News, events, tips and updates from Editors Canada
In this issue:
1. WEBINARS: Summer’s almost over, but webinar season is still going strong
2. PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION: Remote possibilities
3. MEMBER SERVICES: Access The Chicago Manual of Style Online for free via editors.ca
4. GET INVOLVED: Volunteer opportunities
5. MEMBER NEWS: A round of applause!
6. EXTERNAL LIAISON: Call for papers for the 2023 IPEd conference
7. NEC: Notes from your national executive council
1. WEBINARS: Summer’s almost over, but webinar season is still going strong
If you missed out on any training opportunities this summer, no worries! We’ve got recordings of any webinars you couldn’t attend live, plus more brand-new webinars to come, including the following:
- August 31 and September 7: Helping Experts Help the Court: An Introduction to Editing Medical-Legal Reports (Jahleen Turnbull-Sousa)
- September 8: Trouver, garder et perdre des clients… avec le sourire! (Marie-Élaine Gadbois)
- September 15: Personality-based Productivity (Sagan Morrow)
- September 26: Worldbuilding in Fiction Editing: Theory and Practice (Genevieve Clovis and Andrew Hodges)
As usual, your 40% member discount applies to all webinars and recordings. See the full listing on our webinars page.
Volunteer opportunities are available! We’re also looking for volunteers to help host webinars. If you’re interested, email webinars@editors.ca.
2. PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION: Remote possibilities
Sometimes crisis can lead to opportunity. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with no access to computer testing centres, the certification steering committee had to pivot and offer the Editors Canada Professional Certification exams online. It was a step we’d always wanted to take, and the pandemic provided the impetus. Going forward, we’ll continue to offer the exams remotely and onscreen—wherever you are in the world, you’ll be able to write them.
Registration is now open for the 2022 exams in Copy Editing and Stylistic Editing. You can write the exam in two ways:
- Remote testing: This will be the default option, by which candidates write the exam on their own computer at home (PC or Mac). We’ll provide you with access to the exam file in .docx format on our cloud server. We’ll ask you to download it, complete it and upload it within the exam time frame. You’ll need to have reliable internet access and Microsoft Word installed on your home computer (note that Google Docs won’t work!). You should also have a quiet, private space in your home during the exam.
- Self-arranged testing: If you don’t have reliable internet access or a subscription to Microsoft Word, you can write the exam at a test location that’s convenient for you, providing it meets certain criteria and you can arrange for a suitable invigilator and computer. Email us for details, or visit the Criteria for Self-Arranged Testing page. Submit the details (location and invigilator) for approval along with your registration by October 21, 2022. Candidates must follow all applicable local rules and laws for physical distancing, masking, and other safety measures while in their arranged space.
Don’t miss the chance to demonstrate your expertise! Register online now for one or both exams. Visit the Professional Certification section of our website for additional details.
NEW: Addendum to Copy Editing Test Preparation Guide
If you’re interested in taking the Editors Canada Professional Certification exam in Copy Editing in November 2022, the Test Preparation Guide is an ideal tool to help you study.
In July 2020, the certification steering committee announced that Part A of the Copy Editing professional certification exam will now comprise multiple-choice and matching questions only. This means that a portion of the Copy Editing Test Preparation Guide (published in 2017) is now out of date. (It’s still worth your time to tackle the existing longer-form questions, but they now don’t fully represent the content of the exam.)
The CSC has created an addendum to the Copy Editing Test Preparation Guide that covers the updates to the exam format. As of July 2022, this addendum is included when you purchase the Copy Editing guide. If you purchased the 2017 Copy Editing guide before July 2022, please email the Editors Canada national office at info@editors.ca to get the addendum at no additional cost.
3. MEMBER SERVICES: Access The Chicago Manual of Style Online for free via editors.ca
One of Editors Canada’s most popular benefits of membership is free access to The Chicago Manual of Style Online (CMOS Online) through editors.ca.
From The University of Chicago Press:
With the wisdom of more than 110 years of editorial practice and a wealth of industry expertise from both Chicago’s staff and an advisory board of publishing professionals, The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, is the go-to authority for editors and writers everywhere. If you work with words—no matter what the delivery medium—this is the one reference you simply must have.
CMOS Online features the 17th and 16th editions of the Manual. It is completely searchable and easy to use.
Visit the members’ area to start using CMOS Online for free now!
Looking for more discounts and other benefits of membership? Check out the Editors Canada member services page.
4. GET INVOLVED: Volunteer opportunities
Join the marketing and communications committee
Would you like to sharpen your marketing and communications skills? Or would you like to learn those skills?
The marketing and communications committee is now looking for volunteers. We are also looking for a French-speaking volunteer to help us create campaigns for our French audiences. If you are interested in joining the committee, or would like more information, please email our committee chair Merel Elsinga.
Looking for volunteer opportunities?
Check out VolunteerConnect, our resource for matching volunteers to tasks. If you want to volunteer for Editors Canada, you can use this searchable tool to
- find opportunities of interest to you, or
- list yourself as a potential volunteer.
Listing yourself as a volunteer will showcase your skills, identify skills you would like to learn and provide other relevant information to people searching for volunteers.
