Twelve indexers attended the meeting. Members in attendance shared personal and professional updates. A discussion followed about knowing your limits and also what negotiations might look like to turn a ‘no’ on a job offer into a ‘yes.’ PNW members discussed additional challenges of AI-generated indexes, including presence of false information, absence of necessary information, and efforts some individuals are making to deliberately poison the data used by AI.

A member shared that they are taking a course on Freelancing as a Book Indexer: The Business Side.

Announcements

• Reinvigorating local chapters and SIGs
  • At the recent ASI conference, several of us presented on reinvigorating local chapters and SIGs—Sam Arnold-Boyd, Lisa Sorenson, and Caitlin Morgan. It was well-attended and ASI already picked up a new volunteer as a result.

• ASI general meeting
  • ASI’s Annual General Meeting is Saturday, May 17, at 10:00 am Pacific/1:00 pm Eastern time. You can show up 15 minutes early for networking. There will be reports on the state of ASI, award presentations, and new business. You can access the agenda and materials for the meeting on ASI’s site.

• ISC meeting
  • The Indexing Society of Canada’s is May 30-Jun 1 in Vancouver, Canada. We will have some chapter representation there – Elizabeth Bartmess will be giving a presentation on how and why AI makes bad indexes, and some other members are attending as well. Registration is still open.

• Volunteers
  • Mamta Jha has joined us as co-webmaster, replacing Sam Arnold-Boyd who is retiring. Thank you for joining us!
  • We are looking for someone to help with planning our virtual fall meeting this year. This involves brainstorming and reaching out to potential speakers, scheduling the meeting, and helping set up registration. Please contact Elizabeth Bartmess elizabeth.bartmess@gmail.com or Lisa Sorenson sorensonindexing@gmail.com if interested in helping.