comments for week 6

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2367464305070960355&postID=8005026610625976701

http://leblancsatpittsburgh.blogspot.com/2008/09/reading-notes-for-week-6-sept-30.html

http://pittmlis.blogspot.com/2008/09/reading-assignment-6.html

Assignment 4

can be found here:

http://www.citeulike.org/user/maggieyoung

Week 6 readings and muddiest point

Management of RFID in Libraries: Karen Coyle

Very interesting article.  I did not know how they worked, though I've often worked with them in libraries.  Very daring of her to tell us all how to block them as well. So, Radio Frequency Identifier which can be switched on and off and carry information about which book it represents.  There are also possibilities for RFIDs to make books automatically checked in a sorted into the correct bin upon return to the library. Self checkouts could make circulation staff obsolete: which Karen Coyle argues may not be a bad thing, but may spare people tedious boring hours checking out book s and the pain of repeated use injuries. 

I had not heard of retail RFIDs, that will be interesting.  I wonder then if they will still make RFIDs for libraries: more durable and able to be rewritten.

Commmon Types of Computer Networks: Youtube

I'm glad I watched this before reading wikipedia.  I t was a nice and brief intro.

Computer Networks: wikipedia

We have, at our house, a wireless LAN.  Before we got our own access, we could go out in the backyard with laptops and use our neighbor's LAN. This could be built, theoretically into a MAN, WAN, or GAN.

Do I access U Pitt's library through a CAN?

On the basic hardware: I really need to be able to sit in a classroom and work with this stuff beofre I can grasp what it is.  Reading about it with no pictures or sense of placement is very confusing.

LAN: wikipedia

Again, what we use. I remember reading about ARCNET from our first week.  Ethernet is the most common type, I do not think I've ever actually had ethernet.

Muddiest Point: again, hardware.  This is stuff I want to learn about physically, not theoretically.  It is the one regret I have about being an online student.

comments for week 5

http://worldsedgelog.blogspot.com/2008/09/data-compression-and-its-uses.html

http://pittmlis.blogspot.com/2008/09/reading-assignment-5.html

http://leblancsatpittsburgh.blogspot.com/2008/09/reading-notes-for-week-5-sept-23.html

week 5 readings and muddiest point

Data Compression (wikipedia): great introduction to lossless and lossy, and the next readings really filled it in.  I think the most interesting part of this article, for me, was the mention of Claude Shannon's work on information and rate distortion theory.  I then clicked on his link and learned about a very interesting person. 

I understand now about lossless and lossy data compression.  I could spit back to you what we all read on wikipedia, but I really can boast of no in-depth comprehension or depth of understanding of these matters.  I have never compressed data (manually).  I see now that it is both simpler and more complicated than I would have guessed.  What I really do not understand is how one programs the encoders and readers to understand the different types of compression. The notes on the next article may sound similar.

DVD-HQ-INFO: 3 long and interesting articles.  I understood much more of the lossless data (RLE) than the lossy, and then even less about the video compression.  I gather that losslesss is most useful for information with large amounts of repeated data.  I see that lossy is not about a loss of useful information, but about its mathematical or digital underpinnings. 

Video: I see that it is useful to put the images that need decoding first in the sequence, rather than putting the images in sequential order. Also in video, that the best matched boxes may not necessarily be in the direction the object is moving.

Youtube: An optimistic article, very positive.   I'm sure the library could upload videos to youtube.  Unless linked to their home page, it would be hard to find them I think.  Also, videos seldom answer the specific questions I have at the time. I take that back, there are some how to change oil in your car videos on there which are indispensable.  In short, there is no shortage of tools or strategies one could employ to aid in transmitting one's message.  Youtube is definitely an accessible one.  

Mussiest point: Encoders and Readers.  Who does this stuff? How does one program the programs?  Can I learn?

week 4 comments

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5720842264846496247&postID=8915326318333680817

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7533952523781723717&postID=8784500798835554061&page=1

my flickr photos can be found:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30479708@N02/sets/

Week 4 readings and muddiest point

Database: wikipedia

I've used databases extensively in my work.  I was surprised to read then that the term was first employed in 1963.

This database language would have been helpful when dealing with a database designer about 2 years ago, who developed a database for my company which did not meet our needs at all.

