Typos in Addis Ababa: Analysis of typographical errors on posters and banners

Abstract

Errors have long been taken as an important source of insights into understanding a user’s performance of a task. Errors provide feedback; they tell publishers something about the effectiveness of their editorial process and give them evidence about the competence of editors. This study examined the typographical errors of posters and banners in Addis Ababa. It was with the view of developing an effective copy-editing framework by using inputs from the printing press organisations which have been engaged in graphic artwork designs and printing services, and their key customers. To arrive at the intended purpose, descriptive survey research was designed and four different instruments, i.e. documents (posters and banners with typos), interviews, focus group discussions and observation were employed. The results of the study reveal that the typos on posters and banners were related to omission, addition/insertion, transposition and lexical root errors. Of these typographical errors, lexical root errors occupied the highest position, followed by errors of omission. Errors of addition/insertion and substitution, however, occurred less frequently. Errors of transposition were the least frequent of all types of typos. A lack of copy editors’ professional competence, a deprived systemic approach to publishing posters and banners, the absence of standards for publishing posters and banners and the duration of usability of posters and banners were also identified as the major causes of typographical errors. Finally, based on the findings, the
study suggested possible intervention packages.