Here is the difference Cindy. Both fantasy and science fiction are speculative fiction. That is, the question is asked, what if ... then .... The premise following the word if is likely to be a fantastic element. That which follows the word then is the story. A fantastic element is a thing, event or being that is outside of our experience and may not be theoretically possible or even possible at all. The difference lies in the nature of the fantastic element or elements. The word science in science fiction is not there for nothing. Science deals with the real universe that we find ourselves in. That means that if the fantastic elements in a story of speculative fiction are assumed within the context of the story to be manifestations of the real universe then the story is a science fiction story. If the fantastic elements are assumed within the context of the story to be supernatural then you are reading a fantasy. The difference is profound. It is the difference between riding an airplane and riding a magic carpet. That is why -- even though all genres tend to overlap a bit -- science fiction and fantasy are about as far apart as any two literary genres can be.
_ _ _"One of the things that is wrong with religion is that it teaches us to be satisfied with answers which are not really answers at all." - Richard Dawkins
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rogerbailey81 The Militant: http://www.themilitant.com Pathfinder Press: http://www.pathfinderpress.com Granma International: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html----- Original Message ----- From: "Cindy" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 9:51 PMSubject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: So when I was browsing Bookshare I saw that...
o.k. I, too don't know what a user tag; please explain CindyP.S. I proofed, I think, a long time ago, one of the dragons of Pern novels, but when I clicked on my name I only found one I submitted and the synopsis doesn't sound like the story I vaguely remember. Anyway, I thought the story I read and series were fantasy, but then I haven't always been able to tell the difference, though in the receent past, when I wondered about some books, people explained to me how to tell.
Cindy --- On Fri, 5/13/11, Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: So when I was browsing Bookshare I saw that...To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Friday, May 13, 2011, 5:09 PM I am not familiar with Dragonsdawn, but if that is the premise then I would expect that that would be another one that would be frequently miscategorized as fantasy. With the user tag system, though, that could be quickly corrected. _ _ _ "One of the things that is wrong with religion is that it teaches us to be satisfied with answers which are not really answers at all." - Richard Dawkins Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rogerbailey81 The Militant: http://www.themilitant.com Pathfinder Press: http://www.pathfinderpress.com Granma International: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html----- Original Message ----- From: "Kim Friedman" <kimfri11@xxxxxxxxxxx>To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 7:58 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: So when I was browsing Bookshare I saw that... > Hi, Roger, I'd say that people who tag books should be familiar with > their content so the information is accurate. Great catch with the > McCaffrey books. I don't know if you ever read Dragonsdawn, but dragons > were genetically modified fire lizards (at least I think that's the > premise). Regards, Kim Friedman. > > -----Original Message----- > From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran > Bailey > Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 4:48 PM > To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: So when I was browsing Bookshare I saw > that... > > > There is always the danger of vandalism, but it appears that at > Wikipedia it > is removed very quickly. Wikipedia, though, has a very large participant > > community. I have a watch list there and when I check it I am always > hoping > to get a chance to delete vandalism, but I notice that when it does > happen > someone removes it usually within five minutes or so. At least twice, > though, I was quick enough to remove it myself. Wikipedia is not the > model > that I am thinking of for Bookshare though. As I said, I am thinking of > Open > Library as the model. I have never seen a tag there that appeared to be > deliberate vandalism and even at Wikipedia the deliberate vandalism is > only > a very small minority of the edits. I do disagree with some of the Open > Library tags now and then though. Recently I was looking at The Dolphins > of > Pern by Anne McCaffrey. One of the subject tags identified it as a > fantasy. > Well, a lot of people think the Pern novels are fantasy because most of > them > have the word dragon in the title and dragons are a fantasy trophe. If > you > actually read the books, though, it will be apparent that they are not > fantasy. I improved the Open Library listing by removing the fantasy tag > and > replacing it with a science fiction tag. This illustrates the fact that > the > tagging process is a continuously dynamic thing. Tags that are there one > day > may be gone the next day and nothing is set in stone. I suppose some > people > might consider this to be a disadvantage, but it does not strike me as > much > of one since mistakes can always be made and the real disadvantage would > be > to be stuck with those mistakes. I do think that this would be a very > strong > remedy for the problems we have with the Bookshare classification > system. > Want a subcategory? Add it. Find a book that has not been categorized? > Categorize it on the spot. > > > _ _ _ > > "One of the things that is wrong with religion is that it teaches us to > be > satisfied with answers which are not really answers at all." - Richard > Dawkins > > Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rogerbailey81 > > > The Militant: > http://www.themilitant.com > Pathfinder Press: > http://www.pathfinderpress.com > Granma International: > http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html> ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Regina Alvarado" <regina.alvarado6@xxxxxxxxx>> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 4:56 PM > Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: So when I was browsing Bookshare I saw > > that... > > >>I have seen this. Sometimes I wonder if what is put in is true, but it >>seems to be, and as you said Roger tags giving incorrect information > can be >>removed. I like that idea. Scott? Think we could someday? >> Reggie >> >> -------------------------------------------------- >> From: "Roger Loran Bailey" <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx> >> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 11:17 AM >> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: So when I was browsing Bookshare I >> saw >> that... >> >>> A number of sites have user added tags, like Paperbackswap.com, >>> Amazon or >>> OpenLibrary.org. Open Library uses them in a way that is closest to > what >>> I think Bookshare should have. At Open Library they are trying to > create >>> a page full of bibliographic data for every book that has ever been >>> published. So far they have just short of 25 million listings, most > of >>> which have been gathered with bots. That means that a lot of that >>> bibliographic data is inconsistent or incomplete. They, therefore, > invite >>> anyone who might be browsing their site to improve the entries. It is > >>> similar to Wikipedia in that respect. One can add a description, >>> publishing history, tables of contents, number of pages and so forth. > One >>> of the things that is editable by users is categorization. They have >>> categories of tags already available such as topics, dates, places or > >>> people mentioned in the book. The user will simply type in the > missing >>> category and click save. Then on the page for the book that category > will >>> be displayed. Click that tag and every book that any user has given > that >>> tag for will appear. When you search the entire collection for any > key >>> word you want, at the bottom of the results is a list of tags that >>> various users have given books in your search results. You can then >>> narrow your search by clicking any of those tags. I think that would > be >>> an excellent solution for Bookshare for both the books that have a >>> paucity of categorization and for the paucity of categories > available. >>> Bookshare has a number of categories as it is, but I am sure that you > or >>> anyone else could think of additional categories that would be > helpful or >>> subcategories within any of these categories, The problem with that, >>> though, is that the category structure would become entirely > unwieldy. >>> With user generated tags, though, as many categories and > subcategories as >>> you could think of could be added and, if you thought any of them was > >>> inappropriate, could be removed. >>> >>> >>> _ _ _ >>> >>> "One of the things that is wrong with religion is that it teaches us >>> to >>> be satisfied with answers which are not really answers at all." - > Richard >>> Dawkins >>> >>> Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rogerbailey81 >>> >>> >>> The Militant: >>> http://www.themilitant.com >>> Pathfinder Press: >>> http://www.pathfinderpress.com >>> Granma International: >>> http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: "Regina Alvarado" <regina.alvarado6@xxxxxxxxx> >>> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >>> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 10:34 AM >>> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: So when I was browsing Bookshare I > saw >>> that... >>> >>> >>>> Roger: >>>> What is a user added tag? Enlighten this fossil, please. Thanks >>>> Curious in Dearborn Heights >>>> >>>> >>>> -------------------------------------------------- >>>> From: "Roger Loran Bailey" <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx> >>>> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 10:29 AM >>>> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >>>> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: So when I was browsing Bookshare I > >>>> saw >>>> that... >>>> >>>>> I have noticed that a lot of publisher quality books have a paucity > >>>>> of >>>>> metadata. I wonder if making a quality report with the suggested >>>>> categorization would help. By the way, I think this is an > additional >>>>> argument for my idea of user added tags. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> _ _ _ >>>>> >>>>> "One of the things that is wrong with religion is that it teaches >>>>> us to >>>>> be satisfied with answers which are not really answers at all." - >>>>> Richard Dawkins >>>>> >>>>> Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rogerbailey81 >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> The Militant: >>>>> http://www.themilitant.com >>>>> Pathfinder Press: >>>>> http://www.pathfinderpress.com >>>>> Granma International: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- >>>>> From: "Nat Barrett" <hawaiianstar@xxxxxxxxx>>>>>> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >>>>> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2011 7:16 AM >>>>> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] OT: So when I was browsing Bookshare I > saw >>>>> that... >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Hello, >>>>> >>>>> I was wondering about something. And I didn't know where else to > throw >>>>> this out except the volunteer list. >>>>> >>>>> Anyway, just now I clicked on the new to collection page. I was >>>>> surprised to see quite a few publisher quality Harlequin books. >>>>> >>>>> The thing is, I didn't remember seeing them earlier, when I cruised > >>>>> through the romance category Thursday afternoon. >>>>> >>>>> Thinking maybe they were recently added since the date of addition > was >>>>> 5/13/2011 and where I am it's only a little after 1 a.m. Friday > morning >>>>> as I type this, I thought maybe it was very recent. >>>>> >>>>> However, I clicked to browse the romance category again, and I was >>>>> correct. Those books I saw on the new to collection page were not >>>>> listed in the romance category. In fact, when I clicked on one of > the >>>>> books listed on the new to collection page, they didn't have a > category >>>>> selected at all. Or at least, not that I saw. >>>>> >>>>> Is this a simple oversight or is there a reason for this? I'm just > a >>>>> little confused because normally when I want a romance, I look at > the >>>>> romance category page for new additions. >>>>> >>>>> I'll work through this if this is the way. But I'm going to find it > a >>>>> little more time consuming to check out what's done by Harlequin > and >>>>> what's a fiction novel with heavy romantic influence. If that makes > >>>>> sense to everyone. Lol. >>>>> >>>>> Thanks for listening to me ramble, >>>>> Natalie >>>>> To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to >>>>> bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >>>>> put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a > >>>>> list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the >>>>> subject line. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus >>>>> signature database 6119 (20110513) __________ >>>>> >>>>> The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. >>>>> >>>>> http://www.eset.com >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to >>>> bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >>>> put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a > list >>>> of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject >>>> line. >>>> >>> >>> To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to >>> bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >>> put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a > list >>> of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject > line. >>> >>> >>> __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus >>> signature database 6120 (20110513) __________ >>> >>> The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. >>> >>> http://www.eset.com >>> >>> >>> >> To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to >> bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >> put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a > list >> of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject > line. >> > > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to > bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list > of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject > line. > > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to > bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list > of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line. > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxput the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
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