Muddiest Point from November 17 Class

I'm not sure how Vector Space models relate to information retrieval systems. What is their function in relation to assessing information retrieval systems?

Assignment 6-Website

Here is the link for my assignment 6.

Assignment 5 link

Here is my link to assignment 5.

The title of my list is "Assignment-Sierra Green- Jane Austen." My username is srg51.

Thank you!

Muddiest Point from November 10 class

The presentation this past Thursday clearly identified the advantages to offering digital library and/or institutional repository services to users, especially in this digital age. I was just wondering if there are some examples of digital infrastructure within these technologies that has been developed in order to track the use of these digital services. Thanks!

Muddiest Point from November 3 class

How does XSL relate to XML? Is XSL used to compose CSS documents for XML files? I'm just not sure how they relate to one another.
Thanks!

Reading notes for November 10 class

• There is a huge difference between providing access to sets of digital collections and providing digital library services
• The first significant federal investment in digital library research came in 1994 with the Digital Libraries Initiative- this was mean to develop and implement computing and networking technologies that could make large-scale electronic test collections accessible and interoperable.
• These initial initiatives served to identify and define important document and data metadata standards, protocols for Web-based access, and the issues surrounding federated and broadcast search protocols.
• These projects are also known for their examination of issues surrounding federation
• XML is based on SGML
• XML catalogs defines a format for instructions on how an xml processor resolves XML entity identifiers into actual documents
• Namespace provides a mechanism for universal naming of elements and attributes in XML documents
• There is a competition of sorts between the W3C XML schema and other XML markup languages such as RELAX NG

Assignment 4

Here is my assignment 4

I really enjoyed using Zotero and I think that I will definitely use it in the future!

Muddiest Point from 10-27 class

I'm not sure that I completely understand the concept of multiple CSS. Although an example was given in class, under what circumstances would a multiple CSS be desirable? Thanks!

Reading notes for November 3 class

XML-subset of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)designed to make it easy to interchange structured documents over the Internet. XML allows users to bring multiple files together to form compound documents, identify where images are to be incorporated into text files, provide processing control information to supporting programs, and add editorial comments to a file. XML was not designed to be a standardized way of coding text. It is rather a formal language that can be used to pass information about the compound parts of a document to another computer system. XML is based on concept of documents composed of a series of entities. Each element has certain attributes. To use a set of markup tags that has been defined by a trade association or similar body. Because XML tag sets are based on the logical structure of the document they are somewhat easier to understand. AN XML file normally consists of three types of markup, the first two of which are optional: XML processing instruction, document type declaration, and document instance. By putting data in xml format, you can ensure that your data will be transferable to a wide range of hardware and software environments.

Muddiest Point from October 20 class

Concerning internal anchors, how do you determine what text to put after the "h ref="? Thank you!

Reading Notes for October 27

CSS- Cascading Style Sheets
How to display HTML elements
External style sheets are stored in css files
W3C created CSS
All browsers support CSS
CSS defines how HTML elements are displayed
Has two main parts:
Selector
HTML element you want to style
Declaration
Consists of a property and a value
Property- style attribute you want to change
Each property has a value
Each declaration ends with a semicolon and are surrounded by curly brackets
Can also add comments- do this by starting off code with “/*” and end with */”
Id selector
Used to specify a style for a single, unique element
Demarcate with a # sign
Class selector
used to specify a style for a group of elements.
Demarcate with a “.”
3 ways to inserts CSS
External style sheet
Ideal when applied to many pages
Use the tag
Can be written in any text editor
Shouldn’t contain any html tags
Internal style sheet
Used when a single document has a unique style
Use the tag
Inline style
Not as good as others- loses this by mixing content with presentation

Muddiest point from October 6 class

Is a gateway machine similar to a server in that its main function is not as a traditional operating system but rather as a bridge that links a smaller network with a larger one?

Reading notes for October 13 class

• Internet in its essence is a collection of interconnected networks
• Internet Society oversees the formation of the policies and protocols that define how we use and interact with the internet
• ISP-Internet Service Provider
o ISPs then connect to larger networks that become a part of the internet
• POP- Point of presence, or a place for local users to access the company’s network, often through a local phone # or dedicated line.
o Then high-level networks connect to each other through Network Access Points (NAPs)
• Dozens of large internet providers interconnect at NAPs in various cities and trillions of bytes of data flow between the individual networks at these points.
o Therefore, internet is a collection of huge corporate networks that agree to all intercommunicate with each other at the NAPs.
• Routers determine where to send information from one computer to another
o More specifically, routers are special computers that send your messages along pathways
 Needs to make sure info. goes where it is meant to and not where it is not meant to go
• Internet backbones are fiber optic trunk lines and a trunk line has multiple fiber optic cables that increase the backbone’s capacity.
o Fiber optic cables are classified OC-aka optical carrier
• The four numbers in an IP address are called octets
o These octets are used to make classes of IP addresses that can be assigned to a particular business, etc.
o These octets are split into two sections: Net and Host
 Net-always contains the first octet that ids the network
 Host (or node)- identifies the actual computer on the network
• Domain Name System maps text names to IP addresses automatically
o Ex. .com, .edu
• URL- Universe Resource Locator: http://[etc]
• DNS servers handle billions of requests every day and they are essential to the internet’s smooth functioning
• All of the machines on the internet are either servers or clients
o Those that provide services to other machines are called servers
o And those that request and receive these services are called clients
 Servers have a static IP address that doesn’t change very often
 Any server machine makes it services available using numbered ports
• The client machine then accesses the service using a specific protocol.
• Every web server complies to the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)