I found myself clicking the various links on the wikipedia page often (of course, I'm learning) and found it a challenge to wrap all the information up into an understandable idea of the general computer database model.  In essence, I glean that there are different kinds for different uses, all with their strengths and weaknesses.  More study here needs to be done on my end.  

Setting the Stage: Anne J Gilleland

very interesting article.  I found figure 1 about the life span of metadata helpful.  I left the article wondering, "but what does metadata look like?"  Luckily, I figured this out with the next reading.  I would like to learn more about the non-digital metadata, perhaps this will aid in understanding.  But I understand the life cycle and that metadata is a statement made about the information object to make it more searchable.

_________________________________________________________________

1)    Eric J. Miller. An Overview of the Dublin Core Data Model http://dublincore.org/1999/06/06-overview/

******This article is not available on the web, for me anyway.  Everything else is loading fine.  I tried this article and also tried looking at http://dublincore.org//documents/usage guide.  I think their server is down.

I was able to find information on Dublin Core here: dc2006.ucol.mx/papers/martesmartykurth.ppt.

This is a power point presentation from Cornell which also contains a very clear metadata definition which I found most helpful to explain the previous article.

I'm guessing Dublin Core is what is in use right now in internet search engines?  That is was developed in response to large growth of documents on the web and poor existing indexing capabilities.  It seems pretty open ended and easy to use for the non professional.  Again, this computer language is all new to me, but I found this presentation to be helpful.  They even had a slide as an example of what a metadata description could look like, which helped immensely.

MUDDIEST POINT: 

I do not think I am successfully absorbing all this new computer language and ideas for digital management.  Is there a hands-on tutorial of some sort?  I fear tat reading about it will leave me in the dark as to this world of knowledge.  On my end, I'll keep reading my notes and re-reading articles to try and make sense of it somehow.

I posted comments here:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2369947867373070193&postID=4350738203355045998

https://courseweb.pitt.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_9047_1%26url%3D

Week Three Muddiest Point

I think for me it is the computing language.  Personal homework for Maggie this week: Find out what a kernel is once and for all, and really get to know "buses."  I was scared reading the Mac OS X article. I hope I don't have to learn how to do this sitting alone in my house using only my nice new computer which I don't want to mess up!

Week 3: computer Software Readings

These readings are like no readings I've ever read before.  At times, they were interesting, confusing, blurred, inspiring, and clear.

Linux: I was excited to read about this.  I have a friend who was taking classes in Linux to learn how to program his own computer.  I learned then it was free and there were people availbale who wanted to teach it to others.

Reading Garrels' "Introduction to Linux" which I believe in its entirety is a sort of class on Linux, I found it to be true what my friend had told me.  I find the open source idea to be very appealing in that information is readily available, along with a support community, to interested and enterprising users.  I would be interested in learning Linux, and I think I would be most successful in an actual class and not alone learning online on my own computer (which I really do not want to ruin).

The GNU Tools seem pretty user friendly also. As a whole, Linux does not seem as scary to me as perhaps the next article, "What is Mac OS X" (even though I won a Mac and use it pretty well.

Kernelthread's description is mostly in a language I do not know how to read.  I gave it a gallant try, especially when he began writing code on a Mac beginning at startup.  Even though I began sweating, I still was amazed that one could do this to a computer.  I have never before known that confidence of looking at the language which makes up this pretty interface that comes all ready for me to use.

I learned about Sherlock, voice commands, and the F9 button, all of which I plan to use frequently and to the amazement of friends and family.

I appreciate the comparisons given here between the 3 operating systems: Mac, LINUX, and Windows.  I agree that LINUX is wonderful, but can become bogged down with just the sheer amount of choice involved.

The wikipedia article on Mac OS X is indispensible in clearing up the kernelthread article.

Last: Windows article: very easy to read.  I felt all warm inside.  They really care.  This is the perfect system for someone who wants a ready to go computer.  I have had generally good experiences with Windows but was eventually turned off due to all the bugs Internet Explorer came down with and how many times our trusty old PC was attacked.  Which leads to programming: I had a ready-to-go PC but needed someone around all the time who could reboot and debug it.  So, maybe not so user-friendly.