Indexing: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 23:36, 29 May 2021

Introduction to Indexing

What is “Indexing”? Indexing is the primary way of contributing data to the GCD. For each comic, an indexer records at minimum the issue's number, date, price and page count as well as the types, titles and credits for each story and cover. A wealth of additional information, including character appearances, genres and plot synopses, may optionally be entered.

Indexing is done through our Online Indexing system (OI) of web forms by logging in through the front page or the login link on the search bar on each page. An alternative method, known as Indexing Offline, involves uploading text files (a.k.a. "Flat Files") in place of using the web forms.

Important Note: Contributors cannot copy existing, published indexes without the permission of the copyright holder. Copyright laws and good manners prohibit such actions. If you have obtained permission, you must note the source of the material in your index. Cover scans from other sources (web sites or compilation CD's) are not allowed unless you have obtained their permission. Cover scans with watermarks are never allowed. All efforts should be made to scan your own covers. See the Covers_FAQ or check with gcd-main if in doubt.

What information can I add or change?

Indexers are encouraged to contribute whatever information they can, as even incomplete indexes are valuable. Indexers may also fill in missing information on existing indexes or change information they know to be in error. The more information, the better! While we have a definition for "complete" indexes, that really only covers the basics. Indexes are rarely truly complete, as a fully-detailed cover-to-cover account of a comic is a lot of work! A "complete" index has, at minimum: Titles, page counts, credits (even if unknown) and features for each of the stories (either text or comic) and for the cover of the comic. It does not need to have letter pages, promos or ads, though these are definitely desirable. It also doesn't have to have characters, synopses or notes about reprints, though these are definitely desirable too. Note: The exact definition of a minimally "complete" index is currently under discussion on gcd-policy.
Sometimes an object cannot be edited or deleted because other objects in the database depend on it existing, or because other changes are being made that might conflict with a new edit or invalidate the reason for deleting it. Please refer to Cannot Edit or Delete for more detail.

How do I learn how to index?

The OI Tutorial will guide you through the basics. For more details (and the official rules on what should and shouldn't be entered in each field) the most up-to-date documentation is the Formatting Documentation on this wiki. There are some older documents outside this wiki that you might find if we haven't hunted down all the old links yet. In the event of a disagreement, the wiki wins. :-)

What happens after I submit my index?

After you submit the index, an editor will check the data for errors and proper formatting, and then approve the index (usually within a week). If there is a problem, the index may be put back in your queue with comments and you may be contacted by e-mail for comment. Your editing queue is accessible by clicking on the "Editing" link on the top and bottom search bars after you are logged in. Do not be discouraged if you get back a list of stuff to be corrected. The editors can be a picky bunch, and they have to be. We need the data in the database to be consistent for future uses and for searching. After the index has been approved, you may use the GCD search form at the top of every page to check your index to see if any errors got missed. If there are any errors, please re-reserve the comic and correct it yourself, or file an error report using the link that's on every page.

How do I contact an Editor with questions about my index?

The easiest way to contact an Editor is to put a Comment in the issue you're working on, if it applies to that specific issue. If you have a more general question, a good method is to post the question on the gcd-main list. Most of the Editors take part in the discussions there and someone is very likely to answer your question.

How do I get started as an indexer?

First you need an Online Indexing account. There is a link on the front page to [register] through the website. It is in the Login box on the left side of the page.

The information you will be asked to provide is:

Your email address. It will be used as your user name.
Your password
Your name that you would like to be credited by. Preferably your real name.
Your country
The languages you read (multiple languages can be selected)
Your comic book interests (not necessary, but we like to know a bit about you so we can pair you up with an editor with similar interests if possible)
Agree to our Privacy Policy
Whether or not you wish to see all content for an issue, with the full view accessible via a link. There are three options, all contents (including ads), editorial content (all sequences except promos and ads), and core content (covers and stories).
You can create a custom display by selecting all content, then selecting which sequences you would like to hide (No show sequences). These sequences still show in the Table of Contents and can be accessed by click on their entry there.
You can also hide the Cover Letterer credit display if no creator is credited.
Where you heard about us (not necessary, but information that may be helpful to our Public Relations Committee)
Whether or not you wish to receive e-mails for changes you submit that are approved without a comment. You will always receive an email if the approver comments.
Whether or not you wish the change comparison page for an issue to show a shortened version of the unchanged values, with the full view accessible via a link.
Whether or not you wish to see links to this wiki while you are indexing. The "Wiki Links in OI" box near the bottom of your Profile page (not shown in the image below) provides a link to the appropriate topic as a small [?] at the top of each data entry field. You can set this either on or off in your Profile.

Notes

Do not use a sensitive password as the system is not designed for high security.
You can change these preferences by going to your Profile page and clicking 'Edit Profile' at the bottom of the page.

You will receive an email with how to confirm your account, and then you can start entering info into the database!

