Leslie Carr wrote:
> On 10 Mar 2008, at 09:55, Stevan Harnad wrote:
>
>> Brewster Kahle may have the disk space, but if his is to become the
>> global database, then why should individuals have local websites at
>> all? They could all set up shop in the Global Wayback Machine -- or,
>> for that matter, store directly in Google, saving it the trouble of
>> having to harvest!
>
> Brewster or Google can do all they like - if the content ain't there
> it can't be harvested. People often think that somehow "repositories"
> are failing, but they're no different from "web sites" in that
> respect. An examination of research and university web sites show that
> researchers have out-of-date, incomplete pages and sometimes no pages
> at all. My own Head of School's home page is just in the form of an
> FTP listing of some files he occasionally puts there. Others of my
> senior colleagues have home pages that are over three years old and
> miss out on describing an entire generation of projects and their
> outputs.
>
> The fundamental problem is not repository software, it is researcher's
> disinclination to disseminate.
Another hypothesis: the central issue is a researcher's disinclination
to disseminate more transparently and at a faster rate. The greatly
sought after "network effect" (however it is achieved) will be a move to
greater efficiency and transparency - not something people usually welcome.
> And I am convinced that the repository software isn't fundamentally at
> fault because I have never, ever, ever heard anyone refuse to use our
> institution's timetabling software because the user interface isn't
> good enough (though it is appalling), or because it doesn't integrate
> into their personal calendar (which it doesn't) - they just get on and
> use it because it does a job they need to do.
>
> But that isn't to say that we at won't be working our hearts out
> trying to make EPrints better and more functional!
> --
> Les Carr
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