Annotated Bibliographies

General
#1

Annotated Bibliographies

Often people are advised to search RSU because a particular topic has been discussed quite thoroughly in the past. Well, I had the idea that people could volunteer to pick a topic, then compile a commented list of threads about that topic. That person would end up saving the time of many other people as well as possibly providing a more exhaustive search.

Anyway, I started another thread which is the first in a possible series of Annotated Bibliographies. It’s called Street riding - safety and legal issues.

If people like the idea, we can pick other topics and do more.

bib·li·og·ra·phy

  1. a complete or selective list of works compiled upon some common principle, as authorship, subject, place of publication, or printer.

an·no·tat·ed

  1. supplied with or containing explanatory notes, textual comments, etc.

Please discuss the merits of this idea HERE in this thread. Also, should follow-up comments to the listed threads go in the original threads, or in the NEW thread? I suggest the NEW thread (the Annotated Bibliography thread). Otherwise we will be resurrecting too many old threads. I like things the way they are around here. If many very old threads suddenly became active, it would change the feel of the forum. And I would be to blame. So my suggestion is NOT to reply to the old threads (unless they are fairly recent, maybe?). Instead, reply in the new thread. Treat the old threads as informational. Respond in the new thread. (please?)

So what do you think of the idea? How can we make it better?

uni57 (Dave)

#2

I’m interested in the idea and would be willing to make a few myself, but wouldn’t we end up ressurecting a lot of these ‘new threads’ anyway? I suppose another forum for these is an option but a lot of us (including me) aren’t sure about the idea of having lots of different forums (or fora?). I guess it would be different to the others in that it wouldn’t really be something that you’d feel the need to catch up on every day. It’d just be there for people to find useful info easily.

I think it’s a great idea. Anyone else?

Nice work Dave,
Andrew

#3

I think this is a good idea, but I’m not sure that creating yet another thread is the best way. I think that a website would be better.

#4

I think I agree, U-Turn. I thought that if it sparked new conversation, the new thread would be a ready-made place to post. But my thread is coming out of the blue – there is possibly NO current interest in that topic.

And once it scrolls off page one, it is as gone as the threads it indexes. Plus, it can’t be maintained.

Yes, I like the web site idea. I will work on this. Anybody have other thoughts or ideas?

Thanks!

uni57 (Dave)

#5

Andrew,

I don’t like the idea of creating additional forums either. In fact, I was quite outspoken about this recently. I think U-Turn has the best solution – web pages.

By the way, it is very time-consuming to search for threads, read them, comment on them, etc. It must have taken me two hours to create that list, and I’m not even sure how well it turned out. Or how useful it is.

Thanks!

uni57 (Dave)

#6

stunning idea!
nice one
can’t this ‘repository for threaded wisdom’ be made available in the ‘frame’ of the page?
i don’t know what the technical ins and outs would be, so dont shout at me
have it as a seperate ‘search’ option?

#7

Oh, no. My bad. My “thread that indexes other threads” is rapidly dropping off page one, never to be seen again. Anyway, the thread is here: Street riding - safety and legal issues.

The above posts are discussing the merits and mechanics of making other indexes like that. I will work on the concept and on putting them on a web site, unless Gilby wants to do all the work and integrate it into unicyclist.com! :slight_smile:

Either way, it’s a lot of work to make a good index. Can I get a feel for who would be interested in doing one? Don’t do one yet, just let me know if you would be interested. Thanks. Let’s mine RSU for wisdom!

Also, apologies to the newsreader people – I do, in fact, know the difference between a forum and a newsgroup. I’ve been reading Usenet newsgroups via the fantastic newsreader Agent for a long, long time. Sorry to be so forum-centric in my wording.

uni57 (Dave)

#8

Yes, a website would be great. That’s a really good idea. Dave, I didn’t realise it took so long to make these things. I’m still very willing to one, but probably only one at the moment.

