http://citeulike.org/user/randhall
Note: every time that I tried to import new articles from CiteULike to Zotero, I got an error message stating, "An unknown error occurred while saving this item." I posted about this problem days ago on the Technical Discussion board, but no one was able to help me. So, for the second time in a row, I've been unable to do everything that was assigned, through no fault of my own.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Muddiest Point: Lecture 5
I was most interested this week by the comparison of the many different image file types that are available, and I was wondering: if PNG seems like the best-of-all-worlds, is there any reason not to discontinue the use of GIF and JPEG entirely?
Week 6 Readings
Encarta's article on computer networks offers a shorter, more authoritative definition of LANs and other networks than anything available on Wikipedia. Most of this information I already knew: LANs handle small distances, WANs (like the Internet) handle huge distances, and Ethernet is used to wire everything together. The YouTube video was helpful for its brief descriptions of PANs and MANs, neither of which I had noticed before. In sum, this was all pretty basic information, and I'm sure it will be covered almost identically in our next lecture.
The article on RFID tags in libraries was actually a really interesting one. I'd read about the technology's applications for fast transactions and package tracking, but I hadn't thought about its potential applications in our field. The several limitations noted - for example, size and cost - are a little discouraging, but the technology is improving all the time. I was most impressed with the idea that RFID tags could prove helpful even when books aren't going anywhere, just by facilitating inventory sweeps. Shelf reading, we hardly knew ye!
The article on RFID tags in libraries was actually a really interesting one. I'd read about the technology's applications for fast transactions and package tracking, but I hadn't thought about its potential applications in our field. The several limitations noted - for example, size and cost - are a little discouraging, but the technology is improving all the time. I was most impressed with the idea that RFID tags could prove helpful even when books aren't going anywhere, just by facilitating inventory sweeps. Shelf reading, we hardly knew ye!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Muddiest Point: Lecture 4
We briefly noted that there are four main types of databases: relational, object-oriented, object-relational, and multi-dimensional. What's the difference between an object-oriented database and an object-relational one?
Week 5 Readings
As much as it pains me to say it, the Wikipedia article on data compression was really helpful for understanding what the concept is all about. The basic example provided to show the difference between lossless and lossy compression was such a useful one! Sure, it's cool that you can compress 25.888888888 to 25.[9]8 and save space without losing any information, but if you just round to 26, you can save even more space... as long as you don't mind losing some of your original information.
The article on imaging Pittsburgh was amusing for its anecdotes on the difficulties inherent to any grand cross-institution project. The author writes, "Speaking as project leader, it’s difficult for me to judge whether the silence means everyone knows exactly what to do and are doing just that, or they are so busy doing other jobs that they don’t have time to communicate. Likely it is a bit of both." Dear Mr Galloway: likely, everyone involved grew silent because they stopped caring about the quality of their work once they realized that virtually no one will ever want to seriously utilize a database of old pictures of Pittsburgh.
My favorite article, though, had to be the ALA article on YouTube. It is totally, absolutely true that libraries could conceivably make little home movie how-to videos and upload them for patrons' benefit. It's just funny to think that librarians will be uploading these self-help clips to the same site that I use to watch music videos and Rick Roll my friends. In all seriousness, though, the potential for distance learning is enormous.
The article on imaging Pittsburgh was amusing for its anecdotes on the difficulties inherent to any grand cross-institution project. The author writes, "Speaking as project leader, it’s difficult for me to judge whether the silence means everyone knows exactly what to do and are doing just that, or they are so busy doing other jobs that they don’t have time to communicate. Likely it is a bit of both." Dear Mr Galloway: likely, everyone involved grew silent because they stopped caring about the quality of their work once they realized that virtually no one will ever want to seriously utilize a database of old pictures of Pittsburgh.
My favorite article, though, had to be the ALA article on YouTube. It is totally, absolutely true that libraries could conceivably make little home movie how-to videos and upload them for patrons' benefit. It's just funny to think that librarians will be uploading these self-help clips to the same site that I use to watch music videos and Rick Roll my friends. In all seriousness, though, the potential for distance learning is enormous.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Week 4 Readings
The article on databases was interesting in that I hadn't known before that there were so many different ways of organizing data: according to the hierarchical, network, and relational models, at the least. It makes perfect sense that not every block of data can be organized in the same way as every other, since there are so many ways that data can relate to one another.
I also didn't realize how many applications there are for metadata. It's somehow odd to think that every time I tag a picture online or write a caption, I'm providing information about information, even though that's a fairly straightforward description of what I'm doing. The fact that some metadata actually exists from the time of certain data's creation is noteworthy.
The Dublin Core Data Model article reminded me of some of my readings in the philosophy of language over the past few years. It really is difficult to try to invent a natural way of naming and connecting every thing in the world. And that task just gets more difficult when you realize that you have to somehow leave room for speakers of other languages to insert their own names and make their own connections. It's scary to consider!
I also didn't realize how many applications there are for metadata. It's somehow odd to think that every time I tag a picture online or write a caption, I'm providing information about information, even though that's a fairly straightforward description of what I'm doing. The fact that some metadata actually exists from the time of certain data's creation is noteworthy.
