  |
|
|
|
1. Comprehension skills. One thing to remember is that there are two sides to the "Speed Coin." Side One consists of actually indexing faster. Side Two is moving through a project faster in a given timeframe.
With that in mind, let's continue on.... 7. Computer skills, both hardware and software. This is different than keyboarding skill. This means, How well do you know your indexing software? For instance, do you know how to operate the "conflate" and "expand" tools? What about creating unusual locators, such as: 10-3 to 7, where the bold 10 is the chapter number, and 3 to 7 is the page range? Do you know shortcuts to create this locator, with part of it in bold, so you can speed through the data entry part of indexing? How well do you know your hardware? Do you recognize the signs of a dying hard drive? Many people don't, then they start losing files, eventually running into problems just starting their computer. Do you know how to rid your computer of unwanted "junk" and "temporary" files? Do you understand how to perform system maintenance on your hardware? Are you able to "exploit" your tools? Knowing, and I mean really knowing, your software and hardware can speed up your indexing. You won't suffer from crashes, lockups, BSOD (the dreaded Blue Screen of Death), lost files, no backups, and more. These things take a up a lot of time. And, eventually, not knowing your hardware will cost you speed. You'll have a project inhouse, and you'll have to delay starting on it because of problems with your computer. Or, the problems will arise near the end of a project. You could lose the entire project file, and not have time to redo the entire index by the deadline. The more problems you have with your hardware, the less time you can spend on paying indexing projects. Instead, you'll be spending your time on non-paying computer maintenance. 8. Problem-solving skills. Although computer and hardware knowledge are critical, if you don't understand how to apply your tools to the particular problem at hand, you'll still lose speed. For instance, I used the example in Factor 7 about knowing how to use the Expand feature of your software. You may know how to use it, but you may not recognize when to use it. This is where problem-solving skills come in. Problem-solving skills allow you to know when to use what tool to solve what problem. The more skilled you are at solving problems, the faster you'll get done with the index. You won't be delayed by having to contact other indexers for help. They'll be glad to help you, but having to hunt or wait for a solution to a problem will slow you down.
The copyright of the article Speed 2 in Indexing is owned by Dawney Spencer. Permission to republish Speed 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
|
|
|
