Week 15 Reading Notes

1) Galen Gruman. “What cloud computing really means” InfoWorld, April 2008. http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/07/15FE-cloud-computing-reality_1.html

Cloud Computing is yet another concept that is new to me! I really like the way Gruman explained Cloud Computing as "Sky Computing with many isolated clouds of service which IT customers must plug into individually." I think it is a great way to define and explain the 7 point breakdown explaining  cloud computing.

2) Explaining Cloud Computing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hplXnFUlPmg&NR=1

Very interesting! cloud computing is closely related to Web 2.0. It is known to be elastic, flexible, inexpensive, and reliable. I thought it was cool the way he explained how cloud computing is like electricity a century ago.
I was at a meeting this afternoon at Hanover School District and they were talking about cloud computing.  They even had one there.  It was neat to see it again this evening on the video. They were talking about how they instituted the BYOD, Bring Your Own Device, in their school district.  They were very proud.  They were actually featured in a national magazine for their futuristic thinking.
I like the way this course has given me the opportunity to become aware of the new trends in technology.

3) Thomas Frey. The Future of Libraries: Beginning the Great Transformation

http://www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=120

I really enjoyed this article.  These are real dilemas libraries are facing.  I love the background information about the preservation of the da Vinci collection, the history of the library's role, medieval times, Johann Gutenberg, and Andrew Carnegie.  The 10 key trends affecting development of the next generation library were very interesting and so were the recommendations for libraries.  I shared this article with my colleagues at Guthrie Memorial Library.  I really believe this is something we should look at and discuss as a staff.

Week 14 Reading Notes

No place to hide site: http://www.noplacetohide.net/

Well, I certainly believe this is completely true.  We are over - recording/ over- tracking but what can we do about it?  It seems we are so consumed with being safe, we do not consider what we are jeopardizing in the meantime.  I think this site is neat to read.  It has many valid points.  You certainly can come away feeling a little paranoid. However, I think about what is taking place on our campus right now.  That is a prime example to support what O'Hara is saying.

TIA and data mining http://www.epic.org/privacy/profiling/tia/

Once again I can understand what is taking place and maybe the thinking behind the concept.  However, are we attempting communistic ways to protect ourselves from terrorism?  One has to wonder. Will the "Total Information Awareness System" and the "Domestic Spy Plan" protect us or make us more vulnerable than ever?

MyTurn: Protecting privacy rights in libraries, By Judah Hamer • September 24, 2008

Protecting the privacy rights in libraries can create other problems.  I questioned this when I first began working in a public library.  I can remember someone coming in to pick up a book on hold for a spouse or a child and we could not allow them to pick up the book without the patron's card who placed the book on hold.  I questioned this and was told it was to protect the privacy of patron.  Another instance is when we call someone to tell them the book they placed on hold is in, we cannot reveal the title unless we are speaking t the patron who placed the hold.  One last example is when a patron returns a book, that book does not remain on their record.  We do not keep a record of what patrons borrow.  Sometimes a patron will ask us , Can you check to see if I checked this out before?" and we tell them we do not keep those kinds of records because of privacy.  We are very careful to protect the privacy of our patrons.

Week 13 Lab

http://liswiki.org/wiki/User:Lmk75

Week 13 Reading Notes

1) John Blossom (2009). What makes social media tick: seven secrets of social media. Content Nation, chapter 2. Wiley Publishing Inc. Blossom_Content_Nation_7_Secrets_Social_Media.pdf 
This was a very interesting article packed with information about what makes social media work and the seven secrets of social media. Until of late, I would not have considered myself a computer person.  I would not have known what social media  and "user generated content" was, not because I did not hear it often, but because I chose to block out the terms and the ideas.  I am now more interested and somewhat more knowledgeable.  I found it very interesting that social media is a peer to peer medium. I have heard of Eb 2.0 but did not previously know that Web 2.0 includes wiki, weblog, and other collaborative tools.
I am very excited to be in the "know" and to be able to take the steps to continue learning.
Listing the publishing goals and the social aspects for each topic was helpful. The 7 Secrets of social media listed in the article gave an interesting perspective.

2) Charles Allan, “Using a wiki to manage a library instruction program: Sharing knowledge to better serve patrons, C&RL News, April 2007 Vol. 68, No. 4 Using a wiki to manage a library instruction program.htm 

Let me start off by saying I agree that library instruction and wikis make good partners.  I have minimal knowledge of wikis and that knowledge I got from my 13 year old son who had to create a wiki for school.  He helped me create a wiki but I do not know much more than the fact that I have a wiki page somewhere out there in the great server in the sky!  I am excited to learn from this article that it is made for sharing information and that you actually invite people to participate.  I look forward to the next lab.
I also copied and sent this email to the staff Guthrie Memorial Library where I work.  I think this is something we should be doing.

