Re: hiring an indexer

[Melissa Hunter-Kilmer <mhunterk -at- BNA -dot- COM>]

On Thu, 29 May 1997, Hillary Jones <hillary -at- NICHIMEN -dot- COM> wrote:

> Could anyone who has hired an indexer before email me privately and tell
me how that works?

I think that's of interest to the entire list.  We're about to do it here.

I used to work with indexers but was not an indexer myself, so I can sort of
speak their language.  However, that doesn't mean I can really tell how much
indexing we need to have done and how to communicate that to the indexer.  I'm
sure Lori Lathrop will tell us this, right, Lori?  :-)


> Specifically what I want to know is: does the indexer just tell you what
terms to include and you do it yourself? does the indexer take your
FrameMaker files and mark all the terms for you? Basically I'm trying to
discover how much time and effort hiring an indexer for a few manuals
would save!

The main thing I have learned about indexing is that it is a skill separate from
writing.  Even if your app does an automated index thing, that doesn't mean you
don't need an indexer.  The app cannot do as good a job on this as a human.

Melissa Hunter-Kilmer
mhunterk -at- bna -dot- com
(insert standard disclaimer here)

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