Some suggestions for competition entries

Paul Miller — Tue, 6 Jun 2006 15:34:33 +0100

Over on panlibus, I just submitted a post that includes a few suggestions for competition entries. The list is far from comprehensive, and I'm sure you have equally good (or better!) ideas of your own.

To get the ball rolling, though, my preliminary list was:

An entry might do interesting things with data about new books in a library, as Ed Vielmetti did in Ann Arbor;
An entry might use data from a source such as our Directory, combined with mapping from Google, Microsoft, Ask, or wherever, to help you find the library closest to you that has a copy of a book you want;
An entry might 'just' make something fun and engaging, as Richard Wallis did with Google Earth;
An entry might use a tool like Greasemonkey to modify the BBC's Book at Bedtime page, adding the list of libraries that hold a copy. Or work with the BBC to integrate it properly...;
An entry might take data about libraries which hold a particular book and compare it with data from LibraryThing about readers who own the same book;
An entry might access the locations listed in library catalogue records, to build maps showing where books were set, where they were written, etc;
An entry might extract data about items held in neighbouring libraries, identifying duplicate entries that are rarely borrowed;
An entry might extract information about related items, allowing users to express preferences as to whether they prefer Harry Potter books, videos, dvds, audio books, etc;
An entry might take book jackets from a source such as Amazon (within the bounds of their terms and conditions, of course) and use Greasemonkey or equivalent to 'enrich' library catalogue pages with the images;
An entry might further enrich a library catalogue page with user comments, pricing and availability data from online bookstores, or even holdings data for neighbouring libraries;
An entry might produce a widget (whether blog, Konfabulator, or Apple, or a differently named equivalent such as a Microsoft gadget) to automatically poll - or allow user querying of - libraries with items related to a topic or context.

Talis Developer Network - Some suggestions for competition entries - Comments

Some suggestions for competition entries