ACES 2011

Last year we attended the annual American Copy Editors Society (ACES) conference in Philadelphia as mere spectators.  This year we were invited to ACES 2011 in Phoenix as presenters.  The event was held at the Arizona State University – Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Our session was called “Crowdsourcing Errors.”

With a disclaimer at the onset, giving us license to have typos on our slides (we’re engineers by training not editors), we kicked off to a group of about 30 people comprised of newspaper copy editors, freelance editors and students.  And yes, a couple of folks among this clever bunch playfully pointed out two typos in our presentation.

After breaking the ice with an Andy Rooney clip on finding mistakes in books, we began discussing the site’s origins, current state and overall product offering.  We explain how it was designed and developed by four friends working remotely who were looking for a side venture on top of their day jobs.

The core of our session is where we highlight the keys to crowdsourcing errors: Our belief is that you must first create a conduit to the crowd.  Then bring awareness to your cause.  Finally, you need to incentivize or reward the crowd for being the supplier of information.  We explain how these keys fit into designing, developing and promoting a website aimed at people who have a knack for finding errors in print and want to make it known.

The end result is the Typoze model:

• Users report typos
• Users validate each other’s submissions
• Publishers incorporate findings into subsequent additions
• Users’ findings become immortalized in books
• Quality of books continuously improves

Lastly, we dive into some graphs and trend analysis and talk about our aspirations to expand both the Typoze model and the definition of a “user.”  The hope is that Typoze.com will become a central clearinghouse for errors in books and a platform for the interaction and collaboration of readers, authors and publishers.

If you have a few moments to spare (approximately 90 mins), please view some or all of the 10 minute video segments of our presentation posted on YouTube.   Click here – http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=526B41F7D5CED113

The Columbia Missourian launched a blog called The Transition last summer where thoughts on accelerating the newspaper’s web presence are shared.  Typoze was mentioned in one of the blog entries shortly after presenting at the ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (ACES 2011) on March 19th.  Check it out here: http://transition.columbiamissourian.com/2011/03/19/aces-2011-crowdsourcing-error/

The Typoze.com founders will be in attendance at the annual American Copy Editors Society (ACES) conference in Phoenix. On Saturday, March 19, the team will present on the process of crowdsourcing errors and share their experiences with the design, development and promotion of a website aimed at readers who enjoy spotting typos in print.  Efforts to establish the website as a portal for book errata and ultimately a resource for publishers and authors will also be discussed.

Click here to see the conference program http://www.copydesk.org/conference/program/