Re: [Koha-devel] Re: SPUG: windfall -> contest (fwd)

[Andrew Arensburger]

On Thu, Jan 02, 2003 at 07:04:32PM -0500, Pat Eyler wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 02, 2003 at 01:27:32PM -0500, Pat Eyler wrote:
> > Since I figure there are likely to be a few people that would
> > like a free book, I thought I'd put together a quick contest to
> > see who gets the free copy.  I also manage the Koha project (a
> > free software library system), so I thought I'd tie libraries,
> > LDAP, and maybe even Perl into the contest.

        It seems that it could be used to build a sense of community
among the library patrons. If users can edit (selected parts of) their
LDAP entry, they could rate the books that they've read, link to their
web page, mark other patrons as their friends, and so forth (this is
probably not the place for reviews and other long blocks of text,
though, IMHO).
        Based on patrons' ratings, Koha could generate recommendation
lists, e.g., if you've just read book X, and five people (or five of
your friends) have given high ratings to books X and Y, then Koha
could add a note saying that you might also enjoy book Y.
        Users could also list the topics that interest them, or their
favorite authors. This information could then be used to send them
email whenever the library acquires a new book by their favorite
author.
        Likewise, this could be a good place to put miscellaneous "X
is related to Y" information, e.g., "The movie `Blade Runner' is based
on the novel `Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' by Philip K.
Dick", or "`Bored of the Rings' is a satire of `Lord of the Rings'".
        And while Koha does support series through the
"biblio.seriestitle" field, some books and series don't neatly fit
this model, e.g., Isaac Asimov's later novels, in which he combined
the robot and Foundation series; or books that are already part of a
series, but have also been discussed on the Oprah Winfrey show.
        It might also be interesting to list information on
collaborations (e.g., Larry Niven often writes with Jerry Pournelle)
or pseudonyms, but I think this can almost as easily be found from the
catalog.

        No, I'm not entering the contest. I'm just brainstorming.

-- 
Andrew Arensburger                      This message *does* represent the
address@hidden                      views of ooblick.com
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