DITA Assignment: Blog Post 2: Web 2.0

Digital Information Technologies Architecture

Andrew Hill

110053732
http://citylibrarysciencema.blogspot.com/

                              

Abstract

This paper will look at web 2.0, its uses within public libraries, and how it’s changed specific aspects of public libraries and the services provided. A general overview of web 2.0 programmes is given, looking specifically at which one’s could and are being implemented within public libraries and how these programmes have changed the way in which staff and library users are interacting with one another. This paper will also look at how web 2.0 has been used to appeal to a younger audience who have been brought up around certain technologies which, without public libraries incorporating them into service, could mean losing these younger users as they don’t feel the public library to be a viable information resource in the 21^st century. Security and privacy issues are also touched on, looking at how these sites which bring greater levels of free expression also bring with them a need for greater vigilance.

Introduction

Even though the technologies used in creating web 2.0 are nothing new and mainly operate through more efficient use of technologies already in place, the fact that these technologies have been used to develop sites which can be used by anyone, and not needing highly trained computer brains, means that their proliferation and effective use has been greatly enhanced. Such recent world events like the ‘Arab Spring’ and the London riots have shown the incredible ease at which communication can take place in today’s world as a result of these social networking sites; but these forms of communication are also being implemented in less dramatic areas, such as public libraries, where greater levels of communication between libraries and patrons are taking place, and advertising of library events has become much more efficient in both distribution (of messages) and costs. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Deli.cio.us, which provide a platform for users to communicate with other users and generate their own data through text and images, have completely revolutionised the way in which people communicate and retrieve information. These new forms of communication within public libraries have brought both exciting prospects and difficult challenges.

What is web 2.0?

The term has been accredited to Tim O’Reilly which he coined in 2004. He defines it as:

“Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices. Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an ‘architecture of participation’, and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experience.” (in Floridi: O’Reilly, 2009)

Web 2.0 allows people to share and communicate information online. The content is therefore more dynamic in the sense that it’s open to manipulation from the users. It’s programming tools such as AJAX, SOAP and other XML and JavaScript applications that allow users this interaction (Kyrnin, 2008). Through this ability for users to create their own information on the web, many new forms of journalism and social commentary have arisen, potentially allowing for a more democratic news media but also calling into question the reliability of the content.

Whereas the value of a public library used to be judged on the physical resources it held, increasingly that value is taking into account the amount of new technologies implemented and also how well adapted they are to the increasing use of digital formats available to the general public outside of the library setting (Matthews, 2000).

Web 2.0, public libraries, and younger generations of users

For a while now Essex County Libraries have had in place a service called Answers Direct which allows people to chat online or post messages to a blog where information professionals are ready to answer specific questions. One of the most popular uses of this service is school children asking for help with school projects. This interactive service is typical of web 2.0 ideals and exemplifies public libraries recognition that the promotion of such services is vital in attracting younger generations of library users, showing them that their public libraries can provide them with their required information in the same way that internet usage at home can. The homogenisation of user online experience as a way to attract greater numbers of younger users to public libraries has seen extremely positive results in the United States and in particular at the New York Public library. As a result of the library incorporating web 2.0 services, such as blogs and Twitter feeds, they’ve also seen a rise in children visiting the library physically (Rowe, 2011). The loaning and usage of physical items, such as books, magazines and journals, has seen figures rise from 1% amongst young people, to 34% (in Rowe: 2011: 1). The more these children have the incentive to visit their public libraries the greater likelihood they’ll explore the other resources at their disposal, besides those residing online. Another example of this within The States, however, which shows the fine line between encouraging children to use the library and actually alienating existing customers, can be seen at Houston’s public library. The library management decided to introduce in-house gaming, where games consoles such as Playstations and Xbox could be used in the library by younger members (Rowe, 2011). Not only does this seem a reconstitution of the libraries purpose, it also risks other library users questioning whether they want to visit a place where they could be potentially disrupted form computer game playing children. Traditionalists, such as former ALA president, Michael Gorman, are worried that the over emphasising of web 2.0 and technology in general in public libraries could see them swallowed up by the very thing their competing against (Gorman, 2002).

Web 2.0 sites and their potential uses in public libraries

Below is a list of a few prominent web 2.0 sites and suggestions as to what they could bring to public libraries in terms of benefits to customers and staff:

Blogs

One of the most regular user groups within publics libraries are reading groups. At Chelmsford library in Essex, there are over twenty, and half of these have made use of the counties reading group blog, which has been set up especially for these groups to communicate with one another and give reviews and recommendations of the books they’ve been reading. The blog has created a greater sense of community within the groups and allowed them to communicate with other library users whom they might not have done otherwise (Berube, 2011).

