Comments about assignments

LIS 2600 assignments have been a pleasure to complete. I've enjoyed the practicality of the latest Jing assignment and foresee using that technology in the future. I'm a little anxious about the midterm exam because I'm not sure what it might cover. There seems to be quite a bit of information over the past 10 chapters of the textbook and I'm having trouble identifying the most important parts. My hope is that the review this week in class will put me on a good path for success on the midterm exam.

LIS 2000 has been a challenge. Critical thinking and reading large amount of material can be a real challenge. I'm sure the latest essay on scholarly communication is the most difficult assignment I've ever done in my school career. The fact that there were three books to read along with the requirement of an additional six outside sources has made it challenging and I fear not having made decent connections.

I think the reason writing this latest essay in LIS 2000 has been so challenging is that I didn't have a clear road map or outline for the essay before I started. I've also not had to write many essays in school before. In contrast, the Double Fold essay was practically written in my mind before I started. I think I can handle short essays with at most one book and a few outside sources where a thesis can be formed much easier. The biggest challenge I'm having is critically analyzing what I've read and figuring out what the influence is on scholarly communication.

The advice I'm giving myself is that this is the first time I've tried an assignment like this and that going through the process will make it easier the next time.

Jing Assignment: Video (with audio narrative) demonstrating how to install and configure the Firefox extension for Zotero

2010-06-04_2010

The link to the video presentation is above and the embedded video below. I used the entire 5 minutes allowed by Jing. I successfully installed Zotero and walked through the preferences. I would have liked to introduce the Zotero interface by clicking on the Zotero name in the lower right hand side of the browser window. In any event, enjoy the presentation. Thank you for watching.

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Benefits of Web 2.0 for Libraries

After reading an article in the online magazine Ariadne, I wanted to share a few of the highlights in my blog. I think one of the ways this blog is developing is like a journal or a place for me to organize my thoughts and discoveries about library science and technology. I still reach for a typical journal to jot down a note, but I can see myself using this blog more and more. It has it's advantages (searching, easy to organize) and it's disadvantages (need to have a computer handy, privacy.)

The link to the full article is below.

http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue63/nogueira/

The article focused on libraries (and by extension archives) using Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. An LIS professional Dongmei Cao listed these benefits:

• increased importance of the library to the user;
• improvement in the library’s image;
• potential of new interactive services to raise the level and quality of the service provided;
• increased involvement of users and improved communication of the library with such users;
• improvement in communication among librarians;
• greater ability to find quick solutions to meet the needs of users;
• improvement in shared knowledge and collaboration.

Other advantages listed in the article include: an increased awareness of the collection; varies access of the collection; diversification of users; improved relationships and links; new dynamic ways to engage; free of charge; contributes to the improved information literacy of users and the general public; the recognition of users as a valid source of information; and the opportunity to enthuse users with the type of contact established and better communication through contact that is simultaneously institutional and informal, professional and personal.

Scopus and Google Scholar

I've had the opportunity to work with the Scopus database and Google Scholar. Google Scholar isn't very good for the following reasons:

1. Exporting to Refworks is tedious. There isn't an option to mark citations and export all at once. Each citation has to be exported one at a time.
2. The advanced search feature isn't all that advanced. The facets available to narrow searches are limited. For example, a user can't limit the search by name of journal (like in Scopus).
3. A user can't save previous searches.
   

Net Neutrality: Who's In Charge of the Internet?

A 17 minute interview on Fresh Air about Net Neutrality from May 25, 2010. The link is to the abstract and interview.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126978125

Metadata

Working with this blog is giving me some experience with metadata (tags) in some introductory way. I've also created a Flickr to work with tagging there too. I only had a few digital photos to upload from a previous trip to Cuba in 2004. I haven't labeled the photos or given them any tags yet. I was interested in Flickr after reading about it in the book Everything is Miscellaneous.

Follow the link below to view the photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/honestweightssquaredealings/

I plan on taking the Metadata class in the fall, along with Digital Libraries. I think taking those classes together might create some synergy.

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The Outlook for Librarians - (from Occupational Outlook Handbook - Bureau of Labor Statistics)

According to the latest Occupational Outlook Handbook, job prospects for librarians is expected to be favorable and growth is expected to be at least as good as the average of all fields. The outlook is based on a large number of librarians retiring in the next decade.

As I read the report, I feel better about my job prospects, but not as confident as I was in job opportunities the last time I was looking for a job in 2004. One adjustment I'll make this time around will be a willingness to volunteer. It seems the library profession offers volunteer opportunities, which will benefit me by putting my skills to use, acquiring new skills, and networking with other professionals.

