Muddiest Point

When dealing with institutional repositories, I was just curious as to the extent of information that is usually entered into the repository? Do institutions generally just enter articles, theses, dissertations, and their accompanying research and data? Or do they also accept other accompanying information like research notes, drafts, etc...?

Muddiest Point

Just to be clear, we do not have readings due next Friday? Also, how do the muddiest points get graded exactly? I have ten muddiest point posts on my blog but I am still missing a few points on my grade. I'm assuming that the most recent ones were just not included yet?

Week 12 Reading Notes

The emergence of Web 2.0 has steamrolled new ways for librarians to interact with patrons, and created new innovations in the way that patrons gather and are exposed to information. Sometimes referred to as "participatory networks", Web 2.0 elements include social networking sites, blogs, and mashups, which are a combination of API's and data and result in new sources of information (like Google Maps for example). When looking at ways to utilize Web 2.0 capabilities to enhance interaction with patrons, I think social networking is an excellent choice. Almost everyone is utilizing at least one social networking site, if not all of them, and as a result the best way to reach out to a society that is becoming increasingly immersed in technology is to join them. Libraries need new ways to reach today's society and social networking sites are a great way to connect with patrons and showcase the services that the library offers. Social Networking sites can also be utilized for traditional library services, like introducing new books or authors. A simple post on Facebook can take the place of a display case in a library. Also posts on social networking sites would be cool because it allows patrons to interact with each other. Under the post about a bestselling new fiction book, patrons can post their individual thoughts on the work and suggest other reads to the community. Along those same lines is the idea of library blogging. Blogging also allows patrons to interact with each other and is an innovative way to encourage learning and sharing knowledge. I think the problem that UCLA addressed in their article is a common one, some social networking sites are better for exposure and interactions than others, but I also think it depends on what kind of audience a library is trying to reach. For example, UCLA was an academic library trying to reach college students, so it makes sense that they would utilize Instagram because the primary user demographic fits. However, a public library might be better off utilizing Facebook if they are trying to reach older clientele. Additionally, I think the specific purpose of a library's post on social networking sites needs to be taken into consideration. For example, what if a library wanted to post about an upcoming seminar on resume writing or computer skills? In that case I think it would be best to utilize social networking sites that are more career focused, like LinkedIn or a career blog or bulletin site. Libraries need to be strategic in their posts and specifically on what sites they post to, in order to have the greatest impact.

Muddiest Point Week 10

I've been having trouble uploading my A5 files to Filezilla, can I send you my files instead if I can't figure out how to get them onto Pitt's server?

Week 11 Reading Notes

Librarians, Computer Scientists, and the Digital Libraries Initiative

As technology advanced, libraries needed to find a way to stay integrated with an ever-increasing digital society. I personally think it's impressive that libraries had the foresight to begin the Digital Libraries Initiative before even the World Wide Web became a household name. This initiative combined the professional skills of librarians, computer scientists, and publishers to accomplish the task of making information readily available in a digital format. While a brilliantly innovative concept, the path of the DLI did encounter some complications. Most notably, each profession had different expectations for the project. The librarians placed great emphasis on collection development and making sure metadata was accurate; computer scientist professions found the librarians' dedication to these points humorous, they didn't understand why they couldn't just write an algorithm to retrieve the information. Publishers also had differing motives than librarians because while librarians advocated open access type distribution of information, publishers still wanted and needed to make a profit on the information industry. Regardless of the pressure they were under to conform to changing societal norms and expectations, I think it's really honorable that librarians held onto their professional values.

Institutional Repositories

The institutional repository is a reaction from the scholarship community to the increasing nature of digital content. Scholars and universities recognized that many of their contributions to information will be represented, documented, and shared in digital form at a progressive rate going forward. The main goal is both to preserve digital scholarship, and to make it available. Not unlike the open access model that publicly funded research should be available to the public, Institutional repositories seek to recognize their responsibility to members of their communities and the public by making this information available. Institutional repositories create an environment where new works of scholarship can be managed and disseminated, as well as provide opportunities for new ways to publish scholarly materials. Faculty can also take advantage of institutional repositories by using them to distribute extensive teaching and learning materials to their students. The author cautions that institutional repositories will only remain effective as long as the goal remains to advance the interests of campus communities and of scholarship, not to be used as a means of asserting control or ownership over the information. I thought it was interesting to note that this article was written over 10 years ago, but many of the author’s points and insights could still be applicable today.

Web Search Engines

When you type a search into a search engine, like Google for example, almost automatically you receive page upon page of results. It is almost a reactive process: type, enter, results! I doubt many people realize just how much is actually going on behind the scenes of your search in just those few milliseconds. I know for a fact that I didn’t. Not only are search engines crawling the web for websites relevant to the keyword you entered, they are making sure that duplicate sites are deleted, making sure the site is available to the public by its creator, and preventing spam websites that target result lists; and it does all of this basically in the blink of an eye. When running a query on a search engine the algorithm used takes into account many ranking factors to get the results desired. This way you can type your search terms without using any type of operator. The search engine attempts to infer what you’re looking for in your search, so if you type in “hot dog” it is going to give you information on the food not on an animal that is hot. I think that libraries would could benefit from modeling their database search criteria after search engine algorithms. Increasingly, people circumvent searching for information from the library because the search processes can be confusing and frustrating. As an alternative more and more people turn to sites like Google for their search, regardless of how reliable or not the information is. 

Muddiest Point Week 9

Muddiest Point Week 9

I just wanted to clarify: Only 10 of the Reading Notes and Muddiest Point posts are applied toward our grade, correct? If we do more than 10 are only the best included?

Muddiest Point Week 8

Is there a difference between http and https?