This tool is troubling to me...I spent some time exploring these various web sites which offer a means to find and judge what's new and popular out there on the web...but very quickly I had problems with the mission of these sites, at least as they relate to using them in a library-sponsored context...Here's the main problem: these sites claim that the articles or items shown on their web sites are lists of the most popular and interesting and most read web pages out there...but says who???
What kind of methods are they using to make this claim...nothing very scientific or comprehensive to me....I spent some time trying to determine their methodology, and that is where you will notice not much detail is offered at these sites to give you much confidence...basically they just say that readers, somewhere out there, and by self-selecting their willingness to participate, have installed a particular web site's button to use to make these choices...but so what??? What value is that?? Who are these people and why would you want to listen to them....this is mass market stuff, nothing else...its just a pure numbers game, meaning that because more have liked it then it must be good---note, first of all, we don't even know if it's true that most people reading these articles liked it---the results are all from people self-selected...those who don't register for a particular site don't' count...sort of like saying a game show on television has to be important to watch because look how many people tune in??!! But then again, how many people didn't watch the show because the program is junk?? And for a less-watched show, but put out with higher standards, couldn't that still be a better option to recommend to people in terms of accuracy and quality?
That's why these sites are bad for libraries to get involved in...they are the opposite of the library's mission...which is to offer the authority voice and the best quality source of information to the public...what might be the most popular can be interesting, but shouldn't quality be the top consideration when a library is involved...
And remember, don't even believe the main premise of these sites about the popularity of the things on their lists...for example, the NT Times offers 5 companies' share buttons to register votes, but notice it doesn't include Newsvine, one of the suggested sites by 23 Things to examine in this assignment....so the vote right away would be skewed at Newsvine since a major news source doesn't offer their button to its readers (might a $$ payment be required to get such preferential treatment??).
But outside of the library setting, and as merely a private citizen, I would have to admit that the lists of articles that are offered by these sites, while not something I would want to use as a source for a term paper, sure are funny and easy on the brain (like a TV game show)...there was this story about a whale that was seen dancing with a man on the beach...very high on the lists, and quite interesitng, but really...probably better on cable....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment