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Jola (Close Reading)

@closereadingie.bsky.social

2.7K followers 6.5K following 850 posts

Indexer. Copyeditor. Proofreader. Medieval historian. Jeanne de Divion was framed. TTRPG enthusiast. Indexes things from Aristotle to the X-Men. Past president Indexing Society of Canada. Co-chair KWG Twig, Editors Canada. closereadingie.com. She/They.

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Nov 10

Hello, new followers! I’m an indexer and editor, ttrpg gamer, knitter, stabbing-fabric-with-needles-er, and hiker. I used to be a professor of medieval history, and a good by-name will always turn my head. So far, the current leader is my guy William Lost-His-Pants. I post about all this. And cats.

Black cat on a bookshelf between reference books.

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · 1d

I miss buying software on floppies/cd-roms. No AI. No upgrades that massively disrupt my workflow and make a tool nearly useless for my daily work, one I had relied on and used dozens of times a day.

I’m looking at you @goodnotesapp.bsky.social And yes, I’m using the paid version and am pissed.

Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · 4d

My pleasure! It’s a quick read, but packed with really interesting analysis on the nature of reading and deriving meaning from texts.

Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · 4d

If you’re into fragment research, I highly recommend checking out the forthcoming book from U Toronto Press by Bamford, Unprinted. The focus is on texts from Iberia in the 1500s-1600s.

utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....

Unprinted - University of Toronto Press

Reading and Meaning in Early Modern Iberia

utppublishing.com

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Reposted by Jola (Close Reading)

pilarw2000 @pilarw2000.bsky.social · 8d

Statement on AI and Book #Indexing from ASI: "AI is not currently capable of producing even adequate indexes. High-quality indexes that meet reader needs and expectations still require the fine-grained human judgment of a professional indexer." asindexing.org/ai-news/stat... #IndexSky #bookindexes

Statement on AI and Book Indexing | American Society for Indexing

asindexing.org

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · 10d

Good ad and all, but I’d be more impressed if you didn’t have a chatbot prominently displayed on your homepage.

Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · 10d

My supervisor is asleep on the job. To be fair, he had a big day today: vet visit for vaccines and a blood draw.

#edibuddies #cats

Mackerel tabby kitten asleep on top of a board game box, tucked behind an open laptop. His head is pillowed on his foreleg.

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · 11d

I grew up in the Twin Cities. My parents would regularly reference the U and the Y (for YMCA). I was very confused.

Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · 11d

Ditto

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · 11d

Just finished indexing a book that reminded me how much I love reading Herodotus. First read him freshman year of uni (hi, Hum110 #Reedies!) and blew past the required portion, devouring the full book.

Still have my copy on the shelf. It made the cut for every move (10+; 20+ years).

#IndexSky

Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · 18d

My supervisor is keeping an eye on me.

#IndexSky #cats

Makerel tabby kitten looking at the camera, head peeking out from behind a laptop screen with Index-Manager open. Window behind kitten.

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · 20d

technologically advanced band

The mRNA Cure

Lisa Diedrich @lisadiedrich.bsky.social · 20d

technologically advance a band

Fleetwood MacBook Air

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 20d

technologically advance a band.

Deep Satellite Dish

Reposted by Jola (Close Reading)

Paula Clarke Bain @baindex.org · 21d

A great challenge to index The Claremont Run: Subverting Gender in the X-Men by J. Andrew Deman @claremontrun.bsky.social.
Eight indexers have made indexes to this, with author permission, including original indexer @closereadingie.bsky.social. An amazing experience.
@indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25

Society of Indexers @indexers.bsky.social · 22d

For our next keynote, we had a panel discussion where Jolanta Komornicka, Ruth Martin, Rob Gibson and @baindex.com have all indexed the same text, a scholarly book about gender in the X-men comic series. As always, it's fascinating to see how individual indexers approach a text #SIConf25

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Sep 2

A League of Gary’s Own

Comfortably Numb @numb.comfortab.ly · Sep 2

Ruin a movie by making it about Gary.

Gary's List.

Thanks For Spooking, Jerk @thx4sharingjerk.bsky.social · Sep 2

Glengarry Glen Gary

Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Aug 14

It’s today!

Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Aug 12

Indexes for non-indexers! Aimed at proofreaders, but anyone who looks at indexes and has reason to edit them (say, reviewing an index you hired out for) can get a lot out of this. I cover the best ways to edit an index.

community.the-efa.org/events/Event...

#edibuddies #IndexSky #academicsky #EFA

Promo image. Indexes explained for non-indexers. Proofreading gets faster and easier once you understand how indexes really work. Jolanta Komornicka. Instructor.

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Reposted by Jola (Close Reading)

Katharine O'Moore-Klopf, ELS @kokedit.bsky.social · Aug 13

Hey, #editors and #proofreaders, hurry & sign up for @efafreelancers.bsky.social's August 14 live #webinar "Indexes Explained for Non-indexers," led by @closereadingie.bsky.social. community.the-efa.org/events/Event... Your work will be faster & easier when you understand how #indexes really work!

Editorial Freelancers Association

Learn what a non-indexer should know about indexing, from how to edit an overly long index to how not to double-check every page number. This is not a presentation on how to index a book, but rather a guide to understanding indexes as a person working on other steps of the publishing process. ($60 for guests, $48 for members)

community.the-efa.org

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Aug 12

Thanks, Rachel!

Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Aug 12

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Aug 11

I got them made for those of us who volunteered at the Learneds booth.

Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Aug 11

My favourite doctor and companion.

Geordi and Data from TNG as Holmes and Watson.

Reposted by Jola (Close Reading)

Nabalkattu @nabalkattu.bsky.social · Aug 6

Even my most erudite colleagues often seem to have no idea what indexes do and why a good index is way more useful and powerful (as well as faster) than a mindless PDF word search!

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Aug 6

So very true! Search is going to both miss a lot and give you a lot of useless hits.

Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Aug 6

Proofreading an index and not quite sure what’s going on? Why are things are out of alphabetical order? What’s the best way to cut for length?

Come to my EFA webinar to learn what non-indexers should know about indexes! Aug. 14.

#edibuddies #AmEditing

community.the-efa.org/events/Event...

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Reposted by Jola (Close Reading)

Paula Clarke Bain @baindex.org · Aug 4

Two weeks left to book for @indexers.bsky.social #SIConf25. With:
@carosanderson.bsky.social
@djbduncan.bsky.social
@tanyaizzard.bsky.social on AI
@closereadingie.bsky.social peer-review panel
@annkingdom.bsky.social and me on humour
plus more. Join us! #IndexSky
www.indexers.org.uk/conference-2...

Conference 2025: ‘The Heart and Mind of Indexing’

The Society of Indexers 2025 conference will be an in-person residential conference at Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre at the University of Birmingham from Friday 19 September to Sunday 21 ...

www.indexers.org.uk

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Aug 4

I love quilting with cats! I know the quilt (or in this case, rug) must be comfy when Wanda settles in.

Black cat settling down on an orange jelly roll rug that’s in the process if being quilted together on a sewing machine.

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Jola (Close Reading) @closereadingie.bsky.social · Jul 31

My chocolate trigger has gotten so bad that now dreaming about chocolate gives me a migraine.