From: Rick Anderson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 04:20:23 +0000

OK, so I'm now starting to wonder if I've fundamentally misunderstood the
proposal that's under discussion here. Everyone's comments seem to be
about a system whereby the general public reviews the content of scholarly
journals. I thought we were talking about a system whereby scholars rate
the experiences they have with scholarly journals in their role as authors.

Have I completely misunderstood?

---
Rick Anderson
Interim Dean, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
[log in to unmask]


On 6/13/13 11:15 AM, "LIBLICENSE" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>From: Carter Glass <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:17:11 -0400
>
>Yes. All one needs to do is spend a little time on 'rating' sites such
>as Yelp to see the the dubious value of the 'wisdom of the crowd'.
>
>Also, the collective IQ of the hive-mind *by definition* converges to
>average.
>
>Carter Glass
>
>On 6/12/2013 9:00 AM, LIBLICENSE wrote:
>>
>> From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:08:21 -0500
>>
>> But if you are going to be making some decision based on such
>> assessments--such as deciding whether to subscribe to or recommend a
>> journal to one's clientele (or whether to promote or give tenure to a
>> professor)--you need to have some basis for evaluating the
>> trustworthiness of the assessors. This is entirely lacking in the case
>> of student evaluators. Who is to say one student's opinion is more
>> trustworthy than another's? It is often lacking in general comments in
>> places like The Chronicle and InsideHigherEd also, not to mention
>> blogs.  That is why the service performed by publications like the
>> THES when it reviewed journals is so valuable.  Reviewers are chosen,
>> like the reviewers for articles, on the basis of proven expertise in
>> the subject area. One may choose to disagree with the assessment, but
>> at least one knows that the opinion expressed is an informed opinion.
>> Open reviews of journals would be as useful as book reviews on Amazon
>> where one usually has no idea what qualifies the reviewer to express
>> an opinion.  Even popular TV shows like "The Voice" or "Dancing with
>> the Stars" have panels of experts who are passing judgments on the
>> performances, even though winners are chosen in large part by majority
>> vote.
>>
>> Sandy Thatcher