Muddiest Point

I'm curious about digital certificates. Couldn't people pretend to certify a web site and then somehow infect the user's computer or gather personal information. It just seems like people create spams, Spyware, Adware, all such things and try to come across as legitimate sites, so couldn't they pretend to be a legitimate certified site to trick people as well?

Week 13 Responses

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2005895256228614061&postID=4887802268580869648&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1139180432200060758&postID=1549671637928643935&page=1

Week 13 Readings

No Place to Hide:
Looking at this did nothing to help my nervousness over the whole everyone being watched thing. It is incredibly scary and frustrating to know that we are being tracked through the very devices we have become so dependent on. And really, is there anything anyone can do to stop it?

TIA & Datamining:
The fact that Total Information Awareness came to be is incredibly disturbing . How it could be developed intending to give law enforcement total access to private data without them having any cause to want it, is absurd. And while it may no longer be up and running, other programs of this kind are still out there, invading our privacy. It's good to know that there are people out there, trying to fight this, but it seems rather hopeless.

YouTube:
This video was no longer available due to a copyright claim. Fits in with all the copyright talk we've had in various classes.

Week 11 Comments

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https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3799366651359702810&postID=6151296410983352629&page=1

Week 11 Readings & Muddiest Point

Reading Notes:

Web Search Engines, Part 1 & 2:
These articles look at Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft and how they provide
high quality answers to queries by crawling through the Web. It also
discussed indexing algorithms and techniques that could be used to speed up
searching.

Current Development OAI-PMH:
This explored how the Open Archives Initative Protocol for Metadata
Harvesting is being used by various communities to find metadata relative
their specific needs. This was a lot of information to take in, but it's
good to know that this protocol has far exceeded its initial goals.

The Deep Web:
This discussed how most of the Web is buried, and the traditional search
engines aren't capable of retrieving content from the Deep Web. The only way
to get results from the Deep Web is to do a direct request with is a
laborious way of searching. What was most interesting to me was that
awareness of this content existing is nearly non-existent. I personally had
never heard of the Deep Web, and would very much like to try to searching on
it.

Muddiest Point:
I'm curious about how long PageRank has been around and if it caught on quickly. 
If Google invented it, it's got to be fairly new.

Assignment 6

I originally typed up HTML codes in Notepad for this assignment. I had a lot of trouble uploading it, so I started over using Google sites. Here is my new and working web site!

http://sites.google.com/site/dls84lis/

Week 10 Comments

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https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=301150766198525940&postID=5836373957895676096&page=1

Week 10 Notes and Muddiest Point

Reading Notes:

Digital Libraries: This article looked at digital libraries. It discussed how the Digital Libraries Initiative projects involving several universities led to the best practices and standards for digital library work. It was interesting to discover that Google came about because of these projects. Think of how vastly different many of our lives would be without Google. This piece had a lot of information.

Dewey Meets Turing: This article looked at how the Digital Library Initiative interested libraries and computer scientists. Also discussed was how the WWW played a huge role in both disciplines. I thought it intriguing that despite all the technical changes occurring, the author was adamant that core function of librarianship remains, which is organizing, collating, and presenting information. This is something that so many people seem to think is not the case. Often when I tell someone I'm going to school for Library Science, I get lectured on how libraries won't be around much longer because of technology.

Institutional Repositories: This article looked at institutional repositories used by universities and the positive and negative effects they could have. The author looked at potential dangers involved in having institutional repositories and how they can also encourage the exploration and adoption of new forms of scholarly communication.

Muddiest Point:
I was confused by the idea of empty elements. Why do these exist and do they have to? I guess I just don't grasp the purpose of them.

Week 9 Comments:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=986394955087168146&postID=1830699345692738236&page=1


https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4619180577856147392&postID=7019179531229777074&page=1

Week 9 Reading Comments & Muddiest Point

Readings:
XML:
The first XML article helped breakdown XML for me some. I seem to get easily thrown off by all the acronyms, knowing I've come across them before, but hardly ever remembering them. It did finally sink in that the start and end of each logical element of the file has to be identified, which I have a feeling will be useful to know for our next assignment.

