Week4 Reading Note

Since I spent my college years during early 90’s, I did not have any academic experience such as taking a class of computer literacy. Therefore, this week’s readings, which are full of jargons and abstract concepts from Computer Science, are hard to understand. However, here is my understanding about readings.

According to readings, a database is a collection of data built for specific information needs, and two ways to classify a database are by the type of their content and by their specific subject area. The primary concern of database is to increase its efficiency and interoperability within different application. Among methods of designing a database, the entity-relationship model by Chen is popular. This, the entity-relationship model, is like drawing a blueprint adequate for customer’s needs and shows relationships between every entity within database. In this method, Chen suggested that this method is very natural, not artificial, because this method has been existed since the Ancient Greece. However, it is not used widely as much as it is quoted in academic areas due to serious limitations that it needs to be renovated frequently, and it cannot be applied in pre-existing information sources. About the database normalization process, it is a useful practice to understand actual generating process of database. It is quite similar with a process of making a calculation table in MS Excel program even though it is much complicated. Briefily, the database normalization process is to analze each entity and break entities into small tables for preventing redunducy of data.

Week3 Lab

http://www.citeulike.org/user/lis2600/library

Week3 Reading Note

Setting the stage by Gilliland

This article is a proof that Librarians and archivists have been struggling to adjust them into new digital technology and to find perfect system for their needs. Since there are many new standards and jargons, and roles of metadata in the library system are overlapping in many way, developing and finding perfect metadata must be an overwhelming experience to librarians and archivists. After reading this article, I cannot agree more with David Weinberger’s opinion that “the solution to the overabundance of information is more information” in his book, everything is miscellaneous (Weinberger, 2007).

1. The purpose of the library metadata development;
   To provide intellectual and physical access to collection materials
2. Metadata’s various roles in digital information systems;
   Description and resource discovery, the administration, accessioning, preservation, and use of collections.
3. Roles of metadata in digital information system;
   Acquisition records, exhibition catalogs, licensing agreements, and educational metadata.
4. Metadata’s various activities outside of digital information systems;
   making a Web site easier to record information about the image file, the imaging process, and image rights.

An Overview of the Dublin Core Data Model by Eric J. Miller

To me, this article is more practical and understandable than the opinion from 'setting the stage' by Gilliland. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative element working groups seem to understand exactly what existing limitations of facilitating metadata in real information system are. As Miller stresses in the DCMI Requirements, we need a more flexible metadata scheme for proliferation of interoperability within systems.

Working with Endnote

It is interesting bibliographic software but I could not find any relationship with metadata which is this week’s topic.

Week2 Lab

The captured image in flickr.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46837695@N07/6720637565/in/photostream

The video in screencast.com

http://screencast.com/t/egEJnsoXD

Week 2: Computer basics, Digitization

First, it is beneficial to read articles about computer hardware and software. Thanks to the development of computers, computers are becoming more like an appliance rather than an electronic gadget. As a person uses a dishwasher without knowing its structure, a current user uses a computer without knowing its basic structures and its application. For example, in 1989, when our family bought a computer for the first time, it was not easy to turn it on and turn it off because there was no simple application and accessory such as Windows Explorer and a mouse. At that time, a user should have higher level of knowledge about computer hardware and its algorithm than a current user’s. In this view, reading what is vital hardware and software is meaningful and significant to me.

Second, Stuart D. Lee’s Is digitization worth it? is related to data compression closely. To discuss the relationship between digitization and data compression, let’s find out Lee’s opinion about digitization. He advocates the benefits of digitization; ‘increasing access, preservation, and meeting strategic goals’, and I generally agree with him. However, I want to suggest that the purpose of digitization should be focused more on expending dissemination of information rather than convenient and effective way of preserving resources. As we already learned from Wikipedia’s article about data compression, there are chances to lost data partially after lossy data compression. After lossy data compression, the output of digitization is not exactly same quality of original resource, especially arts and audio files. Nicholson Baker states this negative result of digitization clearly in his book, Double Fold. Librarians and archivists should continue to pay their attentions on that the output of digitization could not be substituted with the original resources perfectly and to make an effort in preserve the original items.

Hello. My name is Minhwa Youn

It is nice to have a space where I express my own ideas. I usually did blogging a decade ago, but I did not recently. I hope that I can see many postings at the end of the semester.