Thomas Frey. The Future of Libraries Beginning the Great Transformation http://davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=120
Frey begins the article by explaining the importance of libraries in the past. According the Frey libraries played an important role in the preservation of Da Vinci’s artwork but it makes one wonder what has been lost in the past that could have been saved by libraries. Frey identifies 10 trends in technology and says that books are a form of technology and so is writing but literacy will be dead by 2050. The ten trends are: Communication systems are continually changing the way people access information, All technology ends. All technologies commonly used today will be replaced by something new, We haven’t yet reached the ultimate small particle for storage. But soon, Search Technology will become increasingly more complicated, Time compression is changing the lifestyle of library patrons, Over time we will be transitioning to a verbal society, The demand for global information is growing exponentially, The Stage is being set for a new era of Global Systems, We are transitioning from a product-based economy to an experience based economy, Libraries will transition from a center of information to a center of culture. Frey includes recommendations for libraries to improve to fit into the future needs of people as technology changes.
I agree with Frey that libraries need to adapt to current technology but I get the impression from reading his article that he believes that libraries are not adapting on their own. Libraries have been adapting to technology for along time now and I believe that libraries are already centers of culture, although this is more true for some libraries than others. In my opinion libraries would be more of centers of culture if they had more funding. It is a question of not what libraries want to do it is a question of what libraries can do.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
New Report #3
Lara Farrar. For many Chinese, literary dreams go online 2/15/09. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/02/15/china.publishing/index.html?eref=rss_tech
In 2001, Murong Xuecun was working as a sales manger at a car company in China when he started posting his first online novel. Today the Xuecun is one of the most famous authors in China. His first work, "Leave Me Alone: A novel of Chengdu," has been read by millions of Chinese and adapted for film and television and translated into German, French and English. Many others have been able to have success similar to Xuecun by publishing their own literary work online. The websites for internet novels creates revenues through online advertising and by charging readers small amounts to access popular stories. But the revolutionary movement has a greater impact besides the internet world. The online novels have in many cases been adapted to games, movies, hardcopies of books, and television. Another advantage of the online novel tract is that the censorship of the online works is less restrictive, allowing writers to be more open in what they write. Despite the fact that the Chinese publishing industry has generally become more liberal in the past few years when online novels are published in hardcopy the stories are edited by censors.
The fact that the average person who has literary dreams has more opportunities to get their work out there is often a good thing but I fear that many my self included hate reading on a computer. This is especially true for me when I’m reading for long time period, but reading for pleasure would be different because I would not have to take notes on what I’m reading. I found it interesting that the online publishers were more lenient on the censorship that the hard copy publishers.
In 2001, Murong Xuecun was working as a sales manger at a car company in China when he started posting his first online novel. Today the Xuecun is one of the most famous authors in China. His first work, "Leave Me Alone: A novel of Chengdu," has been read by millions of Chinese and adapted for film and television and translated into German, French and English. Many others have been able to have success similar to Xuecun by publishing their own literary work online. The websites for internet novels creates revenues through online advertising and by charging readers small amounts to access popular stories. But the revolutionary movement has a greater impact besides the internet world. The online novels have in many cases been adapted to games, movies, hardcopies of books, and television. Another advantage of the online novel tract is that the censorship of the online works is less restrictive, allowing writers to be more open in what they write. Despite the fact that the Chinese publishing industry has generally become more liberal in the past few years when online novels are published in hardcopy the stories are edited by censors.
The fact that the average person who has literary dreams has more opportunities to get their work out there is often a good thing but I fear that many my self included hate reading on a computer. This is especially true for me when I’m reading for long time period, but reading for pleasure would be different because I would not have to take notes on what I’m reading. I found it interesting that the online publishers were more lenient on the censorship that the hard copy publishers.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Hooper, Simon. Facebook turns 5 -- but can it survive? http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/04/facebook.anniversary/index.html?eref=rss_tech
Facebook, the social networking site recently turned five years old. Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook was 19 when he launched the site from his Harvard dorm room in 2004. The site rapidly expanded and five years later, the web site claims more than 150 million users. Facebook received a one billion dollar bid from yahoo in 2004 which was rejected and in 2007 Microsoft bought a 1.6 % share of face book for 250 million dollars. If the 1.6% share of Facebook is worth 250 million, then the entire site is worth 15 billion, but questions have arose about the staying power and real value of the site. During the November election, the presidential hopefuls used the site for campaigning.
Facebook’s popularity, especially in the younger age groups is undeniable, but is has recently expanded to include older generations even politicians. Recently, my sister in law, who is in her mid thirdies sent me a friend request. First of all I did not expect my sister in law to have Facebook but more importantly I notices how popular it was with her friends. Many of my friends spend countless hours on the site. Admittedly I do spend more time on the site than I should, but it is no where close compared to others. The popularity of the site is easy to see but the effectiveness of the site as a medium for companies to advertise is not so easy for me to comprehend. When I login to the site I never look at the ads and I do not imagine that many people do. As long as Facebook continues to make money, I fore see it being around for sometime to come.
