About Ottobib
Basis of Idea
The idea for this site came from Seth Godin's blog post about "Stuck Systems".
Seth outlined 2 requirements:
- A bibliography based on looking up the data online.
- Webpage that would allow the reader/teacher to see the books, their covers, links to Amazon or other online references.
ISBN?
What is an ISBN? - The International Standard Book Number, or ISBN (sometimes pronounced "is-ben"), is a unique identifier for books. (Wikipedia.org)
The Details
Getting the appropriate data to generate the citations was difficult as few databases have complete, or organized information, particularly the publisher location. If the location is unavailable, it will say "City".
Bibliographic Formats and Precision
It is important to note that OttoBib is not 100% precise in its formatting. I am however continually improving the algorithms that organize the authors first, last, and middle names. For this reason especially I am apprehensive to include Bluebook citation style because of the demanding accuracy of law school. Please check all citations generated to ensure proper formatting.
RESTful
As of January 2007 you can lookup individual citations. I encourage other websites to incorporate this feature.
http://ottobib.com/isbn/0195117972 for MLA, APA, and Chicago.
http://ottobib.com/isbn/0195117972/mla
http://ottobib.com/isbn/0195117972/apa
http://ottobib.com/isbn/0195117972/chicago
http://ottobib.com/isbn/0195117972/wp
http://ottobib.com/isbn/0195117972/bibtex
The Future of Bibliographies
This website is the start of a new paradigm of citing sources. Printed list of sources will always be essential, but this website will become the supplement. Short, permanent, easy URLs will provide:
- Links to Google Books
- Links to Google seach results
- Links to reviews
- Links to similar books
- Book cover pictures
Support OttoBib
The best and easiest way to support OttoBib is to tell more people about it.
If you want to encourage faster development and make a financial donation, you can do that too!