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An IMDb for Books
darkgray writes "After years of reading books and never really knowing which books were, perhaps, the best out there, and in the meantime getting more and more impressed by sites like the Internet Movie Database, I decided to start a project of my own. I named it the Internet Book List, and now it needs people to vote on books they've read, and even more it needs dedicated people to submit books and author information. Help out Humanity: Add a Book!"
Have you already considered the legal ramifications for what you're doing?
It's a sterling idea, it's just that some publishers might get aggrieved when they see information on their publications being held by a third party.
Smokey, this is not 'Nam, this is bowling. There are rules.
Maybe an extension to this could include magazines, journals, and other literature. Including full-text for things that are public domain would be another nice feature.
One of my favorite wastes of time is following threads on Allmusic. I love the way they have a description of a band, and also have information on contemporaries, styles, members etc. that are dynamically hotlinked to other items in the db. If you could do the same kind of thing with the author information, it would be really great.
I'd also like to see something on the order for computer and video game software. Again, everything tied to the ISBN with some necessary database details to file in.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Amazon edits the reviews in ways that some might object to.
Amazon limits reviews to 1000 words. 1000 words isn't really that much for some reviews.
Amazon lets people review books that they clearly haven't read (because they aren't even available yet).
And maybe you aren't entirely comfortable with the fact that when you submit a review to Amazon "you grant Amazon.com and its affiliates a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media."
Wow, so we can have another site, like imdb and cddb, where thousands of volunteers can create a huge and valuable database, which is then claimed as sole property by a single company which then proceeds to make money for itself by charging for use? No thanks. May I suggest the Library of Congress card catalog instead?
Worse are the ill-informed and stupid reviews.. I've seen reviews that say stuff like "Ha-ha! I tricked you! I gave this book one star, but it's the best book I've ever read!" which brings a book's general rating down for no good reason at all... Or the book reviews that say "This book is not for beginners! This is a horrible book!", when the title is "Advanced Technology X", or "This book is not for professional/Advanced Users! It sucks!" for "Technology X for Beginners".
;) I happen to like Hitchhikers, although I agree with your opinion on the lord-of-the-rings books. (yucky) but don't bash the opinion of either lovers or haters of those books. The fact is, they're popular books, and a LOT of people like them--which means they have a good chance of being liked. Which means the reviews are accurate, which invalidates your argument.
People are morons.
But this does not invalidate the review process. Readers of reviews-of-products-they're-searching-for (as opposed to "highest reviews" lists) can still glean SOME idea of what the book/movie is like by reading the reviews. They'll obviously gravitate towards the reviews that sound similar to their take on things--like if they're beginners they'll pay more attention to the reviews by beginners. If they like a certain book and someone mentions that book negatively in a review, they can usually say "Ok, this person's opinion is different from mine".
No process is perfect. I mean, we've all seen obvious trolls modded up to +5's. (Think the sexy-gal-boy-troll) and intelligent posts at -1.
But it's still fun, and we still get stuff from it.
By the way, calling people "stupid" when their opinions differ from yours doesn't demonstrate above-average intelligence.
-Sara
I remember when the IMDB was a collection of huge text files passed around on USENET. Next, it was converted into DOS-based database application. The app and a few hundred megabytes were passed around the 'net. Once the WWW thing caught on, it went to the web. I don't know if there was ever a time it was on the web but not the pimped commercial version it currently is.
Since it was a community effort, I felt it worthwhile to add my own contributions. I haven't felt compelled to contribute (can you?) to the current commercial incarnation, as it's not Free anymore.
My biggest fear is that such a project will sell out like CDDB and IMDB did, riding on the backs of those who selflessly contributed content.
Method of processing duck feet
The book database looks like it's pretty heavily geek-weighted right now. Not saying they aren't some of the best titles, but the top fives seem all to be your standard geek picks for books snd suthors.
Why not get a copy of the library of congress records?
They've got quite a lot of books in there and they're public, so you should be able to get them at the cost of reproduction.
(although, given the sheer size, that might mean some money)
Seems to me to be a good 'skeleton' for a database like this.
Regarding copyrights, I haven't even thought about it. I didn't realize people would be so annoyed for putting their time into a project like this. I do, however, intend to read up on the GNU licenes and whatnot and make sure I end up not even being able to sell other people's work for my own profit.
It might be nice with some money to upgrade the server, though. :p