Announcing ISC/SCI discount for PerfectIt software

ISC/SCI Members: As we announced at the AGM, the ISC/SCI has negotiated a substantial discount on PerfectIt, the professional proofreading software.

PerfectIt helps you deliver error-free documents. It improves consistency, ensures quality, saves time and helps to enforce style guides. It lets you control every change, giving you the assurance your documents are the best they can be.

PerfectIt is used by thousands of editors around the world. You can try it for free for 14 days by visiting www.intelligentediting.com

To purchase an annual license, visit Member Benefits where you will find the link to purchase PerfectIt with a 30% discount.

Mary Newberry Mentorship Program

June 12, 2018

The Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) is excited to announce the Mary Newberry Mentorship Program.

The proposal for this new initiative was developed over this past year by the mentorship committee, composed of Stephen Ullstrom (chair), Margaret de Boer, and Pierre Joyal. The proposal was accepted by the executive at their May 5, 2018 meeting. The first coordinators for the program are Stephen Ullstrom and Linda Christian (pictured), who were appointed last week at the June executive meeting and conference.

Currently, the program is a proposal on paper. The first task for the coordinators is to turn the proposal into a functioning program. We hope to begin the first mentorships by January 2019.

Highlights of the proposal include the following:

  • Mentorship will be available to all ISC/SCI members, regardless of level of indexing experience. We firmly believe that mentorship can be valuable at all stages of a career.
  • Mentorship will be one-on-one, and will take place in two-month blocks, with the option for renewal.
  • A small fee will be charged, most of which will be an honorarium for the mentor. We want to make the program accessible for all, while also acknowledging the commitment needed from both parties for mentorship to be a success.

The program is named after our own Mary Newberry, in recognition of her many years of mentorship and teaching. We are thrilled to be able to honour Mary in this way.

The coordinators and executive are excited for the potential of this new initiative. We hope that it will be of great benefit to all ISC/SCI members. Stay tuned in the coming months for more details as the program takes shape. We look forward to sharing those details with you.

Mary Newberry Mentorship Program

The Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) is excited to announce the Mary Newberry Mentorship Program.

Stephen Ullstrom

The proposal for this new initiative was developed over this past year by the mentorship committee, composed of Stephen Ullstrom (chair), Margaret de Boer, and Pierre Joyal. The proposal was accepted by the executive at their May 5, 2018 meeting. The first coordinators for the program are Stephen Ullstrom and Linda Christian (pictured), who were appointed last week at the June executive meeting and conference.

Currently, the program is a proposal on paper. The first task for the coordinators is to turn the proposal into a functioning program. We hope to begin the first mentorships by January 2019.

Linda Christian

Highlights of the proposal include the following:

  • Mentorship will be available to all ISC/SCI members, regardless of level of indexing experience. We firmly believe that mentorship can be valuable at all stages of a career.
  • Mentorship will be one-on-one, and will take place in two-month blocks, with the option for renewal.
  • A small fee will be charged, most of which will be an honorarium for the mentor. We want to make the program accessible for all, while also acknowledging the commitment needed from both parties for mentorship to be a success.

The program is  named  after  our  own  Mary Newberry,  in  recognition  of     her many years  of  mentorship  and teaching.  We are  thrilled to  be able  to honour Mary in this way.

The coordinators and executive are excited for the potential of this new initiative. We hope that it will be of great benefit to all ISC/SCI members. Stay tuned in the coming months for more details as the program takes shape. We look forward to sharing those details with you.

Exploring usability

Index written by a technical indexer
Fig 2: Technical indexer

Index written by a scholarly index
Fig 1: Scholarly indexer

Two questions:

1. Has becoming an indexer changed the way you use indexes?

2. Assume you mostly indexed technical books. Would that influence the way you index scholarly books?

These are just two questions you might ponder if you read “Testing usability: ‘Experience an index usability test’ at the ASI Conference (Portland, 2009)” by Cheryl Landes. This article appeared in the December 2009 issue of The Indexer.

At the ASI conference, Cheryl led a session in which 14 attendees reviewed and looked up entries in two indexes that were written for a single book of essays. One of the indexes was written by a scholarly indexer, the other by a technical indexer. The usability test results were interesting, but even more so were the reviewers’ comments.

Cheryl received a regional Award of Excellence from the Society for Technical Communications for this article.

You will enjoy hearing about Cheryl’s latest insights on index usability when you come to the conference in Winnipeg on June 8-9.