Week 13 Muddiest Point

My question is about the Shibboleth AA Process - the concept sounds ideal, but doesn't all that checking and routing back and forth also have security concerns, as well as potential overload of the network resources involved?

Week 12 - Muddiest Point

What type of software is required to provide RSS feeds? Is this usually part of a web hosting service or do most institutions administer it internally?

Week Eleven Muddiest Point

Are library staff building respositories themselves using DSpace? Maybe it just looks complex on the diagram, but it seems there would have to be an ITS staff dedicated to the library for that purpose.

Week 11 Reading Comments

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1475137707322366107&postID=7838913334025505790&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=108107720927400752&postID=2257692730534722902&page=1

Week 10 - Muddiest Point

I'm still uncertain about the differences between centralized and distributed indexes--why doesn't the distributed index have to harvest metadata?

Week 11 Readings - Institutional Repositories

This article was very interesting for me because my employer is a university. Our new library director wants to establish an institutional repository. From an administrative standpoint, it has been frustrating at times for me to find that institutional materials on past fundraising campaigns were not available, and this applies to many other documents that form our institution's history. I also agreed with Lynch's concern for faculty having to do their own digital work creation, dissemination and storage. In hard copy publishing, we don't expect to be able to escort faculty to the computers and printing machines to produce the manuscript, book or journal so why would we do the same with digital format? Even the simple systems can be daunting for people that have little training or aptitude for it.

I'm glad that there is movement toward making repositories a necessity rather than a luxury.

Week 11 Readings - Dewey meets Turing

From a post-MLIS degree standpoint, I was very glad to read this article, especially if the authors' are correct in their conclusion that developments in the digital library area will broaden opportunities for the library science field. Though the rise of the World Wide Web was an unwelcome distraction for a while, I think it has had a good outcome. If computer scientists and library scientists can continue to work together, the Web can be a valuable tool to showcase new library models and more; it can significantly facilitate the exchange of information between information seekers and producers. We will need to modify our ideas about librarians somewhat. I don't think we will ever replace (or even want to replace) the brick and mortar libraries we love. But librarians and library services will continue to evolve very rapidly.

Week 11 Reading - Digital Libraries Challenges and Influential Work

How nice to read a success story for government funded research. Actually, I know there are many funded programs that are accomplishing great things, but the Digital Library Initiatives really created some lasting success. We are in fact beneficiaries of this success; I've used a lot of full text digital articles for LIS 2000 and we have also used many in this class. Google came out of it and it would be a challenge to find anyone that hasn't at least heard of it.

The federated search model discussed in this article is a very ambitious goal, but well worth doing. Many of the pieces are in development and I for one will be glad to be a part of it, if I can. Certainly, libraries should be part of the development of such an integrated solution and be at the forefront of offering it as part of normal services.

Assignment 6 - Website

Right now my web site is at Google. Here is the link:

http://sites.google.com/site/cindyspittpage/

I am going to try to move this to Pitt's server but I am not sure how to export it. I know how to ftp, but I am not sure how to get this code from google to my PC then to Pitt.

I am already late (I had a major working session this a.m. for my big work project I am in charge of, that had to come first!) So for now it's at Google, but hopefully it will be moved to Pitt soon!

Final update: I finally found a template that worked for me, so my site can be seen at http://www.pitt.edu/~cmd89 or http://sites.google.com/site/cindyspittpage/

Comments on Week 10 Readings

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Week 9 Muddiest Point

I was more clear on why XML is a better markup language after our lecture. However, I am still unclear on if it is necessary to create it from scratch as we did in the example--don't most people use a tool to generate it?

