The Straight Truth-ilicious
Robyn-ilicious
Rhymes with Justin...-ilicious
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Readings for 12/2
No Place to Hide
I've had several friends get questioned by the FBI and it is interesting the stuff that they keep track of about you. I've decided that they likely have files for most Americans. I've always wondered what my file would look like. Just thinking about they types of stuff I look at on the Internet, especially depending on what papers I'm writing at the time. A short sample of things that I imagine have made the cut and got accepted into my FBI file: Consensual Cannibalism: The Solution to Over-population and world hunger, Black Liberation Theology, Islam and the Western World, and now No Place to Hide.com.
EPIC TIA
Hasn't England been doing this shit for years, with the CCTV? Regardless tis a bit strange. It is interesting though that the thing people love about the Internet is its Acheles Heel. "Free information for everybody, including the government." I wonder if the rise of Web 2.0 will make these problems worse? The government surely tracks who updates wikis and what type of information they add or subtract. If I write up that Wikipedia article on Vegan Cannibal Muslim-Sympathizers, how long before they're knocking on my door?
YouTube Video
Copyright infringement, or secret government crackdowns?
I've had several friends get questioned by the FBI and it is interesting the stuff that they keep track of about you. I've decided that they likely have files for most Americans. I've always wondered what my file would look like. Just thinking about they types of stuff I look at on the Internet, especially depending on what papers I'm writing at the time. A short sample of things that I imagine have made the cut and got accepted into my FBI file: Consensual Cannibalism: The Solution to Over-population and world hunger, Black Liberation Theology, Islam and the Western World, and now No Place to Hide.com.
EPIC TIA
Hasn't England been doing this shit for years, with the CCTV? Regardless tis a bit strange. It is interesting though that the thing people love about the Internet is its Acheles Heel. "Free information for everybody, including the government." I wonder if the rise of Web 2.0 will make these problems worse? The government surely tracks who updates wikis and what type of information they add or subtract. If I write up that Wikipedia article on Vegan Cannibal Muslim-Sympathizers, how long before they're knocking on my door?
YouTube Video
Copyright infringement, or secret government crackdowns?
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Readings
Digital Libraries:Challenges and Influential Work
This article gave a breif history of the development of digital libraries. There seemed to be very strong government funding in the early 90's for these projects. I wonder how much government funding is still being allocated to this research and development. I also thought that it was interesting that the author recognized Google-Scholar as legitimate competition for digital libraries. I often wonder about the long-term ramifications of having large amounts of academic research material in the hands of corporate scum.
Dewey meets Turing
It seems like the Librarian/Computer Scientist relationship was a match made in heaven. But, just like any relationship, you let her move in and she steals your dog and throws away your recliner. Or in this case, misunderstands the importance of metadata and considers collection development "quaint".
On a more serious note, this article was pretty cool. There is definatly a lot to be learned from these two disciplines. I think that as more library school move to the ISchool format the focus on computer science will become even more apparent than it already is.
Institutional Repositories
The possiblities with institutional repositories are very exciting. I think that broader dissemination of scholarly communication is very important, especially in a peer-review setting. It can also be helpful to prevent plagarism. Apparently my undergraduate university had a database of student papers that could be searched against current papers for plagarism. I'm not sure if this was ever used, but several professors used it as a scare tactic. One problem I always had, and I'm glad the author mentioned, was the fact that the University was keeping my intellectual property. I wondered if they had copyright over my material, according to the aforementioned professors we signed some nature of waiver allowing them to database our papers, but I don't remember reading that.
This article gave a breif history of the development of digital libraries. There seemed to be very strong government funding in the early 90's for these projects. I wonder how much government funding is still being allocated to this research and development. I also thought that it was interesting that the author recognized Google-Scholar as legitimate competition for digital libraries. I often wonder about the long-term ramifications of having large amounts of academic research material in the hands of corporate scum.
Dewey meets Turing
It seems like the Librarian/Computer Scientist relationship was a match made in heaven. But, just like any relationship, you let her move in and she steals your dog and throws away your recliner. Or in this case, misunderstands the importance of metadata and considers collection development "quaint".
On a more serious note, this article was pretty cool. There is definatly a lot to be learned from these two disciplines. I think that as more library school move to the ISchool format the focus on computer science will become even more apparent than it already is.
