12/6 Reading Responses

What cloud computing really means

Cloud computing is a phrase with which I was not familiar before reading this article.  I think that in the future, cloud computing could allow for more Internet sites to appeal to greater audiences, and other sites could become more efficient and offer more options to users.  This site offered rather helpful basic descriptions of different kinds of cloud computing, and what they offer to users.  Among the different kinds of cloud computing, I think that SaaS, Utility computing, and Service commerce platforms are the three kinds of cloud computing that could become more popular within the near future, because of their relatively low costs and ability to offer services to many users.  Even though this site did not provide a great amount of information about cloud computing, I became more interested about the subject of cloud computing after reading this article, and how cloud computing can affect the future of the Internet.     

Explaining Cloud Computing

I think that this video provided better general explanations of the basic aspects of cloud computing, and how it is becoming increasingly more relevant to the Internet and its users.  Since sites such as Google and Amazon are applying cloud computing effectively, one may wonder how many other online sites and businesses can effectively apply different aspects of cloud computing to their web services.  Since sites such as Google and Amazon are capable of competing with software providers such as Microsoft, it could be that the competition between these companies can help to increase the efficiency and variations of the cloud computing services offered by these different businesses.  If cloud computing were to become more popular in the future, then the capabilities of Internet sites could allow for cloud computing technologies to improve the general effectiveness of Internet technology. 

The Future of Libraries: Beginning the Great Transformation

I enjoyed reading this article, because of its speculation of the history of information, and how information could be perceived in the future.  Considering the processes that had to occur to distribute information throughout society during the 15^th through the 19^th centuries, one may wonder how much the processes will change to distribute information from the present through the next four centuries.  How libraries will respond to these new developments in information technology could be a cause for concern for many involved in the subject of library and information science.  I think that this article addressed the needs of libraries to adapt to the future of information well, because it offered specific recommendations for libraries, such as how libraries should consider offering podcast stations, as well as a guest lecture series on new technologies.  Regarding the transition of libraries from a center of information to a center of culture, I think it would be very interesting to witness such a transition in one’s life, if libraries were to develop a greater presence in society, so more individuals could rely upon libraries for a source of more cultural information. 

12/6 Class Muddiest Point

I don't have a Muddiest Point for this week. 

11/29 Class Muddiest Point

Regarding folksonomies, I was wondering if more academic libraries are becoming more accepting or more skeptical of the emergence of folksonomies in libraries and other academic institutions. 

12/6 Comments

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12/6 Reading Responses

No Place to Hide

I think that this website was fairly interesting, because it discussed issues about which much of the nation’s population is concerned in this increasingly digital age.  Even though much of the information on this site is not surprising, I still found some of the information to be informative. This website provides many interesting links to other sites such as the Center for Democracy and Technology’s site, the site for the Department of Homeland Security, and the Direct Marketing Association’s site.  The interviews with people such as Asher, Ashcroft, Dinh, etc. were interesting, although unfortunately many of the interviews were too short.  I think that the Center for Investigative Reporting is an important organization of which more people should become aware, because it provides many good articles about the status quo of security in the United States.  Generally, I thought that this website was rather interesting and discussed issues of which more people should already be aware.   

TIA and data mining

This website provided more important specific information than the first website in my opinion.  Tracking systems such as TIA may be intended to be used for strictly anti-terrorist purposes, although these systems could be abused in specific ways by those controlling them, and those in control of such systems should be scrutinized to prevent invasion of privacy.  I found this site to contain a great amount of interesting news links and resources from the past, although unfortunately there are not any recent news articles.  I think that this website could be a very informative site for anyone not aware of the events that have occurred within the last ten years regarding electronic information privacy.  I would like to find more sites like this in the future, particularly ones that could provide more recent information regarding electronic information privacy.   

YouTube Video

Apparently this video was removed from YouTube because of a Viacom copyright claim, so I could not write a review for this article.   

Assignment 6: My Website

Below is the link to my website:

http://www.pitt.edu/~jrm170/

11/22 Class Muddiest Point

Regarding the accuracy of Deep Web queries, I was wondering how much, if at all, the accuracy of queries in the Deep Web have increased over the last few years. 

11/29 Comments

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11/29 Reading Responses

Weblogs: their use and application in science and technology libraries

I enjoyed reading this article, because I thought it provided a thorough and informative history of weblogs and their many uses in different fields of study.  I found the sections about reference desk blogging and student blogging to be interesting, because before this semester, I had never created my own blog before.  I do think that weblogs are in many ways better than e-mails, because people can respond to each other’s post without having to send each other individual messages through the Internet.  On weblogs, people can communicate on the sites themselves, as can access the site by using the permalink.  I think that within the near future, more people will be using weblogs for science and technology libraries because of their convenience, and because weblogs allow people to communicate in larger groups more easily. 