Week 10 Readings - The Deep Web

Clearly the theme this week is searching for content on the web! This article confirmed what I think we all instinctively know: there is a great deal of high quality information available that exists in formats that most search engines cannot index. I was particularly intrigued to read that most of Bergman's selected sites in what he calls the Deep Web for his survey are open sites. Yet a typical search done on a search engine most likely will not find it, and this is the way most people look for information on the Web. Many of these sites I've been to myself-Pubmed, NOAA, InfoUSA-and when I think about it, often I just went to the site directly for additional research AFTER using a search engine. I'm sure many in our class will have had that same experience. This really gives me a lot to think about for the role of libraries in providing the "directed query technology" that Bergman advocates. We clearly have a role to play.

Week 10 Readings - Shreves Article

After finishing this article it occurred to me that the relationship between data providers and service providers using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting has the same pattern as that of search engine companies and every day Internet users. Both are trying to find the right way to index content and provide tools for users to find the appropriate content. I think there is one important difference though; the OAI community relationship are clearly mutually desired and collaborative whereas the search engine to user relationship is desired but not usually collaborative and sometimes adversarial. In the search engine world, search engine providers are often fighting off content providers whose sites clearly won't meet most search queries. OAI providers are working to a "customized
" set of standards to most closely meet their constituents' needs. The search engine providers are operating in a more or less standard less environment--they may have the tougher job!

Week 10 - Web Search Engines Part 1 and Part 2

I thought this two part article gave a mostly easy to understand overview of how search engines work. There were a few highly technical concepts in part 2 that I'm not quite clear on (for example, it wasn't clear to me how the engines identify what a term is) but I was able to understand the basics of the hardware needed and database design required for search engine creation and optimal performance.

Clearly good redundant hardware configuration as well as index design are critical to efficient performance for a search engine. I had no idea that these servers numbered in the hundreds of thousands. After reading through the issues encountered in indexing - spamming and cloaking attempts, dead links, outdated information, secured information - I can understand why no one attempts to index all the content. It's absolutely incredible that these search engines work as well as they do given the formidable challenges that exist in organizing the information.

Week 9 Reading Comments

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2367464305070960355&postID=4341170650280538329&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=633484337573796975&postID=2242785260858344513&page=1

Assignment 5 - Koha Virtual Shelf

http://pitt5.kohawc.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/bookshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=28


For some reason I have two blank entries. They stay even if I check them and click remove. I had deleted some from the bibliographic record after I added them to my shelf, maybe that's why.

Week 8 Muddiest Point

If there was no class do we need a muddiest point entry? Why didn't LIS 2600 have class because of break but LIS 2000 did?

Week 9 Readings - XML Schema Tutorial

This article was a bit easier for me. I have designed databases and I am very comfortable with data types, default values, acceptable ranges of values, formats, etc. For that reason, I can agree with the author's statement that XML schemas should supplant Document Type Definitions since schemas allow more definition. I am still unclear on the namespace concept though, so I am not sure why that is cited as a reason for schema over DTD.

I'll be interested to hear Dr. He talk about XML and making the concept more clear for me.

Week 9 Readings - Extending your Markup: a XML tutorial by Andre Bergholz

Well, this is the third tutorial on XML and I still don't think I could start using it! I'm not sure that XML makes it easier for humans to read--computers, yes I agree with that. But I think I would have to have a purpose for XML first, and then a "learn by doing" session second before I can firmly grasp it. I do understand what it is, but I'm still not clear on how to do it, or where I would personally use it.

Week 9 Readings - A Survey of XML Standards Part 1

This article was really beyond my level of expertise. When it touched on database schemas, which I work with, I was much clearer on the concepts. This is not to say that it's a bad article. On the contrary it is extremely well written and the layout is very easy to follow. I liked that Mr. Ogbuji explained what his definition of a standard is in the article. Though most of the technical parts were difficult for me because I have no base knowledge, I was impressed with the voluntary effort that exists in the computing community to develop systems and standards that make communication across the web better and more accessible by more people. I admire their dedication to maintaining a rigorous process to develop standards; though more than one group exists, they all recognize that not every concept is a good one and won't be accepted but they are at least given a hearing. Mr Ogbuji provided some great resources to learn more which I plan to check out--probably in a year because I will never be caught up from all the reading in the two courses I am taking. Mr. Ogbuji even covers the time concern though; he provided cautions for complex developments that don't have a large following yet and warnings about training sites that may provide older information. At any rate, I've bookmarked his site!

