Thursday, December 4, 2008
Week 14 - Muddy
So ... I've seen a few episodes of Law & Order this week where investigators have been temporarily thwarted by not being able to access online chats because they are not saved in memory. Is there anything to this? I know that a tool like Gmail Chat can "archive" the chats and that might be problematic, but what about programs that don't archive, or have that function turned off?
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Week 14: Organizational Computing, Cloud Computing, and the Future
1- 2. Gruman and Norr, "What Cloud Computing Really Means" and "Explaining Cloud Computing"
The Info World article appears to nail this one: cloud computing seems to be a buzz concept. Though I'm not underestimating how useful cloud computing can be, I see it as another piece of the pie - not a new pie.
While the Explaining Computers video does a fine job of ... uh ... explaining this, another Info World article is also helpful in understanding the concept.
3. The Future of Libraries: Beginning the Great Transformation
Well ... this stuff is fun to think about sometimes ... While the wholesale disappearance of literacy is something I cannot agree with, a changing literacy is. In a similar article in the New York Times Magazine, Wired "maverick" Kevin Kelly discusses the transition to "screen literacy" which itself shares many of the same characteristics and functions with what he considers traditional "textual literacy." In other words, the basic principles in how we communicate through text are still pertinent to how we communicate visually - but the technology has changed and there are still hurdles to overcoming the unique demands of "screen literacy."
What I quite like about Frey's predictions are his emphasis that libraries should explore "creative spaces" and provide access to more hand-on, studio-type activities and his emphasis on preserving local history. To me, these are two major holes left by information technology that libraries should fill in order to remain relevant physical institutions. Of course, this comes with increased outreach and interaction on the part of library staff - another suggestion I would make if writing this article.
One last consideration here is thinking beyond our need for any technology to communicate. At what point can our physiology or power of cognition adapt to communicate telepathically or to meld with technology. For further consideration, see below:
Long live the new flesh ...
The Info World article appears to nail this one: cloud computing seems to be a buzz concept. Though I'm not underestimating how useful cloud computing can be, I see it as another piece of the pie - not a new pie.
While the Explaining Computers video does a fine job of ... uh ... explaining this, another Info World article is also helpful in understanding the concept.
3. The Future of Libraries: Beginning the Great Transformation
Well ... this stuff is fun to think about sometimes ... While the wholesale disappearance of literacy is something I cannot agree with, a changing literacy is. In a similar article in the New York Times Magazine, Wired "maverick" Kevin Kelly discusses the transition to "screen literacy" which itself shares many of the same characteristics and functions with what he considers traditional "textual literacy." In other words, the basic principles in how we communicate through text are still pertinent to how we communicate visually - but the technology has changed and there are still hurdles to overcoming the unique demands of "screen literacy."
What I quite like about Frey's predictions are his emphasis that libraries should explore "creative spaces" and provide access to more hand-on, studio-type activities and his emphasis on preserving local history. To me, these are two major holes left by information technology that libraries should fill in order to remain relevant physical institutions. Of course, this comes with increased outreach and interaction on the part of library staff - another suggestion I would make if writing this article.
One last consideration here is thinking beyond our need for any technology to communicate. At what point can our physiology or power of cognition adapt to communicate telepathically or to meld with technology. For further consideration, see below:
Videodrome (1983)
Dark City (1998)
Long live the new flesh ...
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Week 11 - Digital Library - Institutional Repositories
1. Mischo, W. (July/August 2005). Digital Libraries: challenges and influential work. D-Lib Magazine. 11(7/8).
An interesting review of how these technologies have evolved ... perhaps the most telling point in this article is the amount of standards developed outside of federally-funded research projects. The line between the academy and popular or business development is always a blurry one when it comes to technological development as advancement gets absorbed by the marketplace.
2. Paepcke, A. et al. (July/August 2005). Dewey meets Turing: librarians, computer scientists and the digital libraries initiative. D-Lib Magazine. 11(7/8).
While reading this piece, I couldn't help but recall our discussions of The Social Life of Information in our other courses. The discussion of how librarians had to "humanize" technology - and get over technophobe anxiety - is especially indicative of this. More importantly, though, is the general relationship of the institutions of THE LIBRARY and COMPUTER SCIENCE and how this seemingly wasn't as prominent? If that is what the authors are arguing I would disagree that this relationship is something that happened in 1994 due to the DL projects. I have the impression that libraries, especially in the the late 20th century, have been involved in offering new technologies to their communities. Does anyone else feel this way?
3. Lynch, Clifford A. "Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age" ARL, no. 226 (February 2003): 1-7.
I was particularly drawn to what the author sees as failures of institutions to disseminate knowledge. While working as a research assistant for a faculty member in another program, I ran up against the issue of "lost" articles that she and other scholars had written in the '70s and '80s. In some cases, her personal filing cabinet was more efficient than the university databases in tracking down specific types of subject matter and sources. The uneven nature of dissemination and preservation was very evident.
An interesting review of how these technologies have evolved ... perhaps the most telling point in this article is the amount of standards developed outside of federally-funded research projects. The line between the academy and popular or business development is always a blurry one when it comes to technological development as advancement gets absorbed by the marketplace.
2. Paepcke, A. et al. (July/August 2005). Dewey meets Turing: librarians, computer scientists and the digital libraries initiative. D-Lib Magazine. 11(7/8).
While reading this piece, I couldn't help but recall our discussions of The Social Life of Information in our other courses. The discussion of how librarians had to "humanize" technology - and get over technophobe anxiety - is especially indicative of this. More importantly, though, is the general relationship of the institutions of THE LIBRARY and COMPUTER SCIENCE and how this seemingly wasn't as prominent? If that is what the authors are arguing I would disagree that this relationship is something that happened in 1994 due to the DL projects. I have the impression that libraries, especially in the the late 20th century, have been involved in offering new technologies to their communities. Does anyone else feel this way?
3. Lynch, Clifford A. "Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age" ARL, no. 226 (February 2003): 1-7.
I was particularly drawn to what the author sees as failures of institutions to disseminate knowledge. While working as a research assistant for a faculty member in another program, I ran up against the issue of "lost" articles that she and other scholars had written in the '70s and '80s. In some cases, her personal filing cabinet was more efficient than the university databases in tracking down specific types of subject matter and sources. The uneven nature of dissemination and preservation was very evident.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Muddiest Point - Week Nine
The class lecture on XML - with all of the examples - helped me a good bit, but for this week I'll just say that XML is a big muddy point that I need to work through by using it.
I guess in general, it seems this is useful for applying to databases, what else are useful applications for it?
I guess in general, it seems this is useful for applying to databases, what else are useful applications for it?
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