Institutional Repositories
The possiblities with institutional repositories are very exciting. I think that broader dissemination of scholarly communication is very important, especially in a peer-review setting. It can also be helpful to prevent plagarism. Apparently my undergraduate university had a database of student papers that could be searched against current papers for plagarism. I'm not sure if this was ever used, but several professors used it as a scare tactic. One problem I always had, and I'm glad the author mentioned, was the fact that the University was keeping my intellectual property. I wondered if they had copyright over my material, according to the aforementioned professors we signed some nature of waiver allowing them to database our papers, but I don't remember reading that.
Muddiest Point
How does link analysis work? I don't understand how an algorithm can determine quality?
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Muddiest Point XML
I think that the idea of creating your own tags to created a document is great. What I was unsure about is what an XML document looks like. Using XML language for html made a little sense to me, and I understood about editing content for things like internet ready phones. But what are some other applications? Bo Baker and I discussed after class how he worked for a company that used XML overtop of Microsoft Access to create cleaner documents and do easier searching. Can XML be laid overtop of any database to create documents in the same format that the program already made?
Readings week 11
Web Search Engines Parts 1 and 2
Search engines compute amazing amounts of information, but the author made it seems as though the components of a search engine are relatively simple. I felt like the hardest part of a search engine to maintain is the space required to process and store all the information. He talked about sorting by relevancy, and his option was the newspaper The Onion. I wondered how exactly a computer program can determine relevancy. If I search for "The Onion" the word "The" will be dropped from the search; but, what about "an" or "some" couldn't these terms be used to determine the context?
OAI Metadata Harvesting
The OAI project sounds really cool, I like the idea a lot. I think that it is a little ironic though, that archivists have trouble maintaining the data about their institutions and what exactly they are doing. I am excited to see where this project goes in the future. I wonder if the institutions will be able to do a better job of sharing information so that the metadata can be gathered across instutions and made searchable?
The Deep Web
At first I basically understood the deep web, but I couldn't get past my thoughts of child pornographers denying search engine access to their sites. Now I feel as though I have a better understanding of the deep web. I don't understand how Bergman got the information on the data sizes of deep web sites though. I think of something like Blackboard where the content is changed and added to everyday by hundreds and perhaps thousands of universities. Also, if the information is restricted like academic journal sites, how can you claim to be able to predict the size of the database without joining?
Search engines compute amazing amounts of information, but the author made it seems as though the components of a search engine are relatively simple. I felt like the hardest part of a search engine to maintain is the space required to process and store all the information. He talked about sorting by relevancy, and his option was the newspaper The Onion. I wondered how exactly a computer program can determine relevancy. If I search for "The Onion" the word "The" will be dropped from the search; but, what about "an" or "some" couldn't these terms be used to determine the context?
OAI Metadata Harvesting
The OAI project sounds really cool, I like the idea a lot. I think that it is a little ironic though, that archivists have trouble maintaining the data about their institutions and what exactly they are doing. I am excited to see where this project goes in the future. I wonder if the institutions will be able to do a better job of sharing information so that the metadata can be gathered across instutions and made searchable?
The Deep Web
At first I basically understood the deep web, but I couldn't get past my thoughts of child pornographers denying search engine access to their sites. Now I feel as though I have a better understanding of the deep web. I don't understand how Bergman got the information on the data sizes of deep web sites though. I think of something like Blackboard where the content is changed and added to everyday by hundreds and perhaps thousands of universities. Also, if the information is restricted like academic journal sites, how can you claim to be able to predict the size of the database without joining?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Since I knew the curiosity was killing you...
MySpace does use a stylesheet.
I tried to add some of the code, but the blog kept trying to use it and it didn't work and messed up some other stuff. So I'm not going to provide the example here, but check out your your own myspaces (or is it your own spaces?) Tis there.
I tried to add some of the code, but the blog kept trying to use it and it didn't work and messed up some other stuff. So I'm not going to provide the example here, but check out your your own myspaces (or is it your own spaces?) Tis there.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Assignment
Some notes on the assignment:
I couldn't get Zing to capture video because of my lack of sound. I used a program called CamStudio which is open source and makes sceen capture AVI's. I uploaded into YouTube because I already had a YouTube account.
AVG
Install Screen 1
Licensing
Set Up
Homepage
Scan Page
Scan Process
I couldn't get Zing to capture video because of my lack of sound. I used a program called CamStudio which is open source and makes sceen capture AVI's. I uploaded into YouTube because I already had a YouTube account.
