With our income as indexers often proportional to the amount of work we can complete, efficiency is key. I want to consider today a practice that I know some indexers use, which is editing as the index entries are created. In theory—and I have heard some indexers say they manage… Read More »Editing the Index on the Go
I have been reluctant to write about metatopics. It is already extensively discussed by Do Mi Stauber, Janet Perlman, and Margie Towery in their books, as well as, I assume, elsewhere. Appropriately handling the metatopic is also one of the trickier aspects of indexing to master. I am not sure… Read More »Why Correctly Identifying the Metatopic Matters
Who is the index for? This may seem like a trick question. You are probably thinking, “The reader, obviously.” So let me rephrase the question. As the indexer, who are you trying to please? I hope you are still trying to please the reader, but when writing the index, the… Read More »Who to Serve: the Client or the Reader?
Last week in my recap of the Indexing Society of Canada/Société canadienne d’indexation conference I alluded to business change, which is a difficult subject to write about. Change is inherently disruptive, as it usually involves some kind of ending as well as a new beginning. Change also affects the web… Read More »Business Changes Ahead
If the index structure can be likened to a skeleton, and the information that the index seeks to convey the lifeblood, then perhaps all the small details that shape and bind an index together can be considered the muscle and sinew. It is this attention to detail that can elevate… Read More »On Double-Barrelled Entries
I am home from the Indexing Society of Canada/Société canadienne d’indexation’s conference in Ottawa, back to working on an index that is due ASAP while also trying to recover from a few packed days at the conference and a late flight home Sunday night. I do enjoy the conferences—one of… Read More »ISC/SCI Ottawa 2019 Indexing Conference Recap
I was recently talking with a new indexer who was struggling with how much detail to pick up and include in the index. The issues were, how granular the index should be and how much of the author’s argument should be revealed in the index. This discussion got me thinking… Read More »On Rewriting the Book in the Index
As you may have noticed, two weeks ago, on May 6, I started live-tweeting my indexing process, as I indexed the trade book Almost Human: The Story of Julius, the Chimpanzee Caught between Two Worlds. Those tweets are now compiled, with some additional commentary, which you can find here. I… Read More »Index Live-Tweet Debrief
Last week I wrote about internal consistency in an index, and how internal consistency can help make for a smoother user experience. But external consistency is also important, for the same reasons. The index should align with the text. Most obvious, of course, is alignment of content. The index should… Read More »External Consistency in Indexes
Consistency is key in the quest to provide a smooth user experience. How the index works should be largely invisible to the reader. What we do not want is the reader to find errors or inconsistencies which cause them to question whether their interpretation of the index is correct or… Read More »Internal Consistency in Indexes