I'm glad you wrote this. It reminds me of a question I keep meaning to ask. What category do you use for political/current event books? There doesn't seem to be one.
Thanks.----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike and Lori Castner" <mandlcastner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 10:51 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Wish List IdeaRobert, that is an excellent idea to have step one sorted by genref!! It would be much easier to find the books we really want to validate. It might also be helpful for someone who wants a complete look at a certain genre; you might look at the books which are ready to read and then at the step one page and see what's in the pipe.
Mike----- Original Message ----- From: Robert Riddle
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 4:07 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Wish List IdeaWell, I don't think the validation process is very efficient, personally. Here's how I think it should work. 1. User submits a book. It gets added to a database of books in process, what's now the step 1 page. 2. Once the book is in the database, it gets added to a webpage. But rather than having all books in one giant page, users can sort it by genre the way they can in the collection. 3. Once a user has picked a book to validate, it gets added to the books in processing page, along with the volunteer assigned to that book, so that the original submitter can contact that volunteer directly with any added pages or contexts. That would get rid of that "submitted by a bookshare.org volunteer" garbage. 4. Once the user who is validating the book finishes, they upload into the system on the step 2 page for final approval.
The wishlist could work much the same way. Users would submit titles they want similar to the same page they use to submit a book onto step 1, complete with genre information, so that scanners could go through and, rather than scrolling through a whole list of irrelevant books, they could go directly into the category they wre interested in, pick books and, thus, remove that book from the wishlist queue. Your idea is basically good, Jamie, but I think my idea would streamline the whole process of scanning/validating books. What do you guys think?
----- Original Message ----- From: Jamie Yates, CPhT
To: Bookshare Volunteers ; vmfeedback@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 3:36 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Wish List IdeaI was listening to Jake's chat from 11-20 and part of Jim's from 11-27 this morning on the way to work (yes it's a long drive) and then more of Jim's on the way home.
I was making some notes to think about later and one thing in Jake's chat was if anyone had suggestions for how to make the wishlist work better.
Back in August I suggested the wishlist work just like submitting books works. Step 1 works, apparently, with no help at all from Bookshare except whatever it took to have them set it up.
The wishlist could work the same way. Just like when a person submits a book, when a person submits a wish, that could go to a wishlist "step 1". When a person wants to scan a wish, just like when a person wants to validate, they go to this "step 1", and choose a book. That book gets assigned only to that volunteer. Just like when the book is validated it gets uploaded in "step 2", when the book is scanned, it also could get uploaded in a wishlist "step 2" which would automatically put it on the Books in process step 1.
All of this could be done by users without the need to continually update and upload a new wishlist, inform people of the desire to scan a wish, etc. It would work exactly like the submission and validation process works.
I would suggest that the wishlist also have a "wishes in progress" list like the books in processing list, so others know that a book is either on the wishlist, or a book from the wishlist is being scanned.
So, the process as I envision it, would be: if you have a book you want, you check the collection to see if it is already there. If not, you check the books in processing list to see if someone is validating it. If not, you check the wishes in progress list to see if someone is scanning it. If not, then you go to the wishlist page, where you'd fill out a form with the book's title and author, and maybe ISBN. Then it would go to the wishlist, where it would be a link that a submitter could choose to be assigned to scan that book. When scanning is finished, you have a link to submit the book so that it goes off the wishes in progress list and into the step 1 list and everyone knows what happens after that.
If it were sophisticated enough, the system could email the requesting person that someone has chosen to scan the book and then email them again to let them know it is on step 1, should they choose to want to validate it. That might be asking for a lot, though.
Just an idea. When I suggested it in August, several people thought it sounded like a good plan.
Jamie in Michigan Currently Reading - Father and Son by Larry Brown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition.Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.10/1160 - Release Date: 11/29/2007 8:32 PM
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