Week 9 Readings - An Introduction to the Extensible Markup Language (XML)

I have been interested in learning more about XML. Up to reading this article I knew that it is used in WWW pages, it is a very good development for web page authors and that Microsoft Office products can save a document in XML format--that's all. Though I work in computing I am not a web programmer and I haven't done a lot with creating my own web pages or web site. I would certainly like to so I have learned some html and I do understand more than the average WWW user does. So, I've used the WWW long enough to know that the wide range of hardware platforms, operating systems and web browsers have meant that web pages don't always look as they were designed to look in every situation due to different handling and different html versions used by the authors. What I learned from this article is that XML addresses this problem, allowing web page features to retain their attributes in a much broader range of situations, and updating those attributes is a lot easier since it only has to be done in one place.

After reading this article, I can't say that I could originate an XML document myself. Clearly some knowledge of creating web pages is prerequisite, but I did get a clear picture of what XML does to make web pages more widely usable.

Comment Links for Week 8 Readings

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4181925387762663697&postID=6842639853632380331&page=1

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Week 7 Muddiest Point

I'm a little confused when discussing wireless. I understand that radio waves are used for the transmission so no wires are needed, but you also used the term protcol to describe Bluetooth. I think of protocol as a list of specifications. Does the protocol specify that the communication is via radio waves--and does the device itself produce the radio waves?

Week 8 Readings - Content Management System article

This article shows what can be accomplished when IT staff and librarians collaborate. I was very impressed that the GSU staff decided to develop their own system, and I continue to be amazed that vendors aren't providing off the shelf integrated systems for libraries. Robust and mature integrated systems are common in just about every industry but libraries, it seems. I think they paid attention to the important details - lots of user input, and an emphasis on removing design conceptualization and implementation from the users so they could concentrate on content. Even more importantly, they realized the necessity of a coherently designed web page. It is very difficult to navigate a web site with too many different design standards. I was also impressed that they were willing to objectively identify where they need to improve--in training, for example, and that ongoing assessment will be done to keep the system usable and relevant. All in all, an excellent reading on how technology is improving library content management.

Week 8 Readings - HTML Tutorials and Cheat Sheet Items

I'm commenting on all three of the html information sites together. First, I continue to be impressed about how much free training on web tools is a available. The creators seem to be motivated by passion for their craft, and a competitive spirit; they want to be the best web resource available. And there are clearly differences. The W3Schools site has a professional look and functionality. It's forums have postings in the last week and appear to be extremely active. The home page provides links to articles about the latest web developments. For example one of the front page articles discusses HTML5 that was published in January 2008. The webmonkey training site on the other hand, appears not to have been updated very recently. There are only four user comments and one claims that the Html cheat sheet is the same one he read eight years ago. It's important to check a training website out thoroughly to determine whether or not it meets your needs. Certainly the basics could be learned on webmonkey, but you'd need to search for the next steps yourself, whereas the W3Schools seem to take great care to stay current, and be responsive to their users. The webmonkey page, too, while providing necessary data, isn't as well laid out and feels more difficult to use.

Assignment 4 - Jing Video and Flickr Images

I don't have a microphone for this PC (it needs an external one), so my video does not have audio. It is my attempt to show how to create a custom walking or running map in a specific area, using the main library in Erie as the focal point of the route.

http://www.screencast.com/t/CIDrxU9IB

Flickr Images (also show how to use Runningmap.com):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30546727@N07/2922688199/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30546727@N07/2922694175/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30546727@N07/2923553866/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30546727@N07/2922726655/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30546727@N07/2923581018/

Week 7 Comments Links

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Week 7 Readings - Dismantling Integrated Library Systems

This article is clearly written for the library community - I'm not familiar enough witl the vendors to comment. But the intent of the article was clear - to highlight the problem of managing library resources and users in an environment where the resources and tools are not integrated. Not being integrates is not the norm in other institutional settings. And from a user standpoint, I find this lack of integration somewhat maddening. It's difficult to determine what resources a library has unless there is very well written documentation about it. Academic libraries seem to do a better job on their web pages than public libraries, but the ones I have experience with don't provide the most clear documentation on what they hyave to offer and how to use it.

