Posts Tagged ‘American Society for Indexing’

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ASI Virtual Conference: Tables of Cases

Thursday, August 6th, 2020

This is the fourth in a series of blog postings on the American Society for Indexing’s (ASI) Virtual Conference, held on Saturday, May 2nd.  The Annual Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina was postponed until 2021 because of COVID-19.

Held on Zoom, the fourth session, Tables of Cases, presented by Bonnie Taylor, gave an overview of the rules for legal indexing of cases.  She began by describing a table of cases, which is an alphabetized list of the judicial decisions cited in a work, a type of bibliography for legal cases.  Other tables include those for statutes, regulations, constitutions, and court rules.

Case citations follow rules, which can be found in the legal Bluebook, available in print or as an online subscription from https://www.legalbluebook.com.

She broke down a citation into its parts, explaining what each meant and how it was written.  Every case mentioned in the text is included in the table, by specific citation.  A citation includes the name (Party v. Party), the volume of the report in which it’s found, the series name, the page number, and the date.

Reversals are flipped citations that put the leading information first with a cross-reference.  For example, use the cross-reference “United States v. See name of opposing party,” and use “Doe, United States v.” as the actual entry in the table of cases.

This presentation served as an excellent introduction into legal indexing and tables of cases.

I will discuss the fifth session of the Virtual Conference in the next blog posting.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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ASI Virtual Conference: The Naked Indexer

Wednesday, July 1st, 2020

This is the third in a series of blog postings on the American Society for Indexing’s (ASI) Virtual Conference, held on Saturday, May 2nd.  The Annual Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina was postponed until 2021 because of COVID-19.

Held on Zoom, the third session, The Naked Indexer, featured an experienced indexer, Fred Leise, working on an index in real time.  The session opened a window into his indexing processes and methods as he explained his choices along the way. On a split screen, he showed the PDF of the document and the Cindex indexing software in which he was working.  He selected headings and subheadings and entered page references for the scholarly book which he was indexing for the first time.  He also answered questions, prompting lively discussion.

The session, often presented at ASI past conferences, was a highlight of the virtual conference.

I will discuss the fourth session of the Virtual Conference in the next blog posting.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

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ASI Virtual Conference: Time Management Techniques

Monday, June 1st, 2020

This is the second in a series of blog postings on the American Society for Indexing’s (ASI) Virtual Conference, held on Saturday, May 2nd.  The Annual Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina was postponed until 2021 because of COVID-19.

Held on Zoom, the second session, New Time Management Techniques for the Savvy Indexer, was presented by Diana Witt.

She started with a review of basic time management techniques.  She recommended using time tracking tools to see how fast you are indexing.  Dedicated indexing software often keeps track of how long you have been indexing in a session.

Although she said embedded indexing is slower than back-of-the-book indexing, software such as Index Manager can reduce the amount of typing by highlighting terms and, thus, increase speed.

She said it is important to manage the amount of time spent on clients’ e-mails.  Be sure to give a prompt response and have indexing samples ready in case they are requested.

She also focused on how publishing industry changes have impacted our ability to manage our time and workflow.  She described portal systems now used by publishers, which are third party billing systems that require more documentation.  These changes have greatly increased the amount of time indexers must spend on non-indexing tasks in order to run their businesses efficiently.

I will discuss the third session of the Virtual Conference in the next blog posting.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

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ASI Virtual Conference: Standout Self-Promotion

Friday, May 8th, 2020

Since the American Society for Indexing’s (ASI) Annual Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina was postponed until 2021 because of COVID-19, a Virtual Conference was held on Saturday, May 2nd.  In a series of blog postings, I will discuss the six sessions at the Virtual Conference.

Held on Zoom, the first session, Standout Self-Promotion: Four Steps to Winning More Work Before You Start Chasing Clients, was presented by JoAnne Burek.

