week 13 muddiest point

This may be more of a rant than a muddy point, but it still makes me think. It’s kind of spooky to think about all of the different ways that the government, companies and almost anyone else can know what you are doing at any moment of the day. I don’t really have a stand on this, but I do have to wonder a few things. How much is too much? When is enough really enough? I understand that some stores and stuff need to have surveillance cameras and such so that if there is something that happened there, they have the cameras to look back at, but what about other places? For example, my daughter and I were at the public library a few days ago and they had surveillance cameras. I mean really? When was the last time you heard about an armed robbery at the library? Is that going a bit overboard?

comments for week 12

comments on jacqui’s blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2005895256228614061&postID=4380822365563709540&page=1

comments on valerie’s blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5522596475792783454&postID=8247158666001690514&page=1

muddiest point week 12

Okay. This may be my own fault being that I am a little behind in watching my videos, but do we only need 10 entries to get full credit for posting? There are 14 weeks, so I figured we need 14 thoughts, muddiest points, and comments. However, if I am incorrect, and we only need 10, I might be okay since I thought I was in all kinds of trouble at the beginning of the semester when I was unaware we had to post muddiest points. Well, kudos if we only have to do 10!

thoughts on week 12

Finally, an article that I knew all about the topic at hand. It was interesting to read about the history of a blog. I thought it was a little newer than it was, but then again, there are many things that surprise me. The popularity of a blog is definitely coming around. I had heard of them before this class, but had never used one. Since the beginning of class, I have had the experience of working with three now. They are a little easier to manage than email, but sometimes I forget to check them, whereas I check my email daily, if not several times a day. Then again, perhaps it is just a habit that I got into and could do so with a blog.

Wikis, on the other hand, I have not had the privilege of using. I mean, I have read information on wikipedia and stuff, but have never added any information to one. The thought is good, but it seems to me that it is very similar to a blog.

Folksonomy. Fun word.

Tagging is a good idea and I like that it would be saved on the Internet. I just had a similar problem at work. Not worrying about where I had saved something from, but I had all my favorites saved on my work computer and then the server crashed and I lost everything. I had to go back and try to remember what I had on there. It would have been much easier to have gone online to locate them.

It was interesting to hear the video on Wikipedia. I had always liked to use Wikipedia, but I wasn’t sure of the authenticity. I mean, if everyone has access to edit it at any time, couldn’t I get on and put some type of nonsense answer under a topic? I liked that they could see what was changed when questioning a change on the page. Especially when someone edits anonymously.

comments for week 11

Comments on rachel’s blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4331968769876525173&postID=8782575807241715339&page=1

Comments on valerie’s blog:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5522596475792783454&postID=3159920468327507072&page=1

muddiest point week 11

This may not be a muddiest point, per se, but it humors me anyway. I know I discussed this in my thoughts on the articles, but I still have to laugh when averages are given for things in decimals. I get that when you take a group of numbers and find the average that there is the possibility of getting a decimal answer. But really, 2.5 kids? 2.3 words? I mean, in that case, shouldn't you just round up or down, depending on the decimal??? Really, what is a half a kid, or what is three-tenths of a word?

thoughts on week 11

I had no idea that so much work went into searching for information. I mean, I knew that it had to be super-tricky because if it weren’t, then I wouldn’t get 8 bazillion results to my searches. But the whole idea of crawlers was kind of interesting. There are so many intricate steps involved in, what seems to us common-folk a split second, searching through the almost infinite amount of work out there. I guess I’ll relax a little more the next time the server crashes at work.

So let me see if this is correct…an indexer is a person who scans documents for keywords? What kind of fun s that? Wait, is an indexer even a person? After reading a little farther, I’m thinking not. And what does eigenvector even mean? Another point I think is funny is that you can have 2.3 words. It’s like the average family has 2.5 kinds. I want to see that half a kid! I like it when search engines sort by relevance. Especially when they give you the percentage that It meets your search. You never think about someone (or something) putting all the information from, like, a Google search, in order of relevance. I’ll add that to the list of jobs I have realized I don’t want since starting this class.

I also liked the sheet music consortium. I think it works well that a small number of libraries take on a particular aspect. Maybe if everything was broken down that way, people wouldn’t get overloaded with crazy work. I also liked that they have a plan for future improvements. If they know what still needs to be done, it’s good to put in the plan. I think many programs wait to see what happens, then when it “breaks” they have to figure out how to fix it. If you know what the expectations are ahead of time, it may turn out not so messy in the end.

