Rian's Blog

week 13 muddiest point

2008-11-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-23T12:52:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T15:02:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T15:01:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-17T14:22:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-12T14:14:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-12T14:13:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-10T16:04:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-05T17:48:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-05T17:47:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-03T12:17:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-29T17:10:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-29T17:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-15T17:44:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-15T17:15:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-13T17:18:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-06T14:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-06T13:57:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-01T17:47:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

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

Site for Personal Bibliographic Management Systems assignment.

comments for week 6

2008-09-26T13:00:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-26T12:47:00.001-07:00

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.