Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Unit 13, IT Issues, Security and Privacy: Reading Notes
No Place to Hide: Not shocking, but not pleasant to think about. The rhetoric is really powerful: “When you go to work, stop at the store, fly in a plane, or surf the web, you are being watched. They know where you live, the value of your home, the names of your friends and family, in some cases even what you read. Where the data revolution meets the needs of national security, there is no place to hide.” I generally distrust arguments centered around an us vs. them argument, though the information presented here is compelling.
This point of view might be more widely accepted if its proponents would stop using such dramatic language. It makes them sound like conspiracy theorists, not the well-informed people that really they are.
TIA and Data Mining: Yikes! Federal Profiling Agency? 200 data mining projects? I’m not convinced that that quantity of information would be manageable, much less ethical.
The eDNA project is particularly scary. “The New York Times reports that DARPA considered but decided not to pursue a plan to uniquely identify Web users through tying their communications to biometric identifiers. The eDNA proposal read: ‘We envisage that all network and client resources will maintain traces of user eDNA so that the user can be uniquely identified as having visited a Web site, having started a process or having sent a packet.’ “ I’m glad that project was cancelled.
As a side note, the site was last updated in 2005 – I wonder why?
Monday, November 29, 2010
Unit 12, Social Software: Muddiest Point
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Unit 12, Social Software: Reading Notes
“Weblogs: Their Use and Application in Science and Technology Libraries” by Randy Reichardt, Geoffrey Harder
I was surprised to learn how little there is in the scholarly literature about weblogs. This sentence was particularly alarming: “No articles were found which specifically discussed the use or potential use of blogs in a science and technology library setting.” I think we need to do a better job of keeping up with technology and making our experiences and knowledge available through publication. We’re supposed to be leaders in information, and that means using new technologies and sharing what we’ve learned with the community.
This article does a great job of pointing out how blogs can streamline communication for libraries. I had never heard of a reference book before, and while I find the idea very pleasing in a luddite sort of way, I can see how that would be a difficult system to work with. I think that if a library is able to prove its relevance in the digital age, using tools like a blog as a communication method that can also provide evidence of how busy/understaffed/important the library is, it will be better able to argue for a bigger budget and more community support. Many people think of libraries as old-fashioned places filled with books and books only – whatever tools can be used to dispel that myth AND to more efficiently run the library should put into place.
“Using a wiki to manage a library instruction program: Sharing knowledge to better serve patrons” by Charles Allan
“Wikis are used by librarians to manage public services information, collaborate on and keep track of reference questions, and assess databases.” Such cool uses of wikis! I’ve only used them in classes as an undergrad. They were meant to be communication tools between students but, in general, we didn’t like using them as much as blogs and email – probably because there wasn’t a lot of explanation for how to use them. I think there’s a lot of potential there, though, for creating tools that are useful for staff and patrons at libraries. I like that wikis are so structured and yet dynamic at the same time. The ideas presented in this article are all really neat, especially the library instruction program. I hope we see more libraries making use of wikis in the future.
Jimmy Wales: How a ragtag band created Wikipedia
I personally find Jimmy Wales a little grating, but this was an interesting TED talk. I’m intrigued by his point that educators don’t actually dislike Wikipedia as we think. I hope he’s right, but I’m not sure – I’ve never known a teacher or a professor to encourage students’ use of Wikipedia, in spite of how obviously biased textbooks are, or the fact that students can use the site for information without using it a source in a research paper. Hopefully that will change as Wikipedia improves and its reputation as an unbiased source of information grows.
“Creating the academic library folksonomy: Put social tagging to work at your institution” by Xan Arch
Another really neat idea. The article casts libraries as “meant for discovery of information” and argues that folksonomies are a good way to fulfill that role. The idea of a list of reference links, cultivated by librarians, is very appealing. As part of a reinterpretation of librarianship, social tagging could be a very effective way of broadening the appeal and relevance of libraries in the digital environment. The article’s discussion of “gray literature” is interesting, especially for academic libraries.
