Reading Notes for Week 5

Data Compression:

Data compression is a very useful and necessary way to deal with data and limited the amount of hard drive space that it taken up any given file. Data compression is needed because with modern networks tremendous amount of information from computer to computer all the time. Since there is only finite bandwidth that any particular computer use at any one time and computer users want to download huge files like videos these files have to be compressed to travel across the computer networks in a relatively short amount of time. There are two types of data compression that are available to computers to compress their data, loseless and lossy compression. Loseless compression is the a particular type of compression that are in Blu-Ray discs as they are advertised it is useally viewed as the best but some files cannot be compressed with this format. Lossy compression on the other hand it more common, always works however accept that a certain amount of data will be lost.

One of the most common type of data that is compressed is videos were the data is constructed in a way that the compression needs of a particular computer is determine by a program and a video data stream is compress based upon the abilities of the computer. Usually when it comes to videos on the web there are different options for different compression streams. A example would be there would be a video stream for computer that have cable connection and there might be a option for computers that have a slower connection. By choosing the practical streams the site will send you a particular resolution size of the video that will be able to be played. After reading the first two articles on data compression it is nice to learn about the specific types of data compress. When I normarlly would here about data compression I would have no idea how this occurred. Now I have some understand of what comes along with data compression. Most the information in the second article was extremely confusion to me who does not have a deep understanding of computer. However it was nice, particularly with the Wikipedia article, learning about the types of data compression.

First Monday:

After reading the article about Imaging Pittsburgh it is important to see just how effort it takes to take on the types of projects like Imaging Pittsburgh. The goal was to store these photographs in a way that it would be accessible by the web for people who were interest in photographs of the past. Coming along with massive projects that involve many types of intuitions it becomes difficult for the institutions to work on the same page. Since this project involves a tremendous amount of photographs it becomes necessary to decide what photographs will be the ones digitized. Even with modern data compression, photos can be compressed only so much and there is only so much data that can be stored. When the photographs are chosen that will be digitized there has to be work on the meta data that will describe what is stored in these photographs for the computer and the end user. It is nice to see a practical example of a project that combines digitization, the application of meta data, and data compression.

YouTube:

I am not a big Youtube user I get my video online video from other sources. It is interesting to see just how YouTube can be used in the library setting. YouTube does offer, along with other video sites to reach a tremendous amount of people with very little effort. With the advent of modern web cams and portable camcorders it is relatively cheap and easy to create and share videos with friends and strangers with sites like YouTube. It is also useful to see that some libraries and librarians are using current technologies to better serve their patrons.

Comments for Week 4

Here are the URL for my comments on other students blogs:

1.http://suzydeucher2600.blogspot.com/2009/09/reading-notes-week-4.html?showComment=1253887263467#c5886765586388574404

2.http://jfilipek2600.blogspot.com/2009/09/week-4-muddiest-point.html?showComment=1253887936541#c5349868944215211308

Muddiest Point Week 4

When it comes to operating systems they are Open Source Operating Systems like Linux. I was wondering if there are any open source database managers or a community that is committed to coming up with better database managment software then exists with Acess or the corporate Oracle Database Managers?

Response to Week 3 Muddiest Post

Here is my response: http://jonwebsterslis2600blog.blogspot.com/2009/09/week-three-muddiest-point.html?showComment=1253359053521#c3434133446881899923

Muddiest Point for Week 3

I do not have a muddiest point for this week.

Reading Notes on Reading for Unit 4:

Database:

The database is extremely important when it comes to libraries since it is what it uses to store its digital information. Libraries need a way to translate it analog content, particularly catalog, into digital content making it more accessible to patrons. There are different types of architecture to databases particularly one type that is row oriented or another architecture that is column oriented. Of particular interest to librarians are database management systems, the software that organizes and stores the days. Librarians should consult with their people who are in control of their IT to decide which system is best for them.

Introduction to Metadata:

A concept that has become more important over the years is Metadata which is information about information. Metadata is of greater importance because the library has more information then ever available to its patrons in a digital format. In order for this digital information to be accessed in an efficient way there has to be information about the data that makes it easier to search. The most common use of metadata in libraries are found in MARC record, these are cataloging records that are able to be read but computers which are used with their digital card catalogs. The others type of Metadata deal with value, content, and format.

Overview of the Dublin Core Data Model:

A huge problem with Metadata is the fact that Metadata formats are no the same across the world. Metadata is even formatted differently across disciplines. This is where the Dublin Core Data model comes into play, its intention to come up with a consensus about metadata. Since there is not one true way to describe information across different cultures the Dublin Core Data Model tries to identify common features that would help in its goal.

Assignment 2: Digitization

Here is the URL of my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42523762@N03/