—Presentation and workshop proposals: December 12, 2005

—Poster sessions and proceedings papers: April 30, 2006

Background and Topic Suggestions

This is the triennial international conference of indexers from around the globe, with attendees expected from several countries. Our goal is to fill both our conference program and proceedings book with a multitude and variety of topics of interest to indexers, publishers, instructors, and other information professionals. New presenters are especially encouraged to submit proposals.

Because this is an international conference, we are particularly interested in subjects that meet the needs of an international audience. Some topics include

• multilingual and multicultural projects
• translation and localization standards
• indexing in languages other than English
• working across national borders
• overseas subcontracting

In addition, we are interested in all general and specialty topics on indexing and information science, such as

• index usability and testing
• beginning to index
• work processes
• specialty subject areas or media
• database indexing and search engines
• new indexing technologies
• information retrieval or perception
• controlled vocabularies
• abstracting projects
• taxonomy design and construction
• the business of indexing
• teaching and mentoring
• peer reviews
• unusual projects and challenges

Presentations and Workshops

To submit a proposal for a workshop or presentation, please complete the online application form. Note that submission of a proposal does not guarantee automatic acceptance. All candidates will be notified on or before January 15, 2006. After acceptance, all potential speakers will be asked to attend. Speakers are encouraged to write a short paper for our proceedings book (see Poster Sessions and Proceedings Papers below), but this is not a requirement.

To submit your proposal, you will need to supply the following information:

1. Type of session (seminar, hands-on workshop, panel, etc.)
2. Amount of time required to present
3. Title of presentation
4. Information about all presenters
5. A short description of the proposed program
6. A detailed description of the proposed program
7. Audiovisual requirements

You may also send electronic proposals to Seth Maislin at seth@maislin.com, provided they include all of the above information. Please use "ASI/IASC 2006 Conference Proposal" as your message subject, and try again if you do not receive confirmation of receipt within two business days.

Poster Sessions and Proceedings Papers

For this triennial conference, we are also seeking papers that we can include in an electronic publication, similar to proceedings, that will be available after the conference. Papers of exceptional quality or relevance also will be displayed as poster sessions during the conference in the conference space.

For papers and poster sessions, we are particularly interested in important and timely topics that nevertheless may not lend themselves to well-attended conference sessions. For example, excellent candidates include

• case study results
• usability test analyses
• practical knowledge regarding unusual content or design
• unique projects
• highly specialized media

Additionally, topics that are not focused specifically on indexing but would be relevant or interesting to professional indexers are good candidates for papers. Examples of these topics include

• legal copyright and liability issues
• business and marketing techniques
• regional information
• lifestyle and health considerations
• basic work methods

All papers are candidates for poster sessions. We will not accept papers that cannot be used as posters. By submitting a paper for consideration you are accepting the possibility that your paper will be reproduced in a large format for viewing by conference attendees.

All quality papers will be published after the conference. Papers written by authors who attend the conference will receive precedence in our selection of in-conference poster sessions. However, selection of papers and poster sessions is completely independent of our selection of speakers. You are welcome and even encouraged to submit proposals for both presentations (see above) and papers. The topics do not need to be independent.

Papers must follow the following guidelines:

• We must receive your paper no later than April 30. Early submissions are greatly appreciated.
• Your paper must be no longer than 6 standard pages in length, using reasonable font sizes and margins. This is necessary for your paper to fit onto the posterboard used for poster sessions.
• Your paper must be provided to us electronically as an email attachment, on a floppy disk, or on CD-ROM. No paper submissions will be accepted. Use RTF format for your submission. (If you have any questions about formatting, don't hesitate to ask.)
• Papers must use readily available fonts, and they must print cleanly using a black-and-white-only printer.
• We take no responsibility for the accuracy of your writing or your content. You are completely responsible for your paper's spelling, grammar, structure, readability, and so on. Assume that we will not edit your paper whatsoever. Please format your paper exactly as you would want it to appear in a poster session.
• ASI and IASC reserve the right to reject papers that are blatantly unprofessional. This includes the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials, including images. If you have a question about the appropriateness of your paper or its content, please query us in advance.
• Please consult "Tips for Effective Poster Sessions" (HTML version or PDF version) and read it thoroughly before submitting your paper.

To submit your paper by email, write to Seth Maislin at seth@maislin.com and use the subject heading "ASI/IASC Poster Session Submission." If you do not receive confirmation of receipt within 48 hours, please try again or contact the ASI office.

To submit an electronic copy of your paper by postal service (on disk or CD-ROM), send a cover letter and your paper to either of the following addresses:

Seth Maislin

ASI/IASC Joint Indexing Conference

11 Quincy Street

Arlington MA 02476-6031 USA

Ruth Pincoe

IASC/ASI Joint Indexing Conference

P.O. Box 664

Station P

Toronto, Ontario M5S 2Y4 CANADA

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