Re: Non-English Proofers

[Bill Burns <BillDB -at- TC -dot- ILE -dot- COM>]

Dan,

This method is often used by companies that have to convert mounds of legacy
data to be ported into a new format. Keying houses typically have a very
high accuracy rate. Of course, if the original specs are a mess, rekeying
the documents is not going to reduce the number of errors.

The method is not necessarily flawed. It was simply being used to accomplish
something it couldn't do--reWRITE the specs. Engineering apparently didn't
know what they were paying for.

Bill Burns
Technical Writer
billdb -at- ile -dot- com
 ----------
Dan writes:

"The methodology used by the (I think Sri Lankan) contractor was to have
typists who could not read English type two simultaneous copies of the
material.  Obviously the typists were keying by rote.  Then they
electronically "bumped" the copies.  Theory was that when there was no
match, there was an error in one of the copies.  Both copies were checked
for typos, again by rote.

"The end product was delivered and it was a disaster.  Engineering trashed
the cheapie product and asked Pubs to do the job for them."

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