Editing is the life of a CreCommer

Coming into the second year of CreComm, I had no clue that editing would be the theme of my year. It definitely has so far. I've got courses in Editing Print and Online Media, Image Editing, and video editing. It's quickly become clear that the principles of editing the written word carry over to editing video.

When we edit a news article, we read for understanding, for organization and focus, for grammar,spelling, punctuation and style, for language and sentence structure, and to proofread. Several of these techniques are useful for editing video as well.

When editing an article we read it first for understanding. Does the story make sense? The same concept applies to video editing. When we're in the editing booth, a story needs to be formed through the editing of clips.

Organization and focus is essential for both the written word and for video. Are the facts in the right order to tell the story? Is the focus placed on the right information to make it compelling? Both writing and video need organization and focus.

Finally proofreading is as essential to video editing as it is to editing writing. It's just not reading. It's picking up all the tiny errors in the editing process and cleaning them up, just like proofreading is catching all the small errors in writing. This process is essential for a clean, final product.

I'm slowly getting used to editing consuming my life, but I'm glad there are consistencies between the different media.

Canada, the UN Security Council and PR

Currently there are two temporary seats up for grabs (in the "Western Europe and Others" region) on the United Nations Security Council. Canada, Germany, and Portugal are the three countries in the running for the two positions. All three countries have been pulling out all the stops in order to grab one of these influential spots, among the eight other non-permanent members. The United States, the UK, France, China, and Russia are the permanent members of the Security Council.

What does this have to do with PR, you might ask. The answer is everything. Canada, along with its competitors is spreading the public relations on thickly this week in New York. Stephen Harper addressed the UN General Assembly yesterday, while cabinet ministers Lawrence Cannon, Bev Oda, Jim Prentice, and Peter Kent are also in New York communicating the positives of Canada having a seat at the Security Council.

Germany is pretty much a lock to take one of the seats. They are the third largest contributor to the UN and provide vast quantities of economic aid around the world. So it comes down to Canada and Portugal for the remaining seat.

This is where public relations comes into play and more specifically the principles of persuasion. The principle of familiarity and trust will play a vital role in who gets the seat. Both Canada and Portugal are working this method of communication.

For Canada, Harper and his ministers are pushing the wide international role that Canada plays. Key to this is its membership in virtually every important international political organization, from NATO to APEC to the Commonwealth to La Francophonie. Canada's role in the reconstruction of Haiti is also being played up. The main goal of this communications strategy is to influence voting nations that Canada is a well known and trusted player on the international stage. It's asking these nations to remember what Canada has done in the past and the good it has brought to the world.

Portugal is using the same communications principle, but on a smaller scale. It has the support of Portuguese speaking countries like Brazil and other former colonies in Africa and Asia. This is again an example of the principle of familiarity and trust.

The vote on the two seats will occur on October 12, when all 192 member states of the UN vote. In the end, good PR and more specifically the principle of familiarity and trust will likely be the deciding factor.

Yogi Berrisms

The English language is based on a lot of rules and a defined structure, but there are almost as many exceptions to rules, as there are rules. This is especially true when it comes to spoken English.

When we're speaking we often don't say things like we would write them. We take short cuts, we omit words, we use slang. Spoken English is much more casual than the written word.

This casualness leads to the use of malapropisms. Malapropisms are when a word is substituted in for another making the phrase meaningless, but often providing comedy. They have been a staple of comedy since Shakespearean times.

Some people take the use of malapropisms to a new frontier. The most famous is New York Yankee Hall of Famer, Yogi Berra. Berra played during the Yankees' glory years of the 50s and 60s. He was a reporter's dream. Berra would throw around unintentional malapropisms whenever he was interviewed. He went further beyond malapropisms and twisted English right around. He was a reporter's dream, but a grammatical nightmare. Here are a few examples:

"It ain't over til it's over."
"It's deja vu all over again."
"90% of the game is half mental."
"He can run anytime he wants. I'm giving him the red light."

English is a pretty strange language and people tend to twist it into knots. Fifty years after Berra's prime his sayings are still legendary.

Old George, Buffalo Bones and Antiques

A massive mound of buffalo bones, a ramshackle pioneer village, an old country manor filled to the brim with potential valuable antiques. This is what greeted us when we pulled into Old Geo's Antiques in Whitewood, Saskatchewan last weekend.

Let me give you a little back story first on how we ended up at Old Geo's. My friend owns a burger stand outside of Winnipeg and was in need of a new ice cream machine. He managed to find one on Kijiji, but the seller was in Saskatoon. He agreed to drive to Regina to make it easier. So, my buddy called me up and said, "Hey, I've got to go to Regina. You want to go? We'll have a few drinks. (note: a few drinks was an underestimation)"

We headed off to Regina, picked up the machine, had a few drinks, and woke up the next morning ready to head back to Winnipeg. We got about 175 kilometres east of Regina, when we spotted a towering sign on the north side of the Trans-Canada. It read, "Old Geo's Antiques. Magnificent Period Home. 1895."

