Reading Notes- Week 9

1) Martin Bryan.  Introducing the Extensible Markup Language (XML) http://burks.bton.ac.uk/burks/internet/web/xmlintro.htm

I am not sure if there is something wrong with this link. There is nothing about XML on the page that the link redirects me too. For now, I will skip this article. Are others having similar problems?


EDIT: Devon and Katie both found links to this article. Apparently I'm not as good at sleuthing around for these articles as I thought. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bult.104/full


I liked the layout of this article, and I wish I had read it before the others. This article was very informative about XML. I found it interesting, (as well as logical) that there probably will never be a standard coding system that is suitable for all uses.

2) Uche Ogbuji. A survey of XML standards: Part 1. January 2004. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-stand1.html

I found this article very technical and found it hard to grasp some of the information presented. XML is based on Standard Generalized Markup Language. This article discussed different aspects of XML that are standards.

3) Extending your Markup: a XML tutorial by Andre Bergholz PDF

I had trouble opening the PDF. I found the article somewhere else if anyone else was having trouble: http://pdffinder.com/get/extending-your-markup-an-xml-tutorial.pdf

After reading the daunting Ogbuji article, I felt better reading the introduction to Bergholz’s article. Bergholz states that XML allows for annotation. XML is both easier for humans and computers to read. I found this article to describe the standards in a much simpler way than the previous article. Putting the explanations of XPointer, XPath, and Xlink together made them much easier to understand as they are used for a similar function, which is linking. These supporting languages allow for a better means of linking than HTML is capable of.

4) XML Schema Tutorial http://www.w3schools.com/Schema/default.asp

I like the w3school’s tutorials because of the visual examples where you actually get to see the coding of XML as we did with HTML. This article explains XML schema. It explains that XML schema describes the different elements of the XML file. Simple elements are made up of only text, while more complex elements can have attributes. I am interested in learning more about XML. I can see this language as a valid alternative to HTML. 

Assignment 5- Koha

Username: bds46.

List name: Long Island NY

My bookshelf:
http://upitt01-staff.kwc.kohalibrary.com/cgi-bin/koha/virtualshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=43

Comments Week 8

http://mfarina.blogspot.com/2010/10/week-8-readingviewing-notes-m-farina.html?showComment=1288105817821#c2798550878531518858

http://adamdblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/unit-8-reading-notes.html?showComment=1288106359700#c3552471000198045637

Reading Notes- Week 8

1) W3schools HTML Tutorial: http://www.w3schools.com/HTML/

I found this tutorial very informative, as I have very little experience with HTML. The only thing I questioned were the comments in HTML. Why would you need to insert comments, if they aren’t displayed? I’m guessing it helps when one wants to change the HTML, but I think the tutorial could have described why it is used better. I found it interesting that there is a way to view the code of websites. I am excited to see what assignment 6 is going to have us do with HTML.

2) HTML Cheatsheet http://www.webmonkey.com/reference/HTML_Cheatsheet/

This cheat sheet seems like it would be very helpful if one were already familiar with HTML. After reading the previous tutorial, this would make for a good reference sheet, so one doesn’t have to look through the long tutorial for a specific element.

3) W3 School Cascading Style Sheet Tutorial: http://www.w3schools.com/css/

At first, I was confused as to the difference between CCS and HTML. After rereading the beginning of this tutorial I started to understand the use for CCS with HTML. HTML is used to describe how a document should be laid out, while CCS adds color and different fonts to style the HTML in an easier way.

4) Goans, D., Leach, G., & Vogel, T. M. (2006). Beyond HTML: Developing and re-imagining library web guides in a content management system. Library Hi Tech, 24(1), 29-53.

CMS seems like its use is beneficial in libraries because it allows staff to add information to websites without having the knowledge of HTML. Though I think HTML is useful to know, in some instances it might be easier to use CMS. Content management systems allow for the standardization of websites through the use of templates. I found it interesting that CMS might be more difficult for librarians who are familiar with HTML. I wonder how frequently CMS is used in libraries over HTML.

