[Sigia-l] Web site A-Z indexes

[Drop, Daniel SIK]

Matthew deStwolinski wrote:

You can look at the job traditional print indexers do in two parts.
One, they tag pieces of content with indexing terms.  Two, they take
that information and transform it into an A-Z index in the back of the
book.

In the online world, that first part is (or can be) much the same and is
a very big issue.  ...

The second part takes place in many different ways online.  The A-Z
index is not the most common.  ...  Online, most efforts are
in areas like search and browsing.  Search is a very big consumer of
indexing terms (or more generally, "metadata".)  The creation of
taxonomies from these terms can be a powerful addition to searching.
For browsing, categories and their labels are often derived from
taxonomies and metadata.

So while there may be use for A-Z indexes on some web pages, I think by
far the bigger opportunity for traditional print indexers is to offer
their expertise in the first part.  They wouldn't necessarily have to
become experts in any of the second part, but it would be helpful to be
familiar with what goes on there to make sure their work fits in well.
If they did become experts in aspects of the second part, well...watch
out!

Well, then we need to watch out.  Indexers are much attuned to categories,
labels, and taxonomies.  Good indexes use preferred terms (the See
references) and hierarchy (sub-topics, See Also to broader and related
terms).  To allow for this organization, good indexers must reference a
taxonomy or thesaurus of terminology.  On a print medium, they are usually
forced to lay it out as an A-Z index.  As the Web Indexing SIG page notes,
"Indexes are traditionally alphabetically arranged. But they may also make
use of hierarchical arrangements, as provided by thesauri, or they may be
entirely hierarchical, as in the case of taxonomies.."
(http://www.web-indexing.org/about-web-indexing.htm )

The founders of Ontopia (www.ontopia.net), a firm dedicated to topic maps,
were indexers frustrated (in the early 90's) that their print indexes
wouldn't merge.  Their founders have co-developed a standard for topic maps
that advances semantic search and browsing on the web.

Daniel R. Drop
Programs Information Architect
Sikorsky Aircraft
Mail Stop S439A
(p.) +1-203-386-6855 

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Matthew deStwolinski [mailto:matthew at destwo.net] 
Sent:	Wednesday, March 09, 2005 2:52 PM
To:	Heather Hedden
Cc:	SIGIA-L
Subject:	RE: [Sigia-l] Web site A-Z indexes

> Heather Hedden wrote:
> 
> What additional services in combination with A-Z index would be most
> practical to offer? Site maps? Taxonomies? Navigation menu labels,
general
> text content editing? Others?

You can look at the job traditional print indexers do in two parts.
One, they tag pieces of content with indexing terms.  Two, they take
that information and transform it into an A-Z index in the back of the
book.

In the online world, that first part is (or can be) much the same and is
a very big issue.  There are a lot of efforts to automate indexing, but
most agree that at least some, (if not a lot of,) human involvement is
necessary.  I imagine that someone with extensive indexing experience
would be highly sought after in many organizations with a lot of online
content.

The second part takes place in many different ways online.  The A-Z
index is not the most common.  While it can be very useful and is
certainly familiar to many people, its structure has a lot to do with
the limitations imposed by the printed page.  Online, most efforts are
in areas like search and browsing.  Search is a very big consumer of
indexing terms (or more generally, "metadata".)  The creation of
taxonomies from these terms can be a powerful addition to searching.
For browsing, categories and their labels are often derived from
taxonomies and metadata.

So while there may be use for A-Z indexes on some web pages, I think by
far the bigger opportunity for traditional print indexers is to offer
their expertise in the first part.  They wouldn't necessarily have to
become experts in any of the second part, but it would be helpful to be
familiar with what goes on there to make sure their work fits in well.
If they did become experts in aspects of the second part, well...watch
out!

Others are much more knowledgeable on this than I am.  Hope you found
this helpful, though.

Matthew deStwolinski