Communication Is Human: My Policies as an Editor, Writer, Plain Language Specialist, and Consultant

by Laura Edlund, published January 6, 2025*

People have a lot of questions about writing, editing, communication, publication, creative work, consulting, confidentiality, non-disclosure, other legal and ethical considerations, Chat GPT and other AI products, information, sources, credit, copyright, and more subjects. Here are some of my answers as of January 6, 2025.*

I do not use generative AI in my work as an editor, writer, plain language specialist, and consultant. One reason is that using generative AI would contradict confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements I have with many clients. This is the case even if the eventual outcome of the work is published.
Some of my clients may use generative AI, machine translation, large language models (LLMs), and the like in their work before or after my work on a communication. That is outside my control unless specifically stated in the contract I have with a client.
I use tools and processes such as PerfectIt and macros in my work. These are not generative AI.
I use my human intelligence—education, training, experience, and expertise gained over 30 years, continual professional development, and human critical thinking—to make decisions as I write, edit, and consult. I refer to research, references, professional standards, best practices, and good practices.
Information, facts, and evidence matter, and disinformation can harm. For that reason, I refer to sources of information and opinion, as noted below.
Research and evidence-based academic writing matter. Lived experience matters. Traditional Indigenous Knowledge matters. This is to acknowledge that information matters and sources vary.
In my own writing, I refer to specific sources, my experience, or my opinion to be clear about the basis for my writing.
In my own writing, I refer to sources and credit them appropriately, or I will be prepared to do so. If for reasons of confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements, privacy concerns, or other legal or ethical considerations, I can’t refer to a fact, statement, or experience, then I will not do so to respect those considerations.
Information and evidence changes over time, and knowledge is gained. I learn something new every single day. For that reason, in my own writing (on my web site, in posts on social media, on my resume), I will include the date of original publication or update.
I respect copyright and expect others to do the same. If you quote or adapt this policy statement, credit me as the source.

For more about writing, editing, plain language, and consulting services, please contact me at lauraedlund.ca.

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(*Edited to correct a classic January typo—that is, revising to the year 2025.)

The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition, some highlights

In August 2024, I posted on LinkedIn about the many updates in the new edition of the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) by looking at the new edition through a different lens in each post. The following combines my related posts under these headings: accessibility, global examples, geography and maps, artificial intelligence (AI), and still more… (a final catchall) based on my own recent or current work.

Note that these are only some of the many sections of CMOS and its updates from the 17^th edition to the 18^th edition. The CMOS update team has summarized all significant changes in a list. Kudos to the CMOS team for this huge update!

Accessibility
“2.143: Checking for accessibility
Works published in electronic formats should be checked to make sure they meet applicable accessibility requirements, including…”
“3.28: Alternative text and descriptions
To ensure accessibility in electronic publication formats for readers with print disabilities, publishers should include alternative text (‘alt text’) for any image that needs it….”
5.255: Making conscious choices
5.258: Common areas of biased language
5.261: Person-first versus identity-first
5.262: Ableism
11.135: Signed languages
11.138: Glosses in ASL
11.143: Transcriptions of signed sentences
“Bibliography of Additional Resources
1: Writing and Editing
Dreyer, Benjamin. Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style. Random House, 2019.” and many other references.

Global examples

CMOS is used in the US publishing industry and in many other countries and industries. As an editor working in Canada for clients around the world, I use it as one source while localizing works for American, UK, or Canadian audiences. And I use it as one source while editing global subjects for global, American, UK, or Canadian audiences, and in translated works.

I was glad to see examples about US and British English, and to see many more examples from around the world. Here are some highlights:

5.17: Plural-form proper nouns
5.18 Anomalies of the plural
5.35: Pronoun number and antecedent

6.9: Periods and commas in relation to closing quotation marks
6.89: En dash as em dash

7.1: Recommended dictionaries

8.34: Honorifics
8.63: Legislative and deliberative bodies
8.68: Adherents of unofficial political groups and movements
8.113: Armies, battalions, and such

9.23: Non-US currencies using the dollar symbol
9.24: British currency
9.25: Other currencies

9.57: The decimal marker
9.59: Telephone numbers

10.17: Abbreviations for military titles

10.75: US abbreviations for weight and capacity

11: Languages other than English
11.49: Additional resources for Indigenous languages
11.50: Indigenous writing systems
11.52: Indigenous language authorities