XML Standards:
What I liked about this article was that an abundance of helpful articles and sites were included. These are sites I will likely visit in the future to gain a better idea of what all is included in XML. I also liked the sidenote that gave information pertaining to the various organizations and informal groups involved in creating XML standards.

Extending Markup:
I felt this tutorial was extremely easy to read. There's still a ton of information to try and absorb, but this was an easy tutorial to go through. It was also humorous. I loved how the author pointed out that you encounter tons of 3-letter acronyms when learning this information.

Schema Tutorial:
This also did a good job of breaking down information, but was again, a lot to absorb. The listed restrictions will likely be handy to get familiar with though.

Muddiest Point:
I am curious if when using colors in presentation tags, how specific can one actually get. If I want a particular shade of green, do I specify "lime green," or how does one chose specific shades of color?

Koha Assignment

URL to Koha Assignment: Vegetarian Cookbooks

http://pitt5.opacwc.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-shelves.pl?viewshelf=33

Week 8 Notes and Muddiest Point

Notes:
W3school tutorial: This tutorial was very helpful. Everything was broken down, very clear and concise.
HTML Cheat sheet: This list of codes would be very helpful for setting up a page.
W3school Cascading Style Sheet: I had never heard of these, so it was interesting to learn that styles define how to display HTML elements. Again, the examples were nice for demonstrating points.
Beyond HTML article: This article was a lot to take in. It basically talked about a content management system meant to manage 30 web-based research guides. It seems that you would need, like in this article, to have a very knowledgeable web team in place to make such a system.

Muddiest Point:
I am curious, since it keeps coming up, why there is so much redundancy on the Web. With 30-40% of content duplicated, are there people trying to get rid of this, or is no one really concerned?

Week 8 Comments

Comments:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=986394955087168146&postID=6749389533435062647&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1139180432200060758&postID=7520109579293723004&page=1

Assignment #4

URL on screencast:
http://www.screencast.com/users/Southwo/folders/Jing/media/5c7b12c3-18ea-44dd-a583-5026e7819941

Demo on how to get driving directions from point A (the Andy Warhol Museum) to point B (the Cleveland Art Museum)
URL for step 1:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30536003@N02/2909261522/?addedcomment=1#comment72157607683070648

Step 2 URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30536003@N02/2909282716/

Step 3 URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30536003@N02/2909314350/

Step 4 URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30536003@N02/2908455059/

Step 5 URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30536003@N02/2908458387/

Step 6 URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30536003@N02/2908463011/

Comments for Week 6

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4736393327020365268&postID=2203647811983901997&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5522596475792783454&postID=843628908685937135&page=1

Week 6 Readings and Muddiest Point

Wikipedia: Local area networks
Once again, having little knowledge in this area, I found this Wikipedia piece on LANs rather helpful. I now know what type of computer network I use on a regular basis.

Wikipedia: Computer network
This was also easy to understand, which I appreciate. I do think I was a bit confused about MANs still. I guess I don't understand who uses MANs.

YouTube:
This video on common types of computer networks was short and easy to process. I thought the guy did a nice job explaining things. Watching this was a nice change as opposed to reading another article.

RFID:
I was excited to read this article because RFID's have been a hot topic with my circle of friends for years now. I never considered the use of RFID's in libraries before, but being opposed to their use, when I was reading this article, I often found myself cringing. I can see how they could be useful though in some aspects. And the author is right, despite our personal viewpoints, we probably have very little say in whether we use these devices or not. Since libraries would need RFID's for very specific purposes, and since they would get used repeatedly, I wonder how much such technology will cost libraries in the end.

Muddiest Point:
My experience with streaming is that often the video or song or whatever has to stop several times until it receives the rest of the information. Is this something that can be improved upon, or is it something viewers have to deal with?

Assignment #3

Here's the URL to Assignment #3. My three subjects were: digital libraries, open access, and preservation.