Something clicked in my friend's mind and he remembered that his parents had stopped in on a trip home from Calgary and said that the house was interesting and kind of creepy, but worth a stop. So we hung a u-turn and pulled into the house's driveway.

Old Geo's is one of the weirder roadside attractions I have ever seen, but it's really interesting. The house was built in 1895, by immigrants from France, and it's huge. It has seventeen bedrooms and seven staircases. Behind the house, the owner had constructed a pioneer village out of old farm houses, graineries, and scrap wood. To the side of the house is a massive pile of buffalo bones. Needless to say we were a little wary ringing the doorbell.

The owner of Old Geo's is George Chopping, a well-known antiques collector. Old George is a little bit of an eccentric, but a really friendly guy. He took us for a tour of his pioneer village. He's meticulously constructed an authentic pioneer village, filling each building with antiques and period furniture. He's been at it for almost twenty-five years and he's continuously adding on every year. His pride is his saloon. I wish I had a camera (I was a bad journalist) so I could take a picture of his bar. He hand-crafted a bar and it looks like it would be right in place in a high-end saloon, circa 1890.

Old George Chopping. Photo Credit: Sean Murphy

George's house is a sight to be seen as well. It is jam-packed, wall to wall with antiques. To say that George is a little bit of a hoarder would be an understatement. George gave us a tour of his place and gave us the history of some of his more prized antiques. He has a massive collection of glass bottles, all from early Western Canada. I don't know much about antiques, but I would assume his collection is worth a lot of money.

George got into collecting antiques when he was still in his teens. "When I was 19, I gave up smoking and drinking and replaced them with collecting," he said. " I guess one addiction replaced another."

The house is full of old household knick-knacks, pioneer clothing, oil lamps, and carvings. George has put some serious effort into his collection. He's received a fair bit of media attention as well, having been profiled by the Saskatchewan Television Network and, surprisingly, the Japanese version of Cosmopolitan magazine.

All in all, the stop at Old Geo's Antiques was worth the time spent. It's an interesting, if not weird roadside attraction. If you're ever driving through eastern Saskatchewan, stop in and see Old George.

ESL, the intricacies of english, and editing

What is a gerund? How do you properly use the past participle? When do you use the active voice and when do you use the passive voice? These were questions that I was asking my students even though I had just learned the answers the day before.

English is an extremely hard language to learn. Before one can even learn how to put a sentence together, he or she must learn the parts of speech like nouns, verbs, conjunctions, prepositions, etc., etc. Then there are the silent letters or why certain is spelled with a "c" and not an "s". Oh, and don't forget the rules that apply to verbs and the million exceptions to these rules.

Learning english as a second language is not an easy process. It's not like languages, like French, where there are concrete verb rules and feminine and masculine forms of words. English is all over the place. It's a free-flowing language that is evolving every year. There is also an ever growing demand for english language instruction all over the world. It's estimated that 750 million people speak english as a first or second language.

I taught ESL to students in Taiwan for roughly a year and a half. I taught students from kindergarten all the way up to adult business students. They all shared a common will to attempt to master a language that did not share an characteristics with their own and whose wild irregularities caused frustration on a daily basis. I'm amazed at what it takes to learn english as a second language.

Teaching ESL helped me to understand english better as well. Growing up, grammar wasn't emphasized in education. Because we begin speaking english at home when we are young, the nuances and rules come natural to us, but we don't know why we speak like this or the terminology behind our language. Teaching ESL gave me a strong education in grammar, sentence structure, and the written language in general.

What does this have to do with editing? The answer is everything. Strong editors need to be well versed in the building blocks of the english language. Structure and grammar are essential aspects of what goes into editing. In order to be better editors, a great knowledge of the inner workings of the english language is needed. I understand why Chris Petty drilled grammar rules into are head for half a semester.

To answer the opening question, a gerund is when a "ing" verb is used as a noun, like swimming.

Nike, the iPhone, and not being lazy

The first day of school and the beginning of a new year have one thing in common: lots of people making the resolution to hit the gym and get into shape. I am one of those people, but usually my new found enthusiasm lasts for about a month before I fall back into my slacker ways. After a summer that was filled with a little too much beer and red meat, I'm trying to motivate myself to get into shape.

The ever growing world of apps has expanded into the field of getting into shape. Nike is one of the leaders at producing apps to encourage people to work out. The Nike+ GPS app tracks your daily jogs. NikeWomen Training Club builds a fitness program for you on your smart phone, while Nike Football+ Master Control is designed to help soccer players train using a training regime developed by the coaches and trainers at the legendary Barcelona FC.

The app that interested me the most was the Nike Boom app. This app allows you to sync playlists from your iPhone with a workout routine. You select the sport that you're training for, the amount of time you plan on working out, and the type of workout you are doing. The app bases the music select on the intensity of the workout. Sports figures, tailored to the sport that you selected, chime in throughout your workout to provide tips and encouragement. Lebron James tells you how to best train for basketball, while Mike Krzyzewski, the legendary Duke University basketball coach provides general training tips.

