Tod --
Thanks for this perspective. It hadn't occurred to me that Wikipedia might actively prevent something that arguably (from a librarian-biased perspective) would be a useful thing.
Peter
On May 19, 2011, at 6:28 PM, Tod Matola wrote:
>
> There is a problem, the wikipedia policy prevent organizations for adding
> large volumes of links to services, I think to prevent commercial entities
> from polluting the data with bogus links or advertisements for their
> products. OCLC is no exception, we have tried for years.
>
> VIAF is using dbpedia to add links to the VIAF authorities data, so there is
> a work already taking place at finding some of the personal names. I don't
> think you can push stuff back to wikipedia via dbpedia.
>
> I think that OCLC tries to link out to libraries via things like google
> books or openLibrary find in a library links. These links are based on
> holdings that are told and maintained in WorldCat, as creating dead ends for
> things that are not known to be held doesn't really seem useful. I don't
> believe there is an effective way to crawl libraries for holdings, so it is
> based on the members.
>
> I do think the concept of authority control for wikipedia is a really cool
> idea and would be useful (like it has in libraries for decades).
>
> Cheers Tod Matola...
> matolat_at_oclc.org
>
> On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 10:58 AM, Jonathan Rochkind <rochkind_at_jhu.edu>wrote:
>
>> I think it's an interesting and good idea. I suspect it could not become
>> the only 'library (catalog) interface', but it would be a very useful
>> service, providing more access to our resources from the wider world. And I
>> agree that if done right, along the lines you specify, it would enhance
>> rather than clutter wikipedia itself, and wikipedia shouldn't mind.
>> (Wikipedia already does other kinds of linking out to third party
>> databases).
>>
>> Keep in mind though that not every "name" in our name authorities (or our
>> catalogs) is ever going to be included as an article in wikipedia -- we can
>> include any author (anyone who's created something that was published) at
>> all in our catalogs (and try to include all of them in our authorities),
>> while wikipedia will include only 'notable' ones.
>>
>> We would need a central broker, as you mention. And OCLC is a logical
>> entity to serve such a role, and is already experimenting in that direction.
>> But sometimes I think OCLC is reluctant to link back out of the OCLC
>> software universe to individual libraries -- especially libraries that have
>> not paid for Worldcat Local or FirstSearch WorldCat or other OCLC services
>> (let alone libraries that are not OCLC members at all), which raises some
>> concerns about monopolization of these services.
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
>>
>> On 5/18/2011 6:44 PM, Steve Casburn wrote:
>>
>>> Jonathan Rochkind on the possibility of using Wikipedia as an authority
>>> file:
>>>
>>>
>>> http://bibwild.wordpress.com/2011/05/17/using-wikipedia-as-an-authority-file/
>>>
>>>
>>> Jonathan's idea dovetails with a question I've had: When a Wikipedia
>>> entry matches a name or subject heading, then can we connect that
>>> entry to library resources which share that heading, so that Wikipedia
>>> can serve as (among all of its other functions) a discovery layer for
>>> library resources?
>>>
>>> Given that so many more people start their information searches in
>>> Wikipedia than in a library catalog, such a connection could help the
>>> library serve relatively many patrons where THEY are, rather than
>>> serving relatively few patrons where WE are.
>>>
>>>
>>> It looks like someone at OCLC is experimenting with a similar idea,
>>> and what they are doing (although it is broken at the moment)
>>> illustrates how this concept might work in practice.
>>>
>>> First, go to the External Links section of the Wikipedia entry for
>>> Abraham Lincoln:
>>>
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln#External_links
>>>
>>>
>>> In that section there is an "Authority Control" infobox that has a
>>> link (currently broken) to the WorldCat Identities page for Abraham
>>> Lincoln (the link below works):
>>>
>>> http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-6779
>>>
>>>
>>> Now, to segue from what it looks like someone at OCLC is experimenting
>>> with to my idea:
>>>
>>> If OCLC would add to each Identities page a prominent link that says
>>> "Find Resources at Your Local Library", and if the local library can
>>> be determined either by IP address or by a user-defined cookie, then,
>>> voila! Two clicks from a Wikipedia entry to a list of local library
>>> resources related to that entry.
>>>
>>> This change would be a win for Wikipedia because it would add depth to
>>> the information that Wikipedia provides to its users.
>>>
>>> This change would be a win for local libraries because it would allow
>>> them to serve more patrons.
>>>
>>> This change would be a win for library patrons because this work could
>>> be done at Wikipedia speed (start immediately, experiment, learn from
>>> mistakes, get a lot of people involved, and steadily improve and
>>> expand) rather than at library speed (wait two years as a working
>>> group is created, wait two years for its report, wait several more
>>> years as the report gets picked apart or ignored, allow no one but a
>>> small group of librarians to do the work, and end up either with
>>> nothing done, with a solution that satisfies librarians but not
>>> patrons, or with a solution that is already obsolete).
>>>
>>>
>>> What do people think? I would be particularly interested in hearing
>>> from anyone at OCLC. (And a big thanks to Jonathan Rochkind for
>>> letting me baffle him in his blog's comments section while I figured
>>> out how to explain this idea clearly.)
>>>
>>>
>>> Steve
--
Peter Murray Peter.Murray_at_lyrasis.org tel:+1-678-235-2955
Ass't Director, Technology Services Development http://dltj.org/about/
Lyrasis -- Great Libraries. Strong Communities. Innovative Answers.
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Received on Fri May 20 2011 - 09:27:20 EDT