Book Website???

[Ninva]

I'm looking for any websites where I can gain points for reading certain book. For example, if I read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, I'll get 50 points, and if I read the first Harry Potter book, I'll get 10 points. I feel like this would be a fun way to stay focused. Everyone loves points! If such a website doesn't exist, then would anyone be interested in helping me create one? I'll check this thread frequently because my search for a point-based reading group really interests me, and I wonder if anyone else is interested.

Post ideas, criticism, and interest!

Thank you!

 

[Lyerae]

That's an interesting concept...

I'd be glad to help create the site, if one doesn't exist. Sounds like it's be a fun project.

 

[esb]

How would you prove they read the books?

There's a program, Accelerated Reader, which does what you want (more or less).

 

[Lyerae]

Quiz.

 

[esb]

Yes... they are quizzes...

Let me elaborate a bit. This program (installed in/on to computers) was used at my sister's elementary school. The students would read, take a quiz (not sure on the type of quiz) and if they pass the quiz, they get points (amount determined by school/teachers). Then they had different prizes that cost points, from 99 cents ball, to Principal of the Day.

EDIT: @bottom post, Oh

 

[Lyerae]

You edited after I had posted. :/

 

[codemonkey]

I'm looking for any websites where I can gain points for reading certain book. For example, if I read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, I'll get 50 points, and if I read the first Harry Potter book, I'll get 10 points. I feel like this would be a fun way to stay focused. Everyone loves points! If such a website doesn't exist, then would anyone be interested in helping me create one? I'll check this thread frequently because my search for a point-based reading group really interests me, and I wonder if anyone else is interested.

Post ideas, criticism, and interest!

Thank you!

I would definitely be willing to help you create one and/or collaborate with lyelye. I need a summer project, anyhow.

 

[Miz]

I would definitely be willing to help you create one and/or collaborate with lyelye. I need a summer project, anyhow.

It sounds like a cool idea for a site. I wouldn't mind helping out ether.

 

[Ninva]

Thank you for the immediate interest. Seeing that there aren't any websites that have a award system on reading, I will start making plans for the website. Since I'm not a coder, I will need the advice and guidance of all the volunteers.

Topics of the discussion:

1. We use a free forum service like the highly customizable Zetaboards or Invisionfree.

2. We use another service. Please, make your suggestions.

3. Accelerator Reader will not work. I do not want to spend money (or a lot of money), and that program will force me to spend money. However, I want ideas on book rating. I'm not a great mathematician.

At this point, I'm the concept director. I will lead the discussions. Thank you for your cooperation so far. Hopefully we can have a lot of fun with this summer project if we work together.

 

[Lyerae]

You can use MyBB as a forum system.
It's free, easy to use, and fast.

 

[esb]

So, for rating a book, we will need a 'formula'.

Books vary by genre (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Fantasy, etc.), and the time it was written. (forgot what it's called) that it was made (Shakespearean, contemporary, etc.). Why would Genre and time it was written matter? Because of vocabulary, ideas, themes, and other similar concepts. For example, it's easier to understand a modern book than Hamlet or Oedipus-Rex. The themes also vary much (but this shouldn't weigh much on rating).
Another thing would be the book's length. Should go by words? Might be hard to find/calculate. Not pages because they could be big/small pages, with different fonts, page width, etc.

That's all I can think of for rating the book. Maybe add a bonus if it's part of a series?

Next, the formula is affected by the reader him/her self. We could use the reader's age, but if we find something more accurate to define the reader's capabilities, as some read faster than others, even at same age. Yet, reading a book isn't what gets the points, but understanding the concepts, themes, and meanings/symbolism should be what deteremines most of the points.

I'm not sure if this is more or less what you mean by defining the points per book, but I gave it a shot.

There are a lot of online quizzes on many books, we could use those (of course after going through them and what not).

 

[Ninva]

esb, I like the thoughts, but that's definitely not the final solution.

Lyerae, please elaborate on why that forum would be a good medium.

 

[Lyerae]

Well you said you wanted a forum, so I looked at my past experience with them.

ASP.net-based systems are well... They use ASP.net.

IPB/vBulletin are too expensive, so those are out.

Free-forums (such as InvisionFree) offer very little features compared to a self-hosted system, and you have less control over the internals (say, if you wanted a plugin and/or theme), and have no control over the hardware.

So then I looked at PHP-based systems that you host (the ones I'm familiar with, at least).

phpBB is outdated. It can be difficult to set up, and has no true plugin support (and theming is difficult).
While easier to manage than phpBB, SMF is full of security holes, and is incredibly slow.

PunBB is a nice system, but it's a little limited, and the community isn't very big.

MyBB is faster than the others, has better support for themes and plugins, and is more secure.

 

[ReVolver]

Reminds me of what my old library did, free food and prizes if you read books with a sticker on it.

 

[esb]

Ninva, what are you looking for, more or less, in regards to defining a book or reader's difficulty?

 

[GooS]

Though an interesting concept, quizez will not be good enough to see if the reader has actually read the book, google is to close at hand.

One could make it timed so that it doesn't allow you to spend time going through different phrases on a search engine and ofcourse the questions shouldn't be obvious but as esb said they should be regarding the concept, theme or meaning of certain memorable lines. But then again people come to different conclusions that don't really have to be wrong because the author is not alive to tell what's right.

 

[Sevion]

My elementary does something like this. It's called "Reading Counts" and you read books with stickers on them. Stickers vary in colors and points.

 

[Danny Cross]

I just caught this thread ...I would be very intrested in a site like that. I love reading all kinds of books.I would help with what I could lol since I'm not the best on computers.

 

[DM Cross]

I don't understand why you're creating a new site instead of attempting to add this "program" to our current set up here. People are constantly trying to break away from an established forum but use the people here as starters... Never made any sense to me.

Anyway, what's wrong with simply recording the points publically here and talking to TH about arranging prizes/features for the higher ranked people?

 

[Ninva]

I like that idea, but will TH do this?