Blogs have also been highly beneficial for both individual staff members and the libraries in Essex as whole. This platform has allowed staff to gain feedback from customers on events held in the library and on certain issues in general. It’s also allowed staff to interact with other library bloggers, within Britain but also abroad, where wider issues affecting libraries can be discussed, with possible solutions and opinions being shared.

Within these blogs, or on the library website, mashups can be created displaying images of new books which have been catalogued, where helpful tags which could alert customers to other related items, or items that other customers have viewed.

Twitter

The fact that Twitter only allows you to use a limited amount of characters means that public libraries can post short and to the point messages to their users without being accused of being too brief. It’s a perfect platform for bulletin messages, alerting customers to opening hours over holiday periods, event information and even reminding customers (not an individual basis, obviously) to renew their books.

Deli.cio.us

As a bookmarking site, Deli.cio.us would allow customers to add and collate their favourite sites without having to worry that these bookmarks will we be wiped once their session ends due to the security restrictions in some public libraries which delete any saved work once a user has logged off. This might give customers a greater sense of continuity within the library, hopefully increasing the likelihood of them wanting to build on their previous sessions (Beer & Burrows, 2007).

Flickr

A site such as Flickr would enable the libary to keep a photo diary of events in the library, allowing customers to view the pictures online in case they missed the event. If library staff members have their own blogs, they could also use certain photos (depending on privacy issues) in order to give the library wider exposure.

RSS Feeds

Being a format which is ‘fed’ to the users browsers, it would allow library members to have a greater sense of interactivity with the libraries as they’d be informed about library news and events, reducing the chance of them missing out on something they might possible enjoy (Berube, 2011).

Web 2.0 and User Privacy

All of these various sites and applications can be used as great tools in creating a fuller user experience and helping the library to promote itself to a wider audience, but along with these benefits come responsibilities.

On a personal level libraries are generally thought of as places where individuals read and learn in a private capacity; but the introduction of certain web 2.0 sites and applications has reversed that where now it all seems to be geared towards sharing between people, where, as Rory Litwin puts it (2006: 1), they are now about “seeing and being seen.” Even though the user has the ability to share their information, say on Facebook, with only those people they specifically choose, the data in which they’re sharing is still owned by the host site. This opening up to a third party has brought in a whole new dynamic within public libraries. With this seeming openness which is created through specifically social media sites, younger generations are likely to grow up not being so worried about their data being seen and shared: it’ll almost be natural for them to constantly be on display. This openness to sharing could of course also just be an age related phenomena, where the instincts for privacy aren’t yet fully formed; but where libraries have always thought of a patrons reading history as something not to be shared, these new forms of communication bring in an outside contribution through social media which seems to be in direct conflict with these ideals.

Conclusion

The introduction of web 2.0 services in public libraries has undoubtedly brought some major benefits to both staff and customers. Cheaper advertising and the ability to reach a wider a public has increased libraries chances of gaining new members and also helped in boosting existing customers attendance. The danger with the introduction of these technologies into libraries is that by conforming to popular sites and incorporating them into the service there’s the possibility of losing customers who believe that their conceptions of what a library should be is no longer apparent in physical form. By inundating public libraries with new technologies there is also the risk of completely changing the demographic of library user. A more balanced approach needs to be taken, where new technologies can be incorporated to complement the existing materials and resources, and not completely take over to the point that the traditional forms of information are made redundant.

References

Beer, D. & Burrows, R. (2007) Sociology and, of and in Web 2.0: Some initial considerations. Sociological Research Online [e-journal] 12(5)17 Available at: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/12/5/17.html [Accessed 17/12/2011]

Berube, L. (2011) Do You Web 2.0?: Public libraries and social networking. Oxford: Chandos Publishing

Floridi, L. (2009) The Information Society and Its Philosophy: Introduction to the Special Issue on “The Philosophy of Information, its Nature and Future Developments". [e-journal] Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 153-158 Available through: http://encore.city.ac.uk [Accessed 10/11/2011]

Gorman, M. (2002) The Value and Values of Libraries: A talk given at the “Celebration of Libraries” [www.document] Available at: http://mg.csufresno.edu/papers/Value_and_values_of_libraries.pdf [Accessed 10/11/2011]

Kyrnin, J. (2008) What is Web 2.0? [www.document] Available at: http://webdesign.about.com/od/web20/a/aa021306.htm [Accessed 22/12/2011]

Litwin, R. (2006) The Central Problem of Library 2.0: Privacy. [www.document] Available at: http://libraryjuicepress.com/blog/?p=68 [Accessed 24/12/2011]

Matthews, J. (2000) The Value of Information in Library Catalogues.