Four Steps

  1. Specializations
  2. Indexing society directory profile
  3. Website
  4. Responses to email queries

Step 1: Specialization

  1. Makes it easier for clients to find you
  2. Helps you focus your marketing
  3. Reduces the number of sample indexes you need
  4. Makes it easier to produce your first paid index

Step 2: Indexing Society Directory Profile

  1. How clients make buying decisions
  2. How we read a web page, most critical at top
  3. Write your profile “excerpt-first”
  4. What not to put on your profile – meaningless statements applying to all indexers

Step 3: Website

Template includes:

  • Home Page (Specialties, Contact Info)
  • About Page  (Qualifications)
  • Portfolio Page  (Books published, Sample Indexes)
  • Services Page  (How I work)
  • Testimonials
  • Authority Content

Step 4: Responses to Emails

Elements for Emails

  1. Meaningful connection
  2. Unique value … your Why
  3. Credibility and proof
  4. Soft call to action

I will discuss the second session of the Virtual Conference in the next blog posting.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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Conclusions on Ethics in Indexing

Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019

This blog posting concludes the discussion on ethics in indexing.  Ethical issues are concerns that compel professionals to think about doing the right thing.  Janet Perlman includes a section, “Ethics and Professionalism,” in her book, Indexing Tactics & Tidbits: An A-Z Guide, Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ, 2016, pp. 41-44.  On March 25, 2015, Heather Ebbs presented an American Society for Indexing webinar on “Ethics in Indexing.”  She focused on a number of scenarios highlighting ethical situations that indexers might face.

In all the cases, Ms. Ebbs said, communication with the client is key.  The indexer has a responsibility to the reader, the publisher, and the author.  To resolve differences, “communication is huge.”

If an indexer encounters biased language, Ms. Ebbs said she has an ethical obligation to the reader.  In addition, Ms. Perlman describes how bias in indexing may occur from the inclusion or exclusion of material.  An indexer may create more entries for material or points of view that she agrees with than for those she disagrees with.  This may be done without her even realizing it.  Or, an indexer may be aware of her disparagement of a certain point of view and intentionally create no entries for that material, or fewer entries than the text warrants.

The indexer should also adhere to business ethics and a code of ethics.  I discussed the American Society for Indexing’s Best Professional Practices for Indexers in a previous blog posting.

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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Best Professional Practices

Saturday, April 6th, 2019

This blog posting focuses on the Best Professional Practices for Indexers, which is published on the American Society for Indexing website at https://www.asindexing.org/best-professional-practices/

Information Access
As Indexers, we promote access to information in all of its forms.  We dedicate ourselves to conciseness, clarity, coherence, and creativity, striving to meet the needs of all clients who may require the services of indexers.

Quality
We strive to produce the best indexes possible within time and budget constraints. We negotiate realistic agreements on schedules, price, and delivery format, and we fulfill contractual obligations in a timely, responsible manner.

Confidentiality
We respect the confidentiality of clients and employers, disclosing business-sensitive information only with their consent or when legally required to do so.

Fairness
We avoid conflicts of interest and disclose any potential conflicts to clients and employers before proceeding with negotiations or projects.

Professionalism
We are devoted to education about indexing.  We seek to advance the profession of indexing through our own integrity and excellence. We assist others in our profession through mentoring, networking, and instruction.

In future blog postings, I will discuss different ethical indexing scenarios.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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Ethics in Indexing

Saturday, March 23rd, 2019

Ethical issues occur in any workplace.  Ethical issues are principles that force professionals to “do the right thing.”  Ethics enable us to choose the right action under the circumstances.  Indexers and indexing are not exempt.  An indexer has to make decisions that involve ethical standards and that demonstrate professionalism.

A Code of Ethics is a systematic way of documenting the principles of action based on our core values.  An indexer has an ethical responsibility to his/her professional circle (colleagues), clients (including quality, business ethics), readers, and self.

Heather Ebbs discusses different scenarios presenting an ethical dilemma in her American Society for Indexing (ASI) webinar, “Ethics in Indexing,” which originally aired on March 25, 2015.  Janet Perlman includes a section, “Ethics and Professionalism,” in her book, Indexing Tactics & Tidbits: An A-Z Guide, Information Today, Inc., Medford, NJ, 2016, pp. 41-44.

I will discuss ASI’s Best Professional Practices in the next blog posting.

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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Textbook Indexing

Wednesday, October 5th, 2016

Leoni McVey led a session, “To Textbooks, with Love,” on Saturday, June 18, 2016 at the American Society for Indexing/Indexing Society of Canada Annual Conference in Chicago.  She discussed the process of elementary to high school and college textbook indexing, and some ways in which textbooks differ from other types of book indexing.  These books are well-organized, she said, with key terms in bold face.

She gave a handout listing “callouts”:  illustration (i), box (b), map (m), document (d), visual (v), chart/graph (c), table (t), and figure (f).  Callouts may be abbreviated or spelled out partially, and may or may not be italics.

