A brief history of postediting and of research on postediting

The history of postediting in the twentieth century, like that of MT, was marked by the famous ALPAC report of 1966, to which we return below. Prior to ALPA.C, there was a period of inception characterized by pioneering enthusiasm tempered with a realistic understanding of contemporary machine limitations: research had a strong theoretical approach with a military/defense/intelligence focus. After ALPAC there was a period of latency, with posteditirig linked to real-world MT deployment within the few corporations and institutions that could afford the resources: research was then done mostly by practitioners and based on workplace observations. This second period was punctuated first by the personal computer era, then by the rise of the internet.