[www.document] Available at: 

http://www.sla.org/content/Shop/Information/infoonline/2000/jul00/matthews.cfm [Accessed 01/12/2011]

Rowe, A. (2011) Web 2.0 and Public Libraries: How youth participation has increased as a result. [www.document] Available at: http://networkconference.netstudies.org/2011/04/web-2.0-and-public-libraries-how-youth-participation-has-increased-as-a-result [Accessed 04/12/2011]

A clip from a film made by the BBC on Ludwig Wittgenstein

DITA Assignment: Blog Post 1: Web 1.0

Andrew Hill   Student Number: 110053732

Digital Information Technologies and Architectures

Web 1.0

Introduction

The World Wide Web (www) and the Internet have had huge impacts on the way in which information is gathered, displayed and stored within public libraries, and on a wider scale the way in which we as a society communicate. In this essay I focus mainly on databases and information retrieval systems as they’re so central to my work and I think about their implications for public libraries.

World Wide Web and the Internet

The Web and the internet are often spoken of as if they were the same thing, something which isn’t the case. The Web consists of a huge amount of information which is located within millions of computers which are connected via the internet (Chowdhury & Chowdhury 2001). A good analogy highlighting their difference is to think of the internet as a road and the Web as the car which navigates this road (MacFarlane et al 2011). The internet was created in the 1960s by the American military as a form of electronic communication (www.about.com 2011). The Web was being developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva (Chowdhury and Chowdhury 2001) It was created to make it easier for hyperlinked research documents to be accessed and shared between academics remotely through the internet (MacFarlane et al 2011).

The Internet and Web works through what’s called the ‘client-server’ model (see fig.1). The client machine sends messages to the servers which in turn listen for these messages and then reply back with digital messages which the client then interprets. The Web pages are contained within the servers and these pages are displayed within the clients (MacFarlane et al 2011).

Fig.1- Simple example of Client-Server Model

Source: www.4guysfromrolla.com (2011)

HTML

HTML has been defined as the “mother tongue” of web browsers (www.html.net 2011). It’s a language which enables information to be presented on the internet in a logical and coherent way. HTML stands for “hypertext mark-up language”. It’s important to note that HTML isn’t a programming language but a mark-up language (http://www.w3schools.com/ 2011). The term “tag” is used in reference to each individual mark-up code. HTML tags are part of a code which can be represented as either letters or words between angled brackets, or less than/greater than symbols (Chowdhury & Chowdhury 2001). For example:

<title>, <body>

To allow the programme to recognize that a sequence has finished, a closing tag is necessary (indicated by the forward slash):

</title>, </body>

Below are links to a page I created during lab session two and my blog:

http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~abkb654/index.html

http://citylibrarysciencema.blogspot.com/2011/10/3rd-session-11102011-digital.html

As can be seen from my HTML page, the implementation of hypertext (a text which contains links to other texts) allows for links to other pages on the web.

Databases and Information Retrieval (IR)    

For a public library, having access to organisational data in a centrally located database system is essential. In order for libraries to keep up with other information sources it’s imperative to have databases in place that enable both staff and customers to effectively locate required information in a simple and effective manner. Being able to store all necessary data centrally greatly reduces the likelihood of inconsistency and redundancy of information, something which wasn’t possible when data was stored on magnetic tapes and disks in master files. There is also the added advantage of greater security.

One of the ways in which the data stored makes any sense is through relational database management systems (DBMS) and Structure Query Language (SQL), first introduced by Dr Codd at IBM (www.IBM.com 2003). SQL is a structured variation of English and is used to talk to the DBMS to query what’s in the database and to modify information. During the lab sessions we queried database tables, something that involved implementing SQL. Below is an example of a set of commands to extract the required information of publishers based in New York:

SELECT: PubID, name, company_name, city

FROM: publishers

WHERE: city = “new york”;

The ; at the end of the command indicates the end of a search.