The analogy of the ocean was a very good way to describe the Deep Web. I am a visual learner, and to have something to compare a new idea to makes that idea easier for me to understand. The Deep Web makes a lot of sense. If you think about it, when you do a search, you look at the first few responses, maybe even the first few pages. But who really goes through all the results?

comments for week 10

Let me first say that I mixed up this week and next wee's readings, so these are actually comments on week 11. Next week, I will leave my week 11 comments for somebody else's week 10. Does that make sense?? Anyways...

Comments on elise’s blog https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4736393327020365268&postID=6719120915827707176&page=1

Comments on amanda’s blog:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=271112965323219834&postID=219686269639080229&page=1

Assignment 6

I give up. I have spent three straight days trying to get this to work and nothing. I get the first page up and that's it. So there goes my grade. Grrrr.... >:( Here's the link to the single page: www.pitt.edu/~rmc21

However, here 's the link to the whole thing in case you wanted to see what it looked like. http://hstrial-rcrothers.homestead.com/

muddiest point week 10

My muddiest point this week is assignment 6. I have created my website, I folowed all the steps in the tutorial to use Filezilla and although it says that all my work is there, I go to my link and it says I am not authorized to view the page. I created the page! Who else would have better authorization?? I will try a few other things that some friends have suggested, but in the end, i have to wonder how many points I would get taken off if I just posted my link to where I DO have authorization to view it and not put it through the Pitt server.

thoughts on week 10

I’m sorry, but I have to say…the first article was terribly difficult to read, let alone take anything away from it. Perhaps it is because I am distracted by things going on around me, or it truly was a dry article, but all I could think of while I was reading it was Charlie Brown. I felt like I was in the classroom with the Peanuts gang listening to the teacher talk. Mwah mwah mwha mwah… That’s all I heard.

The second article was better. I at least understood what it was about. There are definite connections between computer scientists and librarians. I see that first hand at work. My library classes aren’t just learning the DDC anymore. In fact, the whole course is called Library Science whereas 10 years ago, the only Science you found was in the lab. All the committees that involve technology, I have to be a part of. It makes me laugh, sometimes, because I could be sitting in the library and someone is having a problem with a computer and they ask me what’s wrong with it. Like I know! But they assume I do because I am the librarian. Imagine that!

I agree with one point in the third article about concerns with institutional repositories. I do think that some may come to expect immediate gratification, so to speak, with them. But as with anything else that is new, it needs to be created, tested, and have the kinks worked out. Those campus communities that feel they should have this immediate repository may feel slighted if they do not receive that immediate gratification, but how much more upset would they be if they received it, and it “broke”?

comments for week 9

comments on jacqui's blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2005895256228614061&postID=9179526715225986818&page=1

comments on val's blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5522596475792783454&postID=2507956038603566561&page=1

muddiest point week 9

I know this was a muddy point for me a few weeks ago, but it still is. All the abbreviations! They are driving me nuts! I am fairly fluent in text language, but this is completely different! The letters are everywhere! And they detail other abbreviations so if you don't know one, you won't know the other! I guess the more you work at it, the better you understand it, but it seems like so much right off the bat.

thoughts on week 9

Sometimes the grass just isn’t greener on the other side. I think last week I had said that it would be interesting to learn HTML. I have changed my mind. After a great deal of thinking (and reading the XML article), I have to laugh. I mean, I took 5 years of Spanish in school and all I can remember is Donde esta el bano? and Me gusta el pollo. (For all non-Spanish takers they are where’s the bathroom and I like chicken) I think I still remember the alphabet as well. What my point is, though, is if I didn’t learn that language in 5 years, what in the world makes me think I would remotely come close to learning this in two weeks!?!?! Once again, I give loads of credit to the tech guys, but I’ll leave them to their jobs and I guess I’ll just keep mine.

