Content creation - shifting standards

Shifting standards in content creation

Recently, I attended the ELT Publishing Professionals Awayday, yet I do not consider myself to be a freelancer nor do I work for ELT publishers very much. So why did I go and was it useful?

I went because, like freelancers, I work independently and it’s always useful to meet others and exchange views. Indeed, part of the day was outlining feedback from the 2023 Survey of Freelance ELT Author Rates and Fees produced by the ELT Professionals Team, which usefully touched on industry rates of pay (whether hourly or fee based), fee vs. royalty and the likelihood of success when negotiating to increase a first offer.  The Society of Authors offers useful guidance on such matters too, but many of these members work internationally and this provides further insights.

Working independently relies on creating your own community and being responsible for your own networking. Sometimes it’s about ‘finding your people’, and these folk are an interesting and inspiring bunch. Indeed, the survey showed that most participants have over 10 years’ experience in the business. There were others like me who work across both ELT and mainstream education as well those who work on a very broad range of publishing projects.

But I also attended because the quality of the speakers and the topics proposed appealed. No prizes for guessing what the hot topics were:  Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

A team from Avallain https://www.avallain.com/ presented both topics in terms of accessibility. They flagged imminent (June 25) compliance issues for accessibility both for forward and backlist publishing under the European Accessibility Act. This is definitely an area to watch. They provided some excellent examples of pitfalls e.g. over use of colour only, mouse only and lack of contrast, and then provided some easy to apply solutions for ensuring accessibility for all.  Much of this has been in evidence for a very long time, but consistency has been an issue and the change of law should ensure higher standards in the industry.

They celebrated some of the astonishing results in the use of AI beginning to be seen in the industry along with a series of exemplars to show how critical the art of prompting is going to be in order to get the best from the tools. This is probably no different from using search engine prompts, but it is a skill that has implications for what is taught to children in our schools. The safety issues around the use of AI were salutary and included warnings around false knowledge, accuracy and legality – creating AI hallucinations.  At this stage of its development human remediation is still essential. It’s clear that a whole new metalanguage is growing around this topic and woe betide any independent professional who does not engage fairly rapidly.

The other impressive presentation was delivered by Dr. Amina Douidi, a DEI and Intercultural Communication consultant. It was an expertly orchestrated workshop involving explorations of some published examples to enable us to reflect on how diversity representation can be done well. It left me wanting to know more and to further hone my skills.

All in all, a very enjoyable and useful day which flagged new issues and challenges for any of us working in the business of content creation.