(end of defintion)

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{GCDNotice}}
 ==Introduction to Indexing==
-Indexing is the primary way of contributing data to the GCD.  For each comic, an indexer records at minimum the issue's number, date, price and page count as well as the types, titles and credits for each story and cover.  A wealth of additional information, including character appearances, genres and plot synopses, may optionally be entered.
+'''What is “Indexing”?'''
+Indexing is the primary way of contributing data to the GCD. For each comic, an indexer records at minimum the issue's number, date, price and page count as well as the types, titles and credits for each story and cover. A wealth of additional information, including character appearances, genres and plot synopses, may optionally be entered.
-Indexing is generally done through our Online Indexing system of web forms.  An older method, known as [[Indexing Offline|Offline Indexing]], involves text files (a.k.a. "Flat Files") and is still supported.  New users are encouraged to use the web forms, at least until a newer, less error-prone offline indexing tool can be developed.
+Indexing is done through our Online Indexing system (OI) of web forms by logging in through the front page or the login link on the search bar on each page. An alternative method, known as [[Indexing Offline]], involves uploading text files (a.k.a. "Flat Files") in place of using the web forms.
-==How do I get started indexing online?==
+'''Important Note:'''
+Contributors cannot copy existing, published indexes without the permission of the copyright holder. Copyright laws and good manners prohibit such actions. If you have obtained permission, you must note the source of the material in your index. Cover scans from other sources (web sites or compilation CD's) are not allowed unless you have obtained their permission. Cover scans with watermarks are never allowed.  All efforts should be made to scan your own covers.  See the [[Covers_FAQ]] or check with [http://groups.google.com/group/gcd-main gcd-main] if in doubt.
-First you need access to the Online Index. If you want access to the ONLINE INDEX (OI), you should supply the following information to the GCD Reservations Coordinator, [mailto:[email protected] Matthias Hoffman].
+== What information can I add or change? ==
-* Your real name
+Indexers are encouraged to contribute whatever information they can, as even incomplete indexes are valuable. Indexers may also fill in missing information on existing indexes or change information they know to be in error. The more information, the better! While we have a definition for "complete" indexes, that really only covers the basics. Indexes are rarely truly complete, as a fully-detailed cover-to-cover account of a comic is a lot of work! A "complete" index has, at minimum: Titles, page counts, credits (even if unknown) and features for each of the stories (either text or comic) and for the cover of the comic. It does not need to have letter pages, promos or ads, though these are definitely desirable. It also doesn't have to have characters, synopses or notes about reprints, though these are definitely desirable too. Note: The exact definition of a minimally "complete" index is currently under discussion on gcd-policy.<br>
-* Your Nationality (especially if not American)
+Sometimes an object cannot be edited or deleted because other objects in the database depend on it existing, or because other changes are being made that might conflict with a new edit or invalidate the reason for deleting it. Please refer to [[Cannot Edit or Delete]] for more detail.
-* Your (current) e-mail address
-* Your user name (if you want to create your own, otherwise it will be generated for you)
-* Your password (if you want to create your own, otherwise it will be generated for you)
-* Your interests (not necessary, but we like to know a bit about you so we can pair you up with an editor with similar interests if possible)
-The GCD Reservations Coordinator will then set you up on the system and contact you with all information needed to get started.
+== How do I learn how to index? ==
-You can access the Online Index: Login location: http://www.comics.org/admin
+The [[OI Tutorial]] will guide you through the basics. For more details (and the official rules on what should and shouldn't be entered in each field) the most up-to-date documentation is the [[Formatting Documentation]] on this wiki. There are some older documents outside this wiki that you might find if we haven't hunted down all the old links yet. In the event of a disagreement, the wiki wins.  :-)
-==How do I learn how to index?==
+==What happens after I submit my index?==
-There is a [http://www.comics.org/docs/tutorial/index.html short tutorial] to guide you through the basics.  For the more detail oriented, the official Format Document is on this wiki as the [[Formatting Documentation]].  If there are any discrepancies between the Tutorial and the Formatting Documentation, the Formatting Documentation wins.  For example, the Tutorial tells you to leave a field blank if it doesn't apply (like color on the cover in the example), but the proper thing to do is type "none".
+After you submit the index, an editor will check the data for errors and proper formatting, and then approve the index (usually within a week). If there is a problem, the index may be put back in your queue with comments and you may be contacted by e-mail for comment. Your editing queue is accessible by clicking on the "Editing" link on the top and bottom search bars after you are logged in. Do not be discouraged if you get back a list of stuff to be corrected. The editors can be a picky bunch, and they have to be. We need the data in the database to be consistent for future uses and for searching. After the index has been approved, you may use the [[Search Tutorial | GCD search form]] at the top of every page to check your index to see if any errors got missed. If there are any errors, please re-reserve the comic and correct it yourself, or file an error report using the link that's on every page.
-==How do I create my first index?==
+==How do I contact an Editor with questions about my index?==