Then I got to the next article and I have to wonder…how many things can start with X-something? It kind of reminds me of Google-this and i-that. I still have the same opinion as I did when I read the previous article, though. This isn’t a language I’m understanding anytime soon…

Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following: HTML / XHTML, XML and XML Namespaces, and A basic understanding of DTD. Are you kidding? I think I only know what one of those even means! But I will trek on… Yeah…no. I think I am going to have a serious struggle with this next assignment.

comments for week 8

comments on jenelle’s blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8181712083178212707&postID=9122241610415693435&page=1

comments on emily’s blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=954478916342085840&postID=8800742812497452800

muddiest point week 8

The muddiest point for this week was trying to figure out how to access the webmonkey website when it continued to produce an error message. I tried almost every possibility of changes and couldn't figure it out. Kudos to Jean for figuring it out! I know it is not possible to keep up with every change that occurs on the Internet, but a little note would be helpful if something is not working.

thoughts on week 8

The tutorial on html was confusing, but in a good way. I always thought that it would be cool to know how to create a website. But I figured it would be kind of hard. The tutorial definitely proved me right! It was interesting to be able to play around with it, though, and see what would happen if you edited and changed things in the format. I guess as long as you had the cheat sheet handy until you learned it better, it would be helpful. I guess it’s like learning any other language; you just have to keep practicing it until you understand it!

CSS is also slightly confusing, and I can see why they warned you that you should be “fluent” in html before trying CSS.

The article helped me a lot with seeing what the tutorial couldn’t show me. I wanted to see an “actual” example of a website with the html language alongside so that I could see what was what. The article was interesting in that aspect because it showed both at the same time.

I think ultimately (and if I had, like, two straight years to devote to it) I would like to learn html. It would definitely be very fulfilling to see a final product after all that hard work!

Assignment 5

here is a link to assignment 5:

http://pitt5.kohawc.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/bookshelves/shelves.pl?shelfnumber=12&modifyshelfcontents=1&viewshelf=12&addbarcode=12590&modifyshelfcontents=1&shelfnumber=12

Comments for week 7

comments on jacqui's blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2005895256228614061&postID=1790837199590875978&page=1


comments on rachel's blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4331968769876525173&postID=6742087653856209860&page=1

Assignment 4

Here is the url for the video: http://www.screencast.com/users/rian75/folders/Jing/media/4c2ceb8a-1990-40ec-a2c2-a3be87951109

Here are the url's for the images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30280822@N08/2916913732/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30280822@N08/2916082531/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30280822@N08/2916118071/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30280822@N08/2916127127/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30280822@N08/2916991552/

muddiest point week 7

Although it seems that every week I understand more and more of what I am reading, there are still a zillion things that I don’t get. For example, I understand that as we evolve, we must change. That is the same for technologies, and as it progresses, things must change. But when will enough be enough? How much does one person really need? I guess it’s not really a muddy point, but it’s still something I am not clear on, nor do I expect to ever be since I seem to be the type of person who is content with what is in front of them and if you tell me I have to change, I will, and I’ll get used to that way too.

thoughts on week 7

I found the “How Stuff Works” article to be interesting. The one part made sense about trying different IPs until it found one that works. I noticed that when my Internet connection is down and I don’t know it, and I type in say google.com, it will show at the bottom of the screen all the different ways it is trying to connect to the site. I have seen it do google.net, google.org, google.gov, and even google.com.com. I never really thought about what it was doing, and kind of found it a little weird that it wouldn’t just connect to the site. But I guess if it couldn’t find a match, it would keep trying until it did. But I still find it fascinating that it can try all of these different connections in a split second.

I can see the frustrations from a librarian’s point of view with different library systems. Yes, at first it is all overwhelming, but you do get used to it. There are so many different aspects of it, though, that you have to wonder if you will ever learn all there is to offer. On the other hand, you think of ways that it could be more useful to you. Then in the back of your mind, you have to think that if something would seem that obvious that it would make something easier, it has to be there somewhere. And that takes you back full circle to not knowing all it has to offer. I could see how a librarian could think they would do better creating their own sometimes..

The Google search earth was really cool. Looking at who was accessing the site, versus who was not links to everything we already really know about the world. Look at the places the lights were going crazy…Europe, USA, China, Japan… These are all places where technology is exploding. We see the same thing with education. The darker places however are all the places with either no power or no advanced technologies. These are the same places where they have no established education and are terribly undeveloped. On a lighter note, I think Google is going to take over the world someday. Haven’t you noticed that everything sounds better coming after Google? It seems like it would be awesome to work there though. I have to agree, the more you enjoy your job, the better at it you want to do.