These questions at the end of the article strike me as being important enough to warrant their own articles: “Should a library control the vocabulary or allow a true folksonomy to take shape? We are classifiers by nature, are we ready to give up the reins?” I think these issues are at the heart of debates about the place of libraries in the world today.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Unit 11, Web Search & OAI Protocol: Reading Notes
Web Search Engines: Parts 1 & 2
A very interesting pair of articles. Part 1 is about the infrastructure and crawling algorithms of search engines; part 2 discusses indexing and query processing algorithms. I enjoyed reading about spam rejection in the first article. Spamming a search engine is such a strange concept. Though I can, conceptually speaking, understand why it happens, exactly what would motivate a person to be so deceptive is a mystery to me. Do these websites really benefit so much from misleading search engines? And the tactics they use are very sneaky but also a little silly. Really, white text on a white background? That’s like using lemon juice as invisible ink.
I also enjoyed reading about the huge range of vocabulary on the Web. The way that technology shapes language is fascinating. I’d always thought of it as limiting our vocabulary to shorter, more widely-known words. It makes sense, though, that a technology that’s had such a profound affect on how we communicate would also add to the languages we use to speak to each other.
Current Developments and Future Trends for the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting
This article describes the Open Archives Initiative for Metadata Harvesting. In part, it discusses how data providers and service providers interact through standardized metadata (Dublin Core). The OAI is a really interesting example of how open source affects library science. Different organizations that relate to a huge range of disciplines use the OAI but must find a common, controlled vocabulary and willingly use a set of standards in order for the community to thrive. This sort of cooperation seems like it would be difficult to manage but have rewarding outcomes.
The Deep Web: Surfacing Hidden Value
I’m completely fascinated by the deep web. It’s a topic that has come up in many of my classes this semester but I think that this article has done the best job of explaining why it exists and what it includes. The dissatisfaction most people feel using web search engines could probably be solved if those search engines were able to navigate the deep web. The list of the 60 largest deep web sites was very helpful to my understanding of what exactly the term “deep web” means. These are all really interesting, popular websites. I think most people assume they can access the information they contain through Google, even though that’s not really true.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Reading Notes for Unit 10: Digital Library, Institutional Repositories
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Muddiest Point for Week 9: XML
Friday, November 5, 2010
Assignment 5: Koha
Comments for Unit 9: XML
Reading Notes for Unit 9: XML
Introducing the Extensible Markup Language (XML)
I realize that XML has been so important to how information is shared on the Internet but I’m not sure I understand the details. The jargon is a bit over my head.
A Survey of XML Standards: Part 1
A good overview of the basics with short definitions of XML standards. I used this as a reference when I was reading the other articles for this week. The XPointer, XLink, and XPath sections helped me the most.
In general, though, I don’t understand the why of many of these standards. For example, why would you use the XInclude specification? I’m having a hard time visualizing many of the components of XML.
Extending Your Markup: An XML Tutorial
XML is different (and an improvement) from HTML because it allows you to “meaningfully annotate text” – good in theory, but I don’t really understand what that means. Reading this article, I realized I’m still confused about namespaces and DTDs. And XSLT. And a whole lot of other stuff.
XML Schema Tutorial
Yikes, this is complicated. I like the tutorial but I’ll need to read it a few more times before anything sinks in. It doesn’t seem geared towards beginners – and I’m very much a beginner.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
11/1 Muddiest Point
Monday, October 25, 2010
10/25 Muddiest Point
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Assignment 4 Submission
My topics were children and technology, crowdsourcing, and memory and archives.
10/25 Reading Notes
TED Talks: Sergey Brin and Larry Page on Google
I love TED Talks!
So much is noteworthy in this video. Some things that stand out are: Google employees are allowed to spend 20% of their time at work on something important to them personally but not mainstreamed in the company; Larry Page’s statement, “We always hope that Google will be smart, but we’re surprised when only people think that it is” (or something like that); and that advertising allows them to operate worldwide, providing free, open information to everyone regardless of where they’re from and how much money they have.
All those points indicate how aware Google is of its power in the global economy and how consumers perceive the company.
As a side note, this article from NPR was really interesting. It paints Google in a much less flattering light:
“How Internet Infrastructure Works” by Jeff Tyson
This is a really interesting article that explains the underlying structure of the internet, including routers, IP addresses, the domain name system, and URLs. Most of what is said in the article wasn’t new to me, but the section on DNS servers was very informative. The description of the built-in redundancy of the system is interesting because it explains the WWW’s resiliency against hackers.
“Dismantling Integrated Library Systems” by Andrew K. Pace
This quote sums up the article really well: “Library vendors have two choices. They can continue to maintain large systems that use proprietary methods of interoperability and promise tight integration of services for their customers. Or, they can choose to dismantle their modules in such a way that librarians can reintegrate their systems through web services and standards, combining new with the old modules as well as new with each other” (36).
