For more information about content or schedule,
email Seth at seth@maislin.com.
State of the Textbook Indexing World
TAA Podcast Series
Recording available from August 25, 2010
You might take that alphabetized list of words and page numbers for granted, but there's turmoil inside the textbook indexing world. First there's the ongoing challenge of people not understanding what indexing is about, a world where production editors are always just out of college, authors are forced to pay, and jobs are going to countries where English isn't a first language. The rise of e-books has reintroduced a significant problem that first appeared in the early 1990s: wholly inferior tools. E-book indexes do not work, literally. How does this affect writing? Join us for a lively discussion about how we find things ... or not.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/textacademicpodcast/2010/08/25/state-of-the-textbook-indexing-world.
Practical Tagging and Keyword Invention
Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Institutes for Continuing Education
Boston, Massachusetts
October 23, 2010
Knowing how to control a vocabulary is important, but what if you don't have a vocabulary? This workshop provides participants with a simple algorithm for inventing all those words you forgot to invent last time, along with several practical examples, followed by critical suggestions on where and how to apply them. Whether you're an indexer looking to lengthen your index, or a website owner looking to get more Google hits, you'll appreciate a fast, fresh look at words, words, words.
workshop link.
Cloud Indexing (seminar)
ASI Annual Meeting and Conference
Providence, Rhode Island
April 2011
The future of indexing -- or at least one predictable future -- is "cloud indexing," where indexes
are written not by a single professional indexer but by any number of passionate subject matter experts.
What would those indexes look like? What are their benefits and their disadvantages? Is this a utopian future?
Explore the possibilities in this engaging workshop, designed to force indexers to question what they think about their work.
Visit the home page for ASI's 2011 Providence Conference.
Indexing with Kids (panel)
ASI Annual Meeting and Conference
Providence, Rhode Island
April 2011
Principles of Indexing (full-day workshop, proposed)
ASI Annual Meeting and Conference
Providence, Rhode Island
April 2011
Learn the foundational principles of indexing and how to apply them effectively and profitably in this highly informational and dynamic workshop. Whether you're starting your indexing career or just looking for formal instruction, this workshop will fortify you as an indexer and (even more important) an index-thinker. Starting with the Three Easy Steps of Indexing, Seth leads participants to understand the logic and challenges behind all indexing decisions: topic inclusion, subheading construction, page numbers and cross references, language selection, sorting, and usability concerns. Lively in-class discussion is encouraged, and additional topics (tools, careers, deadlines) will be introduced upon request. Hands-on examples are provided, with discussion extending into the indexing of non-print content. Participants will learn how to find balance between the needs of client, indexer, and readers.
Visit the home page for ASI's 2011 Providence Conference.
Principles of Indexing: full-day workshop
American Society for Indexing Annual Meeting and Conference
Minneapolis, MN
May 13, 2010
Learn the foundational principles of indexing and how to apply them effectively and profitably in this highly informational and dynamic workshop. Whether you're starting your indexing career or just looking for formal instruction, this workshop will fortify you as an indexer and (even more important) an index-thinker. Starting with the Three Easy Steps of Indexing, Seth leads participants to understand the logic and challenges behind all indexing decisions: topic inclusion, subheading construction, page numbers and cross references, language selection, sorting, and usability concerns. Lively in-class discussion is encouraged, and additional topics (tools, careers, deadlines) will be introduced upon request. Hands-on examples are provided, with discussion extending into the indexing of non-print content. Participants will learn how to find balance between the needs of client, indexer, and readers. Online description.
Revitalizing Your Chapter Meetings
American Society for Indexing Annual Meeting and Conference
Minneapolis, MN
May 14, 2010
Co-presented with Diana Witt. An informal workshop, with plenty of time for Q&A on how to develop topics and sources for dynamic chapter programs, including how to produce and deliver virtual meetings. Primarily of interest to Chapter leaders, this workshop welcomes members of chapters and SIGs who wish to take a more active role in helping prepare programs of interest to their members. Online description
Practical Tagging and Keyword Invention
Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Institutes for Continuing Education
Boston, Massachusetts
March 20, 2010
Knowing how to control a vocabulary is important, but what if you don't have a vocabulary? This workshop provides participants with a simple algorithm for inventing all those words you forgot to invent last time, along with several practical examples, followed by critical suggestions on where and how to apply them. Whether you're an indexer looking to lengthen your index, or a website owner looking to get more Google hits, you'll appreciate a fast, fresh look at words, words, words.
workshop link.