14.137: Citing Indigenous sources of knowledge directly
14.195: Canadian legal cases
14.196: Canadian statutes

Geography and maps

8.46: Continents, countries, cities, oceans, and such
8.201: Maps
14.135: Citing maps

Artificial intelligence (AI)
4.5: Original Expression
”Copyright protects the original expression contained in a work.… The requirement that a human author has created the expression has become significant as the use of generative AI (artificial intelligence) has become significant. If an AI creates expression in response to human prompts, that is not enough to support a copyright. The human in charge must contribute something that by itself will support a copyright, and the copyright will be limited to what that human author contributes.”

3: Illustrations and Tables, 3.38: Crediting Adapted Material
“… If the illustration was created by or with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), that fact should be noted in the credit.”

14.112: Citing AI-Generated Content
“Authors who have relied on content generated by a chatbot or similar AI tool must make it clear how the tool has been used …. Any specific content, whether quoted or paraphrased, should be cited where it occurs, either in the text or in a note.”

And still more…

5.43: Identification of personal pronouns
5.51: Generic singular “they”
5.263: Gender-neutral nouns
5.265: Options for gender neutrality in pronoun use
5.266: Uses of singular “they”

6.119: Slashes for pronunciations
11.24: International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

9.18: Numbers with abbreviations and symbols
9.22: Words versus monetary symbols and numerals

9.27: Currency with dates
10.46: Abbreviations for times of day
10.55: Miscellaneous technical abbreviations

On Canadian English and Dictionaries: Q&A

Here’s a list of Canadian dictionaries I have on my bookshelf. Question: What stands out?

Gage Canadian Dictionary © 1997, “a major revision of Gage Canadian Dictionary © 1983; Canadian Senior Dictionary © 1979; The Senior Dictionary © 1973, 1967”
ITP Nelson Canadian Dictionary of the English Language © 1997, “adapted from the American Heritage High School Dictionary, 3^rd edition, published by Houghton Mifflin Company”

Answers: How old they are. How some are adapted.

In an opinion piece in Quill and Quire, Emma Skagen (a fellow Canadian editor) complains about the lack of an updated, homegrown dictionary of Canadian English. I agree with her concern. Writers and editors have complex relationships with dictionaries.

The fact that Oxford University Press published the Canadian Oxford Dictionary under the outstanding editor-in-chief Katherine Barber was a feat, but today CanOx or COD (as Canadian editors call it) needs to be updated, or some other new, homegrown dictionary of Canadian English needs to be developed.

Back before 1998, I heard things like “Use Gage but change to ‘-our’ and see our style guide for other preferences, and note all variations on the style sheet.” Or “use Gage but use ‘–or’ because this is for the Alberta and B.C. market.” Or “Use Nelson and keep a style sheet, of course.” Or “Use the most-recent Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary and check CP Style for anything you can’t find, and keep a style sheet, of course.” And can you imagine teaching spelling in Canadian schools? And what about distinctly Canadian and regional words and their meanings? Keep a style sheet, of course.

The years 1997 and 1998 changed all that. Three different dictionaries of Canadian English were released and CanOx had particular heft (“five years of work by five Canadian lexicographers examining almost twenty million words of Canadian text held in databases representing over 8,000 different Canadian publications” not to mention the regional analysis and the database of citations shared by lexicographers for the Oxford English Dictionary around the world). Canadian editors could look to one source describing Canadian English (and keep a style sheet, of course) as we edited, queried authors, and wrote. We could even compare new dictionaries—word nerd heaven!

The second and last edition of CanOx was published in 2004. So, for a descriptive (not prescriptive) dictionary, that is old. Yes, Oxford University Press (OUP) makes ongoing additions with Canadian English to Oxford Languages. And, yes, a Canadian editor could use a combination of CanOx from 2004 and the Canadian Press Caps and Spelling or specific subject, industry, or government guides. Could Editors Canada collaborate with Canadian publishers to create an up-to-date, homegrown dictionary of Canadian English? Alas, Editors Canada had long negotiations about that, as Emma Skagen recounts in Quill and Quire, but no contract was signed.

So while editors who edit Canadian English grumble about their patchwork solutions, it isn’t as bad as it once was and yet we still need to find a solution. We can dream.