http://2600infototechnology.blogspot.com/2009/09/5th-reading.html?showComment=1254192498904#c4822913224057813220
http://laine05.blogspot.com/2009/09/reading-notes-for-week-five.html?showComment=1254192778805#c8000449968936316588
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Reading Notes (5)
Data Compression @ Wikipedia
This article does a good job of describing the theory of data compression. There really isn't much to discuss, as its pretty basic information. I did have one question, though. If lossless compression is used for text and lossy compression is used for images/audio, what happens if you need to compress a file that is both text and pictures? Is there a way to use both, or do you have to compromise and use lossless (as I'd imagine you wouldn't want to lose any text)?
Data Compression Basics
I really enjoyed this article, maybe because it explicitly stated it was going to use non-technical terminology when possible, and it was much easier to understand. The important part of the article, I think, is the focus on how creativity is valuable when attempting to create encoding processes so as the get the most efficient encoding so your compression actually saves time and space. I really didn't know that compression was more than applying the encoding formulas presented in the wikipedia article. It gives you a greater appreciation of the time and effort that goes into saving you time and effort as an end-user of computers.
Imaging Pittsburgh
This account of the creation of an internet-accesable collection of images of Pittsburgh, I think, is very good at illustrating the problems that such projects face. The communication problem, I think, is symptomatic of all projects that involve multiple departments and instutitions, even sometimes projects with many people face the same problems. I think that perhaps a little foresight and better communication setups might have saved them some difficulties, but that just goes to show how hard it is to predict future problems.
YouTube and Libraries
This article suggests that YouTube could serve as a gateway for greater distribution of library services and other improvements. I think the author has a good point, though such application would require a lot of individual tailoring for each library. For instance, a video showing how to get to the reference desk of a large, academic library would be useful for that institution, but for a small public library, where the only desk is the circ desk, it would be slightly unnecessary. However, using it can be utilized by all sorts of institutions. The small public library, for example, could use it to advertise its new materials when they come out, letting patrons know what is there and when. That would give the patrons more satisfaction and how efficiently patrons are able to use the library.
This article does a good job of describing the theory of data compression. There really isn't much to discuss, as its pretty basic information. I did have one question, though. If lossless compression is used for text and lossy compression is used for images/audio, what happens if you need to compress a file that is both text and pictures? Is there a way to use both, or do you have to compromise and use lossless (as I'd imagine you wouldn't want to lose any text)?
Data Compression Basics
I really enjoyed this article, maybe because it explicitly stated it was going to use non-technical terminology when possible, and it was much easier to understand. The important part of the article, I think, is the focus on how creativity is valuable when attempting to create encoding processes so as the get the most efficient encoding so your compression actually saves time and space. I really didn't know that compression was more than applying the encoding formulas presented in the wikipedia article. It gives you a greater appreciation of the time and effort that goes into saving you time and effort as an end-user of computers.
Imaging Pittsburgh
This account of the creation of an internet-accesable collection of images of Pittsburgh, I think, is very good at illustrating the problems that such projects face. The communication problem, I think, is symptomatic of all projects that involve multiple departments and instutitions, even sometimes projects with many people face the same problems. I think that perhaps a little foresight and better communication setups might have saved them some difficulties, but that just goes to show how hard it is to predict future problems.
YouTube and Libraries
This article suggests that YouTube could serve as a gateway for greater distribution of library services and other improvements. I think the author has a good point, though such application would require a lot of individual tailoring for each library. For instance, a video showing how to get to the reference desk of a large, academic library would be useful for that institution, but for a small public library, where the only desk is the circ desk, it would be slightly unnecessary. However, using it can be utilized by all sorts of institutions. The small public library, for example, could use it to advertise its new materials when they come out, letting patrons know what is there and when. That would give the patrons more satisfaction and how efficiently patrons are able to use the library.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Muddiest Point (1)
This goes back to the Linux vs. Windows thing. The fact that Windows controls around 90% of the operating system market seems incredible, given that there is what a lot of people consider a better system out there. So why have Linux and other systems been unable to make inroads? Is it simply that people don't want to change from what they're used to?
Reading Notes (4)
Database @ Wikipedia
I understood very little of this article. I did get the fact that databases are not all cut from the same cloth, so to say, that they are not all alike, and can differ in organization, software, operation and structure, but the specifics of most of those aspects are lost on me, because phrases like "the flexibility of ad hoc query capabilities provided via the relational algebra execution algorithms of a relational DBMS," are somewhat hard to decipher for me. However, knowing that things like development and components define and and organize how the database will work illustrates that fact that when using and evaluating databases, you need to know some specifics of what you're looking at.
