Let It Flow

Before editing Manifesto’s, “Technorhetoricians and/as Copyright Activists”, I was scared. I didn’t know what to expect. I wouldn’t call my self someone’s who is particular great with editing but I do know how to make words flow - someone who can create a cohesion with words. While reading the article I found it text interesting. With copyrighting being a topic that I found passionate about I knew editing this text wouldn’t be that complicated. Manifesto’s text just wanted writers and writing instructors to be more educated when it came to Copyrighting and why. The text lacked order and complexity.

The first thing I noticed about Manifesto’s piece was the structure of the text. I found it very typical for a topic such as copyrighting. He wanted to intentionally list everything that he thought “we” should do about copyrighting from a digital standpoint. The single sentence paragraphs were too long at some points not showing any cohesion in the text. 

Manifesto’s argument consisted of giving his audience advice. I like the fact that he made sure to state his particular audience at the beginning of the text. At some point in the text he was speaking to one side and asking them to ‘teach’ them about copyrighting while speaking to both at some point in the text. As an editor, I wanted to maintain Manifesto’s voice throughout the text while editing. I wanted the text to flow more while still having the same message to the audience.

While editing this text it reminded me of Rebecca Jones’ “Finding the Good Argument OR why Bother With Logic”. She states, “While many pro and con arguments are valid, they can erase nuance, negate the local and particular, and shut down the very purpose of having an argument”(160). Manifesto made it very clear that he was FOR or AGAINST a specific issue. So while editing the text, I tried to regain order in my edits to make sure everything flowed by rearranging different topics in my edits.

The edit wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Manifesto did a great job with this topic and it shown in his writing.