Whatever libraries choose, it will need to be cheap and easy use and maintain. That last requirement should be helped along by MLIS program’s increasing emphasis on technology literacy.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
10/15 Comments
http://dougappich-informationtechnology.blogspot.com/2010/10/rifd-rifds-are-very-complicated-but.html?showComment=1286585767936#c5713789221064270943
Hi Doug, I’m curious about your claim that “circulation staff represents the human aspect of libraries.” I agree that they’re a big part of the staff/patron relationship, because, as Coyle says, they’re the people most often interacting with patrons. But like Coyle also says, checking books in and out is hardly a stimulating task – couldn’t their MLIS degrees be put to better use elsewhere in the library? Shouldn’t the “human aspect of libraries” be accomplishing something that technology can’t? I think the abilities of librarians are put to much better use when they’re helping patrons find materials, learn new technology, and access digital resources.
And I don’t think the loss of jobs is inevitable. This is probably idealistic, but my hope is that by freeing librarians from the circulation desk, they’ll be more visible and useful to patrons. Then there will be more demand for the services they offer, which would make layoffs impractical.
On Barb's Blog:
You make a good point about RFID currently having too limited applications for library use. It hadn’t occurred to me that libraries would need two checkout systems, but I guess there’d be no other choice if the RFID technology doesn’t work for all materials yet. Electronic media and children’s books are huge draws for patrons; it seems unlikely that technology complicating their circulation would be adopted by most libraries.
10/15 Reading Notes: Computer Networks, Wireless Networks
Common types of computer networks
This video brings to mind our class’s earlier discussion about about YouTube videos as learning tools. While the video does a good job of succinctly explaining types of computer networks, visually speaking it is pretty dull. The audio is useful but I’m not sure what the visual element added to the information being presented.
One of the most surprising things I’ve learned this semester is how involved Xerox has been in technological innovation. I had no idea they were involved in the development of Ethernet.
I would have been interested in a more in-depth discussion of wireless LAN, since it seems like that is the direction most institutions are going.
This article makes clear the cost cutting and efficiency benefits of a well-organized computer network. Easier communication, shared hardware and software, and information and data accessibility are all important when an institution is trying to get the most use out of their technologies without killing the budget.
I also like the discussion of wired vs. wireless technologies, which does a good job of explaining some basic ideas I had heard before but didn’t understand (like coaxial cable). Same goes for the different kinds of networks – I’d heard of intranets and extranets before, but now I know what those terms actually mean.
“Management of RFID in Libraries” by Karen Coyle
RFID is an exciting technology, but it seems unlikely that all libraries will adopt it any time soon. Though it might be cheaper in the long run, I think the initial costs are a huge deterrent with budgets being what they are now. Improving the availability of electronic resources seems to be a higher priority. Maybe a few high profile libraries using RFID technology would make it easier for others to request additional funding; or maybe this is already happening and the economy is just too bad for there to be any effect? Either way, it does seem inevitable that libraries will adopt RFID eventually. Maybe by then, it will be a little more affordable.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Assignment #3: Epicurious Recipe Box
The video shows how to use the recipe box service of the Epicurious website, including how to save and sort recipes and how to print an ingredients list for multiple recipes at once.
To save a recipe on Epicurious, first sign in to your Epicurious account then type what sort of recipe you're looking for into the search box. A list of results will appear, and you can click on any recipe to see its instructions and ingredients. Next, click "save to recipe box" - this saves the recipe to your recipe box so you can access it later. Click "my recipe box" to access your saved recipes. From inside your box, you can sort your recipes by creating a folder and dragging and dropping in recipes. If you want to print a shopping list for all the recipes in a folder, click on the folder, then select "print shopping list."
The screenshots simply show how to build a recipe box.
Video:
Halloween_Party
Screenshots:
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3
Screenshot 4
Screenshot 5
Friday, October 1, 2010
Week 5: Comments
http://cheyenneof2600.blogspot.com/2010/10/notes-for-unit-5-information.html?showComment=1285968046305#c485446278544859329
"Your question about the differences between MARC records and archives programs is interesting - I'm vaguely familiar with MARC, but not at all familiar with archives databases. I hope we talk about this in class!
