Other than being some of the most simplistic writing I've ever encountered in a marketing tool, it really doesn't seem to actually DO that much. Let me start at the beginning.
1) If I'm visiting LibraryThing, I'm probably an avid reader (unless I'm just visiting as a requirement for 23 Things); If I'm an avid reader, I've probably got a pretty extensive vocabulary and a pretty sophisticated reading comprehension; this said, do they really need to sell there product with simple sentences? LT does this. LT does that. With LT, you can x, y and z.
2) My theory behind the above mentioned simple sentences is this: the emptiness of the text is a direct representation of what the product actually offers . . . Little to nothing. If it had something to offer, the description would require in-depth, complex sentences and this tour just doesn't have that.
3) I found the frequent repetition of the mantra "we don't sell books; we share them" rather humorous. This is such a transparent reaction to napster and its legal fallout. I can't say that I blame them, but they are walking a very fine line.
4) My favorite line in the whole tour is "We don't sell books, we just KNOW books". Granted, this is similar to the mantra discussed in #3, but what differentiates this line from the previous is the all caps "KNOW". In actuality, LibraryThing doesn't KNOW books; LibraryThing is nothing more than a complex database that can track trends and find patterns. And, I'm willing to bet, the people behind LibraryThing are not "Book people" but IT gurus who know how to keep the server(s) up and running. If anything, these people know Sci-fi and fantasy (hows that for type casting and racial profiling?!).
5) My bottom line is this: if you are a particularly anal retentive/OCD kind of person (which I am) this service may be just be the greatest thing since sliced bread because it allows us to catalog our personal library. However, back to #1, the techno-readers amongst us are probably reading online of via Kindle already and, therefore, have their literature already cataloged. For those who prefer the smell and tactile experience of reading, a virtual catalog would be unsatisfactory; such people would be much more satisfied with an old-fashioned card catalog (which actually sounds pretty cool).
On a final note, like the rest of the things, LibraryThing is dependent on a students accessibility to technology and, as much as we like to tout our technological prowess, there just isn't the funds to make such tools mandatory. Until then, we will have to continue with the old school ways of doing things.
1) If I'm visiting LibraryThing, I'm probably an avid reader (unless I'm just visiting as a requirement for 23 Things); If I'm an avid reader, I've probably got a pretty extensive vocabulary and a pretty sophisticated reading comprehension; this said, do they really need to sell there product with simple sentences? LT does this. LT does that. With LT, you can x, y and z.
2) My theory behind the above mentioned simple sentences is this: the emptiness of the text is a direct representation of what the product actually offers . . . Little to nothing. If it had something to offer, the description would require in-depth, complex sentences and this tour just doesn't have that.
3) I found the frequent repetition of the mantra "we don't sell books; we share them" rather humorous. This is such a transparent reaction to napster and its legal fallout. I can't say that I blame them, but they are walking a very fine line.
4) My favorite line in the whole tour is "We don't sell books, we just KNOW books". Granted, this is similar to the mantra discussed in #3, but what differentiates this line from the previous is the all caps "KNOW". In actuality, LibraryThing doesn't KNOW books; LibraryThing is nothing more than a complex database that can track trends and find patterns. And, I'm willing to bet, the people behind LibraryThing are not "Book people" but IT gurus who know how to keep the server(s) up and running. If anything, these people know Sci-fi and fantasy (hows that for type casting and racial profiling?!).
5) My bottom line is this: if you are a particularly anal retentive/OCD kind of person (which I am) this service may be just be the greatest thing since sliced bread because it allows us to catalog our personal library. However, back to #1, the techno-readers amongst us are probably reading online of via Kindle already and, therefore, have their literature already cataloged. For those who prefer the smell and tactile experience of reading, a virtual catalog would be unsatisfactory; such people would be much more satisfied with an old-fashioned card catalog (which actually sounds pretty cool).
On a final note, like the rest of the things, LibraryThing is dependent on a students accessibility to technology and, as much as we like to tout our technological prowess, there just isn't the funds to make such tools mandatory. Until then, we will have to continue with the old school ways of doing things.
I hear you, sister. Rhonda and I were talking and decided most of these Things would be very handy and doable if we all--meaning every classroom--had laptops, or even simple iTouches. But that isn't in the budget, unless we can demonstrate how much it will increase our TAKS scores. Of course for English, first we will have to make our test scores really suck . . .
ReplyDeleteSo, we have to tell our kids to fail so that they can get the cool toys that will help them do even better?! That's assinine. Please note the first three letters of "assinine"; I think that pretty much sums everything up perfectly.
ReplyDelete