Registration (free) is now open for “Multilingual, Multinational: Best Practices in Cooperative Reference” where Reference Extract will be presented. You can register for it on this page:
https://www3.oclc.org/app/ala_registration/
Technorati Tags: meetings
David Lankes will provide an overview of Reference Extract at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference in Denver. The session is part of OCLC’s best practice in virtual reference (a free session). The session will be Saturday January 25th from 1:30 to 3:30.
More details and sign up information will be posted as soon as they are available.
Technorati Tags: meetings
In preparation for our Seattle Business Meeting, we’ve tried to capture some emerging ideas of Reference Extract as a credibility engine. Special thanks to Eric Miller and Nick Belkin for their excellent feedback.
Technorati Tags: project news, scholarship
This Friday the team is meeting in Seattle to explore possible sustainability and business models for the project,
Reference Extract Business Meeting
When: December 12, 2008 8:30-1
Where: Seattle, WA
We’ll also be having some meetings and sessions at this year’s ALA Mid-Winter meeting. Stand by for more info.
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There has been some debate in the project team about the name Reference Extract. Some of us call is RefEx, or REX. There has been a few comments online (also, a few folks are not digging the tweezers). Have an opinion? We’re looking for feedback and suggestions.
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Some folks coming to Reference Extract might also know about the work in participatory librarianship. Lankes has posted a video talk about how RefEx fits into participatory librarianship. It should be noted that this is only one perspective driving the project.
The video can be found at: http://quartz.syr.edu/rdlankes/blog/?p=615
Technorati Tags: related projects, scholarship
Next Monday the team is having a meeting to discuss how Reference Extract can build strong partners within the LIS community and beyond. Libraries and consortia in the New York City area that may be interested, please contact David Lankes.
Reference Extract Partners Meeting
When: November 17, 2008 11-4
Where: New York, NY
We are currently looking at the feasibility of the project including exploring technical architectures, business models, and partnership opportunities. The focus of this meting will be on possible partners and partnership models. We are looking for your input on building a successful strategy through cooperation.
Project Team:
Jeffrey Penka, OCLC
R. David Lankes, Syracuse University
Michael Eisenberg, University of Washington
Anticipated Agenda:
Overview of the Project
Partnership Opportunities
Discussion of Partnership Issues, Concerns and Possibilities
Wrap Up and Next Steps
Technorati Tags: project news, meetings
Since the press release has gone out, several folks have picked up the story. Looking these over and reading the comments (a lot from right here) is instructive:
Library Journal: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6613091.html
Ars Technica: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081111-using-crowdsourced-librarians-to-out-google-google.html
One thing I hope you’ll see, from your comments, is downplaying Reference Extract as a “Google Killer,” and more as a “credibility engine.”
Technorati Tags: press, project news
I love the idea of RefEx - it’s a great answer! “To what question,” you ask?
Well, to me it’s simple: as an end-user, can I have a search tool that is as good as Google on search but with results that are a lot more credible?
Google is everywhere, easy to use, and somewhat effective in offering useful results. But, I can’t always trust the results. And, there’s a lot of noise/junk in the results. Is there a way to improve on that?
And the answer is - YES! Reference Extract. Let’s use the “natural” intelligence of librarians to help identify credible sites. Why? Because you can trust librarians to make recommendations based on credibility as well as usefulness and relevance.
So, what do you think?
Mike
The idea of Reference Extract comes down to this: people trust trained librarians; trained librarians are experts in searching and answering user questions; let the librarians build the search engine. How doe that happen? We have some ideas, but what we really need is for the library community to become part of the process. That’s why we put up this site, we are looking for help.
Yes this site will post news on the progress of planning Reference Extract, but its main purpose is to have a conversation about librarians building the best search engine. We will post calls for help, post documents for review, and hopefully provide you with a direct voice in the future of search.