Response to Others Comments

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6887347751761325191&postID=7859984012974237153&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5053881157949942224&postID=7202811550301868412&page=1

Reading Response Unit 14

The DaVinci Institute
I don't think that literacy will ever go away and we'll become a verbal society again. Just think about advertisement, how could that only be verbal? Now, I can see the technology becoming largely verbal, but that I don't forsee happening for quite some time, certainly not 2050. Another part of the article I don't like is the suggestion of having space at the library for band practice and such, I don't believe that even fits in with a libraries mission. Same with an art studio and theater-drama practice rooms, why would these be in the library and not the local community center or school?
I do think it's a great idea though that libraries should be at the forefront of teaching the public new technologies, in so far as the library is able to obtain them by monetary support.

What Cloud Computation Really Means
Well, it would have been nice if this article would have answered it's own title, but the information provided was a bit cloudy (ha! ha!). From what I understand of cloud computation from this article is that it has many different meanings and interpretations. No one definition is provided so I don't understand at all what it is. Or perhaps it was just over my head...either way, I got nothing from it and don't understand what cloud computation is now any more then I did before I read it.

Week 12 Comments

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5116479294225641407&postID=972340837600639119&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7804417981817162815&postID=1142251363849780496&page=1

Muddiest Point Unit 12

• I've never been clear on what an RSS feed is visually until this unit, but I don't understand how it's beneficial. It looks like code to me...Whenever I'd click on the RSS option on a site, I thought I was always doing something wrong because it looked just like code, but then on slide 37 an example is shown of RSS feed....I don't know, I just don't really get what it is.

• I really like wiki's. And I'll admit it, I REALLY like wikipedia too! I believe they will always be around and grow in relevance. I believe many are intimidated by this instrument, but what about an encyclopedia, can't information in there be a mistake? Or a scholarly journal, "facts" can be found inaccurate after further study...

Muddiest Point Week 11

Can't all databases be called DL's? While they each have different end goals, at the essence of what they are and how they function seemt he same.

I don't understand the comparison of DL's with search engines....

Comments to others

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5152184136838295923&postID=6963378323344845990&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7036399065753048748&postID=1148361133856064900&page=1

Muddiest Point Week 10

Bag of word representation does not seem like a very effective method to organize a document in order for it to be found. Unless the single search query were highly specified, I don't see many relevant results being returned. Is there any type of statistical "hit" rate for this method?

It doesn't seem as though all search engines utilize Boolean operators in there basic search field. How is the average searcher supposed to know?

Can you show some examples of a good index and a bad index?

Muddiest Point Week 10

Bag of word representation seems like a bad method. How often is a query submitted that is just looking for a word? Unless the searcher has no idea where to begin and is just jumping in with one specific word, I can't imagine a great deal of benefit in this style of organization.

If you're an average searcher, what's the best clue to tell them if the search system/engine/whatever that they're using utilizes boolean operators because not all do.

Assignment #6 My Website

It might not be pretty but here it is!

http://www.pitt.edu/~rel21/

Response to Others Comments - Please disregard my 11/7 post

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3738264038991209647&postID=4136731172429108538&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8181712083178212707&postID=3081335956090438608

Resonse to Others Comments

http://emc2-technologychat.blogspot.com

Reading Response Unit 10

Web Search Engines Part 1 & Part 2

• interesting that this article calls wikipedia.org a high quality web site. Do they mean fo rthe URL's or info content?
• What is a "hashing function"? How does it enable a crawler to recognize which URL's it's responsible for?
• Crawlers get spammed too, good to know!
• Does a human indexer oversee the indexer?
• When the article gives "the Onion" example as a search query, unless the searcher adds the word satire and or newspaper or something else in that neighborhood, I don't see how the user could be fault the search engine for not returning the desired result.

The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value

• what's the difference between the search engine and a search directory?
• what causes there to be a deep web and a surface web? Is it a choice or a consequent of the content?

Muddiest Point Week 9

• These webpages, I feel like they'll just be taking up space on the web. I don't plan on using mine for anything other then this assignment, what will happen to them?
• It would be very helpful if when you use XML language in the slides you also include what the user would see as a result of the XML language.

Response to Others Comments

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2401688410692832555&postID=4520887556322458762&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5152184136838295923&postID=2734161564624192205&page=1

Unit 9 Reading Resonse

Intro to Extensible Markup Language (XML)

• how are XML & HTML different? I see that XML is not a "redefined set of tags" , so is XML pure code?
• I don't understand what a compound document is
• So XML doesn't "make" info, it just "reads" it and translates it across the board?
• what is the difference between language and code?
• I don't understand what XML is or what it does.

A Survey of XML Standards and XML Schema Tutorial

I do not understand XML at all. in the first article, Intro to Extensible Markup Language, I didn't understand what it was, but I felt like I was on the cusp of doing so. But with the second two readings, I was at a complete loss. I don't understand how its different to HTML. I'm just lost in general as to what exactly it is and what it does.

