Book indexing for major publishers
> Content analysis, taxonomy, UX writing & editing
Book indexing is a surprisingly difficult process to automate. The human skills required for indexing translate well to UX, structured content, and taxonomy projects.
Clear & concise writing
Index entries are a form of UX writing. Good index entries anticipate the readers's information needs and guide them quickly and effortlessly. Like good UX writing, it looks easy but requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work.
For quick scanning, entries need to be short, clear to the reader (who may not remember the author's terminology), and "front-loaded" so meaningful terms appear at the beginning.
Index entries are a form of UX writing. Good index entries anticipate the readers's information needs and guide them quickly and effortlessly. Like good UX writing, it looks easy but requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work.
For quick scanning, entries need to be short, clear to the reader (who may not remember the author's terminology), and "front-loaded" so meaningful terms appear at the beginning.
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Distilling complex relationships
Relationships between concepts can be quite complex, especially in academic publications. The index needs to reflect the hierarchy of concepts as well as the ontological relationships between them--consistently and concisely.
Relationships between concepts can be quite complex, especially in academic publications. The index needs to reflect the hierarchy of concepts as well as the ontological relationships between them--consistently and concisely.
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Giving just enough detail
Usability drives the number of subentries under a heading. The aim is to break a topic down as needed to avoid long strings of page numbers, without overdoing it.
Usability drives the number of subentries under a heading. The aim is to break a topic down as needed to avoid long strings of page numbers, without overdoing it.
Editing
The editing process is crucial to the overall consistency, readability, accuracy, and usability of the index. Tight production schedules don't allow much time for revision, so quality is critical.
The editing process is crucial to the overall consistency, readability, accuracy, and usability of the index. Tight production schedules don't allow much time for revision, so quality is critical.