How Am I Doing in this Course? Please Call 1-800-...

I do have one question that I've forgotten to address thus far, though. Dr. Tomer, if you're reading this, how will grades be assigned? Will they be posted at the end of the term or earlier? If I missed this in the syllabus or elsewhere, then I apologize. I was just wondering. Anyone else can answer this, too. Thanks in advance.

It's Oh So Quiet...

Since there have not been any assignments assigned for this week in LIS 2600, I haven't been posting here the post few days. Don't worry, though. Once I start working on the next assignment, I'm sure that I'll start ranting and rave here just like last weekend. In the meantime, though, I hope that everyone has a great weekend. Now it's off to the watch the Phillies take on the Nationals at Citizens' Bank Park and hopefully it won't be a rain-out.

Assignment due 5/24 - an analysis

Well it's Sunday night, about a quarter to 9 PM EST as I type this and I'm FINALLY finished with this week's assignment. It's not that it was particularly difficult, at least IMO and especially with the aid of those on the Discussion Board (so thanks to all of you!), but it just took an incredibly long amount of time. Part of it is that I admittedly made the mistake of starting to look at it today. I was so bogged down with the readings and assignments for our other course (LIS 2000) that I didn't really have much of a choice in the matter, though. I don't wanna sound like I'm abdicating myself from blame here, though.

Nevertheless, the most tedious part about it involved having to individually import Google Scholar references to RefWorks (boy do I wish there was an application that lets you import multiple references/citations like with Scopus). There was also a brief scare a couple of hours ago when I couldn't even get onto any of the discussion boards. Apparently Courseweb thought that I wasn't registered for any courses! I knew this was a minor technical glitch, but it was a bit jarring to look at and frankly, after all the work I've been putting in so far, a bit offensive. :-)

Fortunately, I'm back online now, my classes are now showing up (goes to show what happens when one takes a break for dinner).

I'm also a bit confused as to how share our Google Reader RSS feeds. I made them public and sent a "friend request" to Dr. Tomer. In any case I guess the important thing is that he sees them.

I also didn't post last week's assignment on the Discussion Board until yesterday. Admittedly, I was confused that I didn't see a separate thread for it and was unaware that it was all under the thread marked "Questions about Citations and References" (sorry if I'm getting the name wrong).

Anyway, all appears to be well now. I just hope I did OK on this assignment.

2004 Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers

Now that I've introduced myself in the previous post, I wanted to comment on one of last week's readings. It's interesting to see how many of the predictions in this article have come true in the five years or so since it's been published. While I don't have the statistics handy, E-mail, cellular phones, blogs, iPods and now iPhones and the Blackberry have, if anything, come into even greater prominence not just here in the U.S. and in other Western countries, but in fast-growing economies like India as well. It'll also be interesting to see if e-books really do infiltrate the classroom and what will happen with devices like Amazon's Kindle, which of course enable users to read a book, magazine or newspaper on a portable device the size of an iPod.

As I skim through this article again, I'm reminded of an article I read yesterday for another class. That article is the definitively-titled "Content is Not King" by Andrew Odlyzko. I'm reminded of this article because it seems to be either a complement to "Content, Not Containers" or an article that directly contradicts it. Its main point is that throughout history, communication, functionality and convenience (all labeled under the guise of "connectivity")have been more important than content and that this is especially relevant in predicting what individual consumers and businesses are willing to pay for. For instance, there's a section of "Content, Not Containers" which describes how in 2004 cell phone companies were gearing up to include all sorts of new features on cell phones like internet usage, ringtones and what not. I would conclude that other than for those with iPhones and Blackberry devices, most of those who use cell phones don't use them to go online or to listen to music (this isn't necessarily true in Asia, for example, but that's another post). Text messaging services, however, have flourished since then, with many (myself included) now paying a flat fee in addition to a monthly usage charge for phone service in exchange for being able to compose and receive an unlimited number of text messages per month. So far, though, this is the exception and not the rule.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to Libraryboy, the blog I've created for LIS 2600, one of the two courses I am currently taking for my 1st semester in the Fast Track MLIS program via The University of Pittsburgh.

Those of you following me and reading this may already know who I am from the introductions on the main Fast Track Discussion Board or the Discussion Board for LIS 2000, the other course I'm currently enrolled in, so if the following is already familiar to you, I apologize in advance.

My name is Matt Berlyant. I'm one of those "career-changers," as my previous academic background is in Statistics and much of my previous work background has been in academia both as a staff member and as an adjunct math professor. I'm also married and live here in Philadelphia with my wife Anne and our cat Lola (otherwise known around here as "our pride and joy" and many, many other affectionate nicknames).

Based upon the instructions given, I'm not sure if I should stick to discussing topics pertinent to this course, but that's what I assume. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know for sure (if you have that information) or just to say hi (or for any other reason). I'd be happy to hear from you.

And yes, the lack of separation between the two words that make up this blog's title ("library" and "boy") is entirely intentional. It's an homage to Brendan Halpin's novel Donorboy. To be completely honest, I haven't read Donorboy yet (and probably won't read much for pleasure other than the daily paper and magazines and what not) for a few months given the insane amount of reading we all have to do for these courses, but I loved his novels Dear Catastrophe Waitress and Long Way Back. I loved DCW so much that I read it twice in a row from cover to cover, something I rarely do (after I read something once, I usually move on to something else).

You may have also noticed (if you click on the "about me" section and look at the all of my blogs) that I have another blog. It hasn't been updated in almost two and half years, but if you'd like to check it out, feel free. It mostly consists of music-oriented writing (show reviews and what not) written between December 2004 and December 2006, but also includes other observations on daily life and what not. After a year or so, I stopped updating it nearly as much because that was when I started writing for bigtakeover.com and thus most of my music writing since then has been on that site. You can read my posts over there @ the following URL:
My blog on The Big Takeover website.