InfoSoup Development Blog

Just off the top of my head:

All Music Guide should be added as well.
http://www.allmusic.com/

IMDB you have listed in guidelines- but I use it all the time.

Find Articles
www.findarticles.com/

Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com

Google Patents or the US patent office

Wisconsin.gov

Library of congress
http://thomas.loc.gov/

Just to clarify... we aren't asking for sites to include at this time, we are asking for input on the guidelines. We'll keep track of your suggestions, Dominic, but that will come in future once we have guidelines in place.

very good! i was glad to see that you are going to take note if the website is "well-established". I also liked the idea of studying how the websites incorporate and use advertising. This wouldn't be strictly corporate sites. Everyone is getting into the advertising business!

The guideline ideas are great. I'm just curious how the guidelines will be "enforced."

Terrie

In response to Terrie's question about "enforcement." Evan and I are in charge of adding resources to InfoSoup. We will use the criteria as we review resources to add, and I suspect we will submit some to this group for approval if we aren't sure how they might fit.

Keep in mind, the addition of web site links to InfoSoup will be VERY LIMITED. We can't get into the position of having to maintain a lot of links, and we aren't trying to re-create CBTL.

I think the guidelines look pretty good. I appreciate Dominic's suggestions. Sometimes the best way to test a proposal is to determine its applicability to specifics. Does it mean this? or this?

But I think we're definitely on the right track. I'm interested to find out how limited is VERY LIMITED ... but I understand starting cautiously and building slowly.

Terry

We'll have a chance to determine the guidelines' applicability and how limited "very limited" is very soon. Evan and I will be posting some pages for you to take a look at in the next week, and they will have examples of the kinds of things we're talking about. Terry, you're right on - we simply want to start cautiously and build slowly, so we can evaluate the workload in maintaining what we're building as we go.

I like the guidelines, but the proof will be in how well they let you differentiate between sites you'll link to and ones you won't. But I don't see a serious problem with revision of the guidelines as we move forward and encounter issues that need clarification.

And I do agree that we don't want to (or need to) reinvent CBTL here. Careful selection of the things that will add value to Infosoup, to the public image of our libraries in our communities, and to the experience of our users is what I think we should be going for.

After re-reading this I think the guidelines should be more restrictive- but what is the limit? 50? 100?
I know you're saying small- but does that mean with out a hard # or goal?

Oh yeah- Thomas Register is free online so it's not restricted to print:
http://www.thomasnet.com

But even if a site meets the guidelines it might not be included correct?

I mean according to the guidelines I could be doing research on humor and want a like to youtube.com- it meets all the criteria.

I'm not trying to disregard your efforts but this feels like recreating CBTL. I _know_ isn't your intent- but I currently have my doubts.
Thanks for listening,

In response to Dominic's concerns - I don't think it's appropriate to set a hard number or goal for how many links might be added, because that might differ depending on the page and topic the links are being added to. You're correct in saying that a site might fit the guidelines but not be added. The number of pages we might add web site links to is pretty limited: Readers' page, family page, teens page, music page, movies page, and maybe an audiobooks page. Beyond that, at least in mind right now, would only be some reference pathfinders added to the Research Tools page on a few selected topics, such as business, health, and possibly genealogy/local history. We aren't going to create pathfinders for every topic under the sun like we tried with CBTL, and on the pathfinders we do develop we would be working harder to provide the best of the best (5-6) sites that would enhance the resources we are paying for already. We simply don't have the time to maintain a lot of live links that need watching, so we really need to start slow and keep things manageable. Does that clarify some of your concerns, Dominic?

All seems reasonable. I'm wrestling with the role our staff will play. We've put a lot of time and effort into developing online tools like QuickRef, Fox Valley Memory, PC Index, Obit Index, etc. What does this mean for those efforts now and in the future, as well as additional efforts?

Along the same vein, what should the role of any library websites be relative to InfoSoup? Should the resource library continue to attempt to develop information resources of broader interest? Lots to think about...

Yes, Beth it does answer some of them- but I'm still leery.
I agree w/ Terry.