice to say this is going to be a very exhausting system that I worry is going to burn out copy editors in the long run.
Even the reduction in the newshole isn't a significant help to us, because there are no fewer essential pages (covers, 3As, region, and obituary pages). These all still need to be paginated and proofed every day, and pagination takes a good chunk of time.
Now, scheduling is something we can't really change right now, it's just something we are going to have to live with. But I think there are ways we can maintain our level of quality control in these rough times without adding staff or hours, and I want to get some dialogue going on how we can do this.
One idea I have — and one that will require cooperation from the editors at all four sites — is for copy editors to get stories on Night Desk as soon as we can get them, as in edited by site editors as soon as can be done. When we can get pagination done earlier, we have more time for proofing, but when we're waiting for stories that could've been done sooner, it leads to a mad dash at the end of the night, and that's when easy mistakes get made.
Any further ideas? If we ignore the problem, we're just going to end up with an exorbitant amount of overtime on our hands, in which case we may as well have not furloughed at all. And I mean real, concrete ideas, not just "work smarter, not harder."
Friday, January 9, 2009
How is it going?
We've now gone a full week with the reduced newshole and the managing editors determining what goes where. Any feedback on what can be improved or streamlined?
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