[Workflowtoolkit-l] Workflow Toolkit Poll: Do you use the newWebJunction resource sharing community?

[Timothy Bowersox]

Thanks for your commentary, Danielle!  Just so you know, I also posted this to ILL-L (I've noticed more ILLiad discussion there, these days).  :) 

-Tim

Tim Bowersox
Information Delivery Services Librarian
Milne Library
SUNY Geneseo
Geneseo, NY 14454
Email/AIM: bowersox at geneseo.edu
Phone: (585) 245-5589
Skype: tim.bowersox

On Jan 27, 2010, at 12:25 PM, Danielle Bodrero Hoggan wrote:

> I would also like to vote in two categories: Yes, I use WebJunction and I want ILLiad-L back.
> 
> First, in defense of WebJunction, I like that it groups all the messages on a given thread together. That is nice. And when someone posts something new to a thread, the thread moves to the top of the list and is bold, so I know that there is an update to read.
> 
> However, the downside of WebJunction is that it feels like a ghost town. As Heather mentioned, there aren't a lot of people commenting on WebJunction. It seems like just a small group of the same people make all the posts. It would be nice to get more feedback and participation from more people. With ILLiad-L, more people participated and, as Heather said, you usually could count on a response. We just don't have the community on WebJunction that we had on ILLiad-L.
> 
> I remember that one reason for changing from ILLiad-L to WebJunction was that it was harder to post. This was supposed to deter people from posting their holiday schedules and other trivial things (and Me too's). But it was a little too effective in deterring posts: now most people just don't post at all.
> 
> Maybe a push to get people to use WebJunction (like the ILLiad conference session mentioned) will help get more people involved. But the fact is that there is still a barrier that makes fewer people use WebJunction...we'll never have as many people as we did on ILLiad-L. Having a listserv is easier because it pushes the info to you. You don't have to go out and find it yourself. People constantly check their email, but how often do they remember to log into a discussion board? Even if you have RSS feeds, who checks their RSS reader anywhere near as often as their email? And if you do, you can't post a response from your reader, you'll have to go back and login to WebJunction.
> 
> The Workflowtoolkit-l list is great. I thought maybe it would take over as the new ILLiad-L. But, like Web Junction, it seems to have a relatively small community of participants. Also, now I have two places to check for my ILLiad news instead of one (WebJunction and Workflowtoolkit-l). So the community is smaller and fragmented compared to ILLiad-L. Apparently Atlas knows that they have lost a lot of readership, because they started the Atlasnews-l listserv.
> 
> I'm afraid your poll won't make it to most of the people out there who want ILLiad-L back because they are probably not subscribed to this list, nor to WebJunction (if you post the poll there, too). Atlas should post the poll to Atlasnews-l to get a more complete sample of the ILLiad population.
> 
> WebJunction was a good idea, and it is probably easier to administer than ILLiad-L. But it just isn't as useful as ILLiad-L was.
> 
> Well, that's my $0.02.
> 
> Danielle
> 
> 
> Danielle Bodrero Hoggan
> Reference and Electronic Services Librarian
> The Scripps Research Institute
> 10550 North Torrey Pines Road (400S)
> La Jolla, California 92037
> Tel: (858) 784-8705
> Fax: (858) 784-2035
> danielle at scripps.edu
> 
> 
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