AVG
Install Screen 1
Licensing
Set Up
Homepage
Scan Page
Scan Process
Saturday, October 4, 2008
This weeks readings and muddiest point (Sorry it's late!!)
How the Internet Works
It is pretty crazy how the networks are connected to incorporate every computer on the internet. I thought this article was really great, it explained some acronyms that I had known before, but not known their meanings. (ie POP) The article was really easy to follow at the beginning, but got a little heavy near the end.
Dismantling Integrated Library Systems
Everybody wants everything to be connected. Library systems are no different. It is important to note the shortcomings of your network and be able to connect to a system with better or different resources. As the authors pointed out though, the price of integrating these systems in enormous. I was very excited when we learned about open source library software in class, this article pointed out its fallback. It is difficult to link to other libraries, because they have to use the same network database. It is a huge decision to decide which Integrated system to use, hopefully we are headed toward a futre with highly compatible systems, so that individual libraries can use the program that suits their facility best, and still have access to networks on different systems.
Inside the Google Machine
My computer doesn't have a soundcard, so I wasn't able to experience the full effect of this. I'm going to try and get some headphones and get to the library this week so I can hear it. However, I was struck by the some of the comments related to the video. It is amazing how Google has really changed the world. The philanthropic and special interest programs created and endorsed by the company have done a lot to shape our view of the world. I am renting a house, and my landlord lives in California, before I ever saw the house in person I was able to view it on Google maps, and he was able to view my house the same way. It is a little creepy, but it gave us something to connect about and opened a different line of communication. (ie, you have a nice house, it looks like you've got a big yard, etc)
Muddiest Point
Cable Vs. DSL
Cable and DSL differ in that a cable connection is shared, so if 3000 people are watching TV while I am getting on the Internet, I can feel the results. DSL is not a shared line, but it goes through he phone lines. Do phone calls eat up bandwidth? Why can't cable provide the same private line capabilities? Etc Etc etc.
Explanation for lateness: I was fixing my computer and an anti-virus program was running until about 3 am, I fell asleep before I could complete the assignment, so I did it saturday morning. Sorry :(
It is pretty crazy how the networks are connected to incorporate every computer on the internet. I thought this article was really great, it explained some acronyms that I had known before, but not known their meanings. (ie POP) The article was really easy to follow at the beginning, but got a little heavy near the end.
Dismantling Integrated Library Systems
Everybody wants everything to be connected. Library systems are no different. It is important to note the shortcomings of your network and be able to connect to a system with better or different resources. As the authors pointed out though, the price of integrating these systems in enormous. I was very excited when we learned about open source library software in class, this article pointed out its fallback. It is difficult to link to other libraries, because they have to use the same network database. It is a huge decision to decide which Integrated system to use, hopefully we are headed toward a futre with highly compatible systems, so that individual libraries can use the program that suits their facility best, and still have access to networks on different systems.
Inside the Google Machine
My computer doesn't have a soundcard, so I wasn't able to experience the full effect of this. I'm going to try and get some headphones and get to the library this week so I can hear it. However, I was struck by the some of the comments related to the video. It is amazing how Google has really changed the world. The philanthropic and special interest programs created and endorsed by the company have done a lot to shape our view of the world. I am renting a house, and my landlord lives in California, before I ever saw the house in person I was able to view it on Google maps, and he was able to view my house the same way. It is a little creepy, but it gave us something to connect about and opened a different line of communication. (ie, you have a nice house, it looks like you've got a big yard, etc)
Muddiest Point
Cable Vs. DSL
Cable and DSL differ in that a cable connection is shared, so if 3000 people are watching TV while I am getting on the Internet, I can feel the results. DSL is not a shared line, but it goes through he phone lines. Do phone calls eat up bandwidth? Why can't cable provide the same private line capabilities? Etc Etc etc.
Explanation for lateness: I was fixing my computer and an anti-virus program was running until about 3 am, I fell asleep before I could complete the assignment, so I did it saturday morning. Sorry :(
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Readings - Networks
Wikipedia - LAN
It is interesting to me that the technology for high speed connections was developed when it was. I take for granted the fact that this technology has been around as long as it has. (not that 37 years is a long time, but it doesn't seem like high speed connections have been around that long). Now that this technology is in the public sector it makes me wonder what is being used by the government now? Do they have even faster connections that we just aren't ready for yet?