It’s obvious that the DBMS which I use in my role (Vubis-Smart) makes my daily work more efficient and greatly reduces the amount of time I’d spend retrieving information in a manual environment. The ability for the public to access the library catalogue and resources also improves the level of service our users can gain access to.

The aspect of SQL and DBMS I found most challenging was learning to think in a logical way which was representative of the language being used. When retrieving unstructured information when working in the library, search engines such as Google and Bing do all of the logical work for you, so it took a while to get used to this structured logical format and gave a good insight into the mechanics behind the seeming surface-simplicity of database retrieval systems. It’s important to note that IR systems are different to database systems. Database systems operate via structured data whereas IR systems work on unstructured data (www.wiki.answers.com 2011). Database retrieval results are objectively relevant whereas IR results are subjectively relevant (MacFarlane, 2011).The IR process goes as follows:

USER: the person using the technology.

SYSTEM: the technology with which to carry out the search, which mediates the communication between the USER and the SOURCES.

SOURCES: the web, online systems, etc. (Chowdhury 1999)

Information retrieval in public libraries has become much more efficient in terms of speed through the use of search engines such as Google. Of the main classes of web querying, Navigational (intent to navigate to a particular site) and Informational (intent to retrieve information believed to be stored on one or more web pages) retrieval are the two most regularly used in my job. In order to specify what I want from my search I can use certain Boolean operators such as AND, OR and NOT. AND helps to narrow a search, OR broadens a search, and NOT excludes certain records, for example: rock music NOT pop music. But with Google, which can be seen as Best Match, it’s not generally necessary to implement these operators.

Conclusion

The most interesting part of the module for me so far is seeing the frameworks which go in to the production of databases and IR systems. As a user you’re presented with an interface which is easy to navigate and sleek in appearance, whereas the mechanics behind the surface is far from what’s presented on screen, a bit like the production and the driving of a car; a huge amount of ingenuity goes into to making it easy for you to get from A to B. Understanding these basic mechanics which go in to the creation of the database and IR systems which I use on a daily basis has given me a much greater appreciation for how these systems work. With increasing emphasis put on digitalized collections, public libraries and the staff who work in them have to be able to implement these new technologies in order to keep up with the various other modern means of information retrieval if they’re to stand any chance of surviving as viable information sources in the twenty-first century.

References

Bellis, M. (2011) The History of the Internet [www.document]

http://inventors.about.com/od/istartinventions/a/internet.htm (accessed 18/10/2011)

Chowdhury, G.G. 1999. Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval. London: Library Association Publishing.

Chowdury, G.G. and Chowdhury, S. 2007. Organizing Information: From the Shelf to the Web. London: Facet Publishing.

MacFarlane, A. (2011). PRD1: Digital Information Technologies and Architectures, Lecture 4: Information Retrieval. [Class handout]. Retrieved from http://moodle.city.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=267314

MacFarlane, A., Butterworth, R and Dykes, J, (2011). PRD1: Digital Information Technologies and Architectures , Lecture 2: The Internet and the World Wide Web. [Class handout]. Retrieved from http://moodle.city.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=267300

No Author (2011) Client-Server Model [www.document]

http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/ASPScripts/PrintPage.asp?REF=%2Fwebtech%2FTheBook%2Fpage1.asp (accessed 18/10/2011)

No Author (2011) HTML Introduction [www.document]

http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_intro.asp (accessed 15/10/2011)

No Author (2011) Database Systems and Information Retrieval Systems [www.document]

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Discuss_the_differences_between_database_system_and_information_retrieval_system (accessed 20/10/2011)

No Author (2003) Former IBM Fellow Edgar (Ted) Codd passed away on April 18 http://www.research.ibm.com/resources/news/20030423_edgarpassaway.shtml (accessed 18/10/2011)

3rd Session 11/10/2011 Digital Information Technology Architecture

Databases

During this session we looked at ways in which to locate and manage data within a database. We briefly looked at how the introduction of computers in the work related area in the 1950s and 1960s meant the increasing need to be able to store and retrieve larger amounts of data.

Databases were defined as "an integrated collection of data shareable between users and application systems" (Butterworth, 2011). We looked at how the data stored within databases can be grouped and related in order for successful searches. For example, if you were looking for the name of a person/employee, just typing their name is unlikely to be enough information to locate the person in question; but because we can combine data searches (name, department, post code, etc.) we're able to narrow down the search and make locating their data more likely.

What is a Database?

