Assignment 6 - website

Here's my website!

http://www.pitt.edu/~emb99/

Week 9 - muddiest point (xml)

I have no muddiest point for this week.

Week 11 - comments (digital libraries)

http://issuesininfotech2600.blogspot.com/2009/11/week-10-readings.html

http://brandonlocke.blogspot.com/2009/11/readings-ten.html

Week 11 notes - digital libraries

Digital Libraries: Challenges and Influential Work

This gives a lot of history about the development of digital libraries, which is pretty interesting. I think this quote does the best job of showing just how long digital library programs have been going on, something which surprised me: "When DLI-1 began, the World Wide Web was in a very nascent stage. At that time, the University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Mosaic 2.0 beta was the Web browser of choice, the HTML 2.0 standard was still under development, Netscape had yet to release its first Web browser and Microsoft Windows 3.1 was the standard personal computer operating system."


Dewey Meets Turing: Librarians, Computer Scientists, and the Digital Libraries Initiative

This article also had a lot of background, but from a different perspective than we usually read. Rather than strictly informational, it talked about how this project brought together Librarians and Computer Scientists. I enjoyed this article, and seeing a more human perspective to the things we've been learning about.


Association of Research Libraries :: Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age

This article talks about the benefits of institutional repositories, but also a few of the problems that can arise if we're not careful. This is pretty straight-forward, so I don't have much to say about it really.

Week 11 - muddiest point (digital libraries)

I had no muddiest point this week.

Week 9 - Comments

http://jonwebsterslis2600blog.blogspot.com/2009/11/week-8-readings.html

http://cac160.blogspot.com/2009/11/unit-9-readings.html

Assignment 5 - Koha

Here's the link for my list:

http://upitt04-staff.kwc.kohalibrary.com/cgi-bin/koha/virtualshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=54

Week 9 - Notes

An Introduction to XML
I really didn't get anything out of this. After reading it, I'm still not really sure what the point of XML is.

A survey of XML standards: Part 1
This seemed to be a basic listing of various ways to use XML, and programs or tutorials that would help someone use that function.

Extending Your Markup: An XML Tutorial
Now I finally see what XML is! At least I think so. Instead of influencing the layout on a web page, as HTML does, it marks the text itself (for instance, in figure 1b, showing exactly what the various details of a book are). I'm still not 100% clear on all the details, but for the most part, this article does a really good job of explaining everything.

XML Schema Tutorial
This is basically a tutorial for how to use an XML Schema rather than DTD. As far as I can tell, XSD is preferable to DTD because it uses the XML language, so it can be easily learned, and can be made with the same tools that one already uses for XML.

Week 8 - the muddiest point

I have no muddiest point for this week.

Week 8 - commentts

http://lis2600infotechnology.blogspot.com/2009/10/week-9-readings-html-and-web-authoring.html
(in response to a question at http://erinlis2600.blogspot.com/2009/10/week-8-notes.html)

http://jonwebsterslis2600blog.blogspot.com/2009/10/week-8-readings.html

Week 7 - the muddiest point

I have no muddiest point for this week.

Week 8 - Notes

HTML Tutorial
This was a nice little tutorial. A lot of it I knew already (I have some experience designing web pages), but it was a nice review. I also like how it was set up so that you could play around with the HTML and see what the effect would be.

HTML Cheatsheet
I don't think there's really a way to comment on this. It's really straightforward - it's just a list of HTML tags. It's nice to have a quick reference like this, though.

CSS Tutorial
This seems like a pretty straightforward "language." My main thought is that I would have trouble with it simply because it's not HTML.

Goans, D., Leach, G., & Vogel, T. M. (2006). Beyond HTML: Developing and re-imagining library web guides in a content management system. Library Hi Tech, 24(1), 29-53.
This was pretty interesting. It shows an alternative to HTML, and also shows a way that web page editing can be applied to a library setting.

Week 7 - comments

http://jonwebsterslis2600blog.blogspot.com/2009/10/week-7-reading-notes.html
(this is a reply to a question I was asked at http://erinlis2600.blogspot.com/2009/10/week-7-notes.html)

http://cac160.blogspot.com/2009/10/week-8-reading-notes.html

Week 7 - notes

How Internet Infrastructure Works

This was a nice overview of different components of the internet. I knew some of the things, but only in the sense that I knew they existed. This gave a lot of information, and I think it did a good job or presenting it simply.


Andrew K. Pace (2004). Dismantling Integrated Library Systems. Library Journal, 129(2), p.34-36.

This was pretty interesting. I never realized quite how many problems arose from the ILS. It seems to be something that just about every company has to deal with in some way (i.e. companies deciding whether or not to upgrade their technology, dealing with vendors, making sure different technologies are compatible, etc). I liked that Sirsi and Millennium were both mentioned - I've used both of these systems, so this helped me know the "characters" in this. I hadn't realized competition was an issue for ILS, either - somehow I'd just kind of assumed that the ILS stuff was always there, and hadn't realized what actually goes into aquiring an ILS and dealing with a vendor for it.