Week 7 Readings - Brin and Page Interview

I enjoyed this video--Brin and Page are obviously both smart and funny, and creative people. Google must be a really fun place to work! I'm not surprised that they went to Montessori school; they follow concepts where they naturally go and are willing to let their people work that way.

I like the way they change something if they don't like it. So many organizations are so rigid that the kind of innovtion they practice is stifled.

Week 7 Readings - How Internet Infrastructure Works

I thought this article was very well written. I never knew why IP addresses are considered 32 bit numbers until I read this. This article made a complicated subject easy to understand, and interesting, too. Like the author, it amazes me how powerful the system is behind the scenes, but I also find it amazing at the initiative taken by entities such as the University of Wisconsin to create the DNS system, and how quickly these concepts are accepted world wide.

Assignment 3 - CiteULIke Link

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

My tag for Zotero-Google Scholar documents is Zotero-GS (34 articles)

My tag for CiteULike documents is culsearch (9 articles)

My three topics are:

medical librarianship - tag ml
non-library careers for library science grads - tag nonlib or knowledge
digital libraries in the study of History, Geography and Historical Geography - tag dl with either history, geography or social studies

Week 6 Comments

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Week 6 Readings - YouTube Common Types of Computer Networks

Hm, should have viewed this first before reading the other articles! This gentleman from Relativity Business Technology Solutions was very clear, and it was easier to hear this complex concepts explained in small amounts. Have I mentioned that I usually avoid network? These days, that is impossible; so it's a good thing people are sharing their expertise in this way.

This reminds me of the free classes offered at www.cnet.com, hp.com, and probably many others on single computing topics. I've taken several that are accompanied by video. They last about 4 to 6 weeks, and are self-paced. I highly recommend them, and I will be adding YouTube to my list for this purpose.

Week 6 Readings - Wikipedia Computer Network Article

This was one of the most clear articles explaining networks I've ever read. The section on switches was a bit more technical than I liked but enough explanatory information was provided that I was able to follow. I usually tell people I only want to know the bare minimum information needed about networks in order to function, but this actually was very well written and I was quite interested. Little did I know that I have a PAN right here in my home office. I would love it to be wireless--guess I should check into Bluetooth after all. I've been ignoring it. I work in computing but I hate cell phones and I associate Bluetooth with them. I live in a 108 year old house--it is very hard to hard wire everything! This gave me some motivation to check this out.

Week 6 Readings - Wikipedia LAN article

I thought this was one of the less impressive Wikipedia articles that we have read. LAN is a complicated topic, and I felt that the author(s) didn't provide a lot of connnection between the topics after the History section. I know a bit about LAN's so I was able to understand it but I don't think a novice would have grasped why LAN's are different than WAN's and why we need them. Many homes today actually have small LAN's and that wasn't covered at all.

An interesting item to me though was the role of Xerox - once again, this company developed a concept outside of the realm of copying--what we think of as their main business. Here it was the precursor to Ethernet, in week 4 lecture it surfaced in the discussion about the evolution of Windows.

Week 5 Comment Links

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https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2367464305070960355&postID=7530960071211774113&page=1

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Week 4 Muddiest Point

I was pretty clear on everything this week so my question is actually just curiosity. How/Why did the ILS developers decide to use open source databases?

Week 5 Readings - Data Compression Basics

This article was fairly easy to understand--the examples made it much easier to see the differences between the algorithms than the Wikipedia artcle. However, I was still glad that I don't have to understand this to use it! It reinforced the notion to me that I need to make sure I use the right product for what I'm compressing.