Introduction to Metadata
Gilliland brings an important problem to the forefront in this section of her book, about the lack on consistency in structure and basis of metadata. What she says about the development of very basic metadata systems, which can be expanded at the need and desire of the specific community that is using it, is something which I would expect to become very popular in the future. The "interoperability" of such a system when dealing with the basics all systems would share is surely an advantage that most communities would find beneficial. The ability to customize, at least to a degree, the system would also prove an attrative advantage. The tables she included really cleared up some of the questions I had, as to the definitions of some of the terms she used, and I thought they nicely summed up her explanations of metadata itself.
Dublin Core Data Model Initiative
The DCMI is one of the systems that Gilliland mentioned as one of the systems on the horizon in her book. Thus, with unique element identity, a basic system is established, with extensibility and further refinement and changes allowable. I think this, or a similiar system, is something that will be a growing trend of the future. Its flexible structure could be applied to all sorts of collections, physical and digital, and its basic structure ensures that use can be a simple or complex as a specific community or collection requires.
I understood very little of this article. I did get the fact that databases are not all cut from the same cloth, so to say, that they are not all alike, and can differ in organization, software, operation and structure, but the specifics of most of those aspects are lost on me, because phrases like "the flexibility of ad hoc query capabilities provided via the relational algebra execution algorithms of a relational DBMS," are somewhat hard to decipher for me. However, knowing that things like development and components define and and organize how the database will work illustrates that fact that when using and evaluating databases, you need to know some specifics of what you're looking at.
Introduction to Metadata
Gilliland brings an important problem to the forefront in this section of her book, about the lack on consistency in structure and basis of metadata. What she says about the development of very basic metadata systems, which can be expanded at the need and desire of the specific community that is using it, is something which I would expect to become very popular in the future. The "interoperability" of such a system when dealing with the basics all systems would share is surely an advantage that most communities would find beneficial. The ability to customize, at least to a degree, the system would also prove an attrative advantage. The tables she included really cleared up some of the questions I had, as to the definitions of some of the terms she used, and I thought they nicely summed up her explanations of metadata itself.
Dublin Core Data Model Initiative
The DCMI is one of the systems that Gilliland mentioned as one of the systems on the horizon in her book. Thus, with unique element identity, a basic system is established, with extensibility and further refinement and changes allowable. I think this, or a similiar system, is something that will be a growing trend of the future. Its flexible structure could be applied to all sorts of collections, physical and digital, and its basic structure ensures that use can be a simple or complex as a specific community or collection requires.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Reading Notes (3)
Introduction to Linux: A Hands on Guide
I never knew exactly what Linux was, and the first section was pretty good at giving a basic explanation of Linux. It seems like it would be the more desirable operating system for all computers, but the problems of availabe code to make interaction with all the software and hardware explain why its not more widespread. It really makes one wonder why a system such as Windows, with all its flaws and defects, holds so much of the market in operating systems when there are some alternatives, though not without their drawbacks. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be interested in a Linux system, simply because many of the advantages of Linux are results of it being designed for specific use of computers, and those are not activities I generally do on my machine.
Mac OS X
Honestly, I don't think I got much out of this article. The techno-jargon was a little bit (or a lot-a-bit) over my head, and the audience the author was expecting was rather more technical than me. He states that his audience is the technical community, I'm assuming he means programmers etc., and he also mentions that his writing has the implicit assumption that the reader has familiarity with concepts of "BSD, Mach, UNIX." The only experience I have with Macs is from my days in elementary school, in the early 90's, and that was basic typing skills, so, needless to say, my Mac knowledge is severly limited. The article, though, seems to be an attempt to clarify the technical basics of Mac OS X, as well as trying to explain away mistaken beliefs about it, as well as spelling out its pros and cons. Perhaps, when I become more familiar with Macs and Mac programming, I would find this article more comprehensible and helpful.
An Update on the Windows Roadmap
As one who doesn't regularly follow computer news and such, that e-mail explained a lot about what I can expect from my Windows operating system for the next couple years. I still run XP, though, and I don't plan on upgrading soon. As the author of the previous article mentioned, I'm one of those people who simply don't have the time or motivation to experiment with different systems and tweaking here and there and messing around with the details. This is not where my interests lie, and I'd much prefer to do other things. I know a lot of people, especially those more tech-savvy than myself, complain a lot about Windows, but it seems Microsoft is trying to improve it (if you're not some conspiracy theorist who probably thinks the whole e-mail was a lie or something like that) and when I do run into problems with Windows, I just sort of sigh to myself and do what I have to to get around.
I never knew exactly what Linux was, and the first section was pretty good at giving a basic explanation of Linux. It seems like it would be the more desirable operating system for all computers, but the problems of availabe code to make interaction with all the software and hardware explain why its not more widespread. It really makes one wonder why a system such as Windows, with all its flaws and defects, holds so much of the market in operating systems when there are some alternatives, though not without their drawbacks. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be interested in a Linux system, simply because many of the advantages of Linux are results of it being designed for specific use of computers, and those are not activities I generally do on my machine.
