Hotlist or Bibliography? A Case of Genre on the Web

Bibliography — the collection, description, and arrangement of information items — is a vibrant activity and a popular form of expression on the internet. Yet, fashionable forms of list making are rarely, if ever, considered bibliography. This is a missed opportunity. In this paper, we examine how the traditions of bibliography and collection development can be used to inform the creation of genre support systems and to inform evaluation of a research into bibliographies. Then, we extend the traditional view of bibliography for the internet and show how this new definition can be used to clarify new systems. This work is a small step towards reinvigorating the practices of bibliography and applying its conceptual power to clarify and undergird information systems for selecting, arranging, and accessing links.