[Web4lib] More on the Open Content Alliance

[Norma Hewlett]

I seem to be on the opposite side of this debate. 

Their graphical interface would probably be unwieldy for a full library 
collection, but it seems appropriate for this pilot collection of old 
books. It does a good job of showing the binding, illustrations and 
typography. These features are lost in a text-only presentation, and 
they are essential for understanding the book as a historical artifact. 

Also, I like the "click anywhere on the page to turn the page" feature 
very much. It's much easier to use than the page-turning mechanism on 
ebook programs such as Ebrary, which requires me to  move my mouse to a 
tiny Next button at the top of the screen or scroll it down to the 
bottom. 

I'm on a T-1 line, so the wait for the page to refresh is quite short. 
I especially like the way you can view two pages at once, and how the 
pages are the main feature on the screen. The other ebook formats I'm 
familiar with break the screen up into several separate fields, and 
cram a single page display into one relatively small portion.

I think this would be a good format for historical collections, such as 
a webiste on the works of a particular author. The interface is 
obviously a work in progress, and I'd expect it to ultimately include 
audio and text versions as well as this graphical one.

Jean Hewlett
University of San Francisco

All opinions are my own, and do not represent my employers.


----- Original Message -----
From: Roy Tennant <roy.tennant at ucop.edu>
Date: Thursday, October 27, 2005 7:07 am
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] More on the Open Content Alliance
> I have to agree that this form of presentation isn't necessarily 
> the  
> best. Although if things work well it provides a "gee whiz" kind 
> of  
> experience, I personally think the "page turning" animation is 
> just a  
> tad too cutesy while potentially introducing problems. But 
> whatever.  
> The thing with the Open Content Alliance is that if you don't like 
> 
> the presentation at that site, grab it and put it up in a way that 
> 
> floats your boat. Go get it at <http://ia300002.us.archive.org/1/ 
> items/openlibrary/>. Remember, this project is not Google Library. 
> In  
> many cases you have choices.
> Roy
> 
> On Oct 27, 2005, at 6:44 AM, Enrico Silterra wrote:
> 
> > I search on words I am looking at and I get "no hits".
> > I open the opening page, and I get a message from IE that there
> > are javascript errors.
> >
> > ditto on:
> > Whatever happened to good old fashioned straight HTML, eh?
> >
> > This seems like a very worthwhile project, but as a presentation
> > of the concepts behind the projects, I don't get positive feelings.
> >
> > just my 2 yoctocents,
> > Rick Silterra
> >
> >
> >
> > At 09:21 AM 10/27/2005 +0100, J.P.Knight wrote:
> >
> >> On Wed, 26 Oct 2005, Roy Tennant wrote:
> >>
> >>> <http://www.openlibrary.org/details/openlibrary>
> >>>
> >>
> >> Awww, what a horrible website.  I know its trying to look like 
> a  
> >> book, but this is the web!  I was sitting there clicking on the 
> 
> >> "Open Library" image with no luck thinking it was a splash  
> >> screen.  The navigation stuff on the right hand side was a bit  
> >> screwed up with the size of my web browser so I didn't spot it 
> at  
> >> first and even when I did, I assumed that the arrows applied to 
> 
> >> the "listen" button next to them (which I didn't bother with as 
> I  
> >> don't have speakers on my workstation).  When I did happen to  
> >> click on the right hand "page" to flip it over, the left hand 
> edge  
> >> of the new left hand page was cut off until I resized my 
> browser  
> >> window.
> >>
> >> Whatever happened to good old fashioned straight HTML, eh?
> >>
> >> Jim'll
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Web4lib mailing list
> >> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> >> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
> >>
> >
> > ******************************
> > Enrico Silterra
> > Meta Data Engineer
> > 107-E Olin Library
> > Cornell University
> > Ithaca NY 14853
> >
> > Voice: 607-255-6851
> > Fax:     607-255-6110
> > E-mail: es287 at cornell.edu
> > http://www.library.cornell.edu/cts/
> > ******************************   
> > _______________________________________________
> > Web4lib mailing list
> > Web4lib at webjunction.org
> > http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
> >
> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>