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.