Week 5 Readings - YouTube and Libraries

This is a great concept. I'm sure the library could put videos on their own site, but if no one comes to view them, who benefits? In this scenario, the library comes to the user. I personally love to actually go to the library, but I admit I don't know about all the resources and how to use them. Knowing in advance what is available, if it serves my purpose and how to access it definitely appeals to me.

Week 5 Readings - Imaging Pittsburgh

This was a fascinating read, and a definite relief from all the technical readings. I was impressed with the collaboration of these three groups, particularly the effort to establishing a common dialogue so that the finished product would benefit the people using it. It was also interesting to see a real world application of the Dublin Core concepts. Presenting a balanced selection of information is clearly an issue regardless of format; librarians have always had to make hard decisions about what to carry in their collections. This problem does not go away even with the large mass storage capabilities of digitized information. I also liked the focus on outcomes instead of output--these three groups took their responsibility to their users and their institutions seriously, and have so far managed to succeed in providing a wonderful research tool that also fulfills their individual missions.

Week 5 Readings - Wikipedia Data Compression

One of my first thoughts upon reading this article was about how sad it is that the human sensory system isn't up to the task of visually distinguishing discrepancies in what we ourselves have created! However, though I create zip files frequently for work, I was not aware of the differences between the compression types. In fact, I've assumed there is no data loss at all, no matter what I use. Once PK Zip ceased to be free, I looked for and found a new free product made by M Dev. I can definitely see how this issue could adversely affect a library's digital collections if the wrong type is chosen.

Assignment 2 - Flickr photo upload

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmd89/sets/72157607326973395/

My comment links to Week 4 Readings

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https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8747228788318880740&postID=3332652777327864844&page=1

Week 4 Readings - Overview of the Dublin Core Data Model by Erie J. Miller

First, my thanks and recognition to Rachel Ross for the link to the Google cached version of this article; I had forgotten about that feature. It was a great help for this since the dublincore.org site is definitely down today. Here it is if anyone else needs it:

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:e1fuoT1yznIJ:dublincore.org/1999/06/06-overview/

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is another online, world wide and voluntary collaboration similar to Wikipedia. However, this initiative isn't intended to provide a place for knowledge sharing. This one is being developed by developers of metadata systems to develop standards for a metadata system that can be used across disciplines and accommodate all languages and cultures. My understanding is that, to make electronic resources more accessible, and to enable users to find data on their subject in all disciplines, the Dublin Core group is developing a set of common descriptive elements that would still allow content creators to use their own language, date formats and semantics.

Ideally, I interpret this to mean that I could research a topic and find resources related to it that were developed by people outside my discipline, outside of my country and in other languages so that I would have a very rich set of electronic resources to explore. If this group can gain a wide acceptance for this idea, what a great contribution it would be to the information world.

Week 3 Muddiest Point

What exactly is a compiler? I understand the interpreter concept but I'm unclear on what a compiler does.

Week 4 Readings - Wikipedia Database article

Since I work with databases daily I found this article an easy read. It appears the relational model is still holding its own as the predominant database model, and development has turned instead to expanding the range of information formats a database can store, organize and provide access to. I think that putting unstructured data in a database is crucial to the advancement of digitization. More and more organizations (and not just libraries) are turning to document imaging for storage and retrieval of hard copy files and databases have to make access to that data transparent at the end user level. I think it's good that these new concepts are being integrated into mainstream products--this will help developers to advance the availability of these resources faster. The demand for it is certainly there.