A database is a collection of data tables. A data table is a two-dimensional table of data, made up of rows and columns. Databases should only capture the attributes needed and should discard any unnecessary information.

Designing a Database

The process of database design begins with what was termed in class as an 'Entity Relationship' model. The ER model then sets out the entities you need stored and retrieved within the database and the ways in which the specific information is related. We were told the ER modelling was too advanced for this course but that it was important to have a basic understanding of the rules that govern them.

Structured Query Language, or SQL

• Occasionally pronounced 'sequence'
• Been around since the late 1970s

The model created (SQL) was deemed so good that very little if no modernizing of it have been necessary. SQL is a language used for talking to database management systems and is in a sense a structured variation of English. It can be used to query whats in a database and to insert, modify or delete data from tables.

Database Solutions

Database solutions are ways in which to store all necessary data in a central database, decreasing the likelihood of any inconsistency & redundancy (that is, redundant data). It was mentioned how it's good when you own the data as you can then structure it your needs, make it homogeneous in structure and it's easy to ensure your searches are ran and completed smoothly.

Note: There was a lot more info but I'm not sure how much use it would be to (attempt) to elaborate any further.

Lab Session 3

We were first given some practical exercises (as copied from Moodle below):

Task 1 : Log on to your Unix Account

Please use your normal username/password to log on to your unix account as follows:

Login to the swindon computer, which a Unix machine operated by the Central Services. You will need to type your username and password to log in to swindon - for security reasons the password may not show up as you type :

• From City Windows Labs - Run the Telnet utility Start > Programs > O to P > Putty 0.60 > Putty. Where it says Type in Host Name (or IP Address) , enter swindon.city.ac.uk and click the Open button to login. We recommend that you select the ssh option.
• From off campus use SSH - Run the ssh program from your menu. Click the Quick Connect button and type in swindon.city.ac.uk where it says Host Name:. Click the Connect button to login. You should then login to vega using 'ssh vega'. SSH is available on the module software page.
• At the command menu on unix, you will see the option [U] Unix shell: type 'u' to obtain the unix command line.

Task 2 : Start a MySQL Database Session

You now need to start a MySQL session. Please follow the instructions outlined in the task carefully so that you can run your queries.

1. Once you have logged in to swindon and have the command line ready, run the MySQL application by using the command: mysql -p -u biblio -h vega.soi.city.ac.uk(note that you should be able to copy this commands and others from this window in your browser and paste them into the SSH window either by right clicking and selecting '>Paste' or by clicking the right mouse button in the SSH window)
2. When prompted, use the following password to open the biblio database: b1bl10 (bravo-one-bravo-lima-one-zero)
3. Load the biblio database by using the command: use biblio;

This was just in order to get us into the right programme to carty out the tasks. From here we were asked to familiarise ourselves with the My SQL and 'biblio' Database.

Task 3 : Familiarise yourself with MySQL and the 'biblio' Database

Have a look at this diagram - its shows the relationship between tables in the 'biblio' database, and the data which is held in each table. Familiarise yourself with the information held and the relationships. You'll need to refer to this diagram to formulate your SQL queries.

You can find out more about MySQL and the biblio database by using the following commands :

• show tables; - show what tables are available in the biblio databases.
• desc authors; - show details of one of the database tables (in this case authors).

Also note that MySQL commands must be ended - usually with a semicolon ';'
An alternative is to use \g or \G to format the output in different ways.
Try issuing some SQL queries from the MySQL command line and ending the commands with :

• \G - record by record view, e.g. :
          select year_published, title from titles where year_published < 1970 \G
• \g - output table view, e.g. :
          select year_published, title from titles where year_published < 1970 \g

Then came the 10 tasks, of which I got to number 6.

Task 4 : Querying a Database

Develop SQL queries to return following information :

1. A list of the PubID, Name, Company Name and City for all publishers based in the city of New York
2. A list of all fields for publishers named Prentice Hall.
3. A list of the Title, Year and ISBN for all titles published in 1994.
4. A list of the Title, Year, ISBN and PubID for all titles published since 1980 in year order
5. A list of all fields in the Titles table for books whose title begins with the word 'database' (regardless of upper/lower case letters)
6. A list of all fields in the Titles table for books whose title with the word 'database' anywhere in the title (regardless of upper/lower case letters)
7. A list of the title, Year Published and ISBN for all books with 'SQL' in the title written since 1990 in date order
8. A list of the Company Names of all publishers who have published books on programming since 1990
9. The name of the publisher who published a book with ISBN 0-0280074-8-4
10. The name of the author who wrote "A Beginner's Guide to Basic" listing also, the ISBN and name of this book.