 3) Xan Arch, “Creating the academic library folksonomy: Put social tagging to work at your institution” C&RL News, February 2007 Vol. 68, No. 2 http://www.mendeley.com/research/creating-academic-library-folksonomy/?mrr_wp=0.1

Well, well,well!! I have never heard of "folksonomya taxonomy" or social tagging!  These are very interesting "ideas/ concepts". It is interesting how social tagging allows a person to create bookmarks for web sites and can actually save them on line.  I could definitely relate when they talked about not knowing what and where you saved.
I found it interesting that folksonomya taxonomy was created by ordinary people and I plan to investigate del.icio.us, oneof the best known tagging sites, further.

4) Jimmy Wales: “How a ragtag band created Wikipedia” http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jimmy_wales_on_the_birth_of_wikipedia.html

What a great source of information.  Jimmy Wales assembled "a ragtag band of volunteers" to manage his wili media foundation.  I like the idea that evryone on the planet can get a free encyclopedia. It is amazing that a top 50 website, more popular than New York Times and run by 1 employee  is run with a bandwidth expense of $5,000.00.

I found it interesting that there were many misinterpretations about what Jimmy Wales says and what is reported to have been said. 

I will say that in the past, prior to hearing this information, I believed wikipedia to be an invalid source of information because it could be edited so freely.  Idid  not realize how well it was monitored and I certainly had no idea it was monitored by volunteers.

Week 12 Reading Notes

Week 12 provided some very interesting readings.  I found it very intereseting to learn about new search engines, future trends or metadata harvesting and "The Deep Web". As a person who has only had knowledge of the World Wide Web and search engines such as Google, I can say that I surprised to learn about these deeper, more intensive processes to search and find information.  I don't know if I do not do many searches or maybe do not look for information that is difficult to find, but I can say that the World Wide Web has served me quite well thus far. 
After reading ther materials for this week, completing lab 12, and looking at the title for Assignment 6,
I think it is safe to assume that we are now better searchers with the ability to evaluate a web search system.

Week 11 Lab

Week 11 Reading Notes

Digital Libraries: Challenges and Influential Work

This article focuses on the current "digital libraries".  Lynch addresses the concerns about the differences between providing assess to discrete sets of digital collections and providing digital library services.

Dewey Meets Turing: libraries, computers scientists and digital libraries initiative

I think it is interesting to look at how computer scientists have broadened opportunities for library science. It is unfortunate that the DLI money did not go into collection building as some librarians had thought it would. I think as computer scientists and librarians merge, more communication and considerations needs to take place to ensure libraries can provide scholarly support.

Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age

Very interesting  way to explain networked information revolution. Institutional repositories have made a huge impact.

Week 10 Reading Notes

Intro to XML
 This was a very interesting article.  I found the beginning to the article to be easy to understand because it talked about HTML and I feel more comfortable with HTML at this point. As far as XML, The Extensible Markup Language, is concerned, I do feel the article convinced me that XML is easier and makes better sense than HTML. However, do I feel comfortable and confident that I can do it? No! Not yet!
I like how they use tag and element and attribute.  Now that I am becoming  more familiar with HTML, I wish we were learning it a bit longer instead of moving to something new. I really like HTML. I do not consider myself an expert by any means but I do feel like I understand how to use it now.

XML Schema tutorial

W3C, World Wide Web Consortium, is a term I have heard but now I have an understanding. I found it interesting that it was created in 1994 and that it is working to make the web accessible to all people.

A Survey of  XML Standards: Part 1

Very confusing article for me. the DTD and the SGML seem very complex. I can remember feeling this confused when I first read about HTML and CSS. Now I can actually write HTML and CSS pages and insert videos and google maps. 

Week 9 Lab

http://www.pitt.edu/~lmk75/Lab9.html

Week 9 Reading Notes

HTML5 is a language that structures and presents content for WWW. I like the fact that HTMLS5 will potentially run on smart phones and tablets. i think the new features such as <video>, <audio>, and <canvas> elements will be a great improvement. The potential that HTML5 offers will improve the markup language and allow for a more universal understanding and compatibility.

For every aspect of HTML5 video there is a different function. It is interesting how the control attribute adds audio controls such as volume, play, and pause. I also found "Drag and Drop" and Creating a Canvas" to be very interesting features.  I wish I was taking this course in person so I could see and learn face to face.  I would love to become proficient in HTML.