Using a wiki to manage a library instruction program: Sharing knowledge to better serve patrons

I think that using wikis for library instruction programs could allow for better means of communication and understanding between library staff and students.  If the people allowed access to the wiki are the ones that are allowed to contribute to the information shared within the wiki, then I think that this will allow for easier access to important information that could not be easily accessed without a wiki.  I think that many professors could become much more organized if they were able to collaborate with other librarians on a wiki, and more students would be able to develop their technological skills faster with the management of a wiki.  Generally, I think that this article described the benefits of wikis for libraries very well, and provided a convincing argument for wikis to be used to manage library instruction programs. 

Creating the academic library folksonomy: Put social tagging to work at your institution

I do think that if more people become accustomed to using social tagging, then tagging may become more beneficial to social and academic institutions such as libraries.  Due to the increasing size of the Internet, I think that folksonomies are an interesting option to help organize and specify websites on the Internet.  I do think that social tagging could be ideal for finding “gray literature,” because of the vast amount of important and useful information that can be lost or incredibly difficult to find on the Web.  If more academic and social institutions are willing to contribute to social tagging to make it more effective, then I think social tagging is a good idea.

How a ragtag band created Wikipedia

I think that Wikipedia can be a good source of information, although I do not think that

Wikipedia should be considered to be a truly reliable resource for important information.  The example used in the video of the Bush/Kerry controversy is one instance of the lack of reliability on Wikipedia, although the amount of specific and arcane information contained within Wikipedia is remarkable.  Wikipedia provides people the opportunity to contribute online information for the general public, and I think that this opportunity is beneficial to online communities.  Despite Wikipedia’s lack of academic integrity, I think that many of the articles contained within Wikipedia are rather objective, and even if there are articles that are inaccurate or conspicuously bias, moderators and/or administrators can edit the articles to make them as objective as possible.  I think that the creation of Wikipedia is something that is truly beneficial to the general public, despite its lack of scholarly integrity, because Wikipedia allows for common individuals to contribute to the distribution of knowledge that can benefit others in many ways. 

11/22 Comments

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11/15 Class Muddiest Point

I have no Muddiest Point for this week's class.

11/22 Reading Responses

Web Search Engines: Part 1 and Part 2

This article discussed information that I found to be new and informative, because I was not familiar with the complex processes of web crawling.  I thought that the first article efficiently described the basic aspects of web crawling and algorithms, although a few more diagrams or tables would’ve been more helpful in my opinion.  Considering the arduous processes that search engines require to crawl and index data, one may wonder how much greater the efficiency of search engines will become within the next decade.  I think that the second article was more interesting because of the discussions of data compression and phrasing within the article.  There were many terms used in both articles with which I was not familiar, although I found the sections about anchor texts and query processing algorithms in the second article to be the most interesting sections in the second article.  The sections on anchor texts and query processing algorithms discussed two complex and important processes in data searching that were fairly easy to understand.  I was not aware of the importance of anchor texts and query processing algorithms before reading the second article.     

Current developments and future trends for the OAI protocol for metadata harvesting

I think that this article described just how vast and important the intent of the OAI is.  The article efficiently described what the future intent of the OAI is, and it also demonstrated how important the development of information repositories is for the future of metadata.  One section out of many in the article that I found to be interesting and important was the section about ERRoLs.  It seems as though the process of resolving oai-identifiers with ERRoL service URLs is a good example of the process of simplified searching, even though the results of this process show that there is much more work to be done to make it more effective.  After observing the various kinds of metadata in the article, I am interested in what the OAI will implement regarding the issues of structured rights statements and controlled vocabularies.   

The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value

I think that this article described the complexity of the Web better than the Hawking article, because it provided many more diagrams and tables to demonstrate the vastness of the Surface Web and the Deep Web.  Based on the estimations of the percentage of subject coverage in the Deep Web, I found it interesting that the majority of the Deep Web’s observed content is associated with media and humanities.  I think that Table 7 in the article effectively demonstrated the difference in query yield between the Surface Web and the Deep Web.  Considering that the yield for the queries in the Deep Web for specific subjects is over double the yield in the Surface Web, one may wonder just how many of the results from the Deep Web are accurate, and how many are mostly inaccurate.  I was also found it interesting to discover that the amount of information contained within the Deep Web has been increasing at such a rapid rate since 1997, that the amount of original Deep Web content has almost doubled the amount of all global printed content.

