Thursday, December 2, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Muddiest Point 11/15/2010
I do not have a muddy point from class today but I was wondering about how to link my pages together in Dreamweaver, as well as posting pictures to the page(s). I understand that this question may be best answered in the Lab, but I thought I'd post it in here as well and see if anybody could help me out.
Unit 11
Web Search Engines: Part 1 and Part 2
I am not really sure what I was supposed to look at/read for this article(s), so I just looked at the table of content and the website in general. From what I saw it seemed like they had a good number of articles on various subjects, especially in dealing with the IT world. I did not get a chance to read any of the articles but from just reading the authors mini biographies, I got the feeling that these articles were being written by people who know what they are talking about.
Current developments and future trends for the OAI protocol for metadata harvesting
The information in this article was informative, especially since I do not have that much background knowledge about OAI’s. The liked how the authors listed why something was both good and bad. Most articles go one way or the other, forcing readers to read multiple articles to get both sides of the story. Having everything in one place was very helpful I felt. I also liked how they listen various programs in work, such as the Sheet Music Consortium and Community- and Domain-specific OAI services. I am interested in how these services can be expanded in the future.
“The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value”
The analogy in the begging about the Web being a sea was entertaining. I don’t think I fully understand exactly what the Deep Web is, but the way they explained their research and everything was very well done. Unlike after reading some articles and questioning where their information came from, I knew exactly where this information came from and how it came to be. I greatly appreciated it.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Muddy Point from Nov. 8
What is XSL? I was going over the slides and saw this in a few of them but could not readily find any point where it was explained. Also, simplecontent v. complexcontent? I'm a little unsure about this as well.
Unit 10 Readings
Digital Libraries: challenges and influential work
It is amazing to me how one thing can lead to another. Like how Google grew from the research the people with the Stanford DLI-1 project did. Although, it seems normal for this to happen, it is still amazing and interesting to see it happen. Hopefully federal funding will continue to be given to institutions to keep these projects going. More powerful and helpful research tools can and will be created with the help of federal government. This in turn will allow students and other researchers the change to look at more things to improve their theses.
Dewey meets Turing: librarians, computer scientists and the digital libraries initiative
The analogy of the parents with a child is slightly entertaining and describes the relationship between computer scientists and librarians and with the World Wide Web. The relationship though is a tad strained, at the beginning and now. Computer scientists do want to do things their way and sometimes ignore the needs of librarians. While librarians do the same thing on their end. The happy medium for these two is slowly being found. Arguments are still going to be fought, and may always be fought, but compromises will also be found. If a compromise is not found, then these two groups just need to move on to something else. The work that these two groups are doing is a great one. These collections do need to be moved online and libraries do need to find cheaper ways to get the information to their patrons. Hopefully computer scientists and librarians can stay in partnership and figure out new and improved ways for patrons to get information.
"Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age"
Lynch seems to have a good grasp on his thoughts. I am not sure if I fully agree or disagree with him. I may have to go back and read this again to fully understand what he is saying and to form my own thoughts.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Unit 9 Readings, part 2
After reading the Martin Bryan article, I still believe that the tutorial helped me understand it better but it was good to read. This article did explain it better than the original one posted on CourseWeb.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Unit 9 Readings
Introducing the Extensible Markup Language (XML)
This program sounds like a good idea. Sadly, I agree that with the cost of CDs and DVDs going down and Internet access going up this program lost steam.
A survey of XML standards: Part 1
It seems like the creators of XML are creating different tools to expand the markup language. Some seem to be working, others need more improvement before more people will use the product again or support it.
Extending your Markup: a XML tutorial by Andre Bergholz
This article explained XML and the various additions to it much better than the IBM article. I still have some confusion about it, but I think that smoothing out the confusion will only go away after using the markup language.
XML Schema Tutorial
This tutorial helped me gain a better understanding of what XML is and how it is used. I will need to go through this tutorial a few more times before I am fully comfortable with the language, but it is a good start
My overall question for this is how would this be incorporated into libraries? Would we use in OPAC systems or something else? I find it easier to learn things when they are put into prospective.
