Benjamin Lukoff

Current

Web Editor, Editorial QA Specialist at Seattle Children's Hospital
Writer and editor at Benjamin Lukoff

Past

Zune.net Site Editor at Microsoft
Music Editor at Amazon.com
Proofreader, Copyeditor, Lead Copyeditor at Amazon.com

Literary Executor & Editorial Assistant at Fred Lukoff & Bruce Nevin
Proofreader at Microsoft
Catalog Specialist at Amazon.com
Indexer at Microsoft
Library Technician GS-05 at Library of Congress

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5 more...

Education

University College London, U. of London
University of Washington
The Bush School

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Recommendations

18 recommendations

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Writing and Editing

Websites

My Crosscut articles

Benjamin Lukoff’s Summary

My longest association with a company has been with Amazon.com, where I spent over five years, first as a proofreader, then as a copyeditor, and finally as an editor in the music department. I have also spent a number of years at Microsoft, as an indexer and proofreader on Encarta Encyclopedia and as Zune.net site editor. As a student, I worked at the University of Washington Libraries and the Library of Congress. I am currently a freelance writer and editor, doing contract work for Seattle Children's Hospital.

I recently wrote "Seattle Then and Now" (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2010), ISBN 1607101319.

I am an experienced user of Microsoft Office, Photoshop, and ProTools; Windows, Mac OS, and Unix operating systems; and Ektron CMS, as well as WordPress. I have over 18 years of Internet experience and a good working knowledge of HTML/XML. I am familiar with the Chicago Manual of Style, the AP Stylebook, and other general editorial conventions.

Benjamin Lukoff’s Specialties:

Writing, copyediting, editing, indexing, blogging, wikis, project management, freelancer management

Benjamin Lukoff’s Experience

Web Editor, Editorial QA Specialist

Seattle Children's Hospital

(Non-Profit; Hospital & Health Care industry)

June 2009 — Present (1 year 4 months)

(Independent contractor) Proofread and copyedit content for seattlechildrens.org site migration and integration project (seattlechildrens.org is the Web site of Seattle Children's Hospital, Research, and Foundation). Edit page metadata and URLs for SEO, and assigned articles to taxonomy. Use Ektron CMS tools to troubleshoot and improve site navigation and FogBugz bug tracker to log and resolve content issues. Process change requests from organization-wide stakeholders; monitor Seattle Children's general information e-mail inbox; create FormSpring forms; process and upload images, documents, and videos to the servers; and publish new content to the site.
Writer and editor

Benjamin Lukoff

(Writing and Editing industry)

September 2007 — Present (3 years 1 month)

Author, "Seattle Then and Now" (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2010), ISBN 1607101319. Was approached to write this book of rephotography by the publishers. Selected historical photographs, identified original photographers' vantage points, worked with present-day photographer to achieve "now" shots, and wrote captions for the lot.

Work for clients including Amazon.com, Seattle Children's Hospital, SoundUnwound.com, and Whitney Keyes Productions, writing biographical copy, providing historical music-industry data, and writing and copyediting cross-site features and holiday marketing e-mails.

Write for Pacific Northwest web newspaper Crosscut.com.
Zune.net Site Editor

Microsoft

(Public Company; MSFT; Computer Software industry)

April 2008 — April 2009 (1 year 1 month)

(Contractor) As a copy/content editor and copywriter for Microsoft's Zune.net Web site (Zune is Microsoft's digital media player, software, and online store), wrote and edited Web and e-mail copy based on content briefs; worked with product, project, and marketing managers, content coordinators, producers, and designers to design Web pages; coordinated localization efforts for the French- and Spanish-language sites; scrubbed text and metadata for SEO; and performed general site maintenance duties. Owned the site style guide and provided input into editorial policy, and formalized processes and procedures in the course of training my replacement in all aspects of the job.
Music Editor

Amazon.com

(Public Company; AMZN; Internet industry)

November 2004 — September 2007 (2 years 11 months)

