[bksvol-discuss] Re: OT: So when I was browsing Bookshare I saw that...

  • From: "Roger Loran Bailey" <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 13 May 2011 20:09:20 -0400

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.



_     _      _

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----- 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
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