Muddiest Point
We touched on this only briefly during the lecture, but I'd like to better understand DSpace and how libraries can use it?
Reading Notes
I was glad I was able to read some of the reading notes from other students -- it helped clarify things a bit -- the Dublin Core Data Model article was bewildering.
My ideas about metadata had been rather foggy, and so the article on metadata was very enlightening. Metadata can reflect content, context, and structure. In libraries, bibliographic metadata provides access to contents, f.e. through indexes and catalogs. In archives and museums, metadata often describes the context of records and enables authentication of records and objects (f.e. accession records). Metadata is not only description, but also relate to administration, accession, and preservation and use of collections. Representing the structure of objects is central to metadata development. Systems should reflect content, but should also include additional information about the content. This also helps to specify the intellectual integrity of objects, and maintaining the relationships between objects. This has become a central aim in the preservation of digital objects. It was particularly interesting to read about the role of metadata in digital preservation, as it ensures that digital information, or information objects as she calls them, will survive through migrations of hardware and software and will be preserved.
It was helpful to get a sense of the different types of databases, but the article was only slightly clearer to me than the Dublin Core Data Model one (I tried reading both from various directions, but it didn't do much good) -- I'd like to see it illustrations/models of various models of databases, maybe that will make things a bit clearer.
Comments
I commented on Annie's LIS 2600 blog:
http://annie-lis2600-at-pitt-blog.blogspot.com/
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Week 2 (Sept. 8-Sept. 15), Assignment 2
Digitizing Images and Uploading them on Flickr
Here is the URL (I think) to my FlickR account. I will add more comments on the digitization process soon.
Flickr URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42354457@N07/sets/72157622333487728/
Notes on the digitization:
I created this mini exhibit on the history of public transportation planning by Pittsburgh citizens in the early 1920s. I don’t have a car, and am often frustrated with public transport options, so I am always interested in learning about people's suggestions for improving public transport in the past. Usually, these suggestions never materialized. So, I found this report in the collections of the university library and scanned it based on the guidelines – master images scanned at 600 dpi. I used greyscale for the text images (much better than B&W photo) and color image for the diagrams. I then used photoshop and reduced the image size twice and created an image for the screen and an image for the thumbnail, and saved both as jpgs. I then uploaded it to Flickr and added tags and comments – it was the first time I created a Flickr account, so it was all new to me. I thought I was the first one to digitize the report, but as it always happens when you think you are the first, you are certainly not. I found out that the report had already been digitized as part of the Historic Pittsburgh Collections. So much for being the pioneer digitizer.
Some notes and problems: What struck me when creating the master image was how big the image is when you create a really good scan (it was exceeding 100 MB’s). This is a pretty big file, and so this is indicating the space problems on your hard drive or storage unit that you encounter if you make really high quality scans. And drive space costs money. So, with limited money and hard drive space, you can definitely not save everything.
I also had some problems with writing the tags for Flickr. Flickr always combined my key words into one big word, so it looks really strange, like: 60yearsbeforethesubwaytherewasaplan. Weird, isn’t it?
Also, I wasn’t sure if it is possible to actually arrange the thumbnails where they belong (at the first page of the exhibit in Flickr). Instead, all my thumbnails are showing up as part of the images that are part of the exhibit and Flickr is creating its own thumbnails. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Reading Notes
I was roughly familiar with the story of Linux, but it was interesting to read the story how it evolved as a spin-off from UNIX, and has been developed as an open source software ever since by a large group of programmers. It was also interesting that Linux programmers became more user friendly over time. I still find it difficult to understand, though. Can you just install it on a windows machine? I browsed through the Mac OSX/Linux article (I suppose we are not supposed to read these technical pieces line by line), and what struck me was Singh's critical, but dispassionate position toward windows as a client computer and his acknowledgement that most people use windows, not the least because it is cheaper than Mac. The update on the windows roadmap reads like a promotion piece – everything is moving forward, steadily improving, if you only trust microsoft!