Week 8 Muddiest Point

• How are CSS commands different than HTML code? It seems like they perform the same function.
• Is it possible for assignment #6, our final assignment, to be due later since we have no other assignments after it?

FINAL ASSIGNMENT 5: Collection Building in Koha ILS

http://pitt4.kohawc.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/bookshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=23

Assignment5: Koha

http://pitt4.kohawc.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/bookshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=23

After attempting from three different pc's over a 5 day period, I was unable to import fully my final two records. I repeatedly received the message that the page was not able to be displayed when I hit the "Add Bibliographic Record and go to items".

Responses to Others Comments

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5152184136838295923&postID=6678984420043198324&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8181712083178212707&postID=9122241610415693435

Week 8 Reading Responses

HTML tutorial

• This was really neat! When I first saw the initial web page for it, I was intimidated, but once I tried the first example, I became excited at the thought that this is something I can do!
• It's interesting that a few dozen words/symbols can create a brand new page.
• The tutorial was comprehensive, I feel like it provided the tools to create a page for someone who doesn't know what they're doing.
• Why for an abbreviation or acronym title wouldn't you just type in the actual acronym or abbreviation rather than "coding" it in?

WebMonkey HTML cheat sheet

• I wouldn't use this, I'd refer back to the tutorial for help. I liked the examples that it provided.
• I'm not comfortable with the page creating process to use this cheat sheet.

CSS Tutorial

• would've liked more visual examples for CSS, like the HTML tutorial had
• I don't understand how it's different than HTML, it seems like an add on to me.

Week 7 Muddiest Point

• slide 22: what happened Jan 2007 to the Internet Domain Survey Host Count?
• I'm surprised some European countries and Australia havae/show significantly less Internet usage; why is that? A population difference?
• How much involvement does the government have with the World Wide Web Consotrium and Internet2?

Part 2 Assignment 4: Jing Screen Images from Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30337282@N07/2914649549/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30337282@N07/2915518024/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30337282@N07/2915526160/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30337282@N07/2915518024/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30337282@N07/2914721161/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30337282@N07/2914732081/

Part 1 Assignment 4: Making Jing Video

http://www.screencast.com/users/rebgeo/folders/Jing/media/fcb68030-91c3-4292-9d92-00a1ad857570

Responses to Others Comments

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4736393327020365268&postID=8983642695450649441&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=954478916342085840&postID=3824437600183974408&page=1

Week 7 Reading Responses

How Internet Infrastructure Works

• If every machine has a unique identifying number, why can't people who commit crimes on/through the internet NOT be found?
• DNS - so it's a database that assists the internet, not an actual part of the internet? That it was called a DNS server and a distributed database confuses me. Is it a part of the internet or a machine that serves it?

Dismantling Integrated Library Systems

• The article says that creating a completely new ILS is unrealistic, but I'm not convinced that it is. Couldn't a prototype be built and tested in a test enviroment so as not to disable an active libraries system? Or just one section of a libraries inventory be phased into the new system so as to minimize potential disruptions? I suppose though if it's a financial issue, than I could be convinced that it's unrealistic.

Muddiest Point Week 6

• What's a flash card?
• Okay, so we just got a laptop and were told we need a router for it to be wireless, what packet(s) is it routing in order for the laptop to be wireless?
• I'm not to clear on what a packet is.

Response to Others Comments

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7114620464717775258&postID=702175685563229399&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2377332459864294084&postID=6612901659740560543&page=1

Week 6 Reading Responses

Local Area Network Wikipedia

• I'm an admin assistant and often have to submit LAN requests for new employees or employees moving to my building, it's nice to finely know the basics of what an LAN is and why it needs to be requested.

Computer Network Wikipedia

• I'm happy we're not being quizzed on all of the different network types, they all seem so similar to me by the descriptions in the wikipedia article. It seems like the most minuscule of differences separates them.
• So basic hardware components are the "tools" that enable these networks to operate?
• I'd like an explanation of how routers work in simpler terms.

RFID (Coyle article)

• Enjoyed reading how RFID would be applied in a library and not how it works. I'm in the program for the for the love of reading and literacy, not technology, so it's nice to see something about how the technology will be utilized in a library
• I don't understand the privacy issue mentioned in the article...
• Concern: cost of tags or outfitting all items with RFID capabilities vs. duration of use

Muddiest Point Week 5

When we shrunk down our pictures fo rthe flickr assignment using pixlr to the thumbnail size, was that considered compression? If so, lossy or lossless?

Assignment #3 Personal Bibliographic Managment Systems

NOTE: The library documents imported from Zotero are noted as "file-import-02-09-23" in the tag and the 9 articles found within citeulike contain "fromciteulike" within the tag.

http://www.citeulike.org/user/pp34893

Response to Other's Comments

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7036399065753048748&postID=3617556443460952649&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2401688410692832555&postID=409335568578202918

Week 5 Reading Responses

Webb's article on YouTube and libraries seemed a bit over enthusiastic to me. I just don't get that these two entities should really have a strong relationship, they're not that compatible to me. Perhaps its because I've never directly used YouTube that I don't see how it could really benefit a library. Is it because I don't use this tool that I wouldn't think of it in relation to a library? If I wanted to see what a libraries got in it's catalog or how it's physically laid out, then I'd either view the catalog online or go there myself. And who's going to do the YouTube for the library? With all the funding issues we continuously hear about in library school, what library has enough resources to allocate some to this venture? Hello volunteers!