Wrote, produced, and managed editorial and merchandising content -- text, photo, audio, and video -- for the Amazon.com Music Store, with special responsibility for the home page, country, folk, blues, and New Age. Worked closely with other teams to provide a unified site experience. Oversaw and managed a stable of freelance reviewers and a budget of over $130,000. Managed communications and deliverables with vendors, including Universal Music, the world's largest label. Planned, developed, executed, and analyzed performance of marketing e-mails, subscription newsletters, and specialty stores, both within Music and cross-site. Conducted interviews with artists such as Toby Keith, Lucinda Williams, and Robyn Hitchcock, and edited resulting files in ProTools. Created and manipulated images and graphics in Photoshop and videos using in-house tools. Led and named the team's blogging effort, Amazon Earworm, and led the team's artists' recommendations program, Music You Should Hear.
Proofreader, Copyeditor, Lead Copyeditor

Amazon.com

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; AMZN; Internet industry)

June 2002 — November 2004 (2 years 6 months)

Edited a variety of content for the Amazon.com and Amazon.ca websites across all product lines, including merchandising copy, seasonal promotions, and site features. Provided launch support for Amazon.com Magazines, Health & Personal Care, and Musical Instruments and Amazon.ca Software & Video Games and HMV.com. Wrote copy for Amazon Associates, e-Cards, and other, smaller projects. Maintained the copyediting team's internal web pages and online style guide; redesigned and updated old style guide to increase user-friendliness and conformity with Chicago 15.
Literary Executor & Editorial Assistant

Fred Lukoff & Bruce Nevin

(Higher Education industry)

May 2000 — November 2002 (2 years 7 months)

Edited, indexed, and proofread Fred Lukoff's manuscript of "A Practical Application of String Analysis," a linguistic essay that appeared Fall 2002 in Bruce Nevin, ed., "The Legacy of Zellig Harris" (John Benjamins). Reviewed and corrected proofs of the article for Mr. Nevin and John Benjamins following Professor Lukoff's death.
Proofreader

Microsoft

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; MSFT; Computer Software industry)

November 2001 — May 2002 (7 months)

(Contractor) Proofread, copyedited, and checked for accuracy a variety of reference content, including Encarta Encyclopedia articles, essays, quotations, charts, photos, maps, audio clips, diagrams, animations, flags, media captions and credits, and the index to all of the above. Researched biographical information for the quotations dictionary. Evaluated article content to determine appropriateness of granting reprint rights.
Catalog Specialist

Amazon.com

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; AMZN; Internet industry)

June 1999 — August 1999 (3 months)

(Contractor) Maintained catalog integrity by identifying and correcting typographical and other errors. Added new items to the bibliographic database.
Indexer

Microsoft

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; MSFT; Computer Software industry)

October 1997 — June 1999 (1 year 9 months)

(Contractor) Was sole indexer of the Encarta Manual of Style and Usage. Edited the indexes to Microsoft Bookshelf, Encarta World English Dictionary, Encarta Reference Suite, and Microsoft Office Business Planner; also did primary indexing for these products. Evaluated media for inclusion in the dictionary, and edited reference content.
Library Technician GS-05

Library of Congress

(Government Agency; Libraries industry)

July 1997 — September 1997 (3 months)

Processed over 40,000 Russian, German, Chinese, and Japanese-language maps for addition to the collection. Sorted and filed maps and identified duplicates for removal.

Benjamin Lukoff’s Education

University College London, U. of London

MA , English Linguistics (Modern English Language) , 1999 — 2001

Thesis: "The Noun + Noun Sequence in English"

Studied under (among others) Bas Aarts, Jill House, John Wells, Richard Hudson, Michael Ashby
University of Washington

BA , English Language & Literature, w/minors in Linguistics and in Russian Language , 1994 — 1997

Studied under (among others) Robert Stevick, Christopher Longyear, Joseph Butwin, Zoya Polack, James Augerot, Ellen Kaisse

Phi Beta Kappa, Magna cum laude, Dean's List, Outstanding Achievement in First Year Russian Award

Student employee, University of Washington Libraries Map Division and Resource Sharing Service

Activities and Societies:

University Singers, Oratorio Chorus
The Bush School

Diploma , 1981 — 1993

Additional Information

Benjamin Lukoff’s Websites:

My Crosscut articles

Benjamin Lukoff’s Interests:

linguistics, local history, local politics, personal finance, maps, blogging, Wikipedia, reference, publishing

Benjamin Lukoff’s Groups:

Board of Trustees, Puget Sound Association of Phi Beta Kappa

Steering Committee, University District Museum Without Walls/University District Arts and Heritage Committee

Volunteer work for (Seattle) Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), Homewaters Project at North Seattle Community College, Washington State Initiative 1000 campaign.

King County Citizen Councilor #31.