Muddiest Point 10/25

It was mentioned that the 404 errors occur when trying to access a page that has been moved. I had always assumed most of these errors where from deleted pages. Do these errors ever occur because the page was deleted rather than moved?

Comments- Week 7

Comment 1:
http://magpie-maggiemagpie.blogspot.com/2010/10/week-7-readings.html?showComment=1287509123054#c2455509820930005760
(clarification to comment 1):
http://magpie-maggiemagpie.blogspot.com/2010/10/week-7-readings.html?showComment=1287509378038#c1406790225415623191

Comment 2:
http://megrentschler.blogspot.com/2010/10/week-7-reading-notes-102510.html?showComment=1287510316534#c725214368399416257

Reading Notes- Week 7

1) Tyson, Jeff. http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-infrastructure.htm/printable

I found this article informative and very easy to understand. I thought it was interesting that a router must make sure not to clog the networks of “innocent bystanders” as it sends information from one computer through many others to its intended destination. Backbones are also interesting in that they connect multiple networks together. I also found the section on IP addresses to be informative. The deference between servers and clients seems pretty basic to understand, but I had never heard of the term “client” in this context.

2) Andrew K. Pace (2004). Dismantling Integrated Library Systems. Library Journal, 129(2), p.34-36. Full Text

This article discusses interoperability of Integrated Library Systems and the changes in ILS. It discusses the benefits of starting over and the costs that arise from starting over. I was glad to read that some librarians are creating the technology for online use instead of using vendors, even though the article states that it creates a problem with interoperability. These technologies are being put on the Internet as open source. We keep coming across the term open source in our classes, and this article shows how it affects librarians.  

3) Sergey Brin and Larry Page: Inside the Google machine.

   http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/sergey_brin_and_larry_page_on_google.html

The beginning of this video seems to pertain the most to the first reading. I found the image of the Google searches that are made throughout the world to be interesting. I wonder what this image would look like today. Would there be many more searches in Australia today, three years after this video was created? 

Muddiest Point 10/15

I don't have a muddiest point for this weeks lecture.

Assignment 4-Google Scholar, CiteULike

http://www.citeulike.org/user/bds46/order/author,,

Comments- Week 6

 http://magpie-maggiemagpie.blogspot.com/2010/10/week-6-readings.html?showComment=1286663743835#c5089246227735052851

http://gemma2600.blogspot.com/2010/10/week-6-readings.html?showComment=1286664113525#c8295062133175400879

Reading Notes- Week 6

Local area network-

I was familiar with the basic concept of LAN prior to reading this. I wasn’t aware that Ethernet and wifi was considered LAN, (which probably proves that I was mistaken when I said I was somewhat familiar with LAN). I was aware that LAN was a form of connection for computers and devices; I just hadn’t associated the term with wifi. I found the information in the Wikipedia article interesting. It helped me become much more familiar with local area networks.

Computer Networks-

Since we are always signing into networks, I am glad we were given this reading. While this is much more broad than local area networks, it is interesting to learn more about computer networks because of their necessity in this digital age. I found it interesting that the internet is used as part of overlaid networks. I was surprised that the hardware of computer networks were familiar to me.

Video-

Personal area network is the most common.

LAN (within one building)

Wide Area Network

Metropolitan area network- city

This video was informative about the most common networks. I was unfamiliar with Metropolitan Area Networks as a term.

Coyle, K. (2005). Management of RFID in libraries. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 31(5), 486-489.

Radio frequency identifier- I was not familiar with this before I read the article. It was interesting that RFIDs are advanced forms of barcodes that use magnetic fields to read the chips. As I was reading this, I kept imagining the little plastic strips that are sometimes found in books or other items that when you open them up, there is a metallic strip inside. Does anyone know if this is the same thing? I have always wondered what those little strips were for, but thought they were more for security rather then identification. (If they aren’t RFIDs, can anyone tell me what they are?) I think the implementation of RFIDs in libraries would be useful. The article states that the cost for RFIDs is much greater than barcodes, but I wonder how much more it costs. It would make more sense to use this technology for retail because the prices of the items could be increased (not that consumers would like to pay more for items because of their tagging devices). 

Muddiest Point 10/4

I don't have a muddiest point for this weeks lecture.