Week 4 Readings - Introduction to Metadata Pathways to Digital Information by Anne J. Gilliland

This is an impressive article written by an expert in the field. I'm acquainted with the term metadata in the traditional sense in my daily work with our database; I use and edit data dictionaries daily and write documentation for use of them regularly. However, I was unaware of how extensive and varied it's use has become. There is an entire industry now dedicated to it. I know it may sound boring, but I find this to be a very interesting area when applied to library science. It's very satisfying to make order out of chaos and while I still love wandering through a library, knowing exactly where to find exactly what you need is vital and has not always been easy to accomplish, even in a brick and mortar library. I use online library sources and databases regularly and at times trying to find relevant information is extremely frustrating; I suspect because it is either not well organized in the metadata aspect, the metadata isn't adequately described, or I am too impatient to pay attention to it. As more and more information becomes digitized, the work in this area will be an essential aid to using the information. It is the 21st century's version of the librarian's responsibility as the "gatekeeper" of information.

Week 3 - My comment link

Here are the links to my two comments for the week:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6958200230416907745&postID=5091243347574691611&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5762270205496001556&postID=3640719018767211399&page=1

Week 3 Readings - An Update on the Windows Roadmap by Paul Thurott

I'm using Windows XP Home edition and I don't recall getting that email! Still, I think Microsoft was hit pretty hard with Vista complaints. As an XP user in the workplace and at home, I'm very glad to see the long support time for XP. Having been personally hit by spyware and malware, I'm very tempted to upgrade to a Vista machine; I completely agree with the article comments that this is a big problem in XP. I'm on my fourth anti-spyware/anti virus package right now hoping to find one that finds everything without overwhelming my PC's resources. Getting rid of this headache would be great, but it can't come at a productivity cost. I work mostly from home and I need my applications to work. I also think the downgrade rights option is a very good compromise for workplace PC's. At our office we are working in a mixed XP and Vista environment and it appears to be working pretty well. The Veghte email seems to acknowledge that the leadership is aware that this was not their best release.

It does sound as though they are trying to be more responsive to customer feedback than they have been in the past.

Week 3 Readings - Wikipedia Mac OS X article

This article was an easier, though still technical, read than the Singh article. This article portrays Apple as a bit more responsive to customer opinion than Microsoft. Though they eventually drop support for some of their hardware platforms they at least provide tools, such as the Carbon Application Program Interface to help Mac software that wasn't rewritten to still run on the new system. Overall, Apple embraces the open source concept in their development and I really don't think I've seen that with Microsoft. The history presented in the article showed a company that is definitely moving in a different direction to attract new customers yet retain the old loyal base.

Week 3 Readings - What is Mac OS X? by Amit Singh

This article was so technical that I have to admit I skipped over some sections that described the operating system startup; this was not detrimental to my reading of the article since reading the technical jargon would not have made me understand it. Still, the author's belief in the flexibility of the operating system was apparent. I got the impression of a company that develops in the spirit of the Linux community, yet it marries open source concepts to a commercial platform. As the author states in his conclusion section, it does appear to be "the only operating system currently in production that, within reason, lets you have your cake and eat it too." If you are into development, you can do that but the operating system is also designed to work completely without intervention. A lot of software you must pay for in the Windows environment come bundled with Mac OS X, particularly multi-media applications and speech recognition software, and there is an impressive list of commercial software that runs on it.

I've never really looked at Apple equipment because my work environment has always been Windows, but this article gave me some perspective. There are alternatives to Windows machines that are viable and don't require sacrificing mainstream applications.

Week 3 Readings - Introduction to Linux

While reading the "Does Linux have a future? section of the document (1.3), I was reminded of my impressions of Wikipedia from week 2 readings. The Open Source initiative is a wonderful development in computing; though it's not a single "place" on the internet as is Wikipedia, the idea of a community of experts of all levels contributing to shared and free information is the same. There is even a similarity in the expectation of a level of standard; developers are expected to retain the POSIX standard (section 1.1.1) but are allowed to add their own revisions. I agree with the author that the continued existence, growth and acceptance commercially of Linux is a testament to its reliability, but I'm not completely convinced that it's for any user. I still think a certain amount of comfort with and knowledge of operating system concepts would be needed for the average computer user to turn in their Windows or Apple platform. Still I was impressed with the desktop application sample shown in section 1.3. It looks a LOT like Excel...how can they get away with that?

