Well, I finally finished the ePrints assignment last night. After looking at the dB, I figured it out, though like many other students it seemed like the hardest part of it was knowing where to begin. At first, I wasn't even sure if I had to download it until I read the dB! In any case, uploading some of the large .pdf files was definitely the most time-consuming part of it along with having to switch from IE (to access the VPN) back to Firefox, my regular browser. That wasn't such a big deal, though. I also mistakenly forgot to save some of the information I found for the citations in a text file, so I just decided to type in the entire abstacts instead of going into the VPN again for some of the entries. Again, I hope I get all the metadata that I needed to, though it doesn't seem as important (from what I read on the dB, at least) as getting 25 articles into the live archive. I also didn't provide URLs for the article. I figured the .pdfs were sufficient. I hope this is OK, too, and that I don't get points off.
And speaking of which, I'm wondering when we'll get our grades for the Jing/Zotero assignment. OK, enough ranting.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Information Overload
Information Overload
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This excellent article from the most current issue of the Utne Reader deals directly with some of the topics in both LIS 2000 and this course, LIS 2600. Additionally, the lack of critical thinking and the public/private debate (comparing "benevolent librarian types" and "private companies") in terms of access to information are addressed here as well.
Shared via AddThis
This excellent article from the most current issue of the Utne Reader deals directly with some of the topics in both LIS 2000 and this course, LIS 2600. Additionally, the lack of critical thinking and the public/private debate (comparing "benevolent librarian types" and "private companies") in terms of access to information are addressed here as well.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
belated thoughts on Jing/Zotero assignment
When I first attempted to do the assignment, I realized that I'd never made an audio recording using a computer. I thought for sure that I'd have to purchase a microphone or a webcam, but luckily the laptop I was using during the time where we didn't have an internet connection via our desktops (a big storm a few weeks back knocked out our phone service for 3 days and also knocked out our modem and we had to wait for Earthlink to ship us a new one) did the trick. I didn't realize that most of them had built-in mics, so thanks to the instructors for the tip!
I found that it was relatively easy to use Jing, both in terms of the capacity it has for enabling users to make videos and in terms of screen capture (though this was a bit trickier; I had to do it 3-4 times to get it right). Therefore, I found that the toughest part of this assignment was to put it on this blog. In particular, while it was easy to get the video up, the challenge was how to make it fit the screen properly. I experimented with a few different approaches and finally was able to curtail it so that it fit my laptop screen, albeit at the expense of screen clarity. It's too bad that Blogger doesn't resize it automatically, but it's easy enough to change the HTML code references to height and width (thanks for the tips). I ended up changing only 3 of the references to height and width and not all of them, but I still think that it did the trick (?).
Now it's full speed ahead onto the eprints assignment!
I found that it was relatively easy to use Jing, both in terms of the capacity it has for enabling users to make videos and in terms of screen capture (though this was a bit trickier; I had to do it 3-4 times to get it right). Therefore, I found that the toughest part of this assignment was to put it on this blog. In particular, while it was easy to get the video up, the challenge was how to make it fit the screen properly. I experimented with a few different approaches and finally was able to curtail it so that it fit my laptop screen, albeit at the expense of screen clarity. It's too bad that Blogger doesn't resize it automatically, but it's easy enough to change the HTML code references to height and width (thanks for the tips). I ended up changing only 3 of the references to height and width and not all of them, but I still think that it did the trick (?).
Now it's full speed ahead onto the eprints assignment!
Monday, June 22, 2009
In this word factory, replacement parts are free
I don't know how much this really has to do with librarianship, but it does have an awful lot to do with books (and specifically, textbooks). I don't know if this is an isolated case (though one would hope so) or if it's emblematic and indicative of the struggles of the publishing industry, even in an industry as relative secure (or one would think, at least) as one that makes textbooks that are used nationwide. What do you all think?
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Ray Bradbury
I don't know what you think of when you think of the legendary author science-fiction Ray Bradbury, but I tend to think of his most famous work, which is of course Fahrenheit 451. Now this is a book that many of you probably had to read at one point in your academic career (perhaps in middle school or high school), so I'm sure that many of you will be familiar with it or at least its basic premise.
As a lover of knowledge and information, societies which practice book burning horrify me, as they should any civilized person. This doesn't just include the burning of literature in Nazi Germany or the many raids on libraries throughout history (such as the ones we just read about in Glut for LIS 2000), but also more modern examples like the burning of Beatles records and memoribilia in the mid '60s after John Lennon made his infamous and widely misunderstood statement about the Beatles being "bigger than Jesus". Other examples include the blatantly racist and homophobic burning of disco records in 1979 at Chicago's Comiskey Park and more recently, Dixie Chicks CDs being burned after Natalie Maines made an anti-war statement in London during the beginning of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In any case, it should come as no surprise that the author of Fahrenheit 451 should be such a huge supporter of the public library system. He's on the front page of today's New York Times in reference to the Ventura, CA public library. You can read the article here.
The article also reminds us that the current crisis facing the public library system here in Philadelphia (for those outside of the area who may not know, due to a budget crisis, Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter has threatened to shut down 11 branches, all in underserved, low-income communities, though thus far the branches have fortunately remained open) is a nationwide one as well.
I should also note that Bradbury's opinion of the internet, is well to put it generously, narrow-minded and unenlightened. Therefore, I don't agree with everything he says here, but his dedication to public libraries is admirable.
As a side note that's sort of appropos of nothing related to this post other than the name, there was a New York-based hardcore punk group named Fahrenheit 451 in the late '90s. I don't know how long they lasted or if they're still around. I guess I might have to look into that one.
As a lover of knowledge and information, societies which practice book burning horrify me, as they should any civilized person. This doesn't just include the burning of literature in Nazi Germany or the many raids on libraries throughout history (such as the ones we just read about in Glut for LIS 2000), but also more modern examples like the burning of Beatles records and memoribilia in the mid '60s after John Lennon made his infamous and widely misunderstood statement about the Beatles being "bigger than Jesus". Other examples include the blatantly racist and homophobic burning of disco records in 1979 at Chicago's Comiskey Park and more recently, Dixie Chicks CDs being burned after Natalie Maines made an anti-war statement in London during the beginning of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In any case, it should come as no surprise that the author of Fahrenheit 451 should be such a huge supporter of the public library system. He's on the front page of today's New York Times in reference to the Ventura, CA public library. You can read the article here.
The article also reminds us that the current crisis facing the public library system here in Philadelphia (for those outside of the area who may not know, due to a budget crisis, Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter has threatened to shut down 11 branches, all in underserved, low-income communities, though thus far the branches have fortunately remained open) is a nationwide one as well.
I should also note that Bradbury's opinion of the internet, is well to put it generously, narrow-minded and unenlightened. Therefore, I don't agree with everything he says here, but his dedication to public libraries is admirable.
As a side note that's sort of appropos of nothing related to this post other than the name, there was a New York-based hardcore punk group named Fahrenheit 451 in the late '90s. I don't know how long they lasted or if they're still around. I guess I might have to look into that one.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Assignment 4 (Zotero Installation Video)
I apologize for the scratchiness of my microphone, especially towards the end of the video, but this is the first time I've ever narrated an audio presentation and it's the only mic I have at the moment. Anyway, I hope you can understand me.
I also apologize that this out-of-scale. I tried resizing the height and width, but there's still a disconnect between the screen size and what it shows on blogger.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
What's the Word?
Here's an article about the one-millionth English word and the predictable controversy amongst academics. Guess what it is? Web 2.0. How appropriate.
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