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INDEXING IN THE HEARTLAND The Newsletter of the Heartland Chapter of the American
Society of Indexers
Distributed to Heartland Chapter members, ASI officers, ASI SIG contacts, and ASI chapter contacts. The Heartland newsletter is now being distributed in electronic format. Verbatim printed copies are available for those who do not receive email. AMERICAN SOCIETY OF INDEXERS HEARTLAND CHAPTER WEBSITE ========= IN THIS ISSUE: CALENDAR OF EVENTS
========= CALENDAR OF EVENTS April 29, 2006 - Heartland Chapter Meeting, MCL Cafeteria, Richmond IN June 15-17, 2006 - American Society of Indexers, Annual Meeting, Toronto October 28, 2006 - Heartland Chapter Meeting, MCL Cafeteria, Richmond IN ========= FROM THE PRESIDENT
As indexers, we have two meetings to look forward to: our chapter spring meeting on April 29 and our national conference June 15-17 in Toronto. First, our chapter spring meeting will feature a visit from our national president, Maria Coughlin. This is a great opportunity for us to chat with an indexer who has been in business for many years and who has risen through the ranks to run our national organization. Maria is from the East Coast, but she could pass as a Midwesterner because she is friendly and down-to-earth. And she has a great sense of humor! She'll tell us what's going on at the national level, and she'll be eager to hear us tell her what we think of that! The national meeting in Toronto is something all Heartlanders should consider going to. I looked at the map and found that Toronto is closer to me (in West Lafayette, Indiana) than Minneapolis/St. Paul. My family drives to Minnesota twice a year to visit friends and family, so driving to Toronto will be a snap! My husband and I will take our youngest daughter on a summer vacation to Canada to see Niagara Falls. If you live in Ohio, Indiana, or Michigan, consider a summer vacation in Canada with your family! Having this national conference so close to the Midwest is great, because we don't have that many opportunities to meet with other indexers. I hope to see lots of our members at our chapter meeting and at the national conference! Note: The official meeting announcement of our chapter meeting is included at the end of this newsletter. ========= MEET A FELLOW HEARTLANDER: Devon Thomas
Devon Thomas of Chelsea, Michigan (just west of Ann Arbor), is our newest Heartland member, and we'll have the opportunity to meet her at the Spring Meeting. She started her career with a degree in library science, and worked as a public librarian for the first few years. Most recently, Devon was director of the media analysis department of MediaQuotient, a public relations company, for six years. The company specialized in using the Internet and other electronic resources to locate and analyze media coverage of companies and institutions, including GM, Toyota, Microsoft, and the University of Michigan. "I haven't been a librarian for awhile," Devon says, "though I remain interested in the field. My last job couldn't have been done without the library science skills, but it didn't match the concept of business librarian, either. I came in when the division was one other person. Together, we grew it to eight people. There were a lot of skills that translate well into indexing: textual analysis, editing, project management, comfort with deadlines." She left that job after management changes, and since then has been a freelancer in the editing and indexing fields. She has a steady client for whom she edits a clipsheet of industry news for an airline company. Devon was first exposed to indexing during a college internship, when she indexed a collection of family letters for a genealogy. Years later, she considered creating a master index for her cookbook collection, but abandoned that project as being too ambitious. She eventually researched the indexing field, finding Nancy Mulvaney's book and the ASI website. She took two years to complete the basic USDA indexing course, and is now taking the advanced course. "It has been useful," she reports, "but it is challenging, as is finding the time. In addition, I've gone to a couple of workshops in Chicago and found them very instructive. Everyone was very welcoming." She has a regular indexing client in Thompson Gale. "I apply in-house indexing standards with a controlled vocabulary to a variety of works, mostly encyclopedias, which are accessed through an electronic database. So, though the original works may have indexing specific to their physical volumes, I apply indexing terms at the article level that coordinate with all of the client's electronic products. "It's good experience and it brings in revenue, but I am eager to do book indexing. I would consider myself a generalist (always have been a liberal arts major!), but in terms of focusing my efforts right now, I would like to specialize in cookbooks and food writing, primarily because I am knowledgeable and enjoy the subject. But I am incurably curious and would like to work in a variety of subject areas. My strengths do not lie in higher math and sciences, however, so that's one avenue I wouldn't actively pursue." Presently, Devon works about 25 hours a week on indexing, either for a client, for class, building skills, or handling business. She would like to drop her clipsheet client eventually to concentrate more on indexing. Devon reports that she is single and has three cats, all of whom love having her at home more. One, she says, is very useful at ridding her desk of pens and holding down papers. She enjoys movies, reading, yoga, travel, cooking and socializing with friends. ========= KEYBOARD ADVENTURES
