Nearing the finish line

I've reached the point where I could continue to try to make my webpage more pleasant to look at, or just call it a day and start enjoying August.

I downloaded an open source image editor, Inkscape, which was fun to play with, but it turns out that I'm not sure how to use svg graphics just yet, so I think I'm going to give up on the graphics for now and just deal with my text-only portfolio. When I feel like learning a new software program again (at least a few weeks from now) I'll look at it some more.

So here it is:

http://www.pitt.edu/~kci3/portfolio_ingersoll.html

Anyway, happy month off everyone!

Some piracy videos

Here's a ridiculous anti-piracy video from a few years ago, produced by the MPAA, which seems to posit that piracy will lead to a life of crime and sorrow.



This newer one from last year is much more savvy (at least missing the throwback computer screen and shadowed words.)



I do think its funny that the moment which rings most true in the commercial is when they all state with a befuddled look, "I never thought that it was wrong." After that the rhetoric becomes fuzzier...

(I especially like the teen straight out of an american apparel ad... nice sweatband.)

Hooray!

I am feeling triumphant after finishing my second html fragment. I had an "aha" moment last night with the css, when I stopped using the editor. I think using it before I really had any idea what css was supposed to look like was just making things worse. I guess sometimes shortcuts don't pay in the learning process.

Now that I feel like I can write basic html, something I've been wanting to learn for awhile, it actually seems kind of tedious to me. I've never really liked learning languages, and learning the html syntax sort of reminded me of the time in high school when my incredibly geeky friend tried to teach me esperanto. (except more useful.) I suspect coding will never be my thing, but at least I feel more comfortable with it now.

On Campus Visit thoughts...

The on campus visit ended yesterday and I had a really great time. I have been really happy in this program so far, finding the coursework really interesting, and being on campus really brought home another strength of the program to me.
My classmates are so interesting, and I think the fact that our program allows people who are working in such a large variety of library and non-library settings to study together is pretty cool. Its kinda hard to remember the variety that our profession encompasses sometimes, and I feel like I really experienced that this week. It made class discussions and presentations really interesting and I learned a lot!
Also, a week where I used the computer once or twice a day instead of eight to twelve hours a day was good for me, I think. The eventual goal of this program for me is to interact with the public, so people skills are also important. That said, now is the time to learn to mount web pages so I'm off to do that.
For those cohort 8 members who read this (hey Brynne) it was great to meet you all.

Koha Link

Oops, I forgot to post the link to my Koha collection. I need to read the assignments more carefully. Well, here is it...

http://pitt3.opacwc.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-shelves.pl?viewshelf=37

Open Source Classification

Library thing has a group working on building a new classification system aimed at public libraries, the Open Shelves Classification. It sounds very exciting...

Steal this class lecture... or not

The idle thought, "I wonder if I can get course cast videos onto my ipod" resulted in a protracted battle of wills with video formats that was completely unfruitful. I managed to make it through the downloading instead of streaming phase and the re-encoding to itunes friendly format stage. But was ultimately stymied by my ipod's apparent unwillingness to play anything not created by the itunes store. I am currently not amused by apple and if I didn't already have an ipod and lots of music tied irrevocably to it through sticky drm means, I would have a generic mp3 player. (In other words, you have utterly succeeded in all your plans Apple, kudos.)

Thank you Apple, for turning watching a class video on an airplane into some sort of samizdat -esque operation that ultimately failed. I made life very exciting for a moment or two.

The myth of the Jeffersonian cataloger...

Sites like librarything and vufind and other library catalogs provide a glimpse of what OPACs will probably look like in the next few years. Standardized metadata, usually pulled from OCLC or a similar service, enhanced by user generated finding aids such as tags, reviews, and recommendation algorithms.

Its a good model, one that makes sure the reliable metadata is in place while allowing for the finding aids that patrons like. But am I alone in feeling slightly... jealous... of the patrons?

At this point things are rarely classified at the local level, and soon it may be mostly the purview of users. Of course, this is a great thing. There is an obvious need for a user friendly, population and geographic area-specific subject system. Creating this for just one library is the work of a lifetime for one person, so in terms of locally specific cataloging web 2.0 technologies are a savior.

I'm just a little sad, I guess, to have to surrender my romantic image of the lone local cataloger, a pale, eccentrically dressed access point to information for thousands s/he never sees. But I think that probably actually disappeared in the 60s, so web 2.0 is a good chance to get a little of the magic back.

A digital repository for whistle blowers...

I stumbled upon the wikileaks site today, during research for a class presentation. Its a wiki that posts leaked documents from around the world, along with articles and analysis.

In their about page they state:

"Wikileaks opens leaked documents up to stronger scrutiny than any media organization or intelligence agency can provide. Wikileaks provides a forum for the entire global community to relentlessly examine any document for its credibility, plausibility, veracity and validity. Communities can interpret leaked documents and explain their relevance to the public. If a document comes from the Chinese government, the entire Chinese dissident community and diaspora can freely scrutinize and discuss it; if a document arrives from Iran, the entire Farsi community can analyze it and put it in context."

Its an interesting example of a digital repository system. The page for each document gives a link to access the document, lists the document info, then links to related analysis, summary, or context provided by participants. In some cases the discussion about whether documents are real is almost as interesting as the documents.

Also, their submissions page is an interesting glimpse at what it takes to cover your tracks in a digital transmission.