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

Comments Week 5

https://courseweb.pitt.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_9047_1%26url%3D


https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=271112965323219834&postID=1460070060082134105&page=1

Week 5 Reading Notes & Muddiest Point

Wikipedia:
This definition of data compression was difficult for me to get through. Perhaps if you had a more clear view of what was being discussed first it wouldn't be so hard to follow.

Data Compression Basics:
I found this piece, while extremely lengthy (as the warning indicated), was much easier to digest than the Wikipedia definition. The wording was much easier to get through. I thought the lessy data compression was interesting. How it's more preserving the meaning, than the data.

Imaging Pittsburgh:
This article was interesting to me. I really enjoyed reading about some of the difficulties they experienced. The idea of despite the e-mail set-up, website for posting, and monthly meetings, they still had difficulty communicating. The was likely due to several factors, but I wondered if maybe it wasn't because they were doing most of their communication via the Internet. While an amazing tool, I'm not sure how well I could work with a variety of people over emails and postings. I guess I'll find out in some of my classes, but I think more face-to-face time may have improved the communication problems they experienced.

UTube and Libraries:
I don't disagree that UTube could be used to draw more patrons to a library, but I'm not sure the author of this article actually came up with anything very exciting or different to try. It wasn't very convincing of how necessary UTube is, probably because at this point, it's not. If there had been a truly unique idea, I may have agreed with her.

Muddiest Point:
What I found interesting and a bit confusing was that there is no metadata standard schema. I would think there would be one basic schema that all or most metadata schemas were based upon. Is there one that exists and I took notes wrong, or are there multiple schemas that metadata can use?

Assignment #2

Here's the URL to assignment #2:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30536003@N02/

Comments for Week 4

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2005895256228614061&postID=8025166297668350606&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4181925387762663697&postID=4607901818617335487&page=1

Readings & Muddiest Point Week 4

Readings:

Wikipedia Database:
Having spent little time dwelling on anything computer related, I found the Wikipedia definition of a database fairly easy to read. It does often surprise me that computer terms have been around for as long as they have. The idea that the term "database" existed in 1963 blows my mind. I also find it amusing how things we have in physical formats, like indexes, are often made in electronic format to simplify computers. So now indexing actually increases a databases speed.

Intro. to Metadata
Metadata is a term that I was unfamiliar with until reading this article. Personally, I thought this piece was quite interesting. It seems like metadata makes the lives of information professionals quite a bit more easy. I like the idea that it reaffirms how important it is to maintain collections in digital libraries and virtual museums.

Dublin Core Data Model
This brief overlook of the Dublin Core Model was at times overwhelming. I really liked how they broke down what they were trying to say and gave examples. I'm still not sure I understood exactly what I was reading about, but the examples made it seem like I had some idea. Sometimes, especially with this subject matter, an idea is all I can hope for.

Muddiest Point:
For me the muddiest point this week was what an embedded operating system is. I understand that they're usually on PDAs and other small devices and that they're considered a scaled-down version of Windows, so I guess I'm wondering are they just searching devices for PDAs? The same thing that a PC has, but on a much smaller scale, or am I off track completely?

Week 3 Readings

The intro to Linux was actually fairly easy to read. I'm not at all well-read in computers, so it was a nice surprise to actually understand the majority of what it said. Also, I think it's pretty neat how a college student decided he wanted something made, and he actually made it.

As far as the MAC OS X information, that section was completely over my head. I have no background with Macs and was completely lost on what was being said. The Wikipedia section was more easy to comprehend, but it was a lot of information to digest.

I like the letter about Windows Vista. Having used this, it was reassuring to see that they are listening to user complaints and attempting to correct them. The part about enhanced security was especially nice to read about.

Muddiest Point- Comments on Classmate's Blogs

Links to Comments on Classmate's Blogs:
https://courseweb.pitt.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_9047_1%26url%

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1128670142701200699&postID=1115614067049066208&page=1

Muddiest Point Week 2:
I was a little miffed about what a binary system is. Is it just something that reads codes? Or does it make codes up?

