Can/should you edit the story?
It is often necessary to edit stories in your collection before they become part of a created output. However, it is important to acknowledge the potential issues that editing can lead to during the Curation process. These may include:
- Misrepresentation of people and place as the original voice or meaning of a story is changed to fit a wider narrative or purpose.
- The fragmentation of stories, or the blending of stories into each other, as collections are brought together.
- The blurring of fact and fiction to create new versions of stories. This can impact their authenticity.
At the Curation stage, there are two key considerations before deciding whether to edit the original story before repositing it into an archive or database.
#Editing a story
Before editing stories, it is important to check if there are any legal issues or obligations concerning the reuse and redevelopment of stories for a new purpose. If stories have been sourced from previously published materials you may need to consider issues of ownership, copyright, redistribution and acknowledgement.
Questions to answer
- Are you allowed to edit the story? Is there any copyright?
- Do you need permission?
- Do you need to acknowledge the original source/ owner? How will you do this?
- Will you keep track of edits made?
#Moral Issues of editing stories
In addition to legal obligations, you should also consider if there are any moral issues to consider before editing a collection of stories. These may present themselves regardless of whether a story is formally published or not.
Questions to answer
- Should you edit the story?
- What is the purpose of editing?
- Who does the editing impact (owner, subject, community etc)?
- Does the editing account for the context of your project?
- Should you check back with the source once a story is edited?
- Is the story still true? (And is it ok if it is not?)