Assignment 2 links

Here is the link to my jing video tutorial. I chose to design a tutorial on Omeka, which is a program that enables you to create and publish an online exhibit or collection.

Here is the series of links for my annotated screen capture images. I chose to explain how to add a collection to your Omeka site.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67588344@N07/6209256389/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67588344@N07/6209266169/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67588344@N07/6209268491/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67588344@N07/6209270457/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67588344@N07/6209271907/

Muddiest Point for September 29 class

If MARC records were created to be an easy and convenient way of storing and exchanging bibliographic records, what systems/software have been developed to facilitate the exchange of such information between institutions?

Reading notes for October 6 class

Local area network reading
• local area network: computer network that interconnect computers in a limited area.
o usually high data-transfer rates
o Ethernet and Wi-Fi are two most common technologies currently used to build them
• Need for these came from increased use of computers at universities and labs
• NetWare was chief network operating system from 1983 to mid 1990s, when Microsoft grabbed a hold of the market
• Wi-fi is now most common technology used with LANs to accommodate laptops and mobile devices
• LANs can have connections with other LANs via leased lines or services across the internet using virtual private network technologies
Computer network reading
• Computer network: often referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communications channels that allow sharing of resources and information
o Rules and data formats for exchanging information- defined by communications protocols
 Ex. Ethernet, internet protocol suite
• Computer networks: core of modern communication
• Key characteristics of networks:
o Facilitate communications
o Permit sharing of files, data and other types of information
o Share network and computing resources
o May be insecure
o May interfere with other technologies
o May be difficult to set up
• Communications protocol defines the formats and rules for exchanging information via a network
• Ethernet- family of connectionless protocols used in LAMs with a flat addressing scheme.
• Internet Protocol Suite- foundation of all modern internetworking
• Asynchronous Transfer Mode- switching technique for telecommunication networks
o Uses time-division multiplexing and encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells, which makes it different from IPS or Ethernet- which use variable sized packets or frames
o Good choice for network that needs to handle both high-throughput data and real-time, low-latency content such as voice and audio
• Networks- often classified by physical or organizational extent or purpose
o Personal area network: ex. Pcs, printers, fax machines, telephones
o LAN- each computer or device is a node
 All of these connected devices must know the network layer (layer 3)
 Home network- residential LAN
• Backbone Network- part of computer network infrastructure that interconnects various pieces of network and provides a path for exchange of information between different LANs, or subnetworks
• Wide Area Network- large computer network that covers a large geographic area such as a city; uses a communication channel that combines many types of media
o Often uses transmission facilities provided by common carriers- like telephone companies
• Overlay network- virtual computer network that is built on top of another network
o Ex. internet

Muddiest Point for September 22 class

Could it be articulated more clearly the notion of the relational schema and how it is linked to the attributes, entities and relationships? Thank you!

Reading notes for reading- September 29 class

Introduction to Metadata reading

Of particular interest to me this week within the assigned readings was the topic of social bookmarking and user-generated metadata. Although I have had experience with metadata within an archival setting, the concept of social bookmarking and user-generated metadata were completely unknown to me prior to when I started the program.

I think that Gilliland makes an interesting point in her discussion of user-generated metadata. I found her juxtaposition of how small groups of people use metadata against information professionals and their metadata creation to be particularly thought-provoking. The notion that this small group of people could shape the metadata to their personal interests in a more effective manner than those professionals who receive metadata systems with ready-set fields and vocabularies is at the same time both intuitive and revolutionary. At the same time however, I appreciate how she takes the time to also address the potential drawbacks of user-generated metadata- such as a lack of quality control.

In addition, I also thought that Gilliland's discussion of metadata and the information life cycle to be interesting as well. We have discussed the notion of the records life cycle in other courses but I never thought of how the metadata associated with records could be affected by the stage of the record's life cycle.

Muddiest point for September 15 Class

We talked about how the mp3 makes use of frequency and temporal masking to compress audio files into a manageable size. Do WAV files function similar to mp3 files? Are they compressed/uncompressed? If compressed, do they use lossy or lossless compression, or both?

Flickr Project

Here is the link to my Flickr digitization project:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67588344@N07/

Thanks!

