Week 15 Reading

• From what I understand so far, "cloud" computing refers to storing files on a central server that one may never see. These servers are stored in special warehouses which are closely monitored and climate controlled. They use a lot of energy and are often set up in climates that are naturally dry i.e. desert climates. For example, Microsoft has moved to offer Cloud Storage to its XBOX Live customers.
• This guy in the video with the glasses is creepy...
• But how secure are these "clouds"?
• Also, cloud computing is not very green.
• Libraries are still the best excuse for hoarding materials. This is part of why I love the profession.

I really enjoyed this article:
http://www.futuristspeaker.com/2006/11/the-future-of-libraries/

Week 13 Lab

http://liswiki.org/wiki/User:Kmm202

Week 14 Reading

• Oh gods please no! Don't make me read this "No Place to Hide" thing! I understand that while you are online, you leave a footprint on every page you visit. And I understand that we are under constant surveillance, but honestly I am sick of hearing and reading about it.
• I thought that the TIA had existed much earlier than 2002?
• TIA sounds like it was a huge violation of privacy, but so is the PATRIOT Act and we still have that hanging around. Except now everyone things that Obama was behind in when in actuality it was passed under the early W. Bush administration.
• Also, part of the PATRIOT Act was that libraries would have to release patron records. I still remember the ALA's privacy movement with the Militant Librarian buttons. I would love to have one of those.
• I'm glad that Vermont is trying to clarify library privacy policies under the law.

Week 13 Reading

• Since arriving at the iSchool in August, I find that people throw the term "Web 2.0" around, often without really understanding its true definition. 
• "typically... describe[s] technologies such as wikis, weblogs, and other collaborative tools."
• The term "social networking" had been in use long before the invention of social media. At least in my opinion it has.
• Thomas Paine's pamphlets were actually not that widely distributed among the general population. If you think about it, at the time of the American Revolution, a majority of the population was illiterate. The majority of Paine's pamphlets were held by those who were literate and those who could read were often in the public square reading the pamphlets aloud to the illiterate masses. I'll get off my historian's soap box now.
• I'm always a little hesitant about putting my true thoughts about key issues out there on social media sites because ANYONE can look at them. Accessibility is the double-edged sword of social media.
• Wikis are actually one of my favorite forms of social media. I am involved in several video game related wikis. Not only do I read them, I have also written and edited wikis.
• I find it humorous that the author keeps coming back to "Star Wars Kid." As a tribute to the author:

• I find that people today are much more willing to use wikis to manage and access information. I believe that this is partially due to the success of Wikipedia and Wikia. This is a useful tool in the library. For example, the LibGuides used by the ULS are a special kind of Wiki used in teaching patrons about library services and conducting research.
• The problem with Wikipedia is that ANYONE can edit a page. This the best blog post that I have found that "complains" about Wikipedia and its use by "scholars":  http://fml-mlisn.blogspot.com/2011/10/thoughts-on-wikipedia.html

Week 11 Lab

Web of Knowledge: Topic=("digital libraries") AND Topic=("virtual reference")
Timespan=2008-2012

Topic=("digital libraries") AND Topic=("digital reference")

Timespan= 2008-2012

Google Scholar: "digital libraries" AND "virtual reference" since 2008

"digital libraries" AND "digital reference" since 2008

Week 12 Reading

• Every time I think about indexing I think about LIS 2005 and how much I wanted to burn that project... but one cannot burn files on a computer... -_- I'm just glad that I will not have to do that by hand again if the technology to index keeps growing.
• It bothers me when a student believes that by Google-ing something they are searching the entire internet. Google should not be your once and done research spot.
• "Crawling"... wait what? Further explanation is needed.
• Ah so that's what Google is talking about when they say something about their "algorithm." They're talking about crawling... I see...
• "Modern spammers create artificial Web landscapes of domains, servers, links, and pages to inflate the link scores of the targets they have been paid to promotes. Spammers also engage in cloaking, the process of delivering different content to crawlers than site visitors." Even if you send me to your crap, I still won't buy it. 
• My trained revulsion to math causes me to gag a little every time I see certain words like "algorithm" or "problem" or "solve for x."
• This article is jargon laden and I am having a hard time following it...
• When the authors talk about compressed data, is that similar to data compressed into a zip file on a computer? 
• What is this "Deep Web" you speak of my friend?

Week 11 Readings

• As soon as I see the entity relationship model on the first page of the Digital Libraries article I want to do this:

• I feel that it may be next to impossible for we as librarians to offer our users seamless access to the information they are looking for. The "lasso" that we are using to try to pull everything together just isn't big enough, and no matter how much money we throw at it, I feel like it never will be.
• "It has now become commonplace for both major and small-scale publishers to provide Web-based access to their full-text journal issues and articles."<--- This is kind of sink or swim. In order for a publisher to make any money today, they MUST provide this service or people will go somewhere else.
• It's bothersome to think that Google grew out of a research performed under the Stanford DLI-1 project... especially because Google is worth billions.
• "Whether digital library work will continue to be interesting to the computer science community at large is an open question." If we continue to throw money at them for it, it will be. 
• "It is interesting that Google Scholar is being held up as the competition for both campus institutional repository systems (at least in terms of search and discovery) and academic library federated searching." I often find Google Scholar searches to be frustrating unless I am on Pitt's campus because most articles are on a pay for view basis. If I am on Pitt's campus it is more likely that I will be able to view article that I was through Google Scholar because it is part of a subscription that Pitt already has.
• Also, just because some our institutional repository systems are taking a back seat to Google Scholar, does not mean that we should discontinue our management of them. If we can find a way to make them better than Google Scholar, people will come back to them on their own.
• The problem that I find with librarians working with computer scientists is that we "speak" different languages. A certain word that a librarian uses could mean one thing to her, but it could mean something completely different to a computer scientist. We have to find that common ground between us when we begin our work, otherwise, a lot of time and money is wasted.
• "The disruption to the library community was greatly exacerbated by many journal publishers' business decision to charge at a premium for digital content. This decision has been forcing academic libraries to cancel subscriptions, undermining their role as conduits of scholarly work." You don't say! People would rather turn to Google today than to the library for their reference questions.