Below is a simple illustration of the procedures I followed to complete the first 5 tasks:

Task 1:

SELECT Pubid, name, company_name, city
FROM publishers
WHERE city = "new york"; (; is needed when wanted to end the command)

Task 2:

SELECT * (* stands for all or everything)
FROM publishers
WHERE company_name = "prentice hall";

Task 3:

SELECT title, year_published, isbn
FROM titles
WHERE year_published = "1994";

Task 4:

SELECT title, year_published, isbn, pubid
FROM titles
WHERE year_published > 1980
order by year_published;

Task 5:

SELECT *
FROM titles
WHERE title like "database%"; (% is used (as Richard said) as a "wild card")

Even though this was the toughest lab sessions so far, I also found it the most enjoyable.



2nd Session 3/10/2011 Digital Information Technology Architecture

Session 2:

In this session we looked in greater depth at what the internet and World Wide Web are and how they function.  A lot of the lecture towards the end became a little complicated (for my tiny mind), but once the practical session had finished I definitely felt more confident in what was taught in the lecture. Phew.

The Internet

We first distinguished between the World Wide Web and the internet. An analogy was given whereby the internet was compared to a road and the World Wide Web to a car which is used to drive on the road (Butterworth, 2011). The internet was original created by the US military in the 1960’s. The internet’s main function is to allow ‘remote’ computers to communicate and share information. The internet had obviously had a huge impact on the way in which we communicate and share information with each other. Some people also believe it’s having huge effects on the way in which we think and how our brains operate.

The World Wide Web

The www was created by Tim Berners-Lee in the early 1990’s. It was originally intended for the sharing of information between academics, but due to the quality and efficiency of its design, it soon became clear that it could be used in a wider context. Many industries have been hugely affected by the web, none more so than the music industry, due to the easy methods available to users who want to share and download files.

Servers and Clients

The server-client function is the function that allows the internet and WWW to operate. The machines which provide services to other machines are servers (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet-infrastructure9.htm) . The machines which are used to connect to these servers are clients. Servers are programmed to ‘listen’ for and pick-up on any information being sent to them.  The server will then send back information to the client from where the message originally came from (Butterworth, 2011). The servers contain web pages and the clients are what decode and allow us to view the pages.

Hypertext, Data Mark-up and Language

We then moved onto discuss Hypertext, Data Mark-up and Language. Hypertext is basic terms is a form of natural language text that allows you to link with other areas of a document. This inking is what allows a user to view referenced materials and links. These documents of which are linked to the ‘original’ document can be in the form of media, music or text. The Hypertext Mark-up Language is what allows linking of documents to take place on such a large scale (Butterworth, 2011).

Creating Webpages

From here we looked at how to create a webpage and what goes in to their formulation, something I’ll try and summarise below in the ‘lab’ section.

LAB SESSION 2

This practical session was aimed at understanding how to produce and link some (very) simple linked hypertext pages and then convert them into web pages.

The first task was to browse a website which gave advice and guidance on how to set up an HTML page. The one recommended to us was http://www.w3schools.com/html/.

We were then asked to find out about three different tags, of hich I chose the first three on the list:

1.       Paragraphs

 <p>

2.       Line Breaks

 <br>

3.        Horizontal rules

 <hr>

We were then asked to play around with a simple HTML set up. The example given was:

A Simple HTML Page With Hyperlink

<HTML>

  <HEAD>

    <TITLE>A Simple HTML Page</TITLE>

  </HEAD>

  <BODY>

    A web page using HTML to produce

    a hyperlink to

    <a href="http://www.city.ac.uk/">

    City University</a>.

  </BODY>

</HTML>

I copy and pasted this simple example into Wordpad and saved the file as ‘first.html’. It was saved as HTML file to ensure that it was recognised in the Hypertext Mark-Up Format Language. I then opened the file in Internet Explorer to view it as an HTML file.

From here I had to change the information which was contained with the example, adding things such as my name, my course title, a few links to various websites and an image (see link below for HTML version).

http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~abkb654/index.html

This is as far as I reached in this session (due to it only being for an hour) and will be completing it in next weeks class.