Sergey Brin and Larry Page on Google

I enjoyed this video quite a bit. These guys seem to really enjoy what they do, and it's nice that they do their best to create a work environment where their employees can enjoy what they do as well. I also think it's neat that they let their employees work on their own ideas and just see what they come up with.

Assignment 4 - Working With Jing

For my screencaptures, I decided to show the basics of playing Minesweeper.

Here's the video (unfortunately, I don't have a microphone, so it's not very interesting):
http://www.screencast.com/users/celinra/folders/Jing/media/217cee61-e7a5-4906-b469-7f3f2010de36

And here are the images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42525296@N08/4008729875/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42525296@N08/4009495262/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42525296@N08/4008729931/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42525296@N08/4008729955/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42525296@N08/4009495308/

Week 6 - the muddiest point

I have no muddiest point for the lecture. However, I do have one in regards to the Jing assignment. I keep having trouble when I try to install it: it won't install all the way because I don't have Microsoft .net Framework 3.0, but the installation for that never finishes because a required service application it needs, "Background Intelligent Transfer System (BITS)," is disabled. A screencap of the error message that I get is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/42525296@N08/3991837132/.

Any advice for what I should do about this would be greatly appreciated.

Week 6 - comments

http://jordanmoorelis2600.blogspot.com/2009/09/week-6-readings.html

http://djd2600it.blogspot.com/2009/10/weekend-update-comments-take-6.html

Assignment 3 - Personal Bibliographic Management Systems

http://www.citeulike.org/user/Celinra

My three main category titles are "parrots," "snakes," and "pandemic." My tags to show where I got the article from are "zoterogs" and "citeulike."

Week 6 - notes

Local Area Network

I knew basically what a LAN was (we had one set up in our house), but I didn't know any of the history of it. It's been around a lot longer than I realized.

Computer Network

Again, I knew what a computer network basically was, but I didn't know much beyond that. I certainly didn't realize how many different types of networks there are, or all the hardware that goes into it.

Common Types of Computer Networks

This seemed to basically just recap what the Wiki article said.

Coyle, K. (2005). Management of RFID in libraries. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 31(5), 486-489.

This article was pretty interesting. I'm not sure what I think of the RFID technology. While it sounds promising, I don't think it would be quite as good as it sounds. For instance, it gives the promise of an instant check-out or check-in time, but in many cases, the act of scanning the bar code is not what takes the most time. Rather, librarians must also open up cases, such as for CDs or DVDs, and make sure the item is still in them (an I doubt this will change, because I doubt people will stop leaving these in their players). So, at this point, I don't really see an advantage to switching over to RFID technologies.

Week 5 - muddiest point

I'm curious as to why image coding uses red, green, and blue, rather than the traditional primary colors red, blue, and yellow.

Week 5 - comments

http://jordanmoorelis2600.blogspot.com/2009/09/week-5-readings.html

http://brandonlocke.blogspot.com/2009/09/readings-week-five.html

Week 5 - notes

Data Compression:

I never realized how much there was to data compression. I knew a little about it - for example, with audio files, I've noticed that I don't have to copy them to my computer at the highest quality for them to sound good. I didn't know about the different methods, or the difference between "lossless" and "lossy" compression (or that they even existed, really).


DVD-HQ: Data Compression Basics:

This was pretty interesting, actually. It seemed to basically be expanding on what the Wiki article said, but I enjoyed seeing some of the things illustrated - it helped me really understand how the different compression methods are done.


Edward A. Galloway, “Imaging Pittsburgh: Creating a shared gateway to digital image collections of the Pittsburgh region” First Monday 9:5 2004

This article seems to show why data compression could be important to libraries. Basically, if data is compressed, and thus stored more efficiently, then there is room for more content, meaning projects such as this are easier to accomplish.


Paula L. Webb, YouTube and libraries: It could be a beautiful relationship C&RL News, June 2007 Vol. 68, No. 6 0

This was pretty basic - it just suggested a few ways libraries could use YouTube to reach the public.

Week 4 - The Muddiest Point

I have no muddiest point for this week.

Week 4 - comments

Here are the places where I've commented:

http://cac160.blogspot.com/2009/09/week-4-reading-notes.html

http://brandonlocke.blogspot.com/2009/09/readings-week-four.html

Week 4 - Notes

Database

It's interesting how much a DBMS does (development/interrogation/maintenance/development). I don't usually think of a database doing anything, aside from sitting there and holding the information. There are also a lot more types of databases and models than I realized. There are also a lot of safeguards in place, both for security purposes and to prevent computer troubles. One doesn't tend to realize that databases have the potential to cause these things - again, I typically thought of a database just being there. Judging from this, though, there are a lot of little things that they do that never occured to me.

Metadata

This is a term I'd heard before, but I never really gave it thought. I think what made it click is the mention of dates on websites, to know when the information is from - in a computer class I took, one of our assignments was to judge how reliable some websites were, and it being up-to-date was a criteria. I can see how it applies to libraries, though, as adding metadata to something makes it easier to categorize, and thus easier to access.

Dublin Core Data Model

The main thing I got out of this, basically, is that it combines the other two articles for the week. That is, they're trying to make a database of metadata.

