Historic Preservation and Libraries--Assignment 5

Here is the link to my virtual bookshelf :)

http://pitt5.kohawc.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/bookshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=49

muddiest point week 9

My muddiest point for week 9:

How is XML going to tangibly affect library services for the future? From what I understand, XML makes it much easier to annotate information than HTML does. Will this affect libraries at all?

link to comments!

Here are the links to my comments for Week 9:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2367464305070960355&postID=4341170650280538329&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9155069229192657859&postID=3024024959596195101&page=1

XML Schema Tutorial

xml schema= alternative to DTDS
called XSD
--easy b/c it uses xml language
uses root elements, and smaller elements within that to create elements
--covers string data, miscellaneous data, date and time data types, and numeric data types
--I found this tutorial much more helpful than a couple of the other articles. At least this article lays everything out, step by step, as did the similar HTML article. It also helps me to see visual examples that are then explained.

Extending your Markup: An XML Tutorial

--More meaningful markup than HTML, can annotate text much more easily
--starts with a prolog and contains exactly 1 element
DTD elements can be terminal or nonterminal
--can have 0 or more attributes
introduces a "family" of languages that can be relevant for the future
My thoughts

I found this article extremely informative and full of information, but unfortunately most of it went completely over my head. I'm still pretty clueless about XML. :(

Survey of XML Standards

valuable technology
technologies presented in this article are considered "standards"
goes over recommended versions, tutorials, and catalogs
--basically just a resource guide for XML

An Introduction to XML

XML--makes it easier to interchange docs
is NOT:
predefined set of tags (unlike HTML)
Components of HTML:
documents composed of entities, which contain logical elements, and the elements have attributes.
How is it used?
provides users w/ various elements
This article explains how to define your own tag sets, define the attributes of elements, and incorporate standard and non-standard text elements
shows how to use illustrations, tables, and other special elements
3 types of markup:
processing instruction
document type declaration
document instance

muddiest point

My muddiest point for the week concerns the difference between a "semantic" web and the two organizations mentioned that define protocols for the web (W3C and I2). I think it's really important that the two don't get confused. Having protocols for usage of the web are important, but I thought the semantic web referred to how we attach meaning to information?

Beyond HTML

This article focused on GSU's adaptation of a non-HTML Content Management System. The CMS used templates and ASP to allow users to edit and create pages easily. The authors noted that the CMS has not been adapted universally by libraries. I think this presents an important issue to libraries--taking into consideration costs, ease of use of CMS and whether or not the CMS will benefit the library in the long run.

week 8 comments!

Here are the links to my comments for this week! :)

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=986394955087168146&postID=6749389533435062647&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6429290265389116562&postID=6278602269311838593

CSS

CSS=Cascading Style Sheets
-saves a lot of work for the creator
-tip: do NOT start class name w/ a #--doesn't work for Firefox!
-several examples, ie background images, display them, position them, etc.

I found this article useful, only I am still pretty much clueless. I really like how both the HTML and the CSS articles had examples and cheat sheets to aid the user. Hopefully with continued practice I will get better. :)

webmonkey cheat sheet

I thought the cheat sheet was fantastic! When I make a page, I'm definitely going to use it. It is very convenient to have such an easy-to-use guide for using HTML.

HTML Tutorial

The HTML tutorial covered everything from what an HTML file actually is to how to create pages and understand the code ( for example, a paragraph is simply

.)
It also went over color codes, and how to effectively use various HTML attributes. Although I'm still fairly unsure of how to use HTML, this tutorial made a huge difference in my understanding. :)

links to my screen captures

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3279/2920256809_705ed49c89_o.png

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2920256955_3409cf621e_o.png

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3252/2920257009_1ccc5af00f_o.png

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/2920257157_05641590bd_o.png

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/2921100568_a092a48d6d_o.png

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3067/2920257347_ed82ce3b61_o.png

jing video

http://www.screencast.com/users/rdr22/folders/Jing/media/34a4642a-3ab2-44d7-a3d5-ff98ed1393dd

links to comments on readings

Here are the links to my comments for this week! :)

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3857064325472293927&postID=3458376004291697501&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7114620464717775258&postID=5155830228157176055&page=1

muddiest point

My muddiest point for the week is concerning the google talk we watched this week. I understand that allowing employees the 20% of time to work on their own special projects is important, but I also think that the push toward a semantic web is something that would benefit google. I just wonder why this isn't being pushed further in the amount of time employees spend...is google just trying to make its employees happy? I think that Orkut was a good idea (social networking is really popular right now) but I don't think it's really a "thinking ahead" kind of project, as working on the semantic web would be.

Dismantling Integrated Library Systems

I really enjoyed this article because it covered all the changes that will need to be made to ILS. Making the choice to switch to ILS that involves greater use of technology is an important question to be addressed. I think an important point was made that "library systems are changing because library assets are changing." Because the systems are changing, we need to address the systems and what we need to do for the future.

google talk

lots of searches going on in the world on google
picture of earth showing all the bits going across the world to get information to people searching
Google foundation--want to make the world a better place
Google Grants
Orkut (social networking) getting more popular, variety of demographics, trying it out to see where it goes
let people who work for google spend 20% of their time doing what they want to do and what they think would be best for google

I thought this was a very interesting video. I think it's great that people who work for google have the opportunity to explore their ideas and be creative. Although I knew how far-reaching google is, it was really overwhelming to hear about the number and the extent to which it affects users.

How Internet Infrastructure Works

Internet not owned by anyone, just a system of networks connected to one another
Computer Network Hierarchy:
personal pc-->LAN--> communication company (POP)-->nap-->Internet
Routers: determine where to send information from one computer to another
NSF created the first "backbone" in 1987
4 digit #s in IP addresses called "octets" b/c of binary representation
URL=uniform resource locator
multiple DNS servers at every level to handle requests
All machines on the internet are either servers or clients
HTTP: Hypertext transfer protocol--determines how servers and clients will "talk" to each other w/ the DNS