Overall, the readings about the different operating systems highlight that compatibility is a huge problem – compatibility between older and newer operating systems, and also compatibility between mac and windows – I am not sure about Linux. It also creates a lot of practical problems if you work at a place that has both macs and pcs – at the archives where I used to work we often had to transfer multimedia files back and forth between windows and macs, which was not always easy.
Muddiest point
The lectures were all very clear; I don’t really have a muddy point. I am just generally wondering about the implications of the constant development and updates of hardware for libraries and archives – should libraries keep versions of old hardware models (f.e. 268 PCs with 5 ¼ inch floppy drives) so that they will be able to read files on old floppies that may contain important files and re-emerge one day?
Comments
I am a little unclear on this, but are we supposed to document where we have left comments?
I commented on Kristine Harveux-Lundeen's blog:
http://2600kristineharveaux-lundeen.blogspot.com/
And on Letisha Goerner's blog:
http://letishagoerner2600.blogspot.com/
Here is the URL (I think) to my FlickR account. I will add more comments on the digitization process soon.
Flickr URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42354457@N07/sets/72157622333487728/
Notes on the digitization:
I created this mini exhibit on the history of public transportation planning by Pittsburgh citizens in the early 1920s. I don’t have a car, and am often frustrated with public transport options, so I am always interested in learning about people's suggestions for improving public transport in the past. Usually, these suggestions never materialized. So, I found this report in the collections of the university library and scanned it based on the guidelines – master images scanned at 600 dpi. I used greyscale for the text images (much better than B&W photo) and color image for the diagrams. I then used photoshop and reduced the image size twice and created an image for the screen and an image for the thumbnail, and saved both as jpgs. I then uploaded it to Flickr and added tags and comments – it was the first time I created a Flickr account, so it was all new to me. I thought I was the first one to digitize the report, but as it always happens when you think you are the first, you are certainly not. I found out that the report had already been digitized as part of the Historic Pittsburgh Collections. So much for being the pioneer digitizer.
Some notes and problems: What struck me when creating the master image was how big the image is when you create a really good scan (it was exceeding 100 MB’s). This is a pretty big file, and so this is indicating the space problems on your hard drive or storage unit that you encounter if you make really high quality scans. And drive space costs money. So, with limited money and hard drive space, you can definitely not save everything.
I also had some problems with writing the tags for Flickr. Flickr always combined my key words into one big word, so it looks really strange, like: 60yearsbeforethesubwaytherewasaplan. Weird, isn’t it?
Also, I wasn’t sure if it is possible to actually arrange the thumbnails where they belong (at the first page of the exhibit in Flickr). Instead, all my thumbnails are showing up as part of the images that are part of the exhibit and Flickr is creating its own thumbnails. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Reading Notes
I was roughly familiar with the story of Linux, but it was interesting to read the story how it evolved as a spin-off from UNIX, and has been developed as an open source software ever since by a large group of programmers. It was also interesting that Linux programmers became more user friendly over time. I still find it difficult to understand, though. Can you just install it on a windows machine? I browsed through the Mac OSX/Linux article (I suppose we are not supposed to read these technical pieces line by line), and what struck me was Singh's critical, but dispassionate position toward windows as a client computer and his acknowledgement that most people use windows, not the least because it is cheaper than Mac. The update on the windows roadmap reads like a promotion piece – everything is moving forward, steadily improving, if you only trust microsoft!
Overall, the readings about the different operating systems highlight that compatibility is a huge problem – compatibility between older and newer operating systems, and also compatibility between mac and windows – I am not sure about Linux. It also creates a lot of practical problems if you work at a place that has both macs and pcs – at the archives where I used to work we often had to transfer multimedia files back and forth between windows and macs, which was not always easy.
Muddiest point
The lectures were all very clear; I don’t really have a muddy point. I am just generally wondering about the implications of the constant development and updates of hardware for libraries and archives – should libraries keep versions of old hardware models (f.e. 268 PCs with 5 ¼ inch floppy drives) so that they will be able to read files on old floppies that may contain important files and re-emerge one day?
Comments
I am a little unclear on this, but are we supposed to document where we have left comments?
