LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Friends:
Pardon the long note, but I think it is necessary, and I REALLY want your
feedback.
A day or two ago, I wrote the following note:
"As you may know, one of my dreams is the development of a collaborative,
international Internet catalog for K-12, which I dubbed I-Cat, and which
I have been bothering many of you individually about taking on a piece.
"Well, this morning, I discovered:
"http://www.studyweb.com/
"Although I want to study it more, on first glance it seems to be a
close approximation of the I-Cat idea. Sites are found and reviewed by a
large number of contributors, and are rated for graphic content and
minimum suggested age level. If you don't already know about it, check it
out. I bet you will add it to your online library resources...."
***
2) I then heard from an LM_NETter, as follows (name deleted for privacy
purposes):
> Hi Dale!
>
> Just wanted to let you know that at first glance, I thought StudyWeb
> looked terrific also. However, when I tried some of the links, I found
> it had what I think of as the "Cardinal sin" of websites. You click on
> the link; you get the information from that link; but....the URL is
> STILL http://studyweb.com ! Grrrrr....! You can't bookmark your
> newfound
> information, or put a link from your page to the new page; it's
> completely frustrating! I wrote to the makers of the site with my
> complaint, hoping that they'll change from that frame-based structure.
> Then it should be a great site! [Sorry if I sound like a humorless, old
> complainer, but those problems with frames really bug me!]
***
3) I am now responding to the writer of that note, and the rest of you,
with the following:
I was appalled when I went back and saw what you were talking about. My
initial reaction was that the method of dealing with their links was
absolutely unacceptable. In fact, if I were a site they linked to, and my
site not only failed to be identified in the Location box, but the top
line of it belonged to the site which pointed to me and wasn't part of my
page at all, I'd want to talk to my lawyer REAL fast.
Then I got to thinking. Well, so I can't bookmark a site. Bummer. But
forget bookmarks for a minute. In a world without bookmarks, is a site of
this sort--well-organized, well-maintained (we will assume for argument),
free, and accessible to busy little searchers--have a value for me as an
elementary school librarian? I can, in a trice, get out of it with a
click of the Back icon; meanwhile, I can surf around its plentiful stacks
pretty efficiently with the Back in Frame and Forward in Frame commands.
I can get to what I want with a minimum of searching savvy and if, when I
get there, I can't bookmark it easily to get back there again tomorrow,
well so be it. As a 4th grade student, most of my surfing is done "for
the moment" anyway and, if need be, I can jot the URL down at the bottom
of the screen, or find my way back to it tomorrow with StudyWeb again.
But I just don't know. I do know I am going to send my own note to the
StudyWeb people requesting the same thing you did; but I am sure they
have business purposes for setting up their service the way they did. I
am also going to introduce StudyWeb to my students this fall and see if
they get good use out of it.
Meanwhile, I would love to hear from other LM_NETters about what they
think of StudyWeb, which is why I have inflicted this long note on them.
-Dale
--
Dale Copps, dcopps@wcsu.k12.vt.us
Librarian, Wardsboro & Winhall (VT) Elementary Schools
http://www.wcsu.k12.vt.us/~winhall
http://www.wcsu.k12.vt.us/~wardsboro
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