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."   

Muddiest Point from unit 10

I have no muddiest point from this class.  Thanks! :)

Unit 10 comments

Hey everyone! Here are my comments for Unit 10 reading notes. So sorry these are late.  Some technical issues and in general, it's been quite busy these past couple of weeks.

http://jonas4444.blogspot.com/2010/11/reading-notes-for-week-10.html?showComment=1289792956578#c2196987042073591168

http://lostscribe459.blogspot.com/2010/11/week-10-reading-assignments.html?showComment=1289793743089#c1146617277643882396

:) Rachel

Muddiest Point from 11/8

I really have no muddiest point from 11/8...I'm a little apprehensive about the website project, assignment 6, but the information presented over the past couple of weeks has made this task seem less intimidating.

Unit 10 Reading Notes

Digital Libraries: Challenges and Influential Work

• We live in a world in which the searching and dissemination of information is quite complex, and constantly evolving.
• Information is constantly available and a wide range of users are able to access information because of the availability of the Web. 
• For quite some time now, the goal has been to organize all of these digital collections and all of this information into some semblance of order, so as to create useful, user-centered digital libraries. 
• Having such a massive amount of information available for use can be very beneficial for people, but this is only possible if said information is organized efficiently and with a clear focus in mind. Hence, the federated search concept.
• I found this article quite useful. It's always extremely helpful and important to understand the background/history of information structures such as digital libraries. Having this kind of knowledge contextualizes current digital library efforts, and provides really helpful information that can lead to greater understanding.

Dewey Meets Turing

• The 1994 NSF launching of its Digital Library Initiatives (DLI) put three main groups at the forefront of the effort:  librarians, computer scientists, and publishers. This effectively changed the face of information organization and retrieval.
• This effort quickly spread to other interest groups as well...the impact of this movement is still seen today, and will likely resonate with the constant evolution of information organization and retrieval. The impact of the DLI has really changed the accessibility of information in our society.
• Essential point: computing has truly changed the library and information sharing world. There was (and still is) a universal understanding within the library community that information technology will continue to advance the spread of information in sophisticated ways. 
• The explosion of the World Wide Web threw an interesting twist into this already complex relationship among the library and computer world. Information access was effectively changed forever.
• Throughout this article, the parallels with everyday life (i.e. advent of the Web compared to an unruly teenager) make the information easy to contextualize and understand. I appreciate these kinds of parallels in scholarly articles!
• While information access has been changed completely in many ways, the core goals and structure of the library world remain the same.
• The success of the DLI and related efforts have not broken the purpose and function of libraries. Rather, they have strengthened the goal of providing information access world-wide through increased techology-based collaboration.

Association of Research Libraries

• This article goes into detail regarding the technological surge and its ability to allow universities to develop strong, well-organized institutional repositories.
• In essence, the digital revolution has given universities the opportunity to assume a much more active role in information development and sharing. Instead of relying solely on publishers and accepting a more passive role in the process, universities are taking on a much more inolved role.
• Cost, of course, plays a major role in this profound shift.  The significantly decreased cost of online storage causes a great change, thus allowing a larger number of patrons to access storage and digital infomration in general.
• One key point: the difference between scholarly publishing and less formal practices.
• Many positive results for the Information world can result from digital advances.  One major point: Institutional Repositories can utilize digital technologies to effectively increase the dissemination of quality information among all people.

Assignment 5: Virtual Shelf

Below is the link to my virtual shelf:

http://upitt01-staff.kwc.kohalibrary.com/cgi-bin/koha/virtualshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=119

My user name is RCN8. 
Virtual Bookshelf name: LIS2600, R. Nard: Yoga

Thanks! :)

Comments for Unit 9

Here are my comments on classmates' blogs for Unit 9:

http://dougappich-informationtechnology.blogspot.com/2010/11/notes-for-116.html?showComment=1289137188392#c108806025787563713

http://nrampsblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/unit-9-reading-notes.html?showComment=1289137659053#c145047570782686003

Unit 9, Reading Notes

Hello, All!

Here are some thoughts on the readings for Unit 9:

I really enjoyed reading about XML.  While my knowledge of HTML was very limited prior to the lesson covering this particular topic, I had  no background knowledge of XML.  I had heard the term before during technical discussions, but I didn't really have any kind of concrete understanding.  So, it was very good practice to learn more about this particular subject.  The document Introduction to XML Schema was really interative and put to practice all of the technical aspects learned about in previous articles.

In "Extending Your Markeup," I was able to gain a better understanding of how XML actually works, and the benefits of using this in place of HTML, which seems to be not quite so user-friendly and interactive compared to the benefits of XML.  I really appreciate the way in which alll of the tutorials and articles were written in plain, easy-to-understand langauge that really breaks this kind of topic (which can be intimidating!)  down into comprehensive segments of information.  I can definitely see the tutorials coming in handy for future reference and work in the library setting.

Thanks!
Rachel N

Muddiest Point for 11/1

I have no muddiest point for the lecture on 11/1. Information presented was very clear. Thanks! :)

-Rachel