Wikipedia - Networks
Networks are groups of connected computers. The type of network is generally determined by geographic size. Several computers are linked in a system, usually wired with ethernet or IEEE cables through a routing board called the hub.
I'm not sure what else to say about this.
Where does skynet fit in? GAN perhaps?
YouTube
I was not able to experience the YouTube video at my house because I have no sound on my computer.
Management of RFID
For the cost I can't see the justification in using RFID tags on items. I think that it is a neat idea, some of the applications in the non-library setting make me nervous. (Big Brother Human Tagging for example) But I just don't think that the article justified why it was significantly better than barcodes, especially for the inflated cost.
It is interesting to me that the technology for high speed connections was developed when it was. I take for granted the fact that this technology has been around as long as it has. (not that 37 years is a long time, but it doesn't seem like high speed connections have been around that long). Now that this technology is in the public sector it makes me wonder what is being used by the government now? Do they have even faster connections that we just aren't ready for yet?
Wikipedia - Networks
Networks are groups of connected computers. The type of network is generally determined by geographic size. Several computers are linked in a system, usually wired with ethernet or IEEE cables through a routing board called the hub.
I'm not sure what else to say about this.
Where does skynet fit in? GAN perhaps?
YouTube
I was not able to experience the YouTube video at my house because I have no sound on my computer.
Management of RFID
For the cost I can't see the justification in using RFID tags on items. I think that it is a neat idea, some of the applications in the non-library setting make me nervous. (Big Brother Human Tagging for example) But I just don't think that the article justified why it was significantly better than barcodes, especially for the inflated cost.
Muddiest Point
I'm curious how long PNG has been available. I have seen the tag, but I don't think I have any pictures in this format. It seems like it is really the best format available. So why does jpeg still seem dominant?
Monday, September 22, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
comments links
Week 5 reading
Data Compression
I dug it, I always wondered how compression worked when you do something like zip a word document, and know I know...sort of. Although I have to admit I had some trouble with the word "lossy", it just doesn't seem proper.
Data Compression Basics
This was good because many of the acronyms that I didn't understand in the wikipedia article were covered in greater detail here. It also did a better job of explaining compression, I almost think that this article could have replaced the wikipedia article.
Imaging Pittsburgh
It was really neat to have such a relevant article. It is very neat to see all the issues that need to be addressed when developing a digital collection like this. Ohio Historic Society has several online photo databases and know I know a little better how much work went into the development of those databases.
YouTube and the Library
This seemed a bit like a YouTube advertisement. Though I definately see the benefit of this type of mass advertising for reaching a wide audience. One issue I see, though is, how do you get people to your video? There are so many videos on YouTube, it is difficult to ensure that people are actually getting to it.
I dug it, I always wondered how compression worked when you do something like zip a word document, and know I know...sort of. Although I have to admit I had some trouble with the word "lossy", it just doesn't seem proper.
Data Compression Basics
This was good because many of the acronyms that I didn't understand in the wikipedia article were covered in greater detail here. It also did a better job of explaining compression, I almost think that this article could have replaced the wikipedia article.
Imaging Pittsburgh
It was really neat to have such a relevant article. It is very neat to see all the issues that need to be addressed when developing a digital collection like this. Ohio Historic Society has several online photo databases and know I know a little better how much work went into the development of those databases.
YouTube and the Library
This seemed a bit like a YouTube advertisement. Though I definately see the benefit of this type of mass advertising for reaching a wide audience. One issue I see, though is, how do you get people to your video? There are so many videos on YouTube, it is difficult to ensure that people are actually getting to it.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Muddiest Point
Why aren't there more copywrite issues between developers of operating systems. It seems like the developers of UNIX and especially the Xerox OS developers would have a pretty strong case in the court of law. Are there a specific number of differences that make one OS significantly different enough from another that there are no legal ramifications?
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Week 4 Readings
Databases
Wikipedia
I felt like this article was a little abstract. I've used simple databases before, but with few examples I'm not sure that this article meant anything to me. For instance, I'm pretty sure that the database program I've used before (Dbase in Open Office) was a relational model. So what does a hierarchical or network model look like? How is it different to use? I thought that the history was interesting, but other than that it seemed a little over my head.
