[Web4lib] Next new thing? - refined content

[JOHN MARQUETTE]

My sense is that our next new thing is not necessarily going to be
something technological, but something we are already seeing take off as
an alternate reference source - Wikipedia.

 

When a self-correcting encyclopedia built by thousands of experts (am I
underestimating the number?) performs at least as well as a preliminary
point to begin a search, even if the results are not definitive, then
we're on to something.  If nothing else, Wikipedia provides additional
keywords for customers/patrons/people to use in subsequent searches in
more authoritative databases.

 

We've seen several organizations create products to link unused cycles
on networked personal computers to do complex mathematical formulae.
Wikipedia contributors may be their human equivalents, from monomaniacal
HO-gauge model railroaders to ornithologists, literature genre
specialists to space scientists.  IMHO, it's only going to get better,
and APIs to integrate this and similar products will start appearing for
integrated library automation systems.

 

Case in point:  I watched a series episode on TV on Sunday night and
thought I'd hit Wikipedia to see if it gave any hints or spoilers, and
sure enough, it gave me enough information to get through the end of the
season without wasting any more time on it.

 

My two cents.

 

John Marquette

Reference Librarian

City of Commerce Public Library