When I’ve taught indexing, it’s always been fun to see students go through the first lesson, which has nothing to do with building their own indexes. I start by asking them to go find two books with indexes and describe what those indexes are like: what aspects are useful, what aspects seem to be less […]
Mapping the Page in Book Indexing
I’ve noticed that beginning indexers working with traditional print books can struggle with the challenge of realizing that the most specific target they can give a user is the page number. Over-Indexing For some detail-oriented people who want (sometimes desperately!) to get the index user/reader right to the term they’ve selected, slipping into over-indexing is […]
Still Smarter than Bots
It’s been very enlightening finding out that we’re still smarter than those little programs that go around and index websites. I realize that computers like IBM’s Watson are making waves on Jeopardy and elsewhere, but semantic understanding seems to still be primarily the domain of humans. Bots come up with the darndest things! The Downside […]
Indexer Mind
Folks often ask, after the initial “Someone actually creates the index that goes in the back of a book?”: “How do you go about figuring that out?” Or someone who’s thinking about being an indexer will wonder if the career field is a good match for them. This is an important question because there’s a […]
Usability: Understanding Cross References, Part I
Cross references — those little notes that tell a reader to look elsewhere in the index for information — are a much-loved tool for many indexers (Hans Wellisch gives them 10 pages in Indexing from A to Z). They’re quiet instructions, helping readers get acquainted with the author’s word choices. They neatly connect bits and pieces of the index, highlighting […]
PI Associate Interview: Maria Sosnowski
We’re running a series of interviews to introduce you all to our wonderfully talented group of independent indexers and taxonomists who enable us to say “yes” to the variety of project types and turnaround times our clients are looking for. Today, we’d like you to get to know our talented legal indexer, Maria Sosnowski. Your Business […]