I loved the imaging Pittsburgh project and thought it was a really interesting article to read. What I found most striking is that all of the different organizations were able to work together to get the images out there. I took a look at the actual website and it was interesting. Looking at photos from the 1800's seems very surreal, I look at them and it's like they're fakes because they're just so different than posed photos of today. I was also happy the article was not technical, but more oriented to the overall project itself. It's neat to see skills we're learning in the course being used for "real" projects.

Week 4 Muddiest Point

• I still don't know what XML is...
• What's the difference between "compiler" and "interpreter"?

Flickr Assignment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30337282@N07/sets/

Response to Other Posts

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5700113582796394224&postID=8633562066456316939&page=1

Response to Other Posts

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5720842264846496247&postID=8915326318333680817&page=1

Week 4 Reading Responses

The Wikipedia Database article didn't clarify for me what exactly a database is. Now, unless I'm mistaken, I think a database just serves a repository for information within a computer. It's where files, information and data are stored. But then I think, "can it be that simple?" I realize the construction/maintenance of a database isn't, but right now I'm just trying to be sure I understand the purpose of it. Often times if I don't know why something does what it does , I don't care to much about the background because I don't even know why it's there in the first place! I do use databases all of the time at work and do believe that they are digital filing cabinets.

Ahh, Metadata. Metadata is extremely important to the organizational world, but whenever I hear the word, I just cringe. I feel it's a bit overblown. As it simply states in Gilliland's article, metadata is "literally data about data". Maybe because it's starting to fall onto the technical side of library science, but I find it a dry topic not exciting at all. Doesn't it all just boil down to one "thing" being used to represent and/or build a path to that "thing" or similar "thing" within that family of "things"? Sorry to use "thing", but the word document gets tiresome after awhile and I don't think I'm in the camp that feels a document can be anything.

Week 3 Muddiest Points

• OS provide memory management by allocating memory for programs, but how does "it" know how much memory to allocated for each program?
• I understand what the Disk Defragementer does but not what it is; is it simply a program of the OS?
• I'm confused by Google vs. Google Chrome, what's the difference?

Week 3 Reading Responses

(These are being posted early because I'll be on vacation next week)

For week three I read Garrels "Introduction to Linux" and Thurott's "An Update on the Windows Roadmap". My question is what exactly is an operating system? Is that the Windows that has Word and Excel? Or is an operating system something that Windows goes "on top of?" Which leads to me wondering if Linux and Windows are the same type of system. I know Linux is open and Windows is not, but once you get past that, do the have the same functionalities for the user? I'm thinking no, that Linux is not so much like Windows, but more of code that would enable Windows to operate.
I would love to see a list of the most common terms put together with their definitions and then an easy to understand diagram explaining how each are connected.

Week 2 Reading Responses

Computer Hardware http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_hardware

For me, reading this was like trying to decipher hyroglyphics. While I realize the importance of technological know how in the library world, I prefer good old fashioned book side of librarianship, not the new world order of the techno boom. The more I clicked on the links in this article to find out the definition of say PCI, the more entrenched in the mud I became. Now, learning about information technology does not excited me, but I do realize the importance of it and would like to know more than I do, but this wiki just left me scratching my head.

Computer History Museum http://www.computerhistor.org/

I enjoyed this website. I don't know if the words "history" and "museum" took away from the coldness of "computer" for me, but it seemed to add warmth to technical topics in my opinion. The online exhibit of "The Babbage Engine" caught my eye and that's what I focused on.

• I realized halfway through it that the name Babbage sounded familiar because there used to be a computer store in a mall near me when I was little called Babbages!
• I think its fascinating that none of his designs were physically realized in his time, but what if the would have been? How much further would technology be today??
• It was surprising to see that after Babbage, there was no continuous line of development to automate computation.

Week 1 Reading Responses

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

• How would info literacy and info tech literacy be taught in a schools curriculum with the rate at which the technological world advances? Would it be taught as a course or would more technological tools be introduced into existing curriculum for the students to get the oh so important hands on experience.
• Information literacy and information technology literacy must be balanced. I don't see how you can have one with out the other and be successfully well rounded.

Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers

• Can libraries afford to deliver microcontent? Aside from having free services, how can they compete with retailers with their budget restrictions?
• I'd never heard of the term "fleshmet" before this article and I think it's really disturbing. It takes the humaness out of human contact. It sounds like something an alien would say.
• As a book lover, I'm saddened by the information that fewer books are being printed.

Week 1 Muddiest Point

What's the difference between the url for my blog and the url for the feed of the blog?