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