This may become my default method of searching for books on my iPod Touch. There’s now a mobile interface (designed specifically for iPhones and iPod Touches): http://mobileworldcat.org/
(Via)
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WorldCat for Mobile Devices
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4 Comments
Have you had a chance to use it yet?
It may well become my default way, too, but I must say I was spectacularly unimpressed by a couple searches I ran today. In fact, I was quite livid with the “relevancy” ranking used; not sure if it is using the same algorithms as in standard WorldCat.
But then I rarely use the default search there either. Even after I changed to a title search I would call the results a spectacular fail of ranking.
For now, call me completely unimpressed. With a little forcing it will probably work better for me than any other options, though, on my Touch. And I do use WorldCat.org quite a bit normally anyway.
Heh. I was so excited by the possibility of a readable interface that I didn’t even care about the relevancy stuff. :-)
LOL. I do understand the excitement; I had the page bookmarked within minutes of seeing it mentioned in my reader.
But. That excitement quickly wears off when the readability issue is dwarfed by all the forced choices and inputting to make it work [in a difficult environment, for me anyway].
Maybe when we get copy and paste on the darn device it’ll be easier to use. But for now, color me mostly unimpressed because in the end a search appliance is only as good as its input and output correlation for the effort involved. Readability counts but does not come first, imho.
Well, while I certainly look forward to improvements in the interface (suggesting searches based on the first few characters you type, more robust relevancy ranking, the ability to designate your own home library, etc), I think this is a fabulous start. I still can’t make myself care too much that an interface that’s so new it hasn’t even been tested on other browsers or mobile devices yet doesn’t have all it’s ducks in a row. But that’s just me. :-)