Cross Mapping Taxonomies
Taxonomy Community of Practice (TaxoCoP)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010, at 1pm ET
Learn how to bring together multiple existing taxonomies for unified use. Most organizations today have multiple repositories in place; a single system environment is increasingly rare. As a result, more taxonomies are being created, but these vocabularies need to be combined or merged, whether to create a unified enterprise taxonomy from those of separate departments, to bring together taxonomies resulting from acquisitions of companies or product lines, or to reconcile folksonomies with taxonomies. This session looks at three key ways that taxonomies may be combined for different purposes: integrating, merging, or mapping.
Co-presented with Heather Hedden.
Registration link.
Make Better Decisions: Content in Context AIIM online webinar
February 10, 2010
While it may feel good to make a “snap” or “gut-instinct” decision, it’s always better to make any decision based on information. A decision backed up by the best information to which you have access. In many organizations, the needed information is there, but it is spread out and basically worthless – or only accessible via the silos in which it’s stored. Information that can’t be found and acted upon is only taking up space.
So, how do you go beyond your gut to gain access to the information you need to make well-informed decisions?
You need to ensure that your information (both the unstructured text in documents and the rows and columns in databases) is embedded in your business processes: accessible where the workers are and can act on the information. There is a cost in missed opportunities and poor or misinformed decisions without this complete picture of all of your organization’s information.
Discover the value of access to information -- ALL of your information, data and documents -- for improved decision-making and pointers so that you can begin to take positive steps to make it happen for you.
A Is for Arbitrary
American Society for Indexing, New England Chapter (NE-ASI)
Fall Conference
Lexington, Massachusetts
September 19, 2009
Alphabetical order, despite its illusory appearance of being easy to implement, is a terrible way to organize things. We don’t think, talk, or act alphabetically, nor are we limited to the alphabet when we think, talk, and act. Let’s take some time to explore all of the other, better sorting options, learn how to implement them practically, and find lots of good excuses to abandon the boring A to Zzzzz.
Indexing Application in Print and Digital Media
Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Institutes for Continuing Education
Boston, Massachusetts most recent workshop: June 2009 offered regularly since 2006
Writing Indexes for Books and Websites: 30-Hour Online Certificate Program
Over the Internet, hosted by Middlesex Community College, Massachusetts most recent semester: June-August 2009 offered regularly since 2005
Principles of Indexing
American Society for Indexing
Portland, Oregon
April 23, 2009
A Is for Arbitrary
American Society for Indexing
Portland, Oregon
April 24, 2009
Automatic Tagging and Categorization
American Society for Indexing
Portland, Oregon
April 24, 2009
Practical Keyword Invention
Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Institutes for Continuing Education
Boston, Massachusetts
March 14, 2009
Auto Tagging Requirements & Advances
Taxonomy Community of Practice Series
Earley & Associates
Online
March 4, 2009
Information Architecture in Web Design (course IN-919C)
Bentley College
Waltham, Massachusetts offered regularly since 2004
Index Editing Panel
New England Chapter, American Society of Indexers
2008 Spring Meeting Chelmsford, Mass.
April 5, 2008
Taxonomy, Folksonomy, Plutonomy
Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP)
Boston, Mass.
May 29, 2008
Tips & Tricks for the Do-It-Yourself Indexer
Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA)
phone seminar
May 8, 2008
Taming the Beast: How to Develop an Enterprise Taxonomy
to Support 200 Million Documents
AIIM - The Enterprise Content Management Association
International Exposition & Conference Boston, Mass.
March 4, 2008
Book Indexing Basics and Roundtable Discussion on Writing Indexes
Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA)
2007 Conference on Text and Academic Authoring Buffalo, New York
June 22-23, 2007
Show Me the Money: The Business Side of Indexing
New England Chapter of the American Society of Indexers (NEASI)
Chelmsford, MA
Saturday, April 29, 2006. Starts at 9:30 a.m.
