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?

Week 9 Reading Notes

Week 9 Reading Notes

Cascading Style Sheets

Thoughts and Reflections:

I thought it was really interesting to learn about how HTML is written. I’ve never actually put that much thought into how web pages are created; they were always just there. However, knowing now how much work is put into the creation, I have a whole new appreciation for people who write HTML. It seems to be tedious work, but I can see the benefit of learning the basic fundamentals for any job dealing with the information sciences. I really like the concept of Cascading Style Sheets because they allow a person to design HTML web pages without being an expert on the syntax…Especially since each action, font, background, etc. has its own command. Obviously both HTML and CSS can get complicated the more in depth you get, but the web learning tools did a great job in breaking the process down so that anyone can learn the basics. I noticed in my reading that only a select few web browsers support CSS, and specifically Chrome was not listed as one of them. I was curious as to why this is the case? Do the others browsers opt out or run something different? Is there no standard HTML style sheet? Even if they don't support CSS, do the web pages still appear how they were intended by the creator?

Week 8 Reading Notes

Week 8 Reading Notes

HTML

·      Use tags to annotate the document content

o   Standard tags for creating HTML

§  Assembling them into desired order

·      IDE Tools automate the tedious and repetitive process of assembling HTML

o   Many developers instead prefer to use a text editor like notepad to create their HTML from scratch

XHTML

·      XML based

·      Reproduce, subset, and extend HTML

·      Difference between HTML and XHTML

o   XHTML documents are required to be “well formed”

§  Meaning that all elements must be in lowercase form, and they must have closing tags and nest properly

§  Attributes must be quoted

o   Separation of appearance and content

§  XHTML must conform to DTD

·      You cannot see tags or other formatting instructions on the document

XHTML Markup

·      Web browsers use markup tags to determine how to display the document

o   Opening and closing tags

·      Recommends using tables as a formatting technique

Style Sheets

·      Used to create uniform appearance by separating page content from the presentation

·      Web page maintenance

·      Templates

o   Separate forms that specify the document layout

·      Cascading style sheets

o   Multiple style sheets can be applied to the same web page       

o   Individual users can customize organizational formatting rules by modeling their own styles after the standard ones

HTML Forms

·      Used to collect input from the users

Muddiest Point Week 7

In the readings for this week, the Google book chapter on HTML references SAS use of HTML, I was just curious to know what exactly SAS is? Is it a special software used for writing HTML?

Week 7 Reading Notes

Week 7 Reading Notes

How Internet Infrastructure Works

·      The internet

o   is a global collection of networks

§  i.e. a network of networks

·      every computer that connects to the internet is part of this network

o   Internet service providers connect at network access points so that their networks can communicate with each other

§  Rely on backbones and routers

§  Routers determine where to send information

·      2 jobs

o   ensures information doesn’t go where its not needed

o   ensures that it does make it to the intended destination

·      passes information between networks

§  backbones? I need clarification on what exactly backbones are/do

o   Domain Name System

§  Transmits human-readable domain name into a machine-readable IP address

§  Essential to the internet’s smooth functioning

o   Internet servers

§  Make the internet possible

§  Servers vs. clients

·      Server send clients requested internet pages

Dismantling Integrated Library Systems

It is more common now when doing research for a person to head straight to Internet search engines rather than library catalogs regardless of the fact that all of the information found on the Internet may not be 100% accurate. People would rather wade through information that was easily and quickly delivered to them than struggle through the frustrating process of searching the library catalog, despite the guarantee of accurate information. People generally have trouble with Boolean searching, which most library systems rely on and would much rather search the internet where all they have to do is type in search terms and their results are delivered based on relevance to those terms. The reliance on MARC records is hindering the search process in library catalogs and is holding back library automation. Also, with libraries taking on many more technological responsibilities (like e-books), the automation systems need to be able to accommodate the integration between print and e-resource materials. I know in my job, we use Sierra by Innovative and it is pretty good at integrating both of our collections. It also provides other useful functions like payments and finance, cataloging and receiving materials, and even ordering materials. I think that it is important for libraries to seek innovation when it comes to ILS platforms, because we are becoming increasingly reliant on technology as a society and libraries need to fins a way to stay current and accommodating so that patrons will continue to utilize services.

The Genesis of Google

I always enjoy learning more about Google, specifically how they operate and their goals for the future. It amazes me that one company can dominant search around the world the way that Google has. They took the concept of providing access to the world’s information and made it a reality. As we saw in the live search application, Google searches are being performed around the world (albeit in some countries more than others). I’m not sure if the places that were lacking searches had more to do with them being less populated areas or perhaps some areas simply do not have the resources available to build network infrastructures, but I would definitely be interested in learning more.

Muddiest Point Week 6

I assume that this will be covered in the next class, but I would definitely like some clarification on the term backbone from the internet infrastructure reading. Thanks!

Muddiest Point Week 5

I know the third assignment isn't due for a few weeks but I was just curious...Do you have an opinion either way towards using quotes in our assignments? Is it okay to quote directly from sources or should we just use the sources as an information base?

Week 6 Reading Notes

Week 6 Reading Notes

Local Area Network

·      Interconnects computers within a limited area

·      Ethernet and Wi-Fi are most commonly used to build LAN’s

o   Wi-Fi use is popular as it supports easy access for laptops and smartphones

·      LAN’s can maintain connections with other networks as well through the use of leased lines or the internet

Computer Network

·      Collection of interconnected computers or devices that share data, resources, and information through communication channels

o   Example: the internet

·      Network Nodes

o   Devices that originate, route, and terminate data

o   Example: PC’s and phones

·      Support computer applications

·      Facilitates interpersonal communication- effective, almost instantaneous

·      Shared storage devices within network

o   Users can access information that is stored on other devices within the network

o   Shared resources- printers

·      Overlay Network

o   Virtual network built on top of another network

§  Connected through links

·      Types of networks- characterized by physical capacity or organizational purpose

o   Personal Area Network

§  Used to connect devices belonging to one personal or within a household

o   Local Area Network

§  Connects devices within a limited geographical area

o   Home Area Network

§  Residential LAN

o   Storage Area Network

§  Network that provides access to data storage

o   Campus Area Network

o   Backbone Network

§  Provides a path for information exchange between different networks or sub-networks

o   Metropolitan Area Network

o   Wide Area Network

o   Enterprise Private Network

§  Interconnected office locations

o   Virtual Private Network

o   Global Area Network

·      Does the University of Pittsburgh utilize a LAN, CAN, MAN, or WAN?

·      Internetwork

o   Connection of multiple networks through common routing technology

§  The internet for example

§  Routing is the process of selecting paths in a network to carry data traffic

Is there a difference between a network and a server?

Management of RFID in Libraries

As RFID devices begin to be implemented for many differing tasks, such as debit card payments and even passports, libraries are questioning whether it would be a good idea to implement RFID devices in their materials. RFID would in essence replace both the barcode and the security tape in materials and also help towards simplifying inventory processes and checkout procedures. The potential downside to implementing RFID devices in libraries is the fact that they are relatively expensive. However it is possible that by installing these devices, libraries would save money in other areas as a result; such as circulation staff (with these devices patrons can easily check out their own materials) and time previously spent doing inventory and processing. However I am not sure if the price of cutting these tasks would even remotely equal the price of installing RFID devices in all library materials. Also, unlike debit cards library materials are repeatedly used and so the devices would have to be made extra durable. There is also the issue of privacy, with these devices check-in and check-out information is easily accessible. Despite all this, I think that these devices might be beneficial to libraries in the long run. They would more easily be able to track their items and possibly utilizing these devices might make lending with outside institutions an easier process.