Reading notes- September 22 class

Wikipedia Database reading
After having read this article describing databases, I am most struck by all the different components that go into making a database operable. Today, I feel like a vast majority of us that use databases to facilitate our work every day do not often think about what systems and technologies are necessary to produce such quick results to our various queries.
In particular, I found the concept of database management system to be really interesting. I did not know that databases were in need of special database management systems in order to operate. After having read this article however, it now makes logical sense that a database filled with facts and other forms of data would need a specialized software package outfitted with special programs to support and give form to the database.
One other topic that is addressed in this article that I found compelling was the concept of query optimization. The manner in which this was concept was articulated really resonated with my past experiences with various databases. It makes sense that databases, when faced with very specific queries, have to quickly decide a specific pathways to pursue this information within its contents. It seems as if, when faced with the option of fulfilling this query in a very thorough and time-consuming way or fulfilling the query in a very limited and quick way, the database turns to query plans in order to bridge this gap while also fulfilling the needs and queries of the user.

Reading notes for September 15 class

"Imaging Pittsburgh: Creating a shared gateway to digital image collections of the Pittsburgh region"

I personally found this article to be very thought-provoking in that it gave me a behind-the-scenes look at how a website such as Historic Pittsburgh is made possible. As an intern for the Heinz History Center, I have heard a lot about Historic Pittsburgh and have explored the site quite a bit. Considering this, it was fascinating for me to read about the obstacles and triumphs that presented themselves during the creation of this gateway to historic images of Pittsburgh. In particular, I found Galloway's discussion of the challenges he and his content partners faced as they tried to forge this vision into digital reality. I found their transparency concerning this challenges to be inspiring and I am sure that other organizations that have begun similar projects have turned to Galloway and his team for advice.
I found the section dedicated to the challenges concerning metadata to be interesting. I thought their choice to identify core Dublin Core fields was very wise in light of the number of institutions contributing to this gateway. I also appreciated the challenges they faced concerning issues of copyright. With different copyright specifications for each institution, I thought their solution to post a general statement concerning copyright while also directing the user to see the specific standards to each institution was a wise conclusion.
On a more editorial note, I also enjoyed being able to read the article while also having the Historic Pittsburgh website up. It was great to be able to interact with the site and therefore further understand different aspects of the site that Galloway was discussing.

Reading notes for reading- September 8 class

Reading notes for: "Digitization: Is it worth it?"

As a student currently engaged in an oral history digitization project, I found the subject matter to be particularly scintillating. I appreciated Lee's willingness to question the essential value of his work over the past few years. I am in agreement with Lee's statement that now that the initial wonder at the concept of digitization is over, it is now time to assess the innate value of digitizing archival materials. I found the economic comparisons he was making to be initially thought-provoking, but then found them to be too narrowly focused to serve as a means to assess the value of digitization. However, I do agree with his assertion that we must consider the funds allotted for digitization as not exclusively set aside for it. Lee says we must think through how much the digitization projects we are engaged in aid our users and how such funds, if re-allocated, would assist users.
However, at the same time, I do not think that we as archivists and librarians should not underscore the value of digitization projects as valuable ways to attract and engage new users.

Reading notes for readings- September 1 class

Reading notes for "Content, Not Containers" article
Although composed in 2004, I found this article to be very pertinent to information-accessioning issues facing libraries and archives today. After effectively demonstrating that information seekers today are increasingly and comfortably pursuing information outside of the traditional parameters of text journals and books, this article does not leave the aspiring librarian/archivist feeling hopeless. Although the article asserts that the role of the library in the past as the fount of knowledge could soon be obsolete, it also says that a library's future will be in its ability to organize and rank information according to its pertinence and value. I agree wholeheartedly that we as people often swim in a *seemingly uncontrollable sea of information. Consequently, we are in need of systems that provide us with the tools to effectively navigate this sea to our best advantage. Although this article does proffer a thought-provoking prototype of such a navigation system, I would personally like to explore the possibility of making experiences with reference librarians and archivists more interactive and accessible to the average information seeker.

Muddiest Point for September 1 class

Monday, September 5, 2011
Muddiest Point for September 1 class
First and foremost, I want to say that Dr. He did a fantastic job articulating the pertinence of Information Technology to the field of library and archives... and this is coming from a student who has not taken a computer or information science class since high school. After class I felt like I understood the vision of this class and its place in a masters program for library and information science.
My muddiest point for this week is related to the topic of information management. As Dr. He demonstrated during class, we as humans generate an immensely larger sum of information than we could ever take in. Dr. He continued by saying that libraries and archives have historically stood as the gate-keepers to knowledge and that we have been entrusted with manipulating information in the past. I was just wondering if he could provide a tangible example of one way in which libraries and archives are facing the expanse between the levels of information generated and the levels of information individuals can take in.
I am sure that we will discuss some of these approaches as the semester goes on, but it would be great to have a glimpse of one such strategy that attempts to bridge this gap. Thanks!