Week 8 Lab

http://www.pitt.edu/~lmk75/index.html

Week8 Reading Notes

CSS Tutorials

I tried to build my knowledge of HTML and XHTML so I could better understand CSS. I am pretty sure I need a full semesterof HTML alone to really understand. I go through the motions, but do I really understand what I am doing? Could I repeat without explicit tutorials?  Not so sure!

Chapter 2 CSS

Well, that was a lot of information! It looks as though we will put everything into action for our next lab! I am always proud and feel accomplished after I finally figure our the lab, but  oh boy do I lose some hair stressing out over how to do them!  Hopefully CSS is easier than it appears! I will become a techno girl yet!

Week 7 Lab

http://www.pitt.edu/~lmk75/index.html

Week 7 Reading Notes

Beyond HTML

What a task for the Web development librarian! Once there were tchnological and manegerial  barriers put into place, statndards were able to be put in place. I like the way GSU applied standards to create a limited gatekeeper. I also liked the way they used a common style and navigational consistency.

The HTML tutorial and the Webmonkey Cheatsheet were interesting. I know they will come in hand in the future.  They are very useful resources. It was funny, I read them once before listening to Professor Yue discuss the class slides and then again after listening to Professor Yue.  After  listening to the lecture, the tutorials made much more sense to me. Go figure!

Lab 6 Marc Record

Barcode: 2012-122468

Week 6 Reading Notes

Internet Infrastructure

I gained a great deal of information from this article. Some of those things are the 2 jobs of a router, what is protocol and Internet protocol, top level domains and the fact that www is the host name.  The following quote seems to sum up: "The entire Internet is a gigantic, sprawling agreement between companies to interact freely".

Dismantling Integrated Library Systems

Interesting to know the Integrated Library System (ILS) was only a trusty for 25 years. I would have thought it around longer. Patrick Somers, CEO of Sirsi Corporation says, " If we can be competitive with our ILS offerings and then truly differentiate ourselves through excellent customer service, new products, and a powerful vision, we win." Isn't that exactly what so many companies are trying to do? the difficulty lies in staying on the cutting edge of new products and differentiation.

Google books Library Project

I agree that "the successful transfer of knowledge is the task that lies before us". I believe there is a big pre- and post- Internet digital divide.  It is important to move forward but to also not lose sight of the past. Just because something is new and cutting edge, does not always make it better.

Sergy Brin and Larry Page

Very amusing and informative at the same time. What a cool presentation.  I love seeing the language labeled by color and the wide variety of languages. There was an incredible amount of activity all over most of the world with the exception of Australia and Africa. 
Other interesting things I learned:

• 1,000 queries per second
• where there is power, there is the Internet
• AdSense > making advertising useful
• producing good content makes $$$
• intelligent related searches
• make $ largely through advertising
• everyone in world has access to search no matter how they advertise
• they never accept $ for services, just for advertising

Week 5 Lab

http://www.pitt.edu/~lmk75

Week 5 Reading Notes

"Local Area Network"   ~ wikipedia

Local Area Network (LAN) is a concept that I am familiar with but I had no idea I was familiar with the concept until reading this article. What I mean by that is that as a teacher , my county used Novell for our email within district. I can remember when Novell was introduced and we received training. We were very excited about this new technology that would interconnect the computers throughout our county system.  It is neat to learn about something that you have been using and merely taking for granted. I enjoy learning the history and the technology aspects.

"Computer Network"   ~Wikipedia

Oh how I wish my brain processed this information better!! I read and reread this article. I do believe I am learning more each time I read. I like the way the information is chunked in this article. The vocabulary is understandable and the the information is broken down in way to allow comprehension. The visuals also help. I am particularly interested in Ethernet  and local area networks. Thinking of the Ethernet as a "well- known family of communication media" paints a clearer picture for me.


" Management of RFID in libraries"   ~ K. Coyle

Very interesting article! It is always important to think ahead and anticipate new technology. I like the way the article encourages libraries to think about RFID and whether it would be beneficial. Would it be better for patrons because it would speed up the check in/ out process? Or would it not be a good idea because patrons would lose that interaction that is very important? I found it very interesting that a circulation station would be able to handle a stack of books in a single read and that RFID would allow a book to be tracked throughout the library.
It is definitely something to think about and know the pros and cons to adopting this new technology.  We currently use bar codes but I intend to bring up RFID at our next staff meeting just to get people thinking about what the future could bring for libraries.