Indexing as a Career
Middlesex Community College
February 17, 2005 in Woburn, Mass. at 6pm
March 5, 2005 in Lowell, Mass. at 9am
What Is an Index? and How to Write Quality Indexes
TEKOM Annual Conference 2004
Wiesbaden, Germany
10-12 November 2004
ABrief, Comprehensive Indexing Primer
online seminar
October 20, 2004
Web Indexing: an informal online chat
IndexStudents mailing list
May 18, 2004 at 1pm EDT
Keywords for Indexing and Search
telephone seminar
March 10, 2004
Indexing in an Information Age
Israel (three different venues)
December, 2003
When Indexing Isn't Indexing
American Society of Indexers, NYC Chapter New York City, NY
October 17, 2003
Getting Personal: Individualized Information Delivery
American Society of Indexers
Vancouver, British Columbia
June 2003
Behind the Curtain of Search Engines
American Society of Indexers
Vancouver, British Columbia
June 2003
Keywords Are Key!
Society for Technical Communication
Dallas, Texas
May 2003
Your Teacher's On the Line: Experience with Phone Seminars
Society for Technical Communication
Dallas, Texas
May 2003
Connecting Search with Indexing
Society for Technical Communication
Dallas, Texas
May 2003
Evaluating an Index
phone seminar
March 19, 2003
Indexing for Nonindexers
nSight, Inc.
Burlington, Massachusetts
November 20, 2001
Unlocking Information: Techniques for Structuring Content
nSight, Inc.
Burlington, Massachusetts
November 5, 2002
Work Methods: A Philosophical and Practical Inquiry
American Society of Indexers
Galveston, Texas
May 2002
XML: A DTD for Indexes
American Society of Indexers
Galveston, Texas
May 2002
Quantum Indexing with Bill and Seth
American Society of Indexers
Galveston, Texas
May 2002
Case Studies in Web Information Structure
Society for Technical Communication
Nashville, Tennessee
May 2002
Indexing Without Page Numbers
Society for Technical Communication
Nashville, Tennessee
May 2002
One-on-One Index Evaluation
Society for Technical Communication
Nashville, Tennessee
May 2002
Indexing for Online Delivery: The New Face of an Old Art
Society for Technical Communication
Online Special Interest Group, Boston Chapter Andover, Massachusetts
March 6, 2002
Case Studies from Lycos.com
Society for Technical Communication, Boston Chapter
InterChange Conference 2001 Boxborough, Massachusetts
October 15, 2001
Website Architecture
nSight, Inc. Cambridge, Massachusetts
April 10 and 17, 2001
Lycos Talk Radio
April 9 at 7:30pm EDT (among others)
Expanding Online Indexing
Wisconsin Chapter Waukesha, Wisconsin
American Society of Indexers
September 2000
Achieving the Ideal Index
American Society of Indexers
Albuquerque, New Mexico
May 2000
Note: A video recording of this presentation is available from C-Span TV.
Call 877-ONC-SPAN or go to the BookTV home page and
ask for Program No. 57110, "Achieving the Ideal Index." Cost is $29.95 plus $7 shipping.
Search Engines
American Society of Indexers
Albuquerque, New Mexico
May 2000
Indexing the Whole Wide Web. Ha!
American Society of Indexers
Albuquerque, New Mexico
May 2000
Indexing Equals Architecture
Society for Technical Communication
Atlanta Chapter Atlanta, Georgia
May 2000
Pageless Indexing
American Society of Indexers
Washington DC Chapter Washington, D.C.
April 2000
Where Indexing Fails: Real-Life Problems (and Even Solutions)
Society for Documentation Professionals Burlington, Massachusetts
March 2000
Pageless Indexing
American Society of Indexers
Golden Gate Chapter San Francisco, California
March 2000
Developing an Online Architecture from Scratch
Help University Dallas Dallas, Texas
November 1999
Indexing in the Online World Or, Every Web Page Is an Index)
InterChange 1999 Boxborough, Massachusetts
October 1999
Indexing Electronic Media
American Society of Indexers
South California Chapter Long Beach, California
August 1999
Indexing Online Information: "If Every Page Were Page Zero..."
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