Nike provides this app through the iTunes App Store free of charge. The question is why? The program doesn't directly sell Nike shoes or clothes. They're not making money from the app. The answer is that it provides good PR for Nike and spreads its brand recognition into the new frontier of apps. People who workout and train for sports are Nike's prime target audience, so providing a workout app is a logical move. Nike is using the four principles of persuasion by providing this app.

Action

Nike is making it easier and more streamlined for people to use their smart phones while working out. Instead of having to open a playlist in the music section of the phone and then open a workout plan app, Nike has combined the two into one easy to use app. Using the app also provides motivation for people to hit the gym, where they might use Nike products.

Identification

The identification principle is all about "what's in it for me". Nike Boom gives users an easy way to program their workout into their smart phone. They don't need to create a workout playlist, as the app does that for them. It also provides relevant training tips for the workout that the user is taking part in. It just makes the process easier and that answers the "what's in it for me" question.

Familiarity and Trust

Nike Boom utilizes the familiarity and trust persuasion principle extremely effectively. The Nike brand and the "Swoosh" logo are internationally recognized. There is a huge familiarity with Nike among the target audience for this app. If this app had been released as a generic workout app, without the Nike brand attached, it likely would not be that popular. The inclusion of Lebron James and Mike Krzyzewski, and other sports figures, gives some legitimacy to the tips and encouragement required. These are two world class sports figures who have well recognized brands and are renowned for their knowledge in the basketball world. Lebron is one of the most popular basketball players in the world, while Krzyzewski has coached Duke to four national championships and Team U.S.A. to an Olympic gold medal.

Clarity

The Nike Boom app is easy to use and easy to understand. It has a clean interface and makes use of the Nike logo and images of people like Lebron and Krzyzewski. A bold stop watch is in the top corner, counting down the workout time. It appears that it is extremely easy to input your workout information into the app. It looks like Nike has done a lot to make this app user friendly.

At the end of the day, this app is nothing but a PR and advertising tool for Nike. But that's ok. It provides a valuable tool for people who want to workout, while spreading Nike's brand to a new technological area.

I might have to grab it. Maybe it will make my workout period last more than a month for a change.

Wilfred or Wilfrid

On the eve of the beginning of the new school year, I received an email from an instructor (who may or may not specialize in online and print media editing) mentioning that the blog I was writing for the Winnipeg Free Press had lots of good writing and photos, but that I should check the spelling of our eighth prime minister. Four people reading over the blog (including myself) had overlooked the fact that Sir Laurier spelled his name "Wilfrid" not "Wilfred".

That was how my second year of CreComm was kicked off. It was an omen for the upcoming year and the utter importance of editing in any aspect of the communications business. Whether you're writing stories for a local newspaper, creating news releases for a not-for-profit organization or coming up with witty copy for a brand new advertising campaign, thorough editing is essential.

That's where the Editing Print and Online Media course comes into play. A major component of the CreComm program is writing and often "fatal errors", that could easily have been removed through the process of editing, lead to failed assignments. Had my blog post been an assignment for school, I would have been deducted 50 per cent and received a dreaded "auto-fail". Mistakes like this could easily be weeded out through the process of copy editing, which this course seeks to improve our skills in.

The editing process is much more than simple spelling correction though. Proper and thorough editing will streamline writing by smoothing out the style and formatting of the piece, while chopping out filler words. In a business that prides itself on the efficiency of writing, this process will not only make the writer's job easier, but it will communicate the essential message of the piece to audience with greater clarity.

I'll be the first to admit that sometimes my editing process is a little bit lax, a habit that was reinforced by year after year of professors paying no attention to the grammar of my writing, but last year was a wake up call and I'm working at stepping up my game. Editing Print and Online Media will allow me to improve on my skills. Now I just need to make sure I look in my Caps and Spelling before I use the names of any of our prime ministers.

Back Again

Life off the Couch is back after an extended hiatus. CreComm is back in session, so I've decided to resurrect this blog.

I had the opportunity to spend the summer travelling around Manitoba and blogging about it for the Winnipeg Free Press. I was able to see parts of the province that I had never gone to before, like Lynn Lake, Thompson, Manigotagan, and the Duck Mountains. Seeing the raw beauty that this province has to offer gave me a new perspective on what living in this province is all about and what it means to be a Manitoban.

This experience of writing a travel blog has been educational and I'm going to continue on with the travel theme of Life off the Couch. I'll be writing about Manitoba travel, to supplement the Free Press blog, while taking a look at places around the world that are interesting, exotic, or just plain weird. The world is huge and is open for exploration.

This blog is also part of the CreComm program at Red River College, so there will be a few posts mixed in that deal with public relations and editing in the media.

Stay tuned next week for snapshot of the history of Lockport, a town that just celebrated its 100th anniversary.