Jamie,
As I just started proofing a book I had a couple of other thoughts.
I always check for tabs. I don't do a global replace for these as they
sometimes indicate locations of garbage text. So I go through a book
manually to check on them first. If they are associated with running heads
like chapter names, I might do some global replacements. I do this sort of
thing in MS Word as I trust it more than Kurzweil. I used to proof in
Kurzweil but several years ago I changed to MS Word as it is more
trustworthy, I think.
Missing apostrophes are definitely a problem with OCR. I listen carefully
and when I notice something, I check globally. For example, I just finished
a book where the word "womens" occurred repeatedly without the proper
apostrophe. A global replace is pretty safe here. But you have to watch out
for capitalization.
Apostrophes are often missing after proper names. If I encounter this I
usually do a manual fix. For example, the book could be discussing the
Kennedys or it could discuss Kennedy's humor. I don't do global fixes
because of this kind of situation. When I encounter it in the reading
process I fix it everywhere in the book.
I haven't explained in detail even these few examples but this should
illustrate some things you can do at the beginning and some things you must
do as you read the book.
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Jamie Pauls
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2022 11:35 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Looking for Strategies for Proofreading Books
Hello, all. I have been a Bookshare volunteer for a long time but it has
been a while since I have scanned or proofread a book. I am wondering if any
of you have some thoughts on how to best go about the task of proofreading.
I know that it is important to read every word of the text in question, and
I tend to choose books I am personally interested in. I find that when I fix
errors as I go, I lose the flow of what I am reading and can become
disengaged easily, thus not completing the job. I am thinking about making
as many changes and corrections as possible either at the start or end of
the project rather than doing everything sequentially, and wondered what
many of you more experienced proofers thought. Anxious to hear your
feedback.