I commented on Kristine Harveux-Lundeen's blog:
http://2600kristineharveaux-lundeen.blogspot.com/
And on Letisha Goerner's blog:
http://letishagoerner2600.blogspot.com/
Friday, September 4, 2009
Week 1, September 1st, 2009
Muddiest Point:
One of the muddiest points of this week concerns the issue of defining “information,” “information technology,” and to distinguish this definition from “knowledge” and “wisdom” (in the DIKW pyramid). I am wondering if it may help to highlight that the definition of “information” and “information technology” depends on the context, on the way it is used, and on the history of the term. Does information really always have to be “true” or “new” as one of the definitions implied? Doesn’t it also facilitate the dissemination of “old” information? And, as Tim Notari has pointed out in his blog entry, isn’t it difficult to determine what is “true” information? And does “information” automatically lead to “knowledge”?
Readings
Lied Library @ Four Years, 2005
While not the most scintillating read, I liked the practical perspective on the experiences with maintaining the technology at Lied library and the realistic tone of the article. The article highlighted the function of the library as a gateway of providing access to computers. It also hints at the challenges and costs associated with this function, and the need to always update the technology in the library (the three year replacement cycle of pc’s). I was interested to read about the restrictions for computer usage to community users of the library (which I suppose are users who are not students), which hints at possible consequences of making the expensive technology accessible to the students – what is open to some, becomes restricted to others. I would be curious to hear how the library is doing now, and how it is dealing with budget cuts and limited resources – how can technology be maintained at this level with limited resources?
Content, nor Containers, OCLC report 2004
I think among the most interesting points of the report is the statement that libraries should help provide context for content, or information, and should help to establish authenticity and provenance of content. For example, libraries can provide information to patrons on how search engines work, which group or company developed them for what purpose, and what kind of information they include, and what information they may exclude. In this respect, reference librarians can not only help patrons to find information, but also explain different ways of accessing information. Who finances OCLC, by the way?
Clifford Lynch, Information Literacy, 1998
While more than ten years old, Clifford Lynch’s appeal to focus information technology literacy not only on the knowledge of computers, and of specific applications, but also on the infrastructure that supports the technology, and on economic, social, political, and historical problems, still resonates today. Beyond becoming familiar with specific applications, this is also what I hope to get out of this class.
One of the muddiest points of this week concerns the issue of defining “information,” “information technology,” and to distinguish this definition from “knowledge” and “wisdom” (in the DIKW pyramid). I am wondering if it may help to highlight that the definition of “information” and “information technology” depends on the context, on the way it is used, and on the history of the term. Does information really always have to be “true” or “new” as one of the definitions implied? Doesn’t it also facilitate the dissemination of “old” information? And, as Tim Notari has pointed out in his blog entry, isn’t it difficult to determine what is “true” information? And does “information” automatically lead to “knowledge”?
Readings
Lied Library @ Four Years, 2005
While not the most scintillating read, I liked the practical perspective on the experiences with maintaining the technology at Lied library and the realistic tone of the article. The article highlighted the function of the library as a gateway of providing access to computers. It also hints at the challenges and costs associated with this function, and the need to always update the technology in the library (the three year replacement cycle of pc’s). I was interested to read about the restrictions for computer usage to community users of the library (which I suppose are users who are not students), which hints at possible consequences of making the expensive technology accessible to the students – what is open to some, becomes restricted to others. I would be curious to hear how the library is doing now, and how it is dealing with budget cuts and limited resources – how can technology be maintained at this level with limited resources?
Content, nor Containers, OCLC report 2004
I think among the most interesting points of the report is the statement that libraries should help provide context for content, or information, and should help to establish authenticity and provenance of content. For example, libraries can provide information to patrons on how search engines work, which group or company developed them for what purpose, and what kind of information they include, and what information they may exclude. In this respect, reference librarians can not only help patrons to find information, but also explain different ways of accessing information. Who finances OCLC, by the way?
Clifford Lynch, Information Literacy, 1998
While more than ten years old, Clifford Lynch’s appeal to focus information technology literacy not only on the knowledge of computers, and of specific applications, but also on the infrastructure that supports the technology, and on economic, social, political, and historical problems, still resonates today. Beyond becoming familiar with specific applications, this is also what I hope to get out of this class.
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