Response Posted on Classmate's Blog

https://courseweb.pitt.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_9047_1%26url%3D

Week 2 Readings

Wikipedia Def.
I found that the computer hardware definition was extremely helpful. Having very little technological background, it was nice to have everything broken down. The fact that the wording was simple and concise also made reading all the definitions much more bearable.

Moore's Law
This piece was a little harder to digest. The terms used were a bit more complicated. It's interesting how the term "Moore's Law," wasn't even coined by Moore himself. Also, the fact that the law being accepted led to becoming a goal for the entire industry is amazing. This man wrote an article and it changed technology. It was also curious to read how there are arguments about whether there are limits on the law or if it can continue forever.

Computer History Museum
This museum looks rather interesting. I expect it would be better for those really into technology though. Their mission statement is ambitious. I'm curious about how exactly they are able to capture how the computing revolution impacts the human experience. Pictures, books, blogs of personal accounts; what exact artifacts does the museum feel captures technologies impact best? I know there's a combination of items, but I wonder what each member of the staff thinks about that subject.

Muddiest Points

I suppose my muddiest point was the muddiest point. Somehow, I thought we only needed to post a muddiest point if we had trouble with something some week. So my question is, is the muddiest point just an extra post we make weekly concerning something we didn't quite understand in class?

Also, I was slightly confused about how we consider one of the common characteristics of information to be "true." How are we determining what is "true."? Isn't truth just a matter of opinion?

Readings for Week 1

Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers

First off, while the idea of the "unbundling of content," is not new to me, I was surprised to find how popular it has become. I feel the whole idea of being more concerned about the content as opposed to the package the content comes in is something that will become wildly popular among younger generations. Yet the younger generations are not libraries only patrons. Having worked in a public library for the past two years, I saw an overwhelming amount of elderly patrons who have very little clue how to operate a computer. These patrons are much more inclined to want to use physical books, journals and microfilm, as opposed to learn to surf the web for information.
At the particular library I worked at, E-books were available and we were encouraged to suggest our patrons try them out. They still were not popular despite our attempts to advertise them. To read that their user rates are growing was surprising to me. Perhaps I am old fashioned in having believed that with so many people exposed to the glaring lights of computer screens during their workday, that they would be uninterested in pleasure reading by computer screen.
One other point I found fascinating was that people are so willing to pay for convenience, that at some point, people may very well be willing to pay small amounts of money for small amounts of information. It never occurred to me that people are inherently lazy, and if paying $.50 for a few paragraphs of specific information that interests them, or is of some use them, saves them a trip to the library, they'll be happy to dish the money out. In the long run, doesn't this just further the gap between the social classes? With information becoming more technological and personalized, eventually won't this leave out the lower class? Libraries are supposed to provide access to information. If they become focused on sending information to personal mobile devices, won't those who can't afford mobile devices eventually be left in the dust?

Lied Library @ 4 Years: Technology Never Stands Still

It is exciting that there are libraries out there who not only strive to stay on top of technological advances, but also has thus far been able to locate the money to do so. If only more libraries had that opportunity.
The public library I spent the last two years working at, was also attached to a public high school and the only library available to the students who went there. While Lied Library was a college library, I was still able to relate to their troubles trying to balance providing services to both students and the public. The library I worked at was a branch, but being newly built, it had the most PCs available, and the newest PCs available. This made it a library in high demand. With no time limit on computer use, our staff often had to deal with patrons or students unhappy at being unable to obtain a computer to use. Often students needed to do research or type papers, yet since we were a public library, it was against our policy to ask anyone who may just be playing computer games or emailing to step aside and allow the student to work. It was interesting to learn the different ways in which Lied Library was trying to provide the best services possible to its' students, while also providing services to the general public.

Information Literacy & Information Technology Literacy: New Components in the Curriculum for a Digital Culture

I agreed with the author of this piece about how both forms of literacy are essential for individuals to be able to perform and succeed in today's society. Not being nearly as technologically savvy as I should be, it is a scary idea that having just the basics down, isn't enough anymore to secure a good job. How much information technology literacy does one have to have to function well in society?