-* Find out if the comic is available for indexing by searching the database using the search form.
+The easiest way to contact an Editor is to put a Comment in the issue you're working on, if it applies to that specific issue.  If you have a more general question, a good method is to post the question on the [http://groups.google.com/group/gcd-main gcd-main] list.  Most of the Editors take part in the discussions there and someone is very likely to answer your question.
-* If the series you want to index is not listed in the database or if the issues are shown in white when you check the "See index matrix" link, then they should be available for you to make a reservation.
-* Log in at http://www.comics.org/admin, using the Username and Password you obtained from the Reservations Coordinator (see above).
-* Reserve the issues you need using the "Reserve New Books" button.
-* Index the comic, following the directions in the Tutorial and Format Document.  Then hit the "Submit Index" button at the bottom of the screen.
-* Usually first time indexers will be contacted by one of the Editors at the GCD to help along with some of our more specific formatting.  We require the data to be in one format so that it is easily searchable, please don't be put off by some of the seemingly strange things we require to be done, once you've done it a couple of times it becomes old hat!
-==What happens after I submit my index?==
+== How do I get started as an indexer? ==
+First you need an Online Indexing account. There is a link on the front page to [[http://www.comics.org/accounts/register/ register]] through the website.  It is in the Login box on the left side of the page.
+[[File:Login box.JPG|||150px]]
+The information you will be asked to provide is:
+*  Your email address. It will be used as your user name.
+*  Your password
+*  Your name that you would like to be credited by. Preferably your real name.
+*  Your country
+*  The languages you read (multiple languages can be selected)
+*  Your comic book interests (not necessary, but we like to know a bit about you so we can pair you up     with an editor with similar interests if possible)
+*  Agree to our [https://www.comics.org/privacy/ Privacy Policy]
+*  Whether or not you wish to see all content for an issue, with the full view accessible via a link. There are three options, all contents (including ads), editorial content (all sequences except promos and ads), and core content (covers and stories).
+*  You can create a custom display by selecting all content, then selecting which sequences you would like to hide (No show sequences). These sequences still show in the Table of Contents and can be accessed by click on their entry there.
+*  You can also hide the Cover Letterer credit display if no creator is credited.
+*  Where you heard about us (not necessary, but information that may be helpful to our [[Committees#Public_Relations_Committee|Public Relations Committee]])
+*  Whether or not you wish to receive e-mails for changes you submit that are approved without a comment. You will always receive an email if the approver comments.
+*  Whether or not you wish the change comparison page for an issue to show a shortened version of the unchanged values, with the full view accessible via a link.
+*  Whether or not you wish to see links to this wiki while you are indexing. The "Wiki Links in OI" box near the bottom of your Profile page (not shown in the image below) provides a link to the appropriate topic as a small [?] at the top of each data entry field.  You can set this either on or off in your Profile.
+[[File:GCD Registration Page 2021.jpg|700 px|GCD Registration Page 2021]]
-After you submit the index, an editor will check the data for errors and proper formatting, and then approve the index (usually within a week). If there is a problem, you will usually be contacted by e-mail for comment. (Minor errors, such as typos, may be fixed by the editor without contacting you.)  Do not be discouraged if you get a list of stuff to be corrected back.  The editors can be a picky bunch, and they have to be.  We need the data in the database to be consistent for future uses and for searching.  After it is approved, you should check your index.  After the index has been approved, use the GCD search form at: http://www.comics.org/ and check your index to see if any errors got missed. If there are any errors, contact the Error List at http://maelstrom.walton.uark.edu/bugzilla.
+Notes
+* Do not use a sensitive password as the system is not designed for high security.
+* You can change these preferences by going to your Profile page and clicking 'Edit Profile' at the bottom of the page.
-==What are common errors for people's first indexes?==
+You will receive an email with how to confirm your account, and then you can start entering info into the database!
-* Missing the "Edit Issue Data" screen, which is where the price, date and keydate are entered is likely the most common mistake.
+(end of defintion)
-* Mis-entering (or misunderstanding) the [[Keydate]] is also common.
-* Not putting ?s on data which is not known is common.
-** All creator fields (except 'script' for covers and 'editor' for sequences other than the first cover) must have a name, "?" or "none" (without the quotes).
-* Not using [] and () correctly.
-** [] is for alternate names, such as character secret identities, writer/artist pen names or studio names.  Pen names are noted like this: [as Jane Doe] while character names do not use "as".
-** () is for explanatory notes, such as the fact that this is the introduction of a character, or that one artist credited for pencils drew only the first half of the book, while the other artist drew the second half.
-** [] is also generally used for information not present in the comic, such as a made-up story title.
-* Using unapproved genres.  See the [[Official Genres List]]
-* Using commas instead of semi-colons to separate data.
-* Missing page counts for one or more sequences.
-** Don't forget to put the page count of the whole book in the first cover record, and ''only'' the first cover record.
-The details for this are covered on the [[Formatting Documentation]] page.
+[[Category: GCD Database]]