atw: Are you content to be a 'content provider'? NO

I waited to see how others answered this one.

For me what I do is ART.  It is a combination of (to list just a few):
-how I handle language within which I couch information (not necessarily
perfect grammatically, but functional)
-how I build that language into a structure and shape that conveys the
meaning and builds knowledge seamlessly so the reader absorbs the
information without struggle
-how I ensure that the information is easily accessible
-how I present that information so that additional factors such as ugly
layout do not repel the reader
-how the final product is sufficiently aesthetically pleasing that not only
does it not repel but actually invites the reader to read

This all adds up to a combination of art and craft.  No-one would allow
their five year old to scribble over a Van Gogh original, but as 'artists'
we have to deal with someone who knows nothing about what we are doing
deciding they can do better, edit all the structure out, edit the writing
down to something unintelligible and insist on a template that is plain
downright ugly.  I have several published educational books, but I never
brag about them for this reason - the editors have savaged them beyond
recognition into something I am ashamed of.

I wish I was content to be a 'content provider'.

Christine


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