Mac OS X
Honestly, I don't think I got much out of this article. The techno-jargon was a little bit (or a lot-a-bit) over my head, and the audience the author was expecting was rather more technical than me. He states that his audience is the technical community, I'm assuming he means programmers etc., and he also mentions that his writing has the implicit assumption that the reader has familiarity with concepts of "BSD, Mach, UNIX." The only experience I have with Macs is from my days in elementary school, in the early 90's, and that was basic typing skills, so, needless to say, my Mac knowledge is severly limited. The article, though, seems to be an attempt to clarify the technical basics of Mac OS X, as well as trying to explain away mistaken beliefs about it, as well as spelling out its pros and cons. Perhaps, when I become more familiar with Macs and Mac programming, I would find this article more comprehensible and helpful.
An Update on the Windows Roadmap
As one who doesn't regularly follow computer news and such, that e-mail explained a lot about what I can expect from my Windows operating system for the next couple years. I still run XP, though, and I don't plan on upgrading soon. As the author of the previous article mentioned, I'm one of those people who simply don't have the time or motivation to experiment with different systems and tweaking here and there and messing around with the details. This is not where my interests lie, and I'd much prefer to do other things. I know a lot of people, especially those more tech-savvy than myself, complain a lot about Windows, but it seems Microsoft is trying to improve it (if you're not some conspiracy theorist who probably thinks the whole e-mail was a lie or something like that) and when I do run into problems with Windows, I just sort of sigh to myself and do what I have to to get around.
Reading Notes (2)
Computer Hardware: Wikipedia
The outline provided by wikipedia is quite helpful, in that it links to more in-depth and technical articles about each of the components it mentions, as well as mentioning some more examples than were discussed in class last week, and it also includes some obsolete examples, which is simply fluff that could be interesting if you wanted to know about the history of hardware, or its evolution. It included a lot of examples of buses.
Moore's Law: Wikipedia
Moore's law states that the number of transistors that can be placed on a circuit will double every two years, which he later amended to approximately 18 months. The corollary to that is, with a doubling in transistors, a similar increase will also be seen in the aspects of circuits that are affected by the number of transistors, which includes, according to the article, processing speed, memory capacity, sensors, and the number of pixels in digital cameras. Moore, a co-founder of Intel, made this prediction back in 1965, and his hypothesis has been proven true. The article, quite rightly, points out that one of the reasons his prediction came true was that the industries involved saw Moore's Law as a goal, something that they had to achieve. Thus, Moore's Law, monumental advancement of computing powers, became true, at least partially, because Moore's Law predicted the great advancement rate. This, I think, is a very interesting point. What would have happened had Moore and other industry experts not published reports about such predictions? An impossible question.
One other thing I noticed was the articles section on the future. While many predict an end to the exponential rate of increase in performance, some people think that it can be maintained for 600 years, or that we will eventually reach a period where progress in technology occurs almost instantly. I think I would have a hard time wrapping my head around that one.
Computer History Museum
This site was full of interesting information. I especially liked the visual representation of Moore's Law, the progress of transistor numbers, from one to the five hundred million of today. The museum offers a plethora of information for those interested in the history of computer hardware, companies and the leaders of the industry.
The outline provided by wikipedia is quite helpful, in that it links to more in-depth and technical articles about each of the components it mentions, as well as mentioning some more examples than were discussed in class last week, and it also includes some obsolete examples, which is simply fluff that could be interesting if you wanted to know about the history of hardware, or its evolution. It included a lot of examples of buses.
Moore's Law: Wikipedia
Moore's law states that the number of transistors that can be placed on a circuit will double every two years, which he later amended to approximately 18 months. The corollary to that is, with a doubling in transistors, a similar increase will also be seen in the aspects of circuits that are affected by the number of transistors, which includes, according to the article, processing speed, memory capacity, sensors, and the number of pixels in digital cameras. Moore, a co-founder of Intel, made this prediction back in 1965, and his hypothesis has been proven true. The article, quite rightly, points out that one of the reasons his prediction came true was that the industries involved saw Moore's Law as a goal, something that they had to achieve. Thus, Moore's Law, monumental advancement of computing powers, became true, at least partially, because Moore's Law predicted the great advancement rate. This, I think, is a very interesting point. What would have happened had Moore and other industry experts not published reports about such predictions? An impossible question.
One other thing I noticed was the articles section on the future. While many predict an end to the exponential rate of increase in performance, some people think that it can be maintained for 600 years, or that we will eventually reach a period where progress in technology occurs almost instantly. I think I would have a hard time wrapping my head around that one.
