Week 5 Comments

I posted on Rachel's blog:
http://rachelnashintroit.blogspot.com/2009/09/week-5-reading-notes.html?showComment=1254239835829#c6088941898296275160

and Sarah's blog:
http://2600infototechnology.blogspot.com/2009/09/5th-reading.html?showComment=1254240283733#c2336991257546069380

Muddiest Point: Week 4

I was a little confused about the MARC system. I was unsure what the second number stood for. I was also wondering if the numbers where in any particular order, for example in the Dewey decimal system the numbers refer to a specific subject. Is it the same idea with the MARC code or are the numbers assigned to different bibliographic information (e.g. author, title, etc) arbitrary?

Readings: Week 5

Data Compression Wiki- I like the way that this article described the difference between lossless versus lossy compression. The examples such as the string of 8’s were very clear which enabled me to understand more clearly how they work.

Data Compression basics-While I appreciate the author’s attempt to simplify these types of compression into plain language, I still found myself very confused. I was able to follow pretty well until the idea of picture compression. I’m not quite sure how a lot of those methods work, I think I get the main idea, but beyond a basic “sort of” grasp, I didn’t really understand it. Also a lot of these methods seem to only shorten data by a little bit which seems useless to me. I suppose in vast quantities it might help, but the examples they gave made it not seem worthwhile. This was especially true in the discussion of the entropy method specifically the arithmetic coding section.

“Imaging Pittsburgh”- This is a very interesting idea. I like that they are collaborating to provide a more comprehensive website for photographs of the region. It would be much easier to search one site if you are looking for photographs from a specific time period or of a specific neighborhood, instead of trying to figure out which institutions have the photographs you are looking for. The metadata challenge section was interesting as well. The problem they experienced with differing ideas of vocabulary seems to be a common one when collections from different institutions are brought together. Overall, this article brings to light interesting issues dealing with composite online collections. Information like this will undoubtedly become more useful as more websites like these are an inevitable part of the demand for easily accessible material on the web.

YouTube and Libraries- I really like this idea. Especially the suggestion about posting videos about how to use some of the library services such as the website and online journals and databases. This would provide useful information, especially in an academic setting. As an undergrad I often didn’t was to bother library staff with simple questions like this, even though I often had them. With a system like this those who felt the same way I did would have access to a simple solution.

Week 4 Comments

I commented on Ashley's blog:
http://laine05.blogspot.com/2009/09/reading-notes-for-week-four.html?showComment=1253588290331#c8412859563504682700
and Natalie's blog:
http://introtoinfo.blogspot.com/2009/09/week-4-readings.html?showComment=1253588870429#c1781939510401074816

Readings: Week 4

The Database wikipedia page made me realize how many different kinds of databases there actually are. The whole thing got a bit technical for me.

The text of the Metadata article was rather confusing, it seemed that the definition of what metadata is changed several times within the reading. Table 2 (the one that breaks down types of metadata) was very helpful in discerning that different types of data a bit more clearly then the text.

The Dublin Core article was a bit hard to follow at times as well, it seemed to get extremely technical with the programing codes written out in the last part of the essay. Though it seem like a good idea in general, standardizing a lot of the information retrieval methods would definitely help in many situations.

Muddiest Point: Week 3

I was just wondering, once an open source program has been altered, does it go back to the distributor or does it simply go out from the person who changed it? I was also wondering if there is a safe guard against malicious code or is it just trust that people will be honest?

Week 3 comments

http://lid25lis2600.blogspot.com/2009/09/reading-notes-3.html?showComment=1253029779441#c6584920217457485034

http://mdelielis2600response.blogspot.com/2009/09/week-3-response-microsoft-vista.html?showComment=1253030239303#c1994319235177531223

Assignment #2

Here is the Url to my flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sajlis2600/

Readings: Week 3

While I was reading the document about Linux and UNIX systems I noticed a few things that seemed a bit confusing. For one despite the claims that Linux is now easy to use (though they admit not as easy as Windows or Macs) it all seemed very complicated. They discuss things like customizing the basic system to fit your computer and made it sound like a necessity. So while it may be a fantastic operating system that is superior to Windows and Mac in stability and security, for me (I’m bit technologically challenged) I’ll stay with the more user friendly systems.

I ran across a few things that peaked my curiosity and if any one happens to know the answers please let me know. Thanks!
They mention the programming language C. Is that the forerunner to C+ and C++?
I was surprised to see mozilla as a link to view Linux desktop examples. Is Firefox a Linux based system?
Can Linux users read MS Office documents if Linux runs clone systems? What about vise versa?
What is GNU?

I read the Windows article second and what struck me most was the vast difference in the tone from the Linux article. While the Linux article seemed to have the feel of passionate users trying to help those who are interested in becoming new users, the windows article had a stale corporate feel. It seemed to do nothing but assure and sooth consumers with completely positive phrases. In short, it made me feel that they were only after my money and trying to distract attention from the problems with their newest system.

The document dealing with Mac OS X was a bit too technical for me. As I mentioned before, I’m not exactly a technology wiz and I had a hard time reading the Mac document, just because they used terms that I am unfamiliar with and made little or no attempt to explain them. Though I admit it would be interesting to look at this in comparison to how systems like Windows or Linux worked… that is if I actually knew how those other systems worked in any detail.

Muddiest Point: Week #2

I was a bit confused about the speed of a CPU. I understood that the CPU regularly generates electronic pulses, but what I did not understand was how often those pulses occur and if it matters. Is the speed calculated by the amount of data it can process between each of those pulses or is it the amount it can process per second?

Assignment #1

In article by Clifford Lynch, he argues that current information 'literacy' of nonprofessionals is not good enough. He argues that we must rather be education in information technology, that in gaining a broader understanding of the history an underlying systems the knowledge will have a longer life span. I'm not completely convinced of his argument, for the most part it seems that people who are not computer or information professionals will not need a more detailed understanding of underlying systems, but rather how to simply operate any given program and adapt to any upgrades.

The article pertaining to the Lied Library discusses in detail the difficulties faced by a university library in an ever evolving technical environment. It offers some very helpful tips and advice for anyone who is in charge of a library such as this. Some of these include ways to deal with a community of both students and community members. They discuss ideas such as restricting the use of computers to community members at peak times, such as during midterms and finals, and restricting the programs that community members can access.
The article also discusses important issues such as dealing with computer safety and functionality. They discuss the use of Deepfreeze, a program that erases anything installed by a user when they log out, thereby preventing most viruses. They also mention that they have several backups on hand to quickly replace any malfunctioning hardware.

While reading the OCLC report from 2004, it struck me how quickly technology changes. While the report is only five years old we can already see how many of thier predictions have come true and how many have not, and most of them appear to have been correct. The article mentions the use of cell phones and smart phones several times. In this case, they seem to have been correct. The use of smart phones has become extremely popular, owing largely to the wide spread availbility of 3G networks which allow users to access the internet anywhere.
The article also mentions the idea of micropayments. It discusses the widespread use of charging small amounts for smaller pieces of something. They use the example of paying 99 cents for one song instead of $15.00 for a whole CD. It also discusses that we may be able to access small pieces of articles, but must pay for the whole thing. While this practice is still in widespread use, one thing which has been happening with more and more frequency is the use of advertising to offset costs. It seems that more content is being offered to the consumer for free, but when we access it, we are inundated with advertisements.