Facebook, the social networking site recently turned five years old. Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook was 19 when he launched the site from his Harvard dorm room in 2004. The site rapidly expanded and five years later, the web site claims more than 150 million users. Facebook received a one billion dollar bid from yahoo in 2004 which was rejected and in 2007 Microsoft bought a 1.6 % share of face book for 250 million dollars. If the 1.6% share of Facebook is worth 250 million, then the entire site is worth 15 billion, but questions have arose about the staying power and real value of the site. During the November election, the presidential hopefuls used the site for campaigning.
Facebook’s popularity, especially in the younger age groups is undeniable, but is has recently expanded to include older generations even politicians. Recently, my sister in law, who is in her mid thirdies sent me a friend request. First of all I did not expect my sister in law to have Facebook but more importantly I notices how popular it was with her friends. Many of my friends spend countless hours on the site. Admittedly I do spend more time on the site than I should, but it is no where close compared to others. The popularity of the site is easy to see but the effectiveness of the site as a medium for companies to advertise is not so easy for me to comprehend. When I login to the site I never look at the ads and I do not imagine that many people do. As long as Facebook continues to make money, I fore see it being around for sometime to come.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Read, Brock. “Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade?”. Chronicle of Higher Education 10/27/2006, 53, Issue 10.
In Read’s article on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, he informs the reader that Wikipedia as many good aspects as well as bad. Read points out that Wikipedia’s advantage is also its disadvantage: any one can edit the material, which can lead to incorrect information. In one incident, a professor of communications went into different articles on Wikipedia and purposely edited article to include wrong information. A number of the changes made by the professor were obvious while others were harder to fact check; despite this corrections were made quickly. Read’s informs the reader that many of the free encyclopedias science articles are often more accurate that the humanities article, this is attributed to the tech savvy type of person that is attracted to Wikipedia. The founders of Wikipedia have been making an effort to include more input from the academic community to increase the credibility of the encyclopedia. Some professor have been contributing to the site while other refrain from doing so because their work can be edited and little of their original text will remain.
Like anything, Wikipedia has its place whether that place is anywhere close to the university level is the question. In my opinion Wikipedia can be a very useful source of information if used properly. I use Wikipedia early on in my research for a paper. I especially use the site when I know little about the subject and I often end up using sources citied by the author of the Wikipedia article but never Wikipedia itself. Many of my professors share this opinion on Wikipedia. I caught one of my professors who is less than enthusiastic about the use of Wikipedia using the online encyclopedia. I was happy to hear from reading the article how quickly the mistakes were fixed but I also see where the people are coming from who dislike the concept of Wikipedia because of the lack of credibility.
In Read’s article on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, he informs the reader that Wikipedia as many good aspects as well as bad. Read points out that Wikipedia’s advantage is also its disadvantage: any one can edit the material, which can lead to incorrect information. In one incident, a professor of communications went into different articles on Wikipedia and purposely edited article to include wrong information. A number of the changes made by the professor were obvious while others were harder to fact check; despite this corrections were made quickly. Read’s informs the reader that many of the free encyclopedias science articles are often more accurate that the humanities article, this is attributed to the tech savvy type of person that is attracted to Wikipedia. The founders of Wikipedia have been making an effort to include more input from the academic community to increase the credibility of the encyclopedia. Some professor have been contributing to the site while other refrain from doing so because their work can be edited and little of their original text will remain.
Like anything, Wikipedia has its place whether that place is anywhere close to the university level is the question. In my opinion Wikipedia can be a very useful source of information if used properly. I use Wikipedia early on in my research for a paper. I especially use the site when I know little about the subject and I often end up using sources citied by the author of the Wikipedia article but never Wikipedia itself. Many of my professors share this opinion on Wikipedia. I caught one of my professors who is less than enthusiastic about the use of Wikipedia using the online encyclopedia. I was happy to hear from reading the article how quickly the mistakes were fixed but I also see where the people are coming from who dislike the concept of Wikipedia because of the lack of credibility.
Monday, January 26, 2009
reading assignment 1
Piper, Paul S. Web Hoaxes , Counterfeit Sites, and Other Spurious Information on the Internet. Web of Deception.
In Piper’s chapter on Web sites that provide misleading information, he breaks down misleading websites in different categories: counterfeit, malicious, product, fictitious, parodies/spoofs/entertainment, hacks, disinformation, and mistakes. Piper distinguishes webs sites using a definition as well has example of that specific type of web site. A counterfeit site is one that attempts to pass itself off as an authentic site. Malicious has the intent to sway information to do harm to the reputation of a product, person or group. Parodies/spoofs/entertainment is not normally used to be taken seriously but under the right circumstances they are mistakenly used as creditable sources. Hacks are cases where reputable web site is hacked into and the information is purposely changed by a third party without the consent of the administrators of the site. Disinformation is defined as the “dissemination of deliberately false information, especially when supplied by a government or its agent to a foreign power or the media, with the intention of influencing the policies or pinion of those who receive it.” Mistakes are just that mistake made not on purpose but accidentally. Piper states that the elderly and young children are most susceptible to misinformation on the internet and that most dangerous information is often that involving medicine and health. Piper also explains the dangers of the misleading web sites and ways to protect your self from false information. Piper suggestions include: consider the source and check where the web site is registered and certain organization as dedicated to eliminating internet hoaxes.
