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

http://christyfic.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-week-13-dec-6-2010.html?showComment=1291175418239#c6826739515096409621

http://lostscribe459.blogspot.com/2010/11/week-13-reading-notes.html?showComment=1291253125555#c2343288849618350859

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

http://christyfic.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-week-12-nov-29-2010.html?showComment=1290649573916#c4422311287066125714

http://magpie-maggiemagpie.blogspot.com/2010/11/week-12-readings.html?showComment=1290650390326#c8855939267753520113

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

http://christyfic.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-week-11-nov-22-2010.html?showComment=1290045107898#c8504201310179166352

http://jonas4444.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-for-week-11.html?showComment=1290046441102#c720136621498234846

 

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

http://christyfic.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-week-10-nov-15-2010.html?showComment=1289448710409#c8889704280629884574

http://jonas4444.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-for-week-10.html?showComment=1289449386910#c7020648856694067002

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

http://christyfic.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-week-9-nov-8-2010.html?showComment=1288749031494#c5109758589560175773

http://rjs2600.blogspot.com/2010/11/readings-for-11-8-11-13.html?showComment=1288750043257#c3313845221925792957

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).