Dear Giannis
Thank you very much for this extremely useful peace of insight coming from the
beautiful context of Greece. How many would like to be there!
I am glad you are experimenting new citation services but I must say I disagree
with you. I would avoid solutions where the business model is evidently more
keen on attracting advertising revenues than providing a sustainable service in
the long term.
I deeply regret having light-heartedly supported Mendeley through Cilip
Communities one year ago saying I liked his sexy jokes - I was referring to some
tweets exchanged with some other Twitter users and particularly with one young
manager from Elsevier.
I did it because I think that young entrepreneurs and managers must be
encouraged, having experienced myself how difficult can be starting new services
with everybody against new ideas just because you are "twenty-something". But
as a matter of fact, one year later, and having attendend last week the
conference Science Online London that Mendeley co-sponsored, it seems clear to
me they are not only "in beta" technically speaking. Theirs behaviours, the
entire way in which they do business is long way off to become... alpha - that
it is what libraries need to consider in my opinion.
I am very sorry if somebody had thought I had endorsed them. I was enjoying my
Cilip Chartership year.
Blame it on my youth :)
Brunella Longo
http://www.brunellalongo.info
----- Original Message ----
> From: Giannis Tsakonas <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Fri, 3 September, 2010 11:27:30
> Subject: Re: from ref managers to Mendeley
>
> Dear all ,
>
> summarizing the few responses that I got, it seems that institutions are quit
>hesitant towards such solutions. One institution is preferring Zotero, as a
>more stable solution (since Mendeley is still in beta). Nothing more was added,
>so I guess that those that are interested are waiting to see if Mendeley can
>prove a mature and reliable solution (like I do).
>
> My personal opinion, as a user of Mendeley, is good. It has some end user
>problems, but my essence is that they are working quite slow to solve them.
>Thankfully, these are minor problems and I am satisfied with how it works (on
>Mac). But I don't know if I can propose it to our users, especially when a
>significant number of them has invested a lot of effort and time in our the
>solution we subscribe to.
>
> Thank you for your answers and interest and I'll be glad to know if anyone has
>any news on this subject.
>
> With kind regards
>
> Giannis
>
>
> Giannis Tsakonas, PhD
> Library & Information Center
> University of Patras
> Patras, Greece
> [log in to unmask]
>
|