I also didn't realize so many locks were involved in databases - still, I'm not sure I understand what they all do, exactly. Wikipedia is so helpful in pointing out what I really, really just don't know... not so helpful with explaining it"
On Melissa's blog:
http://maj66.blogspot.com/2010/09/metadata-and-dublin-core.html?showComment=1285968368285#c7845697027777251799
I agree, that definition of metadata is really illuminating. I wish the rest of the article had been so clear! I'm not at all sure what Dublin Core is, but I'm interested in the idea of standardizing metadata. The pros and cons to that tactic would be interesting to read more about.
Unit 5, Organization by Database & Metadata - Reading Notes
From a records management perspective, the discussion of object database models is very interesting. A friend of mine who works in records management is taking programming classes right now because her employer is attempting to consolidate her job with that of a database programmer. Whether or not a similar fate is in store for archivists (and librarians) is worth thinking about.
I also am intrigued by the ideas of memory management and storage topology mentioned briefly in the article. Conversations about storage requirements vs. ease of use seem to be happening across the information field; organizational methods for databases seem pertinent to such debates.
Introduction to Metadata - Setting the Stage by Anne J. Gilliland
The article has an informative explanation of archival description as it compares to the perspectives of libraries and museums towards metadata. I was also interested, but not surprised, to learn that the integration goal of MOAC has been unsuccessful. The needs of libraries, archives, and museums seem too broad to be successfully forced into one metadata system. This quote speaks well to that idea: “There is no single metadata standard that is adequate for describing all types of collections and materials; selection of the most appropriate suite of metadata standards and tools, and creation of clean, consistent metadata according to those standards, not only will enable good descriptions of specific collection materials but also will make it possible to map metadata created according to different community-specific standards, thus furthering the goal of interoperability.”
Also, I found the article’s depiction of popular metadata techniques as potentially alienating to the communities the archives is meant to serve very surprising. Of course it’s true that a typical archives user is a historian doing research, but do archives help perpetuate that norm by making it harder for people to walk in off the street and find what they’re looking for? Is there a way to make the archives more useable without disturbing their contextual integrity?
An Overview of the Dublin Core Data Model
The list of functionality requirements for the Dublin Core Data Model makes important points, I think, towards supporting diversity for broadly-encompassing metadata so that the needs of different institutions are met without impeding each other. Namespaces seem particularly useful, for example, as the word “records” has very different meanings across institutions.
I’d be interested to read more about this model, because it seems both useful and hindering in terms of meaning and the usability of the data. Hopefully we talk some about this in class.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Unit 4: Muddiest Point
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Assignment 2: Flickr
Unit 4, Multimedia Representation & Storage: Reading Notes
YouTube and libraries: It could be a beautiful relationship, by Paula L. Webb
This article offers great suggests for ways that libraries can use YouTube. As a free service, YouTube could be useful in expanding services. It would help patrons learn new things about library services without necessarily needing the one-on-one assistance of staff. This would free library employees to work on projects helpful to a bigger number of patrons.
Also, YouTube could be a great way for libraries to show off their less traditional assets to people who think libraries are just about books. The examples cited in the article would be great starting points for all culture and knowledge-based institutions looking to extend their reach.
This article doesn’t really take into account how difficult it is to make quality videos, though, or how expensive film equipment can be. That seems like a huge oversight.
Before reading this article, I thought all kinds of compression resulted in some loss of data. This article was helpful for pointing out the difference between lossy and lossless compression, especially that lossless compression does not actually destroy any information to make a smaller file. The difference between the two kinds of compression is good to know.
A long but useful article about compression. The practical information will be helpful in the future, especially as it regards the compression of text documents. In archives, it’s important to keep data as pure as possible while also saving on space; it was good to read about how compression can help to meet those needs.
The point that lossy compression preserves information but not data is an interesting distinction.
This was my favorite of this week’s articles. I enjoyed seeing the practical application of online databases, and it was easy to see how compression makes it possible to share so many images in one place. I actually visited the project’s website and looked through the historic photos of my neighborhood, which was a lot of fun. It was useful to experience the user end of the database with the case study knowledge in mind.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Unit 4: Comments
On Nancy’s Blog:
I think the issues you're raising are very important. It seems like the best instructional videos are made with expensive equipment and by people with a lot of experience. I'm not convinced either resource is easily available to libraries. An academic library would probably have access to film departments and film students, but it doesn't seem likely that public libraries would have the same set of resources.
On Barbara’s Blog:
I completely agree about the usefulness of online databases. Obviously, going to the Louvre's website can't compare to visiting the actual museum, but that's not an option for most people. It's nice that technology is helping bring the world closer together.