For now, most of my effort is dedicated to getting the most out of my classwork, rather than job searching.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos068.htm

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Five Ways to Keep Online Criminals at Bay

The strategies seem so simple, but criminals hacking into people's computers is reported all the time. Two of the ways to keep your computer safe involve software updates. The most vulnerable software according to the article is your browser and Adobe Reader. The other three are to avoid malicious ads, poisoned search results, and antisocial media. Criminals like to entice you to click on their ads found in Facebook, as an example of antisocial media.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/technology/personaltech/20basics.html?src=me&ref=homepage

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The Death of the Open Web

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/magazine/23FOB-medium-t.html

Reading this article makes me think that rather than the World Wide Web expanding people's viewpoints, it's simply been a way that people can aggregate similar viewpoints to harden their positions, perhaps even become less tolerant. Where the Web was considered a way to connect people, further understanding, and break walls down; rather, it may be a tool for people to build walls around themselves.

Loss of electricity causes loss of classwork

Thursday afternoon as I was settling into a post on Bb about Kuhn and SSR for LIS 2000, a tree fell on some wires in my neighborhood and (just like that) I lost my work. I was posting directly into the discussion board and hadn't saved anything. I forgot the lesson I learned during fall term to write posts in a text editor and then cut & paste into the Bb thread.

I felt (sad & angry) like maybe I need to rethink my technological equipment because of the realization that I really depend on my computer, and more importantly, electricity.

So, I'm in the market for a backup power supply appliance so that when the electricity goes out I have a few minutes to save my work and shut down the ole iMac. I'm not interested in continuing my work during a power outage, rather just enough time to avoid what happened the other day.

I have an external hard drive I use to back up my files with Time Machine. I'm also starting to wonder if I need another backup that's not in my home, but rather in the cloud.

Google Pitches a Web-Centric Future

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/google-pitches-a-web-centric-future/?ref=technology

Google delivered its vision of a Web-centric future on Wednesday in front of around 5,000 software developers at its annual Google I/O conference.

The presentation was unapologetically geeky, steeped in the language and minutiae of the technical standards that will drive the next wave of innovation on the Internet. For the Google faithful, at least, the meal was hearty.

Google’s vision of the future is starkly different from those laid out by its rivals Apple and Microsoft, and calls for rich multimedia applications that operate within the browser — without the separate applications that people now download to their PC desktops or mobile phones.

I like the idea of applications living in the cloud or server-side, rather than on my machine. I think it's an accessibility issue, really. I don't have to download an add-on or have any special applications in order to view the web content. From the web content provider, they can reach the widest possible audience in a way that doesn't ask the user to do anything special, or have any special application available on their machine. Plus, all the tinkering on the application can be done without asking users to make updates.

Who Should Look Out for the Safety of Computer Users?

As computers have become more widely used by teens and young adults for communicating and socializing, problems associated with this new means of communication have emerged. The problems include bullying and inappropriate contact between adults and minors.

Our textbook includes some questions and points of view to consider which I've listed below.

• Some parents claim that the government should intervene to ensure better monitoring of inappropriate behavior.
• While some private companies have stepped up monitoring, they often claim that they are not responsible for the behavior of individuals, and parents and individuals should be responsible for inappropriate actions.
• Many teens and young adults feel that the problems are simply a matter of personal responsibility and following some simple guidelines, such as the "golden rule."
• Should the companies that provide the service to teens and young adults be required to monitor and stop inappropriate or socially unacceptable behavior?
• What role should parents play in overseeing their child's involvement in computer use?
• Should police or other government authorities be responsible for maintaining order in this situation in the same way they are charged with maintaining order in society in general?
  

I believe companies that provide services to teens and young adults should be required to monitor and stop inappropriate or socially unacceptable behavior. I do not see a distinction between a physical place, like an entertainment venue, and a virtual space. No one would argue that the company providing a physical space for entertainment and commerce that is geared toward children and teens (adults too) isn't responsible for what happens inside their space. In the same way, a virtual social network should be monitored by the owners for inappropriate behavior.

There are challenges in monitoring a virtual space that don't exist in a physical location. One challenge might be the large number of computer users engaged in the social platform that would make it difficult to monitor. However, I believe that is the cost of doing business.

I believe the role of government is to provide the proper and reasonable guidelines and legislation that companies can follow in order to provide the services they desire in a safe manner. Might the cost of doing business be increased due to regulations? Yes. But who would argue the elimination of food inspections because of the increased cost to businesses and consumers.