[open-bibliography] Sharing bibliographic user data

Tim Spalding tim at librarything.com
Thu Nov 4 14:57:56 GMT 2010


Thanks for the reply. I broadly agree. Let me put part of my question
in concrete terms.

1. Most users on LibraryThing make their tags and reviews public.
2. LibraryThing exposes their tags on library catalogs (our
LibraryThing for Libraries product). Users don't object to this. (If
they do, they can opt out on the reviews side.)
3. BUT users know that the data is coming from LibraryThing. If they
change their review, it will soon change on the libraries too. If they
removed it, it would get removed.
4. I believe that if LibraryThing merely released the data, with no
obligation to refresh it, people would be VERY upset.

See? The problem isn't openness. It's respect for the user. Users are
happy with their data going other places, but they still think of it
as theirs, and want to make sure they can change or remove it.

How is that solved, in an open context?

Tim



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