The most interesting aspect of Piper article was the examples he provided to prove that such information is available on the internet. I agree with Piper in that if one uses common sense information on the internet can be used every affectively. The only problem that exists is that one has to be able to determine if the site is creditable or not.
In Piper’s chapter on Web sites that provide misleading information, he breaks down misleading websites in different categories: counterfeit, malicious, product, fictitious, parodies/spoofs/entertainment, hacks, disinformation, and mistakes. Piper distinguishes webs sites using a definition as well has example of that specific type of web site. A counterfeit site is one that attempts to pass itself off as an authentic site. Malicious has the intent to sway information to do harm to the reputation of a product, person or group. Parodies/spoofs/entertainment is not normally used to be taken seriously but under the right circumstances they are mistakenly used as creditable sources. Hacks are cases where reputable web site is hacked into and the information is purposely changed by a third party without the consent of the administrators of the site. Disinformation is defined as the “dissemination of deliberately false information, especially when supplied by a government or its agent to a foreign power or the media, with the intention of influencing the policies or pinion of those who receive it.” Mistakes are just that mistake made not on purpose but accidentally. Piper states that the elderly and young children are most susceptible to misinformation on the internet and that most dangerous information is often that involving medicine and health. Piper also explains the dangers of the misleading web sites and ways to protect your self from false information. Piper suggestions include: consider the source and check where the web site is registered and certain organization as dedicated to eliminating internet hoaxes.
The most interesting aspect of Piper article was the examples he provided to prove that such information is available on the internet. I agree with Piper in that if one uses common sense information on the internet can be used every affectively. The only problem that exists is that one has to be able to determine if the site is creditable or not.
Monday, January 19, 2009
News Report # 1
“S.C. Universities Face Loss of Shared Database Subscriptions”. American Lidrary Association. January 14, 2009 http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/January2009/PASCALmoneycrisis.cfm?persistent=&expy_dt=
The Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries (PASCAL) budget was cut from two million to $200,000 for the fiscal year 2008-2009. PACAL is a group of South Carolina academic libraries who provides inter library loans services a well as data bases of scholarly journals. Due to the budget cut, PASCAL, stopped it LexisNexis database subscription as well as cutting back from five days a week for interlibrary loan delivery to three days a week. The data base service will continue until July but from that point forward the plan is to just be a interlibrary loan service. To help alleviate the budget cuts the libraries have started to require service fees for users. PASCAL’s parent organization, the Commission on Higher Education for the State of South Carolina, is hoping to convince the legislature to restore the funds for fiscal year 2009 2010 and is seeking the assistance of university presidents, who are showing strong support for the program. Support is also been available from student organization.
Despite the economic difficulties that the world is facing one of the last places that such drastic budget cuts such take place is on the higher education system, especially libraries. The subsidies that our government provides for our educational system ass allowed for us to have a high percentage of our population to pursue a college degree. One of the most important lessons that is gained from a college experience is how to gather information for a purpose. From perspective of a student it is hard for me to imagine doing a paper with out the help of online databases of scholarly journals. With the relatively recent switch to almost exclusively digital copies of journals it would be next to impossible for most students to get access to journal articles if Universities did not provide access to these databases. Journals provide students with an opportunity to obtain what is cutting edge in their specific field of study.
“S.C. Universities Face Loss of Shared Database Subscriptions”. American Lidrary Association. January 14, 2009 http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/January2009/PASCALmoneycrisis.cfm?persistent=&expy_dt=
The Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries (PASCAL) budget was cut from two million to $200,000 for the fiscal year 2008-2009. PACAL is a group of South Carolina academic libraries who provides inter library loans services a well as data bases of scholarly journals. Due to the budget cut, PASCAL, stopped it LexisNexis database subscription as well as cutting back from five days a week for interlibrary loan delivery to three days a week. The data base service will continue until July but from that point forward the plan is to just be a interlibrary loan service. To help alleviate the budget cuts the libraries have started to require service fees for users. PASCAL’s parent organization, the Commission on Higher Education for the State of South Carolina, is hoping to convince the legislature to restore the funds for fiscal year 2009 2010 and is seeking the assistance of university presidents, who are showing strong support for the program. Support is also been available from student organization.
Despite the economic difficulties that the world is facing one of the last places that such drastic budget cuts such take place is on the higher education system, especially libraries. The subsidies that our government provides for our educational system ass allowed for us to have a high percentage of our population to pursue a college degree. One of the most important lessons that is gained from a college experience is how to gather information for a purpose. From perspective of a student it is hard for me to imagine doing a paper with out the help of online databases of scholarly journals. With the relatively recent switch to almost exclusively digital copies of journals it would be next to impossible for most students to get access to journal articles if Universities did not provide access to these databases. Journals provide students with an opportunity to obtain what is cutting edge in their specific field of study.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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