Unfortunately, marketing dollars expended by commercial vendors like Microsoft and Apple will probably ensure that only those really looking for an alternative will find Linux and its applications.

Week 2 Muddiest Point

What is the purpose of having more than one level of cache memory? For example, my computer label on the front says 1MB L2 cache. So clearly I have Level 1 and Level 2, but why is it separated in more than one level?

Week 2 Readings - Computer History Museum

This is a very interesting site that I'd like to explore more. Right now I have far too much homework to be able to do more than briefly review the online exhibits. I looked over Visible Storage, a subset of images of an actual physical collection at the museum, internet history, the Babbage computer exhibit and the Timeline of Computer History. It's amazing that they actually built the Babbage computer!

Actually, I can remember many of these items that are now considered artifacts, but I was still surprised to read that HP was founded in a garage in 1939--I guess garages really are happening places; it seems as though a lot of 20th century innovations originated in garages!

I also remember the NeXT computers. My alma mater and eventual employer from 1989 to 1996, Allegheny College, received a grant in the 90's to install several computer labs with several hundred NeXT computers and hire some programmers to develop innovative classroom applications. Actually, they were quite impressive. They developed lab simulations for Biology classes, for example that Allegheny would not have been able to provide for the students due to the physical requirements.

Week 2 Readings - Moore's Law Wikipedia Article

I came away from this article with impressions that I will retain even as the specifics of the facts will eventually fade. Some of the impressions were in fact confirmations of ideas that I already know. CPU's continue to become more powerful and less expensive to us as consumers, even though their production costs may increase. The question that comes to mind is, why do companies continue to match their development and production efforts to Moore's Law?

Clearly, their efforts have yielded consumer benefits--first cell phones were 4 to 10 times the size of today's models and cost much more. Our current camcorder is a lot easier to use than the big one we can no longer get batteries for, and carrying around 25 cds of songs on my MP3 player is a lot easier than carrying around the originals. I know the companies are happier with their profit than my satisfaction, but we both win.

However, the article implies that within the development community, following the law for the law's sake is also a development goal. Is there a limit to how small microcircuits can become? It is an interesting question; but I'm not sure spending $3,000,000 just to find out is a good enough reason, particularly when other components may not be able to take advantage of the available processing power. I think many of us have experienced this phenomenon when our PC has the latest processor but our other components can't take advantage of it, or our software applications are intensive enough that any advantage quickly dissipates.

I think we do continue to expect faster and cheaper computing, in all of our devices, so as consumers, we contribute to the effort to test Moore's Law's limits. However, today's incredible must-have technology all too quickly becomes a disappointment these days. This is a real dilemma for today's libraries, whether or not the librarian knows what Moore's Law is.

Week 2 Reading - Wikipedia Computer Hardware Article

I've worked in the computing profession, and owned PC's long enough, that I thought I would be fairly well acquainted with the concepts in this article. For most of the article, I found this to be true. I've seen the inside of every computer I've owned, at least to clean it, several times to install memory cards and on one occasion, a CD-writer. This article did make give me pause to the idea of building my own PC, which I've considered after reading articles about it in computing magazines that I subscribe to. Standards are changing so fast--click through the links in the section on internal bus architecture for an example--that even if I did master this fairly boring information, I'm not sure it's worth my time to learn it. Could I really come up with something better than all these people that know how to solder do? Almost certainly not, even if it would let me buy that pretty white chassis with the flowers on it.

Reading the article did take me back to my undergraduate days--I used to be addicted to the game Centipede (used as an example of device using a trackball)--click through pointing devices in the article. In fact, I still look for it in video arcades. Having arthritic thumbs makes the trackball option kind of attractive!

It was really amazing to read about the ways people are using computing, and developing it to meet perceived needs. I had read about DNA computing several years ago; how exciting that it may have an application in cancer treatment. I also had no idea that open source hardware design and optical computing devices are being developed.

