Rating and review features updated, more cover art added
You've probably already noticed...but full-featured ratings and reviews are now available and fully functional. All the list errors Bob mentioned earlier should be fixed. Let us know if you're still seeing something unexpected. Here's a rundown of the new stuff. You can:
- Quickly rate items on a five-star scale
- Create and save drafts of your reviews
- Write a review in your preferred language
On your profile page, you'll see links to reviews you've published--as well as draft reviews that you're still working on. To read other people's opinions, look right below the five-star rating area on an item’s detailed record.
We'll add reviews from additional sources soon. For now, though, write a quick review of your favorite movie, book or article. On its detailed record, look for the “Review this item” link under the “Add to It” section.
Also new: Cover art added to lists
You may have seen full-color cover art on individual detailed records. Now you'll find cover art for your list items, too. For some reason, seeing all the covers makes me so happy. It's like it brings the books to life!
On May 29, 2008 at 1:26 PM Daniel Cornwall said:
How does WorldCat get its cover art? And is there any opportunity for users to add cover art like they can with LibraryThing?
I'm asking because many, many federal and state documents lack cover art and a number of documents librarians would like to change this. One possible source of cover art for govdocs is the Flickr group Govdoc covers at http://www.flickr.com/groups/govdoccovers/.
Thanks for all the enhancements you're doing at Worldcat.org. It is one of my favorite tools and I use it a lot personally and professionally.
On May 29, 2008 at 2:13 PM Alice Sneary
said:
Thanks Dan. It's great to hear that you're finding value in the tools we're building. I am going to let Bob R. answer your questions on cover art, because he's working on the cover art project right now!
On May 29, 2008 at 7:42 PM Ying Yu said:
Thanks for adding the cover art to the lists! Now, is it possible to create a "Random Cover Art from my new books list" tool that can be put on the library's homepage?
On May 29, 2008 at 8:21 PM Jeffrey Beall said:
What are the moral and ethical aspects of rating a work that you yourself wrote or are a contributor to?
On May 29, 2008 at 10:20 PM bobrobboy
said:
Daniel,
The Flickr idea is excellent! I'm going to look into that immediately. That's not to say that we'll be seeing those images on WorldCat.org right away, but I want to investigate the possibility. Maybe it won't pan out, but we won't know unless we look into it. Thanks for the tip!
To answer your specific question, the cover art we are using comes from publishing partners. It is unlikely that we will have covers for journals, articles or documents. And yes, that's where you could come in!
We have talked about providing tools for users to upload their own cover art for WorldCat items but not in the near term. Along with some obvious legal questions, there's a number of technical challenges that we are working out. We're just starting up a much more intensive cover art project. While improvements may be a ways off, I think user-contributed cover art is a possibility.
On May 29, 2008 at 10:24 PM bobrobboy
said:
Great idea Ying, but we can't do that just yet.
Right now cover art is mostly limited to WorldCat.org lists. In the coming months we hope to represent the covers in some novel ways within your WorldCat.org experience, but the images will still only be available within WorldCat.org.
Tell me ... are you using the RSS feed on your list to push your items out to your library's homepage? Just curious.
Thanks!
Bob
On May 29, 2008 at 10:56 PM bobrobboy
said:
Hmmmm. Part of me thinks: "Don't touch that with a ten-foot pole." Moral and ethical issues are probably best left to others, but some part of me wants to share his two cents.
I am an optimistic person. I like to believe that an author can provide additional value by reviewing their own work. There is a positive side to this question, provided that the author's intent is to enlighten rather than mislead.
But your question is rooted in the harsh reality of the marketplace where authors compete for attention, Google ranking and publishing dollars for follow up books. I'm still not going to touch the "moral and ethical aspects" of the issue, but I will allow that such gaming is always possible and always impossible to control.
We've rebuilt WorldCat.org reviews with an optimistic view of the aggregate Web user. We believe that the majority of people reading our reviews and content will act within the common social norms found in the offline world. Some people are comfortable misrepresenting themselves offline and online and those people may mislead our readers. Most people will not.
In the end we know the masses will overwhelm the deceitful among us, and we feel better having that trust. That's not to say that we're blind fools. We have few controls in place to limit the impact a rogue might have, and we're improving on those already.
Thanks for the comment! What do you think? Is it okay for me to rate this reply as "helpful?" :-)