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Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Sure it is. 
You may not agree with it, but it's just as valid and relevant as your assertion that electronic indices can't always be replaced with a search engine. |
Hitch hesitantly raises her hand to address the assembly...
Index nerd here! I love me some indices and EVEN WHEN it's in an ebook, where, indeedy, it's useless, I like the fact that I can assess the index and see how many references to topic A were worth mentioning in the index; how many references to John Doe and so forth.
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This was the better stopping point. It is my entire premise. The only thing missing is mention of the index's natural electronic successor: the search engine. Not everything needs to survive the medium shift. The joy and wonder of discovery and learning in the electronic era will easily survive the exclusion of what is, in essence, a vestigial print appendage.
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Yes, but as we all know, that's not an index, it's a concordance. Not the same thing. I would be the first to agree that by and large, including RPN-driven indices is worthless, but a search engine is not necessarily the natural electronic successor to an index; it's the successor to a concordance and as anyone who's tried to find something on Google knows, more isn't always better.
Hitch