My last thought is about Wikipedia in general. I've not used it deliberately; I've used it only if it turns up in a search I've done. I guess the idea that anyone can contribute has always made me a little wary about authenticity. However, articles that need more input and/or verification appear to be appropriately disclaimed and I like the idea that a community of experts has a place to collaborate.

Muddiest Point

For me the muddiest point was trying to understand if I have to comment on others' blogs or if this is optional. The material itself I'm getting and I finally have accessing the articles through the library mastered.

I had thumb surgery last Thursday and it is really hampering my typing speed. Not to mention I was out of commission a lot of the weekend. My next posts won't be so last minute.

My post reply links

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1306183455487090817&postID=4323509044503807600&page=1

Assignment 1 - OCLC Article Comments

"2004 Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers" by OCLC Marketing staff

This article resonated with me in many ways. I'm definitely part of that older (I don't know about richer!) demographic that has no problem with the new technologies. I'm past the half century mark but I have 2 cell phones, an MP3 player, have participated in blogs (and now have my own!), have bought many individual songs, borrowed digital texts from the e-library supported by my local library system, am on my fourth PC which I want to replace soon, work almost exclusively at home via the internet, will be looking for a laptop soon so I can take advantage of free wireless so I can work whenever and whereever I want to, and have done a lot of internet research for various purposes. I know from personal experience, and sometime frustration, that the trend toward consumer defined containers is here to stay. However, I can't help but hope that the traditional book and library will continue to have a place in our society. I have a little girl; we love to be on the computer together. She learned to click and hold with the mouse at 18 months old. As exciting as that was for me, it cannot compare to seeing her delight at the picture books at our local branch library, or snuggling with her in a chair to look at a beautiful new book or magazine and reading a bedtime story to her with all the drama I can muster. It's not just fiction though; she loves non-fiction, too. I want both options open to me; so I guess I am exactly like the information consumers defined in this article!

Assignment 1 - Vaughan Article Comments

"Lied Library @ four years; technology never stands still" by Jason Vaughan

Though this article was somewhat of an inventory, it was also a very interesting look at how an academic library is not only retaining its relevancy but is actually making itself a necessary resource for its users. I was impressed that it's technological offerings got people in the building when our other readings for this class seem to indicate a decline in the use of libraries overall, which to me, personally, is somewhat sad. I have good memories of every library I've ever used! This library seems to be increasing demand for its services. Its staff are active partcipants in the redefinition of content delivery that is going on now. The near doubling of printing output at their facility over the period studied also seems to indicate that print itself is not dead; people just want to control what is printed for their own use and this library is providing that control. Overall, I thought that this library stands as a model for the future of all libraries, as information consumers continue to shape the definition of the formats used to deliver information.

Assignment 1 - Lynch Article Comments

"Information Literacy and Information Technology Literacy: New Components in the Curriculum for a Digital Culture" by Clifford Lynch

I think Lynch's persepctive that information technology literacy as he defines it - an understanding on technology infrastructure, it's relationship to everyday life, and knowledge of its history and development - is an admirable goal. I'm not sure that it's currently practical or realistic given the disparity in access to technology that currently exists, even in the U.S. Broadband is not universally available which makes access to more complex forms of content difficult. Generationally, at one end of the spectrum are people that have never known life without a computer and at the other, those that won't touch one under any circumstances. I'm acquainted with both in my own life, as I am sure many in our class are. It's a great idea to introduce it in school and I wholeheartedly support it--but if people can't use that knowledge daily it's typical that it isn't retained. We're definitely in a period of great transition and some people are definitely being left behind (and some want to be left behind!) I hope that more leadership from government and academia will address this void, as market forces aren't going to complete the job.

First Post

This post isn't related to the course readings; I just want to see how this works. I'm working on my first assignment for a MLIS degree from the University of Pittsburgh. I haven't been a graduate student since 1987 when I received an M.A. from Gannon University. Hopefully, knowing how to be a student never really leaves one...