5. MEMBER NEWS: A round of applause!
Editors Toronto student affiliate Robyn Laider recently published her first children’s book. Both English (The Eldest Daughter and the Dragon) and Estonian (Vanim tütar ja lohe) versions are available.
Editors Canada Member News is where we share information about members and affiliates who win awards, publish books and make their mark in other important ways.
Do you have an achievement you’d like to share? Are you excited about a new project or opportunity that has come your way? Let us tell the world all about it! Please send your stories to the member news coordinator.
6. EXTERNAL LIAISON: Call for papers for the 2023 IPEd conference
The following is a call for papers from The Institute of Professional Editors Limited (IPEd), a partner organization of Editors Canada.
The IPEd conference is the premier conference for editors in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
The 2023 conference theme is “Futureproofing the editing profession”.
The 2023 conference committee welcomes abstracts from:
- people who wish to deliver a paper at the conference
- people who wish to deliver a workshop at the conference.
The online conference will happen over two weeks in May 2023:
- 2–5 May (Tuesday to Friday)
- 8–11 May (Monday to Thursday).
The longer conference will allow for shorter days that cater for time differences. The conference’s main sessions and workshops will happen over four hours each day: 1 pm–5 pm NZT, 10 am–2 pm AWST, 11 am–3 pm AEST, and 11.30 am–3.30 pm ACDT.
The conference will deliver keynote addresses, papers, panel sessions, “inside the mind of” (interviews), and workshops.
A focus on futureproofing the editing profession
We are looking for papers and workshops on the challenges and opportunities facing the editing profession. The aim is to find ways to help futureproof the editing profession.
Here are the five conference streams, with a few possible topics you might consider.
1. Accessibility and usability
- How thinking about accessibility changes the way we edit
- How thinking about usability can benefit the way we edit
- Sensitivity reading and the role of the sensitivity reader
2. Collaboration
- How collaboration with other disciplines, fields and sectors can help to progress the editing profession
- Best practices in cultural intellectual property
3. Embracing change and learning new things
- How embracing change and learning new things can positively influence the way we edit
4. Technology
- How technology can help to progress the editing profession
- Best practices in optimising and managing meta data
- Best practices in editing audio books and ebooks
5. Futureproofing different types of editing
- Editing in languages other than English (such as te reo Maori)
- Editing of different types (such as scientific, or graphic novels)
- Editing in different sectors or workplaces (such as academic)
- The future of editing in a publishing house
What your abstract should include
Your abstract should include:
- a statement about whether your abstract is for a paper or a workshop
- the name of your preferred stream
- the title of your paper or workshop, of no more than 20 words
- your name (and your business or employer name if appropriate)
- your abstract, of no more than 400 words
- a short bio about you, of no more than 100 words
- your email address and phone number (and your preferred way to contact you).
As you write your abstract, please keep in mind “futureproofing the editing profession” and your preferred stream. Also keep in mind the audience for your paper or workshop.
Please make sure your file size is no more than 1MB. If you need to include images (such as for a workshop), please keep these images to thumbnail resolution to avoid submitting a large file.
How to submit your abstract
Please:
- submit your abstract as a PDF
- email your abstract to conference2023@iped-editors.org
- se the format “[your name]-2023 conference abstract” in the email’s subject line.
We need to receive your abstract by 12 September.
The deadline for emailing your abstract to us is 12 September 2022. We will confirm (by return email) that we have received your abstract.
We will advise the outcome of your abstract in October.
You will know about the outcome of your abstract in early October.
If your abstract is accepted, your final paper is due by 14 April 2023.
Presenting a paper or workshop has many benefits
Presenting a paper or delivering a workshop at a conference is the perfect opportunity for you to share what you’ve been working on, your ideas and your skills with a group of enthusiastic editors.
Presenting a paper or delivering a workshop is a great way to discover the experiences of other editors in your field. You connect with people you have never met who come from a range of backgrounds and different countries.
Successfully collaborating with other editors is a great personal “futureproofing” skill. It is also an excellent way to futureproof the editing profession.
7. NEC: Notes from your national executive council
This is my first e-news update as president of Editors Canada, and I am thrilled to contribute to an organization of such incredible, talented editors!
I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the 2022–23 national executive council (NEC). We have many returning NEC members, and there are several new faces on the NEC as well. I look forward to working with and getting to know our new directors over the next year.
- President: Maria Frank (formerly vice-president)
- Vice-president: Marcia Allyn Luke (formerly secretary)
- Past president: Heather Buzila (returning)
- Treasurer: Tara Avery
- Secretary: Mina Holië
- Marketing and communications: Kristain Oliveira-Barnes
- Branches and twigs: Ellen Keeble
- Training and development: Blazej Szpakowicz (returning)
- Publications: Kaitlin Littlechild (returning)
- Professional standards: Arija Berzitis (returning)
- Volunteer relations: Leah Morrigan (returning)
- Member recruitment and retention: Suzanne Aubin
The NEC does not meet over the summer, but we will be meeting on the following dates in the fall:
- Sunday, September 11, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., EDT
- Saturday, October 22, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., EDT
- Saturday, November 19, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., EST
Agendas will be posted on the Editors Canada website a few days before each meeting. Any member is welcome to attend NEC meetings using the Zoom link included at the top of each agenda.
Maria Frank
President
The national e-news update is produced on behalf of the national executive council by the national office.