[Clipart] Introduction to the Open Clip Art Library

[Jonadab the Unsightly One]

Jon Phillips <jon at rejon.org> writes:

> Hello, I posted this writing on my site and would like to get some
> feedback from you all. 

On the site, you mention not having enough references.  It is
legitimate to list as references knowledgeable (regareding the topic
of the paper) persons with whom you consulted during the writing of
the paper.  I believe MLA has a standard format for including a
personal interview in a Works Cited page, for instance.  I would think
that at least you could list Bryce, especially if you include a quote
from him at some point in the paper.  (A quote on the subject of his
motivation in helping to get the project started seems appropriate,
for instance.)

Also, the website itself should be cited.

Oh, and at the beginning, where you define what clip art is, you
should cite a dictionary (preferably the OED if it has a suitable
entry).

And anything you list by name in the text of the article, such as Nova
Development's Art Explosion, should have an entry in the references,
either for the item itself or for some source that lists it.

Wait, I just noticed that you have footnotes for some of those things,
but they are not listed at the bottom of the document with the book
references.  Anything you cite in a footnote, or with an inline
citation for that matter, should definitely be listed on the works
cited page.

When you mention a standard format or protocol (such as SOAP), you
could probably list in the references a book on the topics.

Other, non-reference-related notes...

> Graphic designers and artists use these art fragments to make
> compositions rapidly rather than having to build images tediously
> from scratch.

Perhaps, but on the whole I think clipart is also (perhaps more)
frequently used by people of limited artistic ability, to spruce up
documents or compositions of various kinds with artwork better than
they can personally draw.

Here:
> So, Bryce Harrington, Ted Gould and myself brainstormed ...

Be aware that "myself" is first person.  Any paper formal enough to
have footnotes and references should probably stick with the third
person.  Also throughout the following section.

> Also, SVG is the standard file format because it is an open
> standard.

I can't put my finger on a specific reason, but starting a paragraph
with "Also" doesn't seem like the best possible word choice to me.

> Beyond a standard's war
  
Did you really intend singular possessive here?

Example 1 should probably go in a sidebar (Insert->Frame in OOo), and
for some audiences it may be too technical altogether.

> To zoom out slightly and look at the entire Library, one will see
> that

The use of the infinitive here seems to imply purpose, but I think
probably what you intended was circumstance; a participle might
communicate that better.

> The only criteria for these files is that the file is an SVG, or a
> package of SVG files with meta-data fields embedded, or in an
> accompanying metadata.rdf file.

In terms of subject/verb agreement here, you want to say criteria are,
or else criterion is.

Probably criteria are, because we also require the images to be public
domain.  And with the word "only" in there, you probably should
mention that (briefly) there.  Either that or say "primary criterion"
instead of "only", since you do get around to the other one a
paragraph or so later.

> Currently, the categories in the browser are static, but this is
> being improved so that the categories are dynamically selected by
> users based upon the keywords in the files.

s/are/will be/;
Also this might be a good place to mention (briefly) the l10n plans.

> In the end it is better to get one's artwork out into the world,
> used, and seen rather than for it to sit idly on a web site unusable
> because of copyright restrictions.

Also, the collection is more useful if users don't have to concern
themselves with the licensing issues surrounding any given item.

And yeah, the whole thing needs more terseness.

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