Tag: editing (page 1 of 4)

24 May 2023 / 0 Comments

It’s out there: ITF Transport Outlook 2023

It’s out there! The 2023 edition of the ITF – International Transport Forum‘s Transport Outlook has just been launched at the ITF Summit in Leipzig!

The Outlook is the ITF’s “flagship” publication, examining the impacts of different policy measures on 🌐 global transport demand and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and the actions governments can take now to decarbonise their transport sectors (spoiler alert: may involve 🚲 🛴 🚌 🚶‍♀️ 🚊 . . . ).


ITF Transport OUTLOOK 2023

Read or download the full report

The analysis in the report covers the movement of passengers and freight across all transport modes. A particular focus is placed on transport policies that make cities more liveable. A second focus is on infrastructure investment decisions and what different policy scenarios mean for them. As a third focus, the report explores regional differences in policy impacts.

The analysis is based on two distinct scenarios for the future of transport, simulated with the ITF’s in-house transport models.

The Current Ambition scenario assumes policies to decarbonise transport continue along their current pathway and considers the implications for transport demand, CO2 emissions and further aspects over the next three decades. The High Ambition scenario assumes policies focused on accelerating the decarbonisation of the transport sector and their impact.

I have to say this has been one of the most challenging reports I’ve ever had the pleasure of editing. As the Outlook is a “flagship” publication (not a term I’m fond of but sometimes you have to pick your battles), there’s naturally a lot of internal and external pressure to get it right.

The Outlook is also the only ITF report published using the OECD’s in-house content management system, meaning that we faced a number of technical challenges I won’t bore anyone with right now. Suffice it to say that the effort was worth it: the report is now available in print, as a PDF and in full-text HTML.

Massive congratulations to Orla Therese McCarthy, Josephine Macharia and the entire ITF team for putting the report together, and to Chris Wells FRSA for creating the wonderful cover image!

16 July 2021 / 0 Comments

Considerations for Mission Leadership in UN Peace Operations

I’m really proud to have played a small part in helping the International Forum for the Challenges of Peace Operations put together the second edition of its groundbreaking study on leadership in UN peace operations, Considerations for Mission Leadership in UN Peace Operations.

My role in the project entailed editing and bringing together six chapters written and reviewed by multiple authors into a coherent whole, adapting an existing InDesign template to produce web- and print-ready versions, and then uploading and publishing the entire report on PressBooks.


It’s probably one of the most complex projects I’ve worked on as a freelancer, and it gave me a whole bunch of insights into the pros and cons of desktop publishing using standard tools versus more agile (yet in other aspects limited) single-source publishing software.

I’d like to write more about that soon but for now, thanks to Sharon Wiharta and the Challenges Forum team for taking me on, and I trust the report will prove useful to its target audiences in the peace operations community worldwide.

31 May 2021 / 0 Comments

Dag Hammarskjöld’s 1961 Oxford lecture: Three untold stories

Scene: The Sheldonian Theatre at the University of Oxford, Tuesday 30 May 1961. Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, is the guest of honour.

Dressed in academic garb, Hammarskjöld remains seated while the Vice Chancellor recites a text in Latin conferring on him an honorary doctorate in civil law. An arcane set of gestures follows: cap dipping, presentations, more Latin.

At the end of the ceremony, Hammarskjöld delivers a lecture (in English, thankfully), entitled ‘The International Civil Servant in Law and in Fact’. While the true history of the lecture, which the Foundation has just reissued, could fill a book, in this post I’d like to focus on the untold stories behind three known versions of the text.

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The Bridge of Sighs at the University of Oxford, with the Sheldonian Theatre in the background during twilight. Photo credit: Adobe Stock.
31 May 2021 / 0 Comments

Dag Hammarskjöld: ‘The International Civil Servant in Law and in Fact’

Here’s what’s been keeping me busy for the past three months: a reissue of Dag Hammarskjöld’s 1961 Oxford lecture, ‘The International Civil Servant in Law and in Fact’.

On 30 May 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld gave a lecture in Oxford about the international civil service. Now, 60 years later, the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation (DHF) has reissued the lecture with Hammarskjöld’s original footnotes, a new introduction and a note on the text.

I managed both the planning and delivery of the project, which involved extensive background research in the Kungliga biblioteket National Library of Sweden‘s Dag Hammarskjöld Collection and a complete reformatting of the text of the original Oxford University Press version.

The cover of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation’s reissue of Hammarskjöld’s Oxford lecture, which includes his original footnotes, a new introduction and a note on the text.

One of the many surprises of the archival research phase was receiving a package of information from Oxford University Press, including details of the process leading up to the publication of the original chapbook version.

I also produced blog post that barely hints at the wealth of information I uncovered about Hammarskjöld’s trip to England, and a two-and-a-half-minute video courtesy of Different Films, which you can watch below.

I’m not sure which of these activities has involved the most work, but if I had to pick the one that has proven the most rewarding I’d say the video has it all.

From conception to treatment, selection of media and sequencing, it’s probably the only video about a publication I’ve ever been involved in but I am certain it won’t be the last.

While the history of Dag Hammarskjöld’s Oxford lecture could fill a book, my blog post explores the untold stories behind three known versions of the text.

One day I will write that book.

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This is [d/dn], the home of David Prater, a writer and editor currently living in the third person.

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