Institute of Professional Editors Limited

News from the Institute of Professional Editors Limited<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

www.iped-editors.org

November 2009

What do editors want?

Following the IPEd plenary session at the national conference in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Adelaide in October 2009, participants were asked to prioritise and comment on seven activities (detailed in the analysis below) that had been identified by the IPEd Council as areas of potential activity for the Institute. The activities were listed on a form headed ‘What do editors want?’ that respondents (there were 56) completed and dropped into the IPEd suggestion box at the conference desk.

Thanks are due to Rosemary Noble, the IPEd Councillor for the Society of Editors (Victoria), for the following analysis of responses.

A significant number of respondents urged IPEd to:

•    find ways to ensure IPEd can act like a peak body (standardise membership criteria across the societies; involve the state societies more; work on getting a secure financial base; concentrate on just a few activities)

•    get the accreditation scheme bedded down and develop the next portfolio stage (specific suggestions to the Accreditation Board included holding just one exam in one venue biennially).

In order of priority, the other activities identified were as follows (additional comments pertaining to those activities are shown in brackets):

1. Engaging in marketing/communications/promotion of editing

    (including promoting to corporations, businesses and agencies; providing an IPEd lapel badge for all society members; starting up a national e-newsletter; promoting a members’ blog on the website)

2. Coordinating professional development opportunities (incl. national mentoring system; recognising other pathways to success besides accreditation; developing a national register of training people and courses)

3. Continue to develop standards (including making sure the Australian Standards for Editing   Practice are up to date and inclusive of new technologies and areas of specialist interest)

The above three priorities ranked quite a bit higher than the following:

4. Establishing a national register of accredited editors

5. Accrediting tertiary courses

6. Providing employment brokerage information (some not sure what this meant; insurance deals; pay scales; developing templates for freelancers)

7. Fostering relationships with other like-minded groups—editors, writers, publishers, indexers, illustrators etc.

Other potential activities mentioned by just one or two delegates were:

•    taking over the production of the next edition of the Style Manual

•    developing awards and scholarships

•    fostering special-interest groups.

The IPEd Council thanks all respondents for their contributions, which will inform its planning in the year ahead and beyond. To all editors and their families and friends, it extends its best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

Ed Highley

Secretary