*cybercollection* ... for Kids

[Linda Woods Hyman]

Currently there are MANY cybercollections for Kids, and Teachers, and
Librarians, and Dogs, and you name it.  I think that we will see many more
pop up over the next few years.  We created one almost three years ago
(Blue Web'n http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/) that currently has
over 9,500 subscribers receiving free weekly updates and contains about 600
sites.  The sites are evaluated, summarized, rated, sorted by California
State  Frameworks and Dewey (loosely). There are probably two big issues
with these kinds of sites.  One is maintenance.  We ended up hiring a
graduate student to maintain the website.  The other is a niche marketing
kind of thing.  Like businesses, many will start up; but few will last.
The strongest ones will survive and  become the reliable, authoritative
lists that we can all turn to ( cyber references--like Web4Lib, Web66,
etc).  We're in the shakedown period right now--no use getting upset . 
Linda Woods Hyman
Pacific Bell Education First
Department of Educational Technology
San Diego State University
San Diego  CA  92182
(619) 594-4414
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired