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Subject:Re: hiring an indexer From:Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- FS -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Sat, 31 May 1997 22:19:53 +0800
Melissa Hunter-Kilmer <mhunterk -at- BNA -dot- COM> wrote:
> 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.
And it's worth saying that the writer probably can't do as good a job as
a professional indexer. It's tempting to think "I wrote it, I know my
audience, I know the material, therefore I know best what terms should
go in the index and how they should be structured."
If you find yourself thinking this, the recommended treatment is to say,
ten times:
"I'm the programmer. I know the code, I know what the users
want, they're just like me. I can knock out the manual at the
end of the project. It can't be too hard, and what does it
matter anyway, nobody reads manuals. . ."
Replace 'programmer' with engineer, scientist or SME, and you have a
useful nostrum for all fields of technical writing.
I subscribed to the index-l listserv for a couple of months. It's an
interesting list -- as friendly and helpful as this one, but smaller
and more focussed & businesslike. I got the impression they react to
"helpful input from the author" they same way we react to helpful
suggestions from our developers about spelling, grammar, structure,
style, etc.
Regards
---
Stuart Burnfield
Functional Software Pty Ltd mailto:slb -at- fs -dot- com -dot- au
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