Thank you.
It has been a pleasure to serve under now Immediate-Past
President Richard Shrout, and I'm looking forward to
continuing to work with him. These are exciting times. As we all know and
are experiencing, our work is constantly changing. Whether you are
tagging or writing back-of-the-book indexes 'old style,' I'm looking
forward to working with you.
It has also been a pleasure to work with the Board this
week. I am proud to announce our new vision and mission statements:
- The Voice of Excellence
in Indexing
- We advocate, educate, and
provide the central resource for indexing.
However you may be indexing, you are helping others access
information. Indexing allows others to see the gold, to see the data, to
see the information.
When I was first tasked with setting the theme for this
conference, I wanted to find a way to bring in the bling. I even
went so far as to consider requesting a disco ball for this gathering.
But considering the many crystals of the chandeliers above us, the bright
light shining off them, I don't think that would have been necessary.
As we write our indexes we analyze and consider all sides
and faces of subjects. We see and understand all the ways one might look
or come to information, and even better, we know how to shed light on all
its different aspects.
Many of us employ facet analysis. Some database folk may
even call it dimensional modeling.
And that's what's really making me happy these days: We are
not alone. Through the efforts of the Digital Trends Task Force (DTTF),
ePub standards include indexes.
The list of ASI members and others who have volunteered and
supported the DTTF is long, I am delighted to report. Please take a
moment to review the list of DTTF
volunteers and thank them in person next time you see them. You can
learn more at the DTTF
Resources page of the ASI web site.
Through the efforts of the DTTF, and with thanks to Paul
Sweum, we are talking with Jeff Bezos and Amazon - hopefully,
keep your fingers crossed - for improved functionality of the Kindle
X-Ray feature, for the inclusion of indexes in free sample materials, and
for overall improved functionality of indexes in. People are listening
and responding. Indeed, we are not alone.
So I ask you, if you are not already involved, come and join
us. You can do so shyly! If you're not sure where to start, join the ASI
Digital Trends Task Force LinkedIn group online. (And if you're not
already a member, you may also want to join the main ASI
LinkedIn group.)
If you experience a bad index or an index that doesn't work
as it should - in a book, ebook, whatever medium or platform - all you
need to do is post some comments online at the bookseller's page. Include
a plug for yourself as a professional indexer, and for ASI as a source
for quality indexing, and you too are spreading education and awareness
of quality indexing.
Tools are multiplying. Technology is advancing. And indexing
is always needed. It is up to us to ensure quality indexing whatever the
medium or the platform.
Many thanks to Galen Schroeder for his
continuing efforts for peer review and other ways to recognize quality
index work. Content must always be king. Many thanks too to Margie
Towery and the rest of the Wilson Award Committee for their work
this year. It's too bad there's no Wilson Award winner I can point you
all to. All the more reason for my work, for your work, for our work, to
be of utmost quality.
(See also Wilson Award Committee Chair Margie
Towery's comments on this year's Wilson Award experience.)
Here's to a Wilson Award-winning future for ASI and all our
members, and to an increasing supply of quality indexes and indexing in
all our fields of vision.
Questions and comments? Contact me directly, at president@asindexing.org.
Pilar Wyman
President, ASI
May 2, 2012