Week 3 - The Muddiest Point

I'm mainly wondering what exactly the FAT file system was? Why was it bad, or at least, what makes NTFS a better system? I see from the Powerpoint that it's more efficient and secure, but what makes it so?

Assignment 2 - flickr

Here's the link to my digitization/flickr stuff:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42525296@N08/

I have several pictures that show the different stages of a costume I'm making, plus a few of things around the house.

Week 3 - comments

Here are the comments I've made for week 3:

http://brandonlocke.blogspot.com/2009/09/readings-week-three.html

http://jordanmoorelis2600.blogspot.com/2009/09/week-2-readings.html

Week 2 - The Muddiest Point

I don't know if this really counts as a "muddy" point, but I am curious about how the manufacturers know how long their media will last, as listed in the slide about "Media Life Expectancies" (slide 56). I especially wonder this about Microfilm, with its potential life span of 500 years - the media is not yet that old, so I wonder what sort of tests they've done that let them know it could last that long.

Week 3 - notes

Introduction to Linux, Mac OS X, and An Update on the Windows Roadmap

I really have nothing to say about any reading in particular. They all seemed pretty straightforward, simply talking about what each system does.

Unlike last week, where the "hardware" page was a refresher for me, this is all totally new - I had a vague idea about how the operating systems differ from each other, but I didn't know anything specific about any of them.

week 2 - notes

Computer Hardware

Most of this information is things I already know the basics of, but it's good to get a refresher. Especially for the components of the motherboard - for a lot of those, I knew they were present in the system, but didn't know exactly what they did.

Personally, I found it interesting that video game graphics are evolving faster than the video capabilities of computers. I always felt like I was one of only a few who couldn't play new games because of having an outdated computer, but reading this, it seems that I would have that problem, even if I always updated my computer. Also, I think it's interesting that the graphics cards must be made more advanced to catch up to the video games, rather than the makers of video games working within the limits of current graphic capabilities.

It was also interesting to me to see a mention of a Zip drive on here, because I used to have one. At the time, it seemed great because a zip disk could hold so much information. However, it rarely worked well. I hadn't thought about it for a long time until I saw the mention of it on this page. It really is fascinating how, while some technologies end up altering the way we do things (such as iPods or cell phones), some generate a lot of buzz for a while and then just sort of fade away.


Moore's Law (video)

Basically, this "law" says that the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit doubles about every two years. What I find really interesting is how many other areas of technology this idea also applies to. It's also interesting how something that was first observed as a general trend has now become a goal.

The video that went with this gave an interesting perspective. By telling what an exponential increase would be in gas mileage or paper folds, it really shows how astounding it is that technology is able to maintain the steady exponential increase.


Computer History Museum

I wasn't quite sure what part of this site we were supposed to read through, so I looked through the section "The Silicon Engine." One thing often overlooked (by me, at least) is just how many people and companies contributed to computer technology over the years. You often hear about the big breakthroughs along the way, but don't think much about all the little steps that made those breakthroughs possible. Looking through the list of people here, I haven't heard of a majority of them, and yet they all contributed in some way.

Week 1 - the muddiest point

Being that this was just an introductory class, nothing has come up yet that seems unclear to me. Everything seems pretty straightforward thus far.

Assignment 1 - Week 1 - notes

OCLC report: Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers (2004).

"Containers" are things like books, journals, and CDs - the 'unbundling' of these containers has changed how information is looked at (for example, a person can preview a book on Amazon rather than physically look through it before buying it). This, then, affects how libraries and sellers present the information.

Because things are now more readily accessible, the "container" is no longer the important thing - what is important is getting the content quickly and easily. This means not just computers in general, but also things like cell phones and iPods. Because of this, "microcontent," things like single songs or a cell phone wallpaper, is now commonplace and readily paid for.

People are also progressing towards "on-demand" content. Libraries must adapt to this trend - for example, more are choosing magazines that can be viewed online. Another example, in my experience, is the library offering audiobooks for the patron to download.

Last, because information is so readily available by way of search engines such as Google, it is no longer in context, as it would be if it were compiled in a book. Some search engines are trying to remedy this by bringing up search results by category.


Clifford Lynch, “Information Literacy and Information Technology Literacy: New Components in the Curriculum for a Digital Culture”

Gaining a basic knowledge of technology is good, but it is not enough. Skills must be taught that let the student adapt in the face of rapidly-changing technologies - for example, learning basic trouble-shooting skills, so they will know what to do if they encounter a problem down the line.

It is also important for the student to learn a broad view of technology, so that they can see how many things in society are connected.


Vaughan, J. (2005). Lied Library @ four years: technology never stands still. Library Hi Tech, 23(1), 34-49.

In a span of four years, the Lied Library system added more new technologies than they had initially installed. This paper shows what that requires. For example, time to swap the technology (such as when they upgraded the computers), and money for maintenance and licensing. There is also the matter of how to distribute their resources, such as how to allow students to do research when all computers are in use. The paper also addresses how they dealt with issues such as theft, space constraints, and software glitches.

Hello!

This is going to be my blog for my LIS2600 class, in Fall of 2009.