Computer History Museum
This site was full of interesting information. I especially liked the visual representation of Moore's Law, the progress of transistor numbers, from one to the five hundred million of today. The museum offers a plethora of information for those interested in the history of computer hardware, companies and the leaders of the industry.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Reading Notes (1)
Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers
This report pointed out several issues concerning formating and content creation and access, including disappearance of content dependency, changes in the media content is presented, increasing large quantities of content produced, but demanded in smaller and smaller parts and the consequences these issues will have for libraries and librarians.
One of the most interesting topics the report covered, I found, was how it depicted libraries in the future, as providers of content in competition with other information providers, but the provider with the added quality of authenticity. In another way, that libraries will provide information to patrons, at any time, at any place, with any content, and the "selling point" will be that the information provided by the library will be guaranteed as accurate/authentic. As most web-surfers know, authentication is sometimes hard to come by in a world wide web of self-publishers, blogs and wikis. I would be very interested in knowing how libraries would be able to provide such services in a cost-effective manner.
"Information Literacy and Information Technology Literacy: New Components in the Curriculum for a Digital Culture"
In this short paper, the author makes an argument for more informed 'educated laymen', through his descriptions of Information Technology Literacy and Information Literacy. The author's claim that both types of literacy are essential for successful functioning in today's society cannot be disputed. However, I'm not sure I entirely agree with his stance that Information Technology Literacy needs to be expanded for all students, for example, to programming. Perhaps I mis-interpret the author's meaning, but to enable an 'educated layperson' to effectively utilize information technologies in an everyday way, it is not necessary to teach him how to program a computer from the ground up. Yes, students should not come out of the education systems with little more than the ability to use today's software, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. New software, in my experience, is never so vastly different from something I have used previously that I find myself lost and unable to use it. I remain doubtful as to how not knowing something like electrical power distribution infratstructure will prevent someone from function intelligently in society.
Lied Library @ four years: technology never stand still
I found this article about the growing pains of an academic library quite informative. Only having some small experience as a volunteer in a small local library, I didn't realize the scope and extent of some of the problems that face different kinds of libraries. The issues of software and computer hardware are simliar in small libraries, but on a much smaller scale. The logistics of replacing two dozen computers is vastly different from those of replacing hundreds of computers. Security is another issue that I would have thought quite simple, but patrons walking off with computer equipment certainly causes different concerns. The article did make the case that, as a library adminstrator, one can never sit back and take a break. If you stop moving forward, in a technological sense, you're starting to move backward.
This report pointed out several issues concerning formating and content creation and access, including disappearance of content dependency, changes in the media content is presented, increasing large quantities of content produced, but demanded in smaller and smaller parts and the consequences these issues will have for libraries and librarians.
One of the most interesting topics the report covered, I found, was how it depicted libraries in the future, as providers of content in competition with other information providers, but the provider with the added quality of authenticity. In another way, that libraries will provide information to patrons, at any time, at any place, with any content, and the "selling point" will be that the information provided by the library will be guaranteed as accurate/authentic. As most web-surfers know, authentication is sometimes hard to come by in a world wide web of self-publishers, blogs and wikis. I would be very interested in knowing how libraries would be able to provide such services in a cost-effective manner.
"Information Literacy and Information Technology Literacy: New Components in the Curriculum for a Digital Culture"
In this short paper, the author makes an argument for more informed 'educated laymen', through his descriptions of Information Technology Literacy and Information Literacy. The author's claim that both types of literacy are essential for successful functioning in today's society cannot be disputed. However, I'm not sure I entirely agree with his stance that Information Technology Literacy needs to be expanded for all students, for example, to programming. Perhaps I mis-interpret the author's meaning, but to enable an 'educated layperson' to effectively utilize information technologies in an everyday way, it is not necessary to teach him how to program a computer from the ground up. Yes, students should not come out of the education systems with little more than the ability to use today's software, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. New software, in my experience, is never so vastly different from something I have used previously that I find myself lost and unable to use it. I remain doubtful as to how not knowing something like electrical power distribution infratstructure will prevent someone from function intelligently in society.
Lied Library @ four years: technology never stand still
I found this article about the growing pains of an academic library quite informative. Only having some small experience as a volunteer in a small local library, I didn't realize the scope and extent of some of the problems that face different kinds of libraries. The issues of software and computer hardware are simliar in small libraries, but on a much smaller scale. The logistics of replacing two dozen computers is vastly different from those of replacing hundreds of computers. Security is another issue that I would have thought quite simple, but patrons walking off with computer equipment certainly causes different concerns. The article did make the case that, as a library adminstrator, one can never sit back and take a break. If you stop moving forward, in a technological sense, you're starting to move backward.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
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