Good luck with the site,
Andrew

#9

Maybe it shouldn’t take so long. It was the first one, and I wanted it to be exemplary. I had to come up with good search terms that would give me the threads I’m looking for. Then I had to pick the good threads. Then read them to get the gist of the thread, so that the commentary accurately reflected it.

In my case, sometimes the legal issues of riding a unicycle on the street were only touched upon in a thread. If I missed that, I may not have mentioned it in the commentary. And someone who was interested in that issue may have skipped the thread. Also, as I read those threads, I was amazed at the wealth of valuable information and opinion that is not readily available. Of course, anyone can do a search, but I think most people just read the current stuff. The current stuff pops up on your screen. You say “ah, that looks interesting” and you click. THAT’s the type of easy access I’m hoping to achieve – once we have a list of “annotated bibliographies” (on a web site).

If the commentary is not done well, you may as well just direct people to do a search – and give them the search terms that work the best. But if you end up with too many threads, then accurate commentary becomes critical. (I’m not saying that I did a good job, just that I tried to…)

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement and the offer to help. Maybe this will be my way of contributing to the unicyclist community. And by having it as a web site, it will be “off to the side” – if somebody does not want to use it, they don’t even have to see it.

There are lots of topics that have been discussed to death that would be great for newcomers. That’s probably the place to start.

  • protection (leg armor, etc)
  • what makes a good freestyle unicycle?
  • what are the different styles of riding?
  • mounting
  • how to learn to ride

(I can’t remember, have we discussed any of the above before? :))

Lastly, I wonder if anyone objects to having their words dredged up from the past? It has been said that Usenet has no memory. Meaning that there is a constant influx of newbies who always ask the same questions. But at the same time, Usenet never forgets anything. People should know that when they post, it goes on their “permanent record” and is available, courtesy of Google and unicyclist.com, for all to see for all eternity. For all to see – including boyfriend/girlfriend, employer / prospective employer, government (Eschelon/Carnivore, etc.), private investigators, family members. We end up giving out quite a bit of personal information – in terms of likes and interests, personality traits, etc. Enough for someone to “get inside our head.” I think about that EVERY time I post.

uni57 (Dave)

#10

Re: Annotated Bibliographies

On Tue, 18 Feb 2003 10:16:56 -0600, uni57
<uni57.j20zz@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:

>sorry to be so
>forum-centric in my wording.
That’s OK. When I started participating here (3 years ago) there was
no forum. Now gradually the forum is taking over and I’ve used the
forum enough to understand your wording.

I like your example of an annotated thread links collection, and I
also prefer the website idea over a new forum or separate threads on
this forum. I hope that people won’t resurrect the old threads.

I think these links collections should preferably find a home at
<www.unicyclist.com>, maybe under a catchy single-word header in the
top line (home forums news etc). Having them on unicyclist.com does
not necessarily mean that Gilby has to do a lot of work on it.

I wouldn’t call it a bibliography, though. I don’t know where your
definition is from. In my understanding, bibliography refers to books.

Klaas Bil - newsgroup addict as if you didn’t know

Klaas Bil

The pupil of an octopus’s or goat’s eye is rectangular.

#11

Me too, but – if you let Big Brother control you, he wins. Personally, I don’t like an antiseptic world.

#12

I agree 100%, U-Turn. However, I’m one of those privacy nuts. You never know how data will be used, mis-used, correlated, or analyzed in the future. But THAT’s a whole (n)other topic! Maybe I’ll post some thoughts in Just Conversation someday. And until I started posting here, Usenet was a spectator sport.

uni57 (Dave XXXXXXX - mystery last name withheld for privacy reasons, but not too hard to figure out)

P.S. - I love all those signs you have erected on the roads. How did you manage to put up so many? But you left out the dash. They all read “U Turn”

P.P.S. - I was named after a street sign too. The street sign for David Scott Drive – but at the last minute, my middle name was changed from Scott to something worse.

#13

I’ll do one on custom unicycles.