Metadata
This article is really a piece of meta-metadata. It made me realize how much metadata is really floating around. The article makes it seem that this data is almost as important as the information it refers to. The layers that form around a piece of information during its lifetime at a museum are very interesting. We start with a document, it has to be described in paperwork to be accepted into the archive. Then it is inventoried, then catalogued, and placed in a finding aid. This finding aid could end up in an online database where it will be marked with several search criteria. The hard copy will likely be put into a binder, which will likely have a table of contents, and be catalogued itself. And this is only a very basic example. It sort of makes my head spin a little.
Dublin Core Metadata Model
I thought that this was very neat. I liked the axiomatic approach of thier organization. The project seems very large and all emcompassing, and I wonder what effect this will have on retrieveablitly. What is the point of a table of contents so large that nobody can get through it? Perhaps I was misinterpretting what they were actually planning on doing, but that was the impression that I got.
Wikipedia
I felt like this article was a little abstract. I've used simple databases before, but with few examples I'm not sure that this article meant anything to me. For instance, I'm pretty sure that the database program I've used before (Dbase in Open Office) was a relational model. So what does a hierarchical or network model look like? How is it different to use? I thought that the history was interesting, but other than that it seemed a little over my head.
Metadata
This article is really a piece of meta-metadata. It made me realize how much metadata is really floating around. The article makes it seem that this data is almost as important as the information it refers to. The layers that form around a piece of information during its lifetime at a museum are very interesting. We start with a document, it has to be described in paperwork to be accepted into the archive. Then it is inventoried, then catalogued, and placed in a finding aid. This finding aid could end up in an online database where it will be marked with several search criteria. The hard copy will likely be put into a binder, which will likely have a table of contents, and be catalogued itself. And this is only a very basic example. It sort of makes my head spin a little.
Dublin Core Metadata Model
I thought that this was very neat. I liked the axiomatic approach of thier organization. The project seems very large and all emcompassing, and I wonder what effect this will have on retrieveablitly. What is the point of a table of contents so large that nobody can get through it? Perhaps I was misinterpretting what they were actually planning on doing, but that was the impression that I got.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
IT weeks 2 and 3
Muddiest Point
Are the hardware parts for all computers essentially the same? All of the material in-class dealt with PC's, but this only makes up .2% of computers manufactured in 2003, according to the Wikipedia article. So do my cellphone, calculator, and car have basically the same stuff, as in motherboard, CPU, peripherals, etc?
Week 3 Readings
I used to run Linux on a partitioned harddrive. I've often thought about going back because I liked how smooth it ran, and the fact that everything is open source. The problem I ran into at the time was I had a WinModem, which was not compatible with Linux, so with no internet access I had a bit of trouble accessing the miriad of software available. I do have a tendency to run open source software made for Linux and adapted for Widows (ie VLC Media Player and Open Office Suite). The ideas are seeping into the corporate realm also. I worked in the dental field for several years and we were getting ready to implement an open source dental office management software package to replace SoftDent (Owned by Kodak).
I found the Wikipedia article much more tangible than the one from kernelthread.com. I read both of them, but I admit that I mostly browsed the one available on kernelthread. I was having trouble seeing the point of knowing the startup order of the machine and details like that. I understand that some find that information important, but I didn't really. Though, I found the history of Mac Os X very interesting.
Windows still reigns supreme, but the security issues seem to be its downside. I have considered many times switching to Mac for security reasons. I think it is good that Windows is striving to fix the problem. I haven't used it much, but I don't like Vista, it seems to glitchy, and I'm not very happy with the new interface. I suppose I will get used to it over time, but by the time I do Windows 7 will be out and I'll have to get used to another layout probably. Windows NT was the most stable kernel and they stopped using it, which I think was problematic, at least they will be builiding off of Vista so that hopefully they can work out some of the bugs.
Are the hardware parts for all computers essentially the same? All of the material in-class dealt with PC's, but this only makes up .2% of computers manufactured in 2003, according to the Wikipedia article. So do my cellphone, calculator, and car have basically the same stuff, as in motherboard, CPU, peripherals, etc?
Week 3 Readings
I used to run Linux on a partitioned harddrive. I've often thought about going back because I liked how smooth it ran, and the fact that everything is open source. The problem I ran into at the time was I had a WinModem, which was not compatible with Linux, so with no internet access I had a bit of trouble accessing the miriad of software available. I do have a tendency to run open source software made for Linux and adapted for Widows (ie VLC Media Player and Open Office Suite). The ideas are seeping into the corporate realm also. I worked in the dental field for several years and we were getting ready to implement an open source dental office management software package to replace SoftDent (Owned by Kodak).