Assignment 3

http://www.citeulike.org/user/rian75

Site for Personal Bibliographic Management Systems assignment.

comments for week 6

comments on jacqui’s blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2005895256228614061&postID=6091368716197769890

comments on joy’s blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6994306389856188940&postID=6293405365153831077&page=1

muddiest point week 6

Why does everything have to be abbreviated? Perhaps it’s easier for people writing the articles, but for lowly people like myself, not knowing what the letters stand for drives me crazy. Even when I figure out what they mean, I still have to look back while reading to remember what they stood for. It would just be easier if they were spelled out for awhile until I was able to remember them all. I guess it is similar to text messaging language. Although most of them are easy enough to figure out with a little common sense.

thoughts on week 6

The first article I read was the wiki on Local Area Networks. I understood that I use LAN’s at home and at work. I wondered when a LAN would switch to a WAN and if a MAN was the same as a WAN.

The second article I read was the wiki on Computer Networks. Luckily, my earlier questions were answered, so know I knew that a LAN switched to a WAN after it became a CAN and a MAN. Who knew. I also learned that a MAN was slightly smaller than a WAN, so to answer my second question, no they are not the same.

I wonder if RFID is going to be similar to the VHS/DVD saga. When VHS movies came out, everybody owned them. Then DVD’s came out and VHS movies started to become sparse. Now you cannot buy a new movie on VHS. If a library is using a barcode system and the RFID system begins to take effect in a small amount of libraries, then adds more and more, will eventually all libraries be forced to buy into RFID, or will it be like the VCR/DVD players where something would be built to accommodate both the barcodes and the RFID until barcode systems become altogether nonexistent?

comments for week 5

comments on Rachel's blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4331968769876525173&postID=5636836837541999600&page=1

comments on Valerie's blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5522596475792783454&postID=2531244609399026640&page=1

comments week 4

comments on Jacqui's blog: http://quiquan.blogspot.com/2008/09/week-4-muddiest-point.html?showComment=1221864480000#c1125260775984266505

commnets on Jake's blog: 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

muddiest point week 5

Grammatical errors. Did anyone else see them all? Using weather instead of whether...not putting a "s" at the end of a word that was pluralized... they were everywhere! If we have to be responsible for spelling/grammatical errors, so should the authors of the articles we read!

muddiest point week 4

I have go to say, and I would bet my paycheck that someone else's had to be this too, but this week's (and every week prior to this) muddiest point is....the muddiest point.

I was unaware that muddiest points were required until they started to get graded. When I read about them in the syllabus, it said the student would have the chance to raise a muddiest point. To me, that meant if there was not one, there was no need to raise one. Perhaps in the future the word required should appear somewhere as well.

thoughts on week 5

This was the best article I have read so far! First, it was short enough to keep my attention the whole time. Second, I understand statistical redundancy!! It was a plethora of emotions knowing that I could deduce what was being talked about in this article & it made sense! Obviuosly if you are taking data and compressing it, some changes need to occur. I even understood the difference between lossless and lossy! Why can't it all be this easy???

Data compressing kind of makes me think of math. You can write a number out in standard form, which is a shortened version of expanded form. You can even use expotential notation if available. Data comperssion reminds me of that. To shrink the number down to the exact amount would be lossless (not losing anything). To round up or down, just taking a bit off here or there, would be lossy (losing a small amount). The article from DVD-HQ helped me to understand that even better. I guess I didn't realize I was as visual a learner as I must be.

The most interesting aspect of the DRL article is reading about something that when written, the future is unknown, but being here, knowing the idea worked. They knew they would have support through 2004, but I have since used the DRL to obtain pictures for assignments for my classes at Pitt. It is cool to see the plans for something that you already know the outcome of.

I think using YouTube is a great idea to help teach in the classroom/library. I have thought of it many times. Many districts, however, block it because of the inappropriate nature of some of the videos. I have used TeacherTube before, which is similar to YouTube (in fact you can find the same videos) but it keps its content safer. (There is an option for flaggin inappropriate material) and it's a great example of data compressing!

thoughts on week 4

It almost had me. I thought for sure I was going to finally understand an article I had to read. But that warm fuzzy feeling only lasted so long. Databases are apparently far more complex than I thought, but now I do realize that if I were meant to know and understand the different models of it all, I would be one of the tech guys and not a teacher/librarian. I know I use databases at work, but I guess I never took the time to think over what type they were, or even that they could lock me out. I'm going to have to give my tech guys a high five tomorrow for understanding all of this.