There are a few museums with iPhone apps that showcase their exhibits. These are a lot of fun and very useful because of their accessibility. It would be great if archives started making apps, too - it might help with funding and outreach, and potentially even be a good aid for the researchers using the archives.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Unit 3: Comments
Unit 3, Computer Software: Reading Notes
Machtelt Garrels. “Introduction to Linux: A Hands on Guide”
I find it interesting that Linux has so many well-known users, from Amazon to the German military. Its adoption by Hollywood cinema is also fascinating to me. I had no idea that the system was so well used, especially by corporations and for expensive operations like movie making. The pros listed in the article (free, portable, keeps running, secure & versatile, scalable, short de-bug times) are obviously what makes is such a popular tool in those environments.
My dad was one of those early users of Linux that the article calls nerds (ha!) so I’ve been hearing about Linux for a long time. The first time I saw it was when it was still in the early, tough-for-beginners stage, so I’ve always had sort of a pathological dislike of Linux. This article has convinced me to take another look. Dad will be so happy!
The open source conversation is another interesting thing about this article. The degree of cooperation that propels Linux seems like an anomaly in the grand scheme of Progress. And, of course, open source was necessary for the development of the system, so I’d guess that Linux is a big example for the pro-open source way of thinking.
I read the Kernel Thread article first and will admit that I felt in a little over my head. Namely, the booting and startup pages were confusing to me.
I was glad to read that Mac OS X organizes information by context, something we’ve talked about in all my classes this semester as being very important. The list of available software was also valuable.
The Wikipedia article was, predictably, much more readable though less in-depth. I found the article's discussion of the different versions of the system very helpful.
I hadn’t paid much attention to the bad press surrounding Windows Vista, so Bill Veghte’s letter was quite illuminating to me. The sentence “Windows Vista is a very significant step forward, but our customers have made it clear to us that they want broader support for devices and applications in order to enjoy the overall experience,” is a pretty direct admission that the system’s release was poorly planned. The demand for an optional downgrade feature must have been very embarrassing and disappointing for the company.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Unit 2: Muddiest Point
Unit 2: Comments
Response to a comment on my blog:
Hopefully we'll both become more comfortable as the semester progresses. I'm glad I at least understand what the parts of my computer are now. Maybe a more bottom-up approach to technology - learning what a motherboard does before attempting to troubleshoot - would make it easier for us to understand technological advances as they happen.
On Nan’s blog:
Nan, Your muddiest point is very interesting! I agree with the other comments posted here, but I'll add that we've also got a huge population of public librarians who didn't grow up with computers, much less smart phones. I believe some of the apprehension about digitization comes from a fear of what will happen to those people's jobs. My mom, for example, is a children's librarian who has a great working knowledge of computers, but she's the first to admit that her younger coworkers are much more technologically adept than she is. It's hard to compete with someone who grew up using that technology - not impossible, but it's hard. She's not worried about her job, though, because she's still one of the only librarians in her district who knows how to use Facebook.
On Anthony Lindenmuth’s blog:
The question of whether technology could advance faster than Moore's Law suggests is interesting to me, too. I wonder if corporations follow that timeline because of manufacturing costs, or if they're actually going as fast as they can?
Unit 1: Comments
On Jobeth Larkin’s blog:
Hi Jobeth, I'm curious about the question you raise near the end of your post as to whether or not libraries should "move away" from technology for budgetary reasons. I wasn't aware that libraries actually consider this an option; it seems like it would be hard for public libraries to make a case for government funding if they were not able to offer information technology services to a very technology-dependent community. In my experience, libraries are cutting staff and the acquisition budget for traditional materials in favor of obtaining more electronic materials and computers. How do your experiences differ? Were you speaking about private libraries in particular?
On Emily Davis’ blog:
Hi Emily! I'm with you in wishing there were more financial details included in the Lied Library article, though of course the article is fairly old and it might be difficult to compare those costs to present-day library budgets. Wireless technology alone must have had a huge impact on Lied's spending. I wonder if the Lied librarians have published anything more recent about their efforts?
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Unit 2: Computer Hardware Reading Notes
Personal Computer Hardware (Wikipedia)
This article does a great job of explaining the basics of PC hardware. Having heard most the terms used before, I was surprised by how few of the definitions I was familiar with. For example, on my old laptop the motherboard failed three times before I finally had to replace the computer completely. Even so, until I read this article, I honestly had no idea what that piece of hardware actually did.