Peggy Honeywell - Bower bird

1st Session 26/09/2011: Digital Information Technologies and Architectures (DITA)

Below is a list/summary of the content of my first DITA session. Before getting into specifics we were told that The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) need fully trained Information professionals who're able to use and implicate the skills learned in order to maximize the potentials and capabilities of the technologies which would be used in our chosen fields, and how through these technologies we'd need to be able to handle the ever increasing data and information being handled within the Information arena (in my case: libraries).

Our lecture today consisted of a brief introduction to the module and some basics w/r/t underpinnings of computers. The lecture gave greater focus to the information aspect and not so much the various technologies being used within the Information arena (was emphasised in class that this is not a computer programming module). Listed below are the main points raised in the lecture, followed by an overview of th tasks carried out in the lab session.

1) Binary Coding: Bits and Bytes

Computers use a distinct code in which to express the digital information they process (www97.intel.com, 2007). The term used is Binary Code. Its called this because it consists of only two symbols, in this case, 0's and 1's (the "bi" in "binary" means two (I'm guessing)). Like an electrical switchboard, 0 represents OFF and 1 represents ON. Each Binary Code, made up of 0's and 1's, is representative of a specific letter (NOTE. Only US alphabet represented by coding).

Quick Definition

Bit: A binary digit, ie. 1/0

The word "Bit" is taken from the first two letters of BInary and the last letter of digiT.

Byte: A sequence of 8 bits

You can also have:

Kilobyte ---- 1024 bytes

Megabyte ---- 1024 Kilobytes

Gigabyte ---- 1024 Megabytes  (MacFarlane, 2011)

This link provides the alphabet in binary coding:

http://www.tekmom.com/buzzwords/binaryalphabet.html

So, for example, the letter "a" would be made of 8 bits (8 binary digits), these being 01100001. My first name spelt in binary digits (or ASC11 (The American Standard Code for Information Interchange 2)) would be:

a: 01100001

n: 01101100

d: 01100100

r: 01110010

e: 01100101

w: 01110111

Files and Documents

After discussing the basics of binary coding we moved on to files and documents. The worksheet on Moodle had files defined as: named collections of related digital information. We looked at various file types and names (Jpg, xls, docx, ppt) and how these files are structured, as in common files seen on a Windows computer, ie. mydocs --- student --- DITA --- SESSION 1 --- etc... The advantage of having documents stored in this logical process is to make information retrieval easier and quicker.

Information Consumption

Toward the end of the lecture we looked at the amount of information being consumed by people through internet usage. The figure in 2000 for the amount of information consumption per person on the planet was 250 megabytes each (Lyman et al., 2000). Three years later in 2003 this figure rose to approcimately 800 megabytes each (Lyman et al., 2000). These figures were calculated by ading the total amount bytes used via the internet and then divided by the number of the worlds population. In 2003 this was estimated at five Exabytes (don't ask), which is the equivilent to all the words ever spoken by human beings (      , 2011).

Conclusion

From what was heard at the end of the lecture, I think its fair to say we're being flooded in information, something which reminded me at the time of something Jean Baudrillard once said: "We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning."

References

MacFarlane, A. (2011) Digital Information Technologies and Architectures Introduction (Worksheets)

http://www97.intel.com/en/TheJourneyInside/ExploreTheCurriculum/EC_DigitalInformation/DILesson1/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETsfylK7kzM


Lab Session

1. In the lab sessions we started by creating a file in Wordpad and saving to the hard drive. From here we changed the name of the file.

2. From here we played around with the text in the file (blod, italic, font type) and then saved it, changing the file to "docx."

3. Next we opened the file in a different programme (Wordpad) and viewed the file in its new format. Instead of the coherent text which was visible in Word, you were now presented with a long list of (to my eyes) meaningless characters. Witin those characters though was displayed the original text. From this we saw that without "Word" we couldn't read the document.

4. The next stage was saving the file as an "HTML" document (web page, in this case: weather.html). In doing so we could now view the dicument in a www browser.

5. We then added an image (see expert drawing below) which was representative of the outside weather to accompany the text.

http:////nsq023vs/u6/abkb654/MyDocs/dita/weather.htm

6. From here we set up our blogs.

David Foster Wallace: The future of fiction in the information age

The genius that was: Jacques Tati

My first post as a blogger

I've just begun a Masters Degree in Library Science at City University London. I will be using this blog in order to chart my knowledge and development within the course, part of which will be used as coursework for my Digital Information Technologies and Architectures module.