I lasted a little longer with the metadata article. I found this article to leave me with mixed feelings. First, I tend to lose track of everything I am reading when things are listed in sentences, especially sentences of such length. I did, however, find the tables handy. I tend to understand topics much better if I am given the name, definition and an example.

The first thought that I had while reading this article was if it was not complete in 1999, is it close to being complete in 2008? I had also started to really lose interest in reading at this point, but had noted that the graphs/trees were definitely more helpful than all the letters that I didn't understand.

thoughts on week 3

Mac OS X vs. Linux vs. Windows XP vs...

I am going to combine all three readings into one post this week due to the fact that I felt the same after reading each. First let me start by saying that I am a Windows user at home, and a Google Apps user at work. So the whole Linux and Mac OS X ideas had me feeling mildly clueless. As a not-really-into-caring-what-is-running-my-computer kind of person, I have always chosen Windows because I had heard of it. That is basically the main reason. If someone would have come up to me and wanted to teach me about Linux or Mac OS X, I wouldn’t have wanted to listen because I knew I would go with Windows either way.

You have to wonder if other people think the same way I do (gosh—I hope so!). Is it terribly imperative to know all the information about every product out there before buying one? Probably…to a degree. I think it would have been helpful to have had information on other operating systems. It is good to look at the pros and cons of each. That was one thing I like about the Linux article. It not only pointed out what users would like about the product, but it also pointed out some quirks to the system. Other than having a few people argue over the true job of an IT person, the blog didn’t give me that, nor did the Mac OS X document.

There was also a great deal of talk of learning how to use the software. This is a gimme no matter how you look at it. Obviously when you are going to be working on something different, you need to know how to use it! As I said earlier, at work we just changed over from Windows to Google Apps. Am I an expert on Google? Heck no! But the more I used it, the more familiar I become with it. It also helps that I have to teach the kids to use it as well, so I am using it several times a day doing the same applications.

Just because the Linux article gave me a perspective on both sides of the fence, that wouldn’t mean that I would buy into it. Any of the three would be fine with me…providing I was able to do what I have to do with my computer. It just so happens that Windows is what I was familiar with. But after working with Google Apps for three weeks, I am becoming more familiar with it as well. So I guess I have to go back to my original thought and second guess it. Perhaps if I had to choose another software, it would be more beneficial to look at all the prospects, the gods and the bads, and maybe make a more informed decision instead of a comfortable one.

comments for week 2

comments on Jacqui's blog: http://quiquan.blogspot.com/2008/09/week-2-muddiest-point.html?showComment=1220906760000#c8956305930500232154

comments on Lori's blog:
http://lhmorrow.blogspot.com/2008/09/computer-museum.html

Assignment 2

www.flickr.com/photos/30280822@N08/

Here is the link to my photostream.

Thoughts on week 2

At first I got nervous reading the wiki about computer hardware. I didn't know what any of the terms meant. I had heard of them before, but as far as defining them, I was clueless. I felt much better when it got to the part about other peripherals, especially the input section on gaming devices. I finally knew what was being discussed. In fact, there wasn't another word after that section that I didn't already know. what an informative wiki!

I can see how there is some confusion with Moore's Law. Presumably, the more you add to something, the limited amount of space is left. He did have a point that at some point they could make larger chips but, again, at some point the chip would have to be too large. At that point, I think Moore's Law could expire.
Now, the video summed up everything it took like an hour to read in like 2 1/2 minutes and I think I understood it better because the words weren't terribly dull and real life examples were given.

The website gave more visual examples of the growing capabilities of chips that put Moore's Law into yet another perspective (The Silicone Engine). I also liked the timeline of computer history from 1939-1994.

week 1 comments

comments on valerie's blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5522596475792783454&postID=4102452865547453378&page=1

comments on jacqui's blog: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2005895256228614061&postID=4379012987780174040&page=1

Rian's thoughts on week 1

Information technology is not a subject that I have eagerly seeked out to read about. I find the language boring and hard to get through. However, much of what I read this week, I agree with. It is difficult to find an elementary school where there is much teaching going on about information technology, or information literacy. Even as you get into the secondary levels, the only students required to take the classes that may teach them about information are those students who are looking to that field for their futures. And although I agree that it still can be boring to learn about, or difficult to read, there are some interesting aspects of it that I feel should be taught to all students at all levels.