OSS

I did not know what OSS was and don’t really know if I have ever had any experience with it. I don’t think I have.

All that aside I did some research on it and have some idea as to what the advantages and disadvantages are.

Advantages-

New features are included regularly and in a timely manner

If there is a security breach it is usually fixed pretty quickly.

So many users and programmers are involved that there is a wide pool of people to whom you can ask questions and gain input regarding possible improvements.

Disadvantages-

Sites/programmes can be difficult and expensive to maintain if you don’t like writing code of don’t know much about writing code.

If you are in a hurry to get bugs fixed you may have to resort to paying someone to have them fixed quickly.

The open source community is not obliged to answer all of your questions, so they often go unanswered.

OSS is not really suitable for people who prefer to speak to a human being on the phone or receive personal emails because all support comes by way of forum postings.

The usefulness of content enrichment in the ILS

Sometimes we are interested in a certain subject. We want to read about this subject but we can only read one book at a time. If our interest grows we can explore other sources but for the time being we are looking for the best book to satisfy our interest and our information need. Every subject has many different facets and different sources explore or concentrate on individual facets of a subject. If I was interested in the seven years war I could want to read about the Anglo French conflict in Europe, the North American front, the Austro Prussian front or the Russian contribution.

Content enrichment provides the person searching for the best book an opportunity to scan a table of contents or a summary so they can make a decision as to weather that particular source is the right one for them. If it covers or concentrates on the facets of a subject they are interested in then they may choose that book. There may be a dozen books in a library on Louis the fourteenth all entitled Louis the Fourteenth. What do we do, simply pick one and hope for the best? No, content enrichment helps us determine if it is the book for us. Another matter to consider is writing style. Time and again I have been enraptured or repulsed by a source, not because of the subject but because of the authors writing style. Content enrichment enables us to read excerpts, chapters which give us an idea of weather this is the book for us because we have an example of the writing style.

Nature, accuracy, Britanica, Wikipedia

Hello.

The Nature study which determined that the accuracy of Wiki was equal to Britanica was in relation to the modern day online Britanica. I never question the accuracy of one in relation to the other. The version to which I referred was the 1893 Britanicas. My point was less of a statement on accuracy but rather a statement on the richness of the language, the superior writing and the obvious effort involved in the research. The old Britanicas convey the honest interest of the author and the desire to convey information in a very clear, unequivocal manner rather then the stilted, grinding style of the modern day academic whose production line mentality is “Publish soon or perish soon".

Sorry to create a whole new post just to respond to a comment. Every effort on my part to post a comment on my own blog or anyone elses has met with total failure. I cannot understand it.