Do a web search on "Dvorak keyboard," and you're likely to see an assortment of diatribes on the wonders of this invention. I recently had some down time and decided to see what the fuss was all about. The keyboard layout most everyone uses is called the "QWERTY" keyboard, so named because of the sequence of keys at the top left that vaguely spells a word you can pronounce. It was first patented for typesetting 1868, long before speed typing became a concern. In 1932, after touch typing had been developed, effiency experts proposed a new design that accommodated speed typing. Called the Dvorak keyboard (pronounced DE-vor-ACK, not like the composer) after one of its inventors, the design used character occurrence statistics and hand physiology to make the most commonly used keys more accessible. Also important was the principle of alternating hands, which is faster than typing sequences with one hand. And in one-hand sequences, it is faster to move from outside to inside, the way you naturally do when you rap your fingertips on a table. It's also very easy to learn since the vowels are all on the left side on the middle row. I had heard about this for some time, but what compelled me to try it was finding out how easy it is to set up. It turns out that Windows XP (and other versions) provide Dvorak as part of the system. You just go to the Control Panel, look under "Regional and Language Options," click the "Languages" tab, click the "Details" button under "Text services and input languages," and change the "Default input language" to the "US - Dvorak" setting. If it's not already installed on your computer, it may tell you you have to install it from the CD. When it's installed and running, there will be a task bar icon and also a keyboard shortcut for toggling back and forth between QWERTY and Dvorak. After I set mine up, I spent about five days working with it. I had memorized the keyboard completely by the second day. But after five days, I still had no muscle memory for most of the keys. So every word required thinking about the keyboard. This was fine if I wasn't in a hurry, but whenever I tried to shift out of learning mode and go fast, it got very frustating. Now I have a big job coming up, so I've switched my keyboard back to tried-and-true QWERTY. I'll probably get back to it when I have some more time. It seems clear to me that Dvorak is a better design and could be faster and easier on the hands once it was learned. But for now, my advice to you is the same as my twelve-year-old daughter's when she heard me first talking about it: "Dad, just don't try this when you have an indexing job!" ========= WEBSITE REPORT
Last year I took over the Heartland website and moved it to a new location. I will continue to maintain this as long as it is feasible. One of the features I introduced was to list Heartland contacts for cities and areas where Heartland indexers work and live. I am depending on you to let me know if your listing needs to be changed, or if you would like to be added to the contact list. Please write me at jbealle@spsp.net if you need me to make a change. ========= YAHOOGROUPS REPORT
The Heartland yahoogroups email list is the main channel of communication for Heartlanders. The reason is that we have collected a list of Heartland area indexers, editors, clients, and other individuals that is nearly twice the size of our official membership--and we want them all to know about our meetings, elections, and other news. This is a moderated list, so there is no spam--just occasional messages about Heartland business. Anyone can receive Heartland emails, all they have to do is send me their email address or subscribe at the yahoogroups website. Sometimes new indexers don't know this is available. So if you know of someone interested in indexing, ask them if they are getting email from the Heartland list. If not, please help them get their email address to me (jbealle@spsp.net) if they would like to be a subscriber. ========= USABILITY REPORT
Last year, Fred Leise of Chicago presented an overview of usability, a field related primarily to web design. In this field, designers test the effectiveness of web sites by following user navigation. Many features of back-of-the-book indexes would benefit from the kind of usability assessment given to web design. Led by Kate Mertes, the Washington, D.C., ASI Chapter is developing the beginning stages of an ongoing usability initiative among its members. Some of us in Heartland have discussed ways to join this effort. One thing they have done is to set up an email list for those interested in usability. Dick Evans has posted a few tutorial messages on the subject. The general plan is to use a general-interest published index as a reference (the "For Dummies" series of instructional manuals is the suggested model), and then alter the style or content to test particular indexing principles on users. I will be following this and will participate where appropriate. I will report on developments of interest to Heartlanders. ========= MINUTES OF 2005 FALL MEETING
NOVEMBER 5, 2005, MCL CAFETERIA, RICHMOND, IN Attendees: John Bealle, Marilyn Augst, Margaret Hentz, Cathy Seckman, Terri Procopio, Everett Gasaway, and Leah Hotimlanska. Morning Program:
Afternoon Program:
Marilyn Augst followed with a discussion of how she organizes her overhead work relating to indexing. She covered scheduling your calendar, keeping index specifications, keeping statistics, time management skills, keeping appropriate tax-related and other documentation, managing invoices, and tracking indexed book titles. John Bealle and Cathy Seckman concluded the afternoon program with a description of their perspective on indexes that they would like to forget but still got paid for. John covered a book entitled "A History of the American Theatre" and Cathy covered "Terrorism 1996-2001: A Chronology." Business Meeting: Call to Order: President, Marilyn Augst called the meeting to order. Secretary's Report: Minutes from the previous meeting held April 23, 2005 in Richmond, IN were approved as written. Treasurer's Report: Leah Hotimlanska provided the treasurer's report. Current account balance is $1,661.86. The chapter's debit card was destroyed since there would be no use for it. Old Business: None New Business:
Travel reimbursement for the speaker at the spring 2005 meeting was approved based on the federal government reimbursement rate. Nominating Committee:
Spring 2006 Meeting:
Adjournment:
Respectfully submitted, Margaret Hentz
========= ANNOUNCEMENT
MEETING AGENDA
10:15- 11:45 Keynote Address, Maria Coughlin
11:45-12:00 Elections 12:00- 12:45 Lunch
12:45-1:45 Chapter Business Meeting
1:45-2:45 "Organizing Your Office Systems" Marilyn Augst
2:45-3:00 Dessert 3:00-4:00 Reference Books and Resources
4:00 Adjournment Registration: The Heartland meeting is open to all ASI members and non-members who are interested in indexing. Registration is $15 for ASI members, or $20 for non-members.
========= HEARTLAND ASI OFFICERS President:
Vice-President:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Committee Chairs and other Contacts Newsletter, Email List Moderator, and Website Maintenance:
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