Unit 7 Readings
How Stuff Works: Internet Infrastructure
I am glad that we no longer us IP addresses to go to various web pages. Remembering all of those addresses would be impossible. The invention of Domain Names was a great thing. It is easier to remember lots of DN’s than it to remember lots of IP addresses. Either way people still bookmark their favorite sites so they do not have to remember the addresses.
Dismantling Integrated Library Systems
The end of this article rings true, “In the end, it may be necessary for librarians and vendors to dismantle the ILS in order to rebuild it.” The current systems only go so far and can only be modified so much. To fully make everyone happy and enable them to modify their systems to their needs, a new system will have to be built from scratch, erasing the old one. Hopefully these new systems will be easier to use from the end-user end as well as from the programmers end.
Inside the Google machine
It was interesting to learn how Google operates and how they keep their employees happy. It seems like they learn from their mistakes and how they plan for the future. If something does not work, then they take it off. The try to make their employees happy by letting them work on their own things during 20% of their time and by taking them on vacation once a year. By keeping people happy and by allowing them to make outside work friendships, work relationships and work will be done quicker and better.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Unit 8 Readings
W3schools HTML Tutorial
The HTML tutorial was an easy way to relearn HTML and how to make websites. In the computer class I took in my undergrad we were taught HTML and created our own websites. I did not fully understand it at the time, but this tutorial has helped me understand it better. I think that understanding HTML and creating websites only comes through doing and use.
HTML Cheatsheet
This cheatsheet helps keep all the different HTML codes in order. The codes are easy but because there are so many of them it can get confusing as to which does which. Having the cheatsheet will keep them all in order and be there for easy accessibility.
W3 School Cascading Style Sheet Tutorial
CSS was not covered in the computer class I took in undergrad so this tutorial helped me understand what CSS is and how it works. It will also be useful to come back to this to refresh my memory when I get confused or forget what the difference is between HTML and CSS.
Beyond HTML: Developing and re-imagining library web guides in a content management system
It is good to see how other institutions are handling technology and the transition from one technology to another. Georgia State University set up a system and timeline to transfer their existing web-page creator to another one. It was done in a timely manner, which seems haphazard for those departments with large database systems. I think that more time should have been given to them to convert their materials so they did not have to copy-paste their existing materials. This makes it seem like they will not learn the new features of the new system, although I know that they will once the system is in place. It is up to the department, though, to go back and update their page once this has happened, which may or may not occur. Things at GSU seem to be moving in a good direction and the way they went about converting their system is one that could be followed by other institutions. The way that different departments worked together to make this happen shows how working together can get something done quickly and easily.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Jing Project: About
For the movie portion of my project, I did it silently. In the movie, I am showing you about Twitter. I show where to create an account and where to sign in if you already have an account. I also go through the basics: how to post a tweet, retweet, check various things, like messages and mentions. This service is a simple one but one that allows you to quickly see what everyone is doing. Unlike Facebook, you can see what everyone is doing but without seeing their Farmville updates. I personally enjoy Twitter because it allows me to see what various authors are doing, what businesses are advertising, and getting daily jokes from people like Stewie Griffen and Michael Ian Black.
I try to show those who do not have a Twitter account what can be done in the system. Although it is not a service like Blackboard, it does allow users to know what people and things are doing. Yes, this is a little stalker-ish, but it is entertaining to see what some people are saying. Also, some businesses are using Twitter to put out sales. For instance, a local restaurant in my home town uses Twitter to put out a secret code word. When this word is said at the restaurant, or bar, the sayer gets the sale. This may be a free pint of the new beer on tap or half priced nachos. This video allows those who are not Tweeters to see how to sign up and what the service allows once they do this.
I try to show those who do not have a Twitter account what can be done in the system. Although it is not a service like Blackboard, it does allow users to know what people and things are doing. Yes, this is a little stalker-ish, but it is entertaining to see what some people are saying. Also, some businesses are using Twitter to put out sales. For instance, a local restaurant in my home town uses Twitter to put out a secret code word. When this word is said at the restaurant, or bar, the sayer gets the sale. This may be a free pint of the new beer on tap or half priced nachos. This video allows those who are not Tweeters to see how to sign up and what the service allows once they do this.
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