Final Muddiest Point, Week 15

I work at a local museum here in Pittsburgh, and currently, there is a lot of talk about using tools such as wikis for sharing information like lesson plans, materials for certain classes and workshops, etc.  I had a discussion with my supervisor about tools like Google Docs, and possibly using this sort of thing for sharing information and storing lesson information.  Long story short, the tech team informed everyone that cloud computing is not secure enough to use for the entire group...my question is...is this really the case?  If so, then why do entire school districts use programs such as Google Docs and gmail if security risks are so high?

Thanks for a great semester...I hope you all have a restful break!

-rachel

Assignment 6: website

Hello, everyone!

Here's the URL for my website.  :)

http://www.pitt.edu/~rcn8/index.htm

-Rachel

Unit 12 comments :)

Hello! Here are a couple of my comments on others' blogs for unit 12:

http://jonas4444.blogspot.com/2010/11/week-12-reading-notes.html?showComment=1290820729073#c358592519951862014

http://kel2600.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-november-22-2010.html?showComment=1290821409318#c3782035862619949315

Unit 12: Social Software

Hello everyone! I've already completed my 10 reading note posts, but I'd like to continue posting for this week...I find this makes the readings easier to process, and I'm interested in hearing my classmates' thoughts on this particular topic especially.  :)

Some thoughts...

  Using a Wiki to manage library instruction

• wikis allow for great collaboration--users can upload information, share information with others using the wiki, edit the wiki as one would a word processing document, and etc.
• wikis for library instruction specifically, are great for:  collaborating on certain projects and handouts, sharing knowledge, and making sure the workload is split evenly among colleagues.
• efficient and conducive to highly collaborative digital work, wikis are a wonderful tool for sharing information and brainstorming ideas.
• i've used wikis for many different class projects and at work, and now I am helping students at the school where I'm student teaching learn how to use wikis.  They are so user-friendly and can be very accessible to a wide range of patrons with different information and learning needs.
• I really enjoy using a wiki to collaborate, but I have heard librarians often talk about how wikis can be difficult to use, and in general, not very user-friendly from their perspective.  What does everyone think of this take on wikis??? I'm curious to hear different perspectives on this issue!

  Creating the academic library folksonomy

• Social tagging or bookmarking, continues to grow increasingly popular with time and use.  I think this is a really great method for organizing information from the user's perspective.
• At the same time, I have to wonder if too many tags/labels can become too overwhelming, and too dense.  For example, I once collaborated on creating a blog of library performers and programs for an internship I completed in August.  Three people including myself were collaborating on this project, and the blog format was absolutely perfect for our needs. 
• Eventually we had to set core guidelines for creating metadata/tags, because it was just growing too rapidly and becoming difficult to sift through.  We  set up specific categories and rules for creating tags/labels, and it went very smoothly from that point. Does anyone have a take on this topic??
• I really appreciate the point presented in the article that social tagging can allow for the "gray" or lesser well-known literature to come to light and be pulled for student research.  Information that is ordinarily very difficult to locate is thus way more readily accessible to a wider range of people.  This is one of the most fascinating and powerful aspects of social tagging.

  How a ragtag band created Wikipedia

• I enjoyed watching this video on the beginnings of wikipedia, and its current development.
• Personally, I take very little issue with wikipedia, though I realize many in the LIS field are uncomfortable with this online information source .  Like all information tools and pieces, I believe Wikipedia fills a definite need.  Similarly, we should highlight that like all pieces of information found online, we need to be meticulously careful about what we percieve to be reliable information. 
• For one, it can be used to teach people how to select information in a smart, careful manner paying great attention to detail. 
• An example of this might be: working with high school students on a research project. Students begin with Wikipedia, and are given the task of tracing the information posted on wikipedia, and checking the sources cited.
• This would teach students the need to check all sources for validity and reliability, and the value and importance of collaboration in the dissemination of information. One of the main points here: the power and value of communication among people, and the constantly evolution of this process. 

-Rachel Nard

Muddiest Point, Unit 11

I'm very familiar with Boolean searching, and I thought it was very interesting to learn more about the details of how exact match works.  The only part of the lecture that was a little confusing is the Vector Space Model Illustration.  I understand the basic concept and its purpose, it just isn't entirely clear. I think it's probably something I'll just have to look back over a couple more times to make it more concrete. :)  I also really appreciated the information on the concept of a web crawler...I've heard of this term before, but the visuals provided in the lecture on the whiteboard made it very easy to understand.

Blog Comments, Unit 11 :-)

Hi!  Here are links to the comments I posted for Unit 11:

http://kel2600.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-november-16-2010.html?showComment=1290286633946#c1306801495166368874

 http://jonas4444.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-for-week-11.html?showComment=1290287027624#c6642367464678373134


Thanks!  Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend,
Rachel :-)

Unit 11 Reading Notes: Web Search & OAI Protocol

Here are some notes on a couple of the articles assigned for Unit 11. Enjoy! :D

Current Developments and Future Trends~

• The Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting has been accepted and used by many since its inception in 2001.
• This was created to federate access to electronic archives via metadata harvesting.
• Also, this model has been shown to be of possible great use to a wide and diverse range of communities. 
• In this sense, it is has not shown to be limited or exclusive.
• At the time of the article's publication, there are over 300 organizations providing data from a wide range of domains. *Emphasis here on diverse data providers*
• Throughout the article: focus on efficient dissemination of information and knowledge through commonly understood terms and standards.
• Another great and very helpful aspect of the protocol: give access to areas of the Web that are not easy to navigate or access via search engines (good example: information stored within databases can be next to impossible to find using a traditional search engine)
• There are many communities within the OAI that focus on specific areas.  In many ways, this recalls the structure of the Dublin Core.
• Like so many growing initiatives, it has become increasingly more and more difficult for providers to successfully and effectively use the many repositories available.
• The resesearch group is working on several new initiatives, such as: creating a "harvest bag" component, which would essentially allow users to create their own list or collection of repositories that they feel would be useful; make the registry's data in ways that were more useful for machine processing (did this by making it an actual OAI repository); create further automated maintenance of registry; allow for improved search and discover with collection-specific description of repositories; collection-specific metadata development/increase.

The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value~

• This article provides some really great insight into the world of e-pubslishing. *Highly useful for those who are trying to get a better understanding of how the Web is structured/designed.
• Like net fishing--we skim the surface of what's available on the Web when we are searching for information.  Yes, there is much to be found using this strategy.   In reality, though, some of the very best information is hidden deep in the Web, and therefore many do not have access to certain knowledge because of this barrier.
• There's a definite need to dig deeper and find new information for patrons.
• Deep Web--quite different from surface Web. The distinction is quite evident in this article.
• The statistics about search engines were interesting and helped to contextualize the information.
• Not surprisingly, Google currentlyl has the largest number of indexed items.  
• Direct crawling and indexing are replacing random link chain clicking for a more efficient approach. Essential point/goal: documents more frequently cross-referenced take priority over other documents when it comes of results pages and crawling.
• Interesting information and background on Deep Web analysis and characteristics.

*Good synthesizing quote from the article:

"There is tremendous value that resides deeper than this surface content.  The information is there, but it is hiding beneath the surface of the Web."