11/15 Comments

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11/15 Reading Responses

Digital Libraries: Challenges and Influential Work

I think that this article was focused and relevant to the current developments in digital information.  The DLIs that were discussed in the article were being developed while the Internet was still burgeoning, yet it seems that the DLI-1 and DLI-2 projects were still capable of producing discoveries and information that is useful for continuing developments in digital library technology.  The thirteen entities and institutions that were mentioned in the article as contributing to digital library initiatives seem to have continued to improve upon the developments of the first two DLI projects, and if international governments can continue to implement other digital library initiatives by providing funding, than I think that experts in other academic fields of study will be persuaded to provide contributions.   

Dewey Meets Turing: Librarians, Computer Scientists, and the Digital Libraries Initiative

The relationship between librarians and computer scientists seems to be something that has the potential to become more productive as digital information technology progresses.  I think that the two disciplines of library science and computer science are capable of mending many misunderstandings between the two disciplines.  I also think that librarians and computer scientists can improve their relationships with publishers to provide more efficient means of distributing information through newer technological means.  After reading this article, I think that the differences in the methods of information organization between librarians and computer scientists should continue to be examined.  It seems that the relationship between the disciplines of library science and computer science will improve as information technology progresses, and as the collaboration between the two disciplines continues to improve.   

Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age

I think that the implementation of institutional repositories within scholarly communities could allow for the improvement of academic searching capabilities, if academic institutions are willing to refine and improve the methods of creating institutional repositories.  Universities and other higher educational institutions could be served well by the development of institutional repositories, although as Lynch suggests in the article, many of these institutions could be served just as well if the services themselves of the repositories are offered.  If the costs of offering institutional repositories are reasonable for many academic institutions in the future, and these institutions are able and willing to contribute to the advancement of institutional repositories, then I think that institutional repositories could greatly improve academic information retrieval. 

11/8 Class Muddiest Point

I have no Muddiest Point for this week. 

11/1 Class Muddiest Point

Regarding XML schemas and DTDs, do most individuals familiar with both XML schemas and DTDs consider XML schemas to be easier to use and more efficient than DTDs?

11/8 Comments

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11/8 Reading Responses

Introducing the Extensible Markup Language

This article discussed some information with which I was familiar much more descriptively.  I knew some of the basic aspects of XML before reading this article, although after reading this article, the sections about designing tags and standard and non-standard text elements were helpful and interesting in my opinion.  I thought the sections about element attributes and coded text were also interesting, because they discussed the importance of cross-referencing by the unique identifier in XML, and how coded text allows for transferability in software and hardware.  Even though the information discussed in this article contained some specific terminology, I think that this article is descriptive enough to be useful in assisting XML beginners. 

A survey of XML standards: Part 1

I thought this article expounded efficiently on the subject of XML.  This article would be better applicable for anyone that has some knowledge of XML, and is familiar with the basic aspects of XML.  I thought that the article’s best attribute was the inclusion of references and tutorials throughout the article.  I thought the best sections of the article were the ones that discussed XML languages, because of the variety of resources and tutorials provided that regarded different XML languages.  Although I am not familiar with the many different types of XML schema languages, after reading this article, I intend to read at least some of the references and tutorials regarding XML languages.    

Extending Your Markup: An XML Tutorial

Of the first three articles, I thought that this article provided a much more accessible description of the history of XML and its uses.  I think that this article provided some good examples of using XML, such as XML in bibliographies and links.  Even though this article does not provide as many references and resources as Ogbuji’s article, it does provide a more concise list of XML resources as well as some useful recommendations.  I thought that Ogbuji’s and Bryan’s articles did provide more useful knowledge about links and XML schemas, although this article by Bergholz does describe links and schemas more concisely, which could be more helpful for beginners.     

XML Schema Tutorial

I think that this web site provided the best examples of actual XML of the four sites.  This site provided good examples of XML in almost every section, and discussed other important aspects of XML such as empty elements, mixed content, and element substitution.  I was expecting this site to be more technical than the other sites, after reading the HTML and CSS versions of this site.  Unfortunately, there weren’t any interactive sections of this site like in the HTML and CSS versions, although it did provide a helpful example section, in my opinion.  I found the section on data types to be helpful also, because it discussed the restrictions of each specific data type on the bottom of the pages for each data type. 

Assignment 5: Koha ILS

Below is the link to my Koha list:

http://upitt01-staff.kwc.kohalibrary.com/cgi-bin/koha/virtualshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=51

My username is JRM170 and the virtual bookshelf's name is "jrm170-digital copyright."

