Muddiest Points Week 3 & 4

I had no muddiest point for these classes.

Reading Notes Week 5

Data Compression & Data Compression Basics

• Data compression uses fewer bits while encoding information. Lossless compression reduces redundancy and error. Lossy compression involves the perception of the data and sometimes sacrifices some data in the process. Lossless compression is used for things like optimizing disk space. Lossy compression is used for both image and audio compression. Examples of lossy compression can be found in digital cameras and DVDs.

"Imaging Pittsburgh"

• This article summarizes Pitt's Digital Research Library's project to place photo collections online from from the University's Archives Service Center, Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. The online collection is available through the Historic Pittsburgh Website. The project anticipated putting more than 10,000 images online. . Metadata presented challenges with creation, controlled vocabulary, and the use of dates.
  

"Youtube and Libraries"

• This article provides a brief introduction to Youtube. The article also describes four examples on how Youtube could be used in an academic library. Filming services, introducing library resources, visual directions to the library, and video tutorials were all recommended.

Week 3 comments

http://mdelielis2600response.blogspot.com/2009/09/week-3-response-microsoft-vista.html?showComment=1252968713189#c1635124347044894885

http://jennchaney.blogspot.com/2009/09/reading-notes-week-3.html?showComment=1252969186874#c2301449012382751423

Assignment 2

Here is the link to my ten digitized items.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42447698@N04/

Muddiest Point Week 2

I had problems understanding the system clock in a processor. I am unsure how this works.

Reading Notes Week 3

Linux

I feel like I've been living under a rock, because I had never heard of Linux. This reading gives a brief introduction to the operating system. Linux was spawned from Unix. It is Open Source and there are many different distributions of Linux.

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is the main operating system for Apple devices. Its kernel is XNU, which is based on Mach.

Windows

This article addressed the concerns of Windows customers. Windows XP will continue to be supported until 2014. Windows Vista has been improved (especially in the areas of compatibility and security). When Windows 7 arrives in 2010, it will not create new compatibility problems.

Reading Notes Week 2

Computer Hardware

This article provides basic information on computer hardware. It covered the motherboard, power supply, removable media devices, video and sound, storage, and input.

Moore's Law

Moore's Law was developed by Gordon Moore in 1965. It states that the number of transistors that can be placed on a chip will double every two years (he later changed this to every eighteen months). This greatly increases the speed and memory capabilities of electronic devices. The trend will eventually plateau. The required video demonstrates how impressive Moore's Law is by comparing the growth of electronic devices to that of the auto industry.

Reading Notes Week 1

OCLC Report:

This report follows the trends in information format. It implies that people have become "format agnostic" (they do not care what form the content is in). Print publishing is slowing, while digital formats are on the rise. This trend forces libraries to approach the problems of organizing these new, unstructured forms of information.

"Information Literacy and Information Technology Literacy: New Components in the Curriculum for a Digital Culture"

In this article, Clifford Lynch explores the differences between information literacy and information technology literacy and the increasing importance of the latter. Information literacy deals with content and communication while information technology literacy deals with the technology infrastructure, its tools, and the issues that shape the infrastructure. Lynch puts an emphasis on understanding the principles and issues that are associated with information technology.

"Lied Library @ Four Years: Technology Never Stands Still"

I had some difficulty locating the full text of this article. I gathered some information from the abstract. It appears that the article deals with the fact that technology is always changing. It also addresses the problems that arise for librarians while maintaining their current technologies and introducing new ones.