" Week 4 Lab"

Task 1

 

SELECT * FROM isi_jcr_report_isls

WHERE j_abbr='ANNU REV INFORM SCI'

AND jcr_year=2007

Task 2

SELECT j_abbr, j_if

FROM isi_jcr_report_isls

WHERE jcr_year=2008

AND j_if > 1

Week 4 Reading Notes

"Database"   ~ Wikipedia
Talk about taking things for granted! I work with a database everyday and I never think about the complexity of the concept.  I found this article to be very interesting. One of the most interesting ideas was that terms such as query languages, DDL and DML can be viewed as "special - purpose programming languages, tailored specifically to manipulate databases". When I build a query, I generally do not think of it being a special purpose language. Perhaps I will in the future.

"Entity relationship model in database"  ~Wikipedia
Seeing an entity as a noun, an entity type as a category and a relationship as a verb really helped me to visualize the concept. Chen's examples of relationships such as marriage relationship with husband and wife and song and performer relationships were concrete and helped me to relate the idea to how the relationships work.


"Database normalization process"
This tutorial was, in my opinion, well written and presented. the use of pictures and diagrams help me to understand the information. It is very interesting that it actually requires work to de- moralize a database. I am not sure I could sit down and construct a database after this tutorial but i do feel like I understand the relationship between the data better.  Also having the text- text connections from the two previous articles helped to make this article clearer.

Week 3 Lab

http://www.citeulike.org/user/lkane/library

Week 3 Reading Notes

"Introduction to Metadata"
Without having taken Organizing an Retrieving Information class, I am learning about metadata for the first time.  It seems like a simple concept that can be made complicated. I like thinking about metadata as Gilliland put it,  ""the big picture" way of thinking about metadata". He also said, "metadata is the sum total of what one can say about any information object at any level of aggregation".  This does help me to understand the terminology better. The typology of data standards gave me a better understanding because it explained the type and gave specific examples.
I agree that structure is important for organizing and representing data. It would be nice to have a universal standard to explain all collection and materials.

"An Overview of Dublin Core Data Model"
This is very difficult for me to understand because the terminology is new to me. I do agree that there is a need to standardize the way metadata is used. In Modularization / Extensibility, it says "there would never be one "true" declarative set of semantics to represent all resource descriptive requirements".  Hopefully in the future there will be a way to define concepts that can be understood by many languages.

"Working with Endnote"
This software program can be very useful when writing papers.  However I do think it would take some practice. I really like the way you can create your citations. I also think the search for literature tool could be very helpful.  It sounds like once you learn the program, it will save time.

Jing video

http://screencast.com/t/xdjs0gVKra

Jing screen capture

http://screencast.com/t/voRP31l8C

Week 2 Reading Notes

"Computer Hardware"                                             

It blows my mind to think about how much computer hardware as evolved and continues to evolve. The ability to increase data storage and simplify operations so that the average child can adequately operate while simultaneously finding less expensive hardware amazes me.
Reading through the article, I found there were many terms that I am familiar with even though I would not consider myself to be a technological genius.  It seems I know more than I think I do simply by using technology daily.
However, some of the terms were foreign to me and I needed to spend more time reading and rereading about these devices.
                                                                                                             
"Computer Software"                                                               

Computer software reflects how I remember high school computer class to be. In computer class we learned about programing and how to set programs and procedures as well as algorithms. Oh how I wish I would have taken more of an interest then and learned all the "new" technology as it emerged. Of course what exactly is "new technology"?  It evolves minute by minute.  Instead of looking back and saying I should have, I can keep current now and be a part of the future of technology and the future of computer software.

"European libraries face problems in digitizing"   NY Times

Looking at the fact that these libraries will not receive much government funding to digitize and the fact that they are considering a deal with Google interests me from a development point of view. I found it inviting and interesting that Google would offer so much funding initially. But after some contemplation, it sounds like the library is "for sale" and no One should own the library. Caution should be taken so as not to compromise the service for the patrons for the prestige of the collection. There are better ways to get the funding. I think Google is only looking out for Google.  Someone has to keep in mind the needs of the patrons.

"Digitization: Is It Worth It?"   Stuart D. Lee
As I read "Digitization: Is It Worth IT?" I felt there was a text - to - text connection between this article and "Lied Library @ four years" article from week 1. It is important to take caution before purchasing because of how quickly technology can become outdated. As stated in "Lied library @ four years", "technology is fluid and constantly changing". It comes down to knowing your readers and their needs as well as trying to predict and project what the needs will be in the future. Finding that balance is the ultimate challenge.

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