I found the Wikipedia article much more tangible than the one from kernelthread.com. I read both of them, but I admit that I mostly browsed the one available on kernelthread. I was having trouble seeing the point of knowing the startup order of the machine and details like that. I understand that some find that information important, but I didn't really. Though, I found the history of Mac Os X very interesting.
Windows still reigns supreme, but the security issues seem to be its downside. I have considered many times switching to Mac for security reasons. I think it is good that Windows is striving to fix the problem. I haven't used it much, but I don't like Vista, it seems to glitchy, and I'm not very happy with the new interface. I suppose I will get used to it over time, but by the time I do Windows 7 will be out and I'll have to get used to another layout probably. Windows NT was the most stable kernel and they stopped using it, which I think was problematic, at least they will be builiding off of Vista so that hopefully they can work out some of the bugs.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Week 2 Reading Notes
Computer Hardware
Physical components of a computer. Rarely changed, as opposed to software which is often changed. Firmware is software components that are rarely changed (ROM). The motherboard contains all of the pieces of the computer. RAM is the physical memory of a computer (fast-access). Internal BUS ports connect parts to the motherboard. External BUS ports attach peripherals to the outside. Removable media (DVD, CD, Floppy, etc) vs. internal storage (hard drive, solid state drive)
Moore's Law
The number of transistors able to fit on a circuit will double approx. every two years. (Gordon Moore, 1965). Term coined in 1970 by Carver Mead. The most important factor is the density of transistor at a minimal cost, but as more transistors are added to a circuit the chance of failure increases. This started as a projection, but became a goal in IT. New material are making it possible to fit more information on smaller transistors. This cannot go on forever, eventually it will meet a minimum limit, though some predict that transistors will soon be no larger than a few atoms. Improved hardware does not mean improved software.
Related “Laws”
Kryder's Law – hard-disk space
Butter's Law of Photonics – Optical information double every 9 months
Pixel's per dollar
Computer History Museum
I thought that this site was neat. The museum looks like a lot of fun. The website also had good information such as the history of the internet, and a graphic explanation of Moore's Law. The site is very interactive also.
Physical components of a computer. Rarely changed, as opposed to software which is often changed. Firmware is software components that are rarely changed (ROM). The motherboard contains all of the pieces of the computer. RAM is the physical memory of a computer (fast-access). Internal BUS ports connect parts to the motherboard. External BUS ports attach peripherals to the outside. Removable media (DVD, CD, Floppy, etc) vs. internal storage (hard drive, solid state drive)
Moore's Law
The number of transistors able to fit on a circuit will double approx. every two years. (Gordon Moore, 1965). Term coined in 1970 by Carver Mead. The most important factor is the density of transistor at a minimal cost, but as more transistors are added to a circuit the chance of failure increases. This started as a projection, but became a goal in IT. New material are making it possible to fit more information on smaller transistors. This cannot go on forever, eventually it will meet a minimum limit, though some predict that transistors will soon be no larger than a few atoms. Improved hardware does not mean improved software.
Related “Laws”
Kryder's Law – hard-disk space
Butter's Law of Photonics – Optical information double every 9 months
Pixel's per dollar
Computer History Museum
I thought that this site was neat. The museum looks like a lot of fun. The website also had good information such as the history of the internet, and a graphic explanation of Moore's Law. The site is very interactive also.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Some thoughts on week 1 readings
Lied Library at four years:
This was an interesting look at all of the planning and upkeep that goes into a major library's information system. My undergraduate university had many of the programs mentioned on the computers (ex. Novell ZenWorks, and a program similar to Deepfreeze). I feel like I took for granted all of the work that goes into installing and maintaining these programs. Luckily, to log into the computes you had to have a university login, preventing community use of the computers. I thought it was crafty how they were able to combat that problem with the program that kept track of who was logged in on what machine, and how long they had been logged in. It would be nice if more libraries were able to implement these improvements, but the financial constraints can be daunting for a massive project like this, especially with the pace at which technology becomes obsolete. Sometimes I wonder if it is better to continuously update, or if it is better to work with an older, but more stable format.