This relates significantly to the Lynch article we read for the first week of class. I wonder if part of the reason people only have “rote-skill” computer knowledge is that, for many of us, technology is something we take for granted until it stops working. Once a computer goes from being helpful to frustrating, all my interest in that technology goes completely out the window. I don’t care how technology works precisely because it does work, consistently and on demand. This leaves me very unprepared to fix – or even understand – any problems that come along.
Moore’s Law (Wikipedia & Video)
The example in the video about Moore’s Law applying to cars was especially helpful in showing how unique the law is in applying to transistors. The “constant doubling” is clearly something not many mediums can sustain. I was most interested, in both the article and the video, in what happens when the law stops being true. Though eventually the doubling effect will decrease the rate of defects to a point where further advances become impractical, it will be interesting to see if the exponentially increasing cost ever gets so high as to be prohibitive to advancement. That seems unlikely to me, but is it responsible to put billions of dollars into technological advances when the disadvantages start getting so close to the advantages?
Computer History Museum
What an interesting museum! The Revolution exhibit in particular looks like something I’d enjoy seeing. As a student in the Archives and Preservation track, it’s great to see museum archives at work in the different exhibits.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Unit 1: Reading Notes
2004 Information Format Trends: Content, Not Containers
Wendy Pradt Lougee is quoted at the end of the report, stating that the “library’s role as archive or steward of information goods is being transformed as a collaborator and, potentially, a catalyst within interest-based communities.”
Most of my personal experiences with online interest-based communities involve rare books, poetry, and food. I’m very interested in the future of libraries acting as a collaborator and catalyst in those contexts.
I’ll write more about poetry, though collaboration lends itself well to all fields. The Internet is immensely valuable to writers, not only for research but also for inspiration, opportunities to publish, and access to a support network of similarly pre-occupied people. For all its value, though, the information relevant to poets is vast and jumbled. It can be very difficult to navigate. Many poets refuse to use the Internet as an information source, sometimes because of a general discomfort with technology but often because it appears messy and therefore time consuming. But add libraries-as-collaborators into the mix, providing context and helping to organize relevant information, and I imagine the community would grow even more productive and valuable to its members. Reference materials would be more usefully connected, independent publications would be more easily found by writers hoping to publish and readers hoping for something new, and the community would be broadened by new members and easier access to one another: all of those things are important and nearly impossible to accomplish without the input of libraries. More easily accessed information would of course then act as a catalyst for new work, and new work is always exciting.
Lied Library @ four years: technology never stands still
Reading this article, I was impressed by how much effort is required to keep a library’s technology current. It’s clear that the Lied Library staff has been quick and creative in dealing with problems, as well as very organized in coordinating repairs and software updates.
What I found most interesting were the ways the library deals with having both student and community patrons. Although most libraries have issues with security and limited computers, I would imagine that when some of your users have paid a fee for their computer access while others have not, there might be some conflicts when it comes to materials and access to technology.
I would also be interested to see what changes Lied Library has undergone in the last 6 years since the article was published.
Information Literacy and Information Technology Literacy: New Components in the Curriculum for a Digital Culture
This is a very useful article for its straightforward definition of information literacy and information technology literacy.
According to Lynch, “information technology literacy deals with an understanding of the technology infrastructure that underpins much of today’s life; an understanding of the tools technology provides and their interaction with this infrastructure; and an understanding of the legal, social, economic and public policy issues that shape the development of the infrastructure and the applications and use of the technologies. Information literacy, on the other hand, deals with content and communication: it encompasses authoring, informative finding and organization, the research process, and information analysis, assessment and evaluation.”
I agree with Lynch’s assessment that information technology literacy should not be limited to using a word processer or checking one’s email, that in order to be responsible members of society we must have an understanding of how technology shapes our lives. It’s impossible to be an informed citizen with just “rote skills” supplying one’s knowledge about technology, though I’d guess that most people would disagree with that statement. I think librarians will play a big role in changing the way people think about information technology literacy.
Unit 1: Muddiest Point
I’m a bit uncertain on the issue of the textbook. If my experience with technology includes basic html knowledge, proficiency in navigating the Internet, a working knowledge of computers, and other skills I assume are fairly standard, would it be in my best interest to buy the book? Or will there likely be few enough instances where I’m lost that I can ask Jiepu for help or look online?