10/25 Class Muddiest Point

Regarding the size of the Internet, I was wondering approximately how much Internet content is contained within the largest search engines (e.g. Google and Yahoo), and how much Internet content is contained within the smaller/smallest Internet search engines (e.g. Ask, Lycos). 

11/1 Comments

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11/1 Reading Responses

W3schools HTML Tutorial

Before reading this article, I was aware of some of the most basic elements of HTML, although I was not aware of how HTML is actually applied to web pages.  I think that this article describes the basic aspects of HTML very well for beginners, and does not describe the information using unfamiliar terminology.  The one aspect about this article that I thought was interesting was that the website allows one to actually create examples of HTML for themselves, which is very helpful.  Generally, I thought that this article was interesting and helpful for HTML novices, because it allows any to create their own examples of HTML.

HTML Cheatsheet

After reading the HTML Tutorial article, this website provided a more concise description of HTML tags, albeit less descriptive.  Although this site could be useful for quick HTML references, a site such as this should probably be consulted after becoming more familiar with the basic elements of HTML and HTML tags.  I think that this website provide a great amount of information for those with at least a basic understanding of HTML, and can be very helpful to anyone needing assistance with creating a web page.  

W3 School Cascading Style Sheet Tutorial

This article is informative and interesting, because it provides enough images and descriptions of what CSS is.  Although I had heard of CSS before reading this article, I was never sure as to what exactly the functions and elements of CSS were.  Like the other W3 article, the article has enough basic information for beginners, as well as more advanced information about CSS, which I thought sufficiently described CSS.  The inclusion of the “try it yourself” option was a good addition to the site, and I thought that the section about what technologies to avoid while using CSS was important. 

Beyond HTML: Developing and re-imagining library web guides in a content management system

After reading this article, it seems that CMSs could gain more credibility if their application and efficiency were made more recognized universally.  The section discussing template development by liaisons was one section that I found interesting, because template development can assist anyone outside of any particular library staff.  Template development could allow for easier access and navigation for patrons, with the addition of sidebars and resource lists for descriptive purposes, and can provide more options for anyone unfamiliar with the resources of a specific library’s catalog.  CMSs may become more popular and credible as technology develops, and if more libraries and librarians are willing to collaborate with other users of CMSs, then it seems that libraries could benefit universally as a result of such collaboration. 

10/15 Class Muddiest Point

Regarding the class discussion of Internet connections, I was wondering how prevalent fiber-optic cable connections currently are, and if more ISPs are considering using fiber-optics in the future. 

10/25 Comments

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10/25 Reading Notes

How Internet Infrastructure Works

The discussion of how computers are connected simultaneously to the Internet was basic information, although some of the terminology, such as Point of Presence (POP), Network Access Points (NAP), and the functions of backbones were subjects with which I was not completely familiar.  I was not aware that the first high-speed backbone, known as NSFNET, was created in 1987.  I thought that the section about the IP addresses was a good addition to the material discussed in class about IP addresses.  I also found the section that discussed how DNSs work to be particularly informative, since I was only familiar with some of the functions of DNSs before reading this article.  

Dismantling Integrated Library Systems

It appears that one of the reasons that libraries are not as socially recognized as they once were is because of the lack of technological development within the library systems described in this article.  Even though libraries are capable of providing access to an amalgam of scholarly information to patrons, the technology that is used within the library systems is not as efficient as other sources of scholarly information to many people.  As a result of the amount of scholarly information that has accumulated over the last decade, libraries have had to find new ways to provide information to patrons, while maintaining a budget for the cost of materials and technology.  If libraries are to provide one of the best options for information retrieval in the future, they must find new ways to improve their integration systems.

Sergey Brin and Larry Page on Google

I was aware of the influence of Google upon the world, although actually seeing what Google is capable of accomplishing was interesting.  Even though this video is almost seven years old, it discussed some important information about the capabilities of Google, such as The Google Foundation, the development of Orkut, and the Google Toolbar.  The development of other variations of Google, such as Google Chrome, Google Desktop and Google Maps have also provided a myriad of services to Internet users that have made searching the Internet easier.  Even though the video was basically a promotion of Google, it was still informative and rather interesting, in my opinion.       

Assignment 3 Description

For this assignment, I decided to give instructions on how to copy an object or image using Dell Printer Software and Microsoft Paint.  First, just select the Dell All-In-One icon located in the start icon at the bottom left corner of the screen, and select which copier and/or printer to use.  After that, remember to adjust the settings for the copier to provide the best resolution for the image, and after the copying process is complete, the image will be automatically sent to Microsoft Paint, or whichever other software the user chooses.