Indexable and nonindexable book sections include the following: book preface and introduction: indexable.  Chapter introduction: indexable.  Timelines and chronologies: indexable.  Activities: nonindexable.  Case studies: depends, not if fictional.  Key term lists: indexable.  Review questions: indexable.  Bibliographies: nonindexable.  Glossaries: can be.  Glindex (combined glossary and index): questionable.

She said she compiles two indexes for a teacher edition and a student edition.   She indexes them separately, and then they are merged together, with ‘T’ noting Teacher Edition and ‘SN’ noting Student Notebook.

For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

 

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Introduction to Taxonomies and Thesauri

Saturday, August 6th, 2016

Heather Hedden, Senior Vocabulary Editor, Indexing and Vocabulary Services for Gale/Cengage Learning led a session on “An Introduction to Taxonomies and Thesauri” on Friday, June 17, 2016 at the American Society for Indexing/Indexing Society of Canada Annual Conference in Chicago.  Taxonomies and thesauri are types of controlled vocabularies that include an authoritative, restricted list of terms (words or phrases) mainly used for indexing/tagging content to support retrieval.  They usually make use of equivalent non-preferred terms (synonyms, etc.) to point to the correct, preferred terms, and may or may not have structured relationships between terms.

Taxonomy

A taxonomy is a controlled vocabulary with broader/narrower (parent/child) term relationships that include all terms to create a hierarchical structure.

  • With focus for categorizing and organizing concepts
  • May or may not have equivalent non-preferred terms (synonyms, etc.) to point to the correct, preferred terms
  • May comprise several hierarchies or facets (A facet can be considered a hierarchy.)

A taxonomy is any kind of controlled vocabulary in an enterprise, corporate setting, content management system, or for website navigation (e.g. e-commerce site).

Thesaurus

A thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary that has standard structured relationships between terms.

  • Hierarchical: broader term/narrower term (BT/NT)
  • Associative: related terms (RT)
  • Equivalence: preferred term (“use for” or “used for”)/non-preferred term (use) (USE/UF)

Also supports notes, such as scope notes (SN), for terms, as needed.

A thesaurus is most often the kind of controlled vocabulary used in indexing periodical literature.  It is also used for literature retrieval databases.  It is used by librarians, indexers, or other information professionals.  It includes non-preferred terms.

Benefits

The benefits of taxonomies/controlled vocabularies are that they bring together different wordings (synonyms) for the same concept.  They help people search for information by different names.  By classification, they help organize information into a logical structure.  They help people browse or navigate for information.

In future blog postings I will discuss other sessions from the American Society for Indexing Annual Conference in Chicago.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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The Future of Publishing

Friday, July 15th, 2016

Dominique Raccah, founder and CEO of Sourcebooks, gave the keynote speech on Saturday, June 18, 2016 at the American Society for Indexing/Indexing Society of Canada annual conference in Chicago.  Ms. Raccah spoke about the current transformation of media and where publishing is situated within that changing world.  She gave an optimistic prediction for the future of print publishing.  She described the evolution of innovation at Sourcebooks, which was founded in 1987, and which publishes non-fiction, including self-help books, and fiction, including young adult and children’s books.  Sourcebooks publishes 400+ titles a year, and 80+ national and international bestsellers a year.  It has experienced 200% growth.

Put Me In The Story is a series of personalized books that add real value for customers by adding their names to well-known children’s stories.  The individualized book has the child’s name on the cover and throughout the book.  It mixes content, creativity, and technology, she said.  The publisher uses proprietary technology with a book builder engine.

The Put Me In The Story books are the number one personalized books in America, she said.  This website has gotten three million visitors.  Not only are these books a transformative source of revenue growth for Sourcebooks, but the books add to the author’s revenue stream.

To build on this success, Sourcebooks may next publish custom books, such as Simple Truths, which are motivational books.  These books could be branded with your name and/or business logo.  Sourcebooks is also experimenting with augmented reality (AR) books, which expand and enhance the experience of reading.  Sourcebooks innovates with mixed media publishing, such as the Poetry Speaks books combining audio and text, which create an interactive experience for children.   The Shakesperience is an interactive product which includes audio and video to enhance the understanding of Shakespeare’s plays.

In creating a successful publishing market, she stressed the importance of focusing on the customer.  What are customers trying to do?  Innovation is iterative, she said.  Find a viable model and scale, she added.  Build on your success, she concluded.

In future blog postings I will discuss other sessions from the American Society for Indexing Conference.  For more information about the services provided by the author of this blog, see the Stellar Searches LLC website, http://www.stellarsearches.com

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