The Dublin Core Data Model article reminded me of some of my readings in the philosophy of language over the past few years. It really is difficult to try to invent a natural way of naming and connecting every thing in the world. And that task just gets more difficult when you realize that you have to somehow leave room for speakers of other languages to insert their own names and make their own connections. It's scary to consider!
Muddiest Point: Lecture 3
As usual, there really wasn't much confusing about this week's lecture, so I'll just ask another question out of curiosity. With regards to the history of different versions of Windows, why is it that so many after 95 have had such short lifetimes? It seems that NT, 98, 2000, and Me were each considered top-of-the-line for only 1-2 years each. What's different about XP that has allowed it to succeed despite so many earlier versions having failed?
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Assignment 2: Flickr
http://flickr.com/photos/30346155@N04/sets/72157607204900490/
All ten pictures are available in five sizes.
(Just click "All Sizes" above each picture.)
To view each master copy, select "Large".
To view each resized copy, select "Medium" (or "Small").
To view each thumbnail copy, select "Thumbnail" (or "Square").
All ten pictures are available in five sizes.
(Just click "All Sizes" above each picture.)
To view each master copy, select "Large".
To view each resized copy, select "Medium" (or "Small").
To view each thumbnail copy, select "Thumbnail" (or "Square").
Monday, September 8, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Week 3 Readings
Of the three articles we were to read regarding operating systems, the one on UNIX/Linux was easily the most interesting. It's a relief to know that before I was even born, someone had the knowledge, motivation, and talent required to design a free, universally-compatible operating system. All I've ever heard about UNIX/Linux has been negative - specifically, that it's difficult to learn to use and that only total geeks opt for it - and while all of that seems to in fact be true, I can't help but have a much healthier respect for the OS now.
The Mac OS X article was for the most part too jargon-heavy for me to make much sense of it. I understand that Macs in general have benefits other than easy media manipulation and system stability. Unless I'm missing something, it seems that OS X is mostly more of the same, but with some nifty new applications such as Exposé and decent speech recognition.
I'm not entirely sure what we are meant to gather from the article on Windows XP, Vista, and a ways-off Version 7 other than what most of us already know: the majority of PC users - such as myself - have XP and see no reason to switch to Vista, yet Microsoft is doing its best to force Vista upon us, even implicitly threatening that we'll never be able to fully acclimate to Version 7 in the future if we don't start learning Vista now. I can't say I'm scared.
The Mac OS X article was for the most part too jargon-heavy for me to make much sense of it. I understand that Macs in general have benefits other than easy media manipulation and system stability. Unless I'm missing something, it seems that OS X is mostly more of the same, but with some nifty new applications such as Exposé and decent speech recognition.
I'm not entirely sure what we are meant to gather from the article on Windows XP, Vista, and a ways-off Version 7 other than what most of us already know: the majority of PC users - such as myself - have XP and see no reason to switch to Vista, yet Microsoft is doing its best to force Vista upon us, even implicitly threatening that we'll never be able to fully acclimate to Version 7 in the future if we don't start learning Vista now. I can't say I'm scared.
Muddiest Point: Lecture 2
Most of Lecture 2 was straightforward, so there weren't too many muddy points to choose from. Out of curiosity, though, I have to ask what the connection is between USB cables and computer buses. The lecture made it seem as though buses are purely channels that allow devices within a computer to communicate with each other. If that's the case, then what makes cables that connect devices to computers externally "Universal Serial Buses"?
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Assignment 1: Week 1 Readings
While reading the OCLC article from 2004, what most struck me was the realization that we are already living in the future therein described. The vague mention of "moblogs" has come to life with sites like Twitter, and print media has indeed entered a steady decline. While I could be persuaded to agree that the central task of libraries might shift from storing information to verifying the provenance and authenticity of information, it remains to be seen how exactly that would be done.
Vaughan, in his article on Leid Library, managed to make an awful lot of simple problems sound more complex than they really are. It's not rocket science to re-use the boxes that your new monitors get shipped in to ship out your old monitors, and it's a no-brainer that you're going to have to kick community users off of your work stations when students need to use them. And while some of his brief history is more helpful, it is of limited practical use to smaller institutions that lack the funds to replace their PCs every three years or purchase ten-ton AC units.
Lynch's brief position paper is, I suppose, most noteworthy for the accuracy of its predictions. In sum, information/tech literacy is becoming ever more essential to ever greater numbers of professionals. But of course, we LIS students already knew that.
Vaughan, in his article on Leid Library, managed to make an awful lot of simple problems sound more complex than they really are. It's not rocket science to re-use the boxes that your new monitors get shipped in to ship out your old monitors, and it's a no-brainer that you're going to have to kick community users off of your work stations when students need to use them. And while some of his brief history is more helpful, it is of limited practical use to smaller institutions that lack the funds to replace their PCs every three years or purchase ten-ton AC units.
Lynch's brief position paper is, I suppose, most noteworthy for the accuracy of its predictions. In sum, information/tech literacy is becoming ever more essential to ever greater numbers of professionals. But of course, we LIS students already knew that.
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