Information Literacy and Information Technology Literacy:
I understand Mr. Lynch's point that people are a little slighted in terms of what they actually know about information and information technology when they are finished with a formal education. I feel that the depth and breadth of knowledge he wants people to have about these areas is unrealistic and would be difficult to implement. However, things may have improved between the publishing of this article (1998) and when I graduated High School (2002). Technology moves so fast that it would be difficult for people to keep ahead of education, and it would not make much sense unless that person were an information technology professional. I think that working knowledge of complex software packages that deal with information is important, I think that it may even be very important to have a basic understanding of networks and systems. I feel that information literacy is more important than information technology literacy, but it got a minority focus in the paper. I think that people should have a greater appreciation for the scope, content, and quality of information so that they can make informed decisions about how to educate themselves, and then worry about information technology if they need to.
Content Not Containers:
This article touched on many very important innovations in the technology world that are having a deep impact on society. I was very pleased that concerns I expressed in my notes were touched upon later in the article. My main concern with the influx of “information” is the fact that it has become increasingly difficult to verify the authenticity of information available. Anybody can publish a blog, or update a wiki and fill them with half-truths, misinformation, or down right lies. People who are being raised in this world are not able to discern good information from the sea of bad information. More is not better. The survey sited that fifty percent of emails are spam emails. How much content on a blog is comparable to spam. Self-Publishing medical professionals are able to get around the politics of journal publishing and the possibility of new ideas not reaching the professional world because they are unpopular at the time (read Thomas Kuhn's the Structures of Scientific Revolutions for more on this), however, it is also a possibility that quacks are publishing information with little to no scientific basis. I like the idea of librarians acting as quality checkers of this information. The problems then become: a) how does the library provide this quality check? And b) how does the library let people know that they are available for this service? The information available needs to be put into a larger context in order to be truly useful to anybody, librarians now need to create the context.
This was an interesting look at all of the planning and upkeep that goes into a major library's information system. My undergraduate university had many of the programs mentioned on the computers (ex. Novell ZenWorks, and a program similar to Deepfreeze). I feel like I took for granted all of the work that goes into installing and maintaining these programs. Luckily, to log into the computes you had to have a university login, preventing community use of the computers. I thought it was crafty how they were able to combat that problem with the program that kept track of who was logged in on what machine, and how long they had been logged in. It would be nice if more libraries were able to implement these improvements, but the financial constraints can be daunting for a massive project like this, especially with the pace at which technology becomes obsolete. Sometimes I wonder if it is better to continuously update, or if it is better to work with an older, but more stable format.
Information Literacy and Information Technology Literacy:
I understand Mr. Lynch's point that people are a little slighted in terms of what they actually know about information and information technology when they are finished with a formal education. I feel that the depth and breadth of knowledge he wants people to have about these areas is unrealistic and would be difficult to implement. However, things may have improved between the publishing of this article (1998) and when I graduated High School (2002). Technology moves so fast that it would be difficult for people to keep ahead of education, and it would not make much sense unless that person were an information technology professional. I think that working knowledge of complex software packages that deal with information is important, I think that it may even be very important to have a basic understanding of networks and systems. I feel that information literacy is more important than information technology literacy, but it got a minority focus in the paper. I think that people should have a greater appreciation for the scope, content, and quality of information so that they can make informed decisions about how to educate themselves, and then worry about information technology if they need to.
Content Not Containers:
This article touched on many very important innovations in the technology world that are having a deep impact on society. I was very pleased that concerns I expressed in my notes were touched upon later in the article. My main concern with the influx of “information” is the fact that it has become increasingly difficult to verify the authenticity of information available. Anybody can publish a blog, or update a wiki and fill them with half-truths, misinformation, or down right lies. People who are being raised in this world are not able to discern good information from the sea of bad information. More is not better. The survey sited that fifty percent of emails are spam emails. How much content on a blog is comparable to spam. Self-Publishing medical professionals are able to get around the politics of journal publishing and the possibility of new ideas not reaching the professional world because they are unpopular at the time (read Thomas Kuhn's the Structures of Scientific Revolutions for more on this), however, it is also a possibility that quacks are publishing information with little to no scientific basis. I like the idea of librarians acting as quality checkers of this information. The problems then become: a) how does the library provide this quality check? And b) how does the library let people know that they are available for this service? The information available needs to be put into a larger context in order to be truly useful to anybody, librarians now need to create the context.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)