Muddiest point

Which is more advantageous - to have an external or internal stylesheet?

Week 10: XML

eXtensive Markup Language:

• XML is a derivative of SGML used to give structure to online documents
• better suited for web based documents than SGML
• does not use a predetermined set of tags like HTML
• It's primary use is to allow the format of documents to be read across platforms - standard of rules
• XML can be used to describe the formats of many types of documents
• XML hierarchy:
• Document
• Entities
• Elements
• Attributes

• All of this tells the computer how the document is formatted 

• XML is the container in which the parts of the document are contained and clearly defines each one
• XML cross checks with the document type definition (DTD) and to tell it how all of these part relate to one another
•  DTD defines the structure of the document
• tags are determined by organizations with their own language that will fit their specific needs
• the tags clearly show the beginning and end of each element but say nothing of how the document is to be formatted.  This is the point of XML the data can be adapted to any format the user may desire

• XML catalogs - defines the format described by the entities in an XML document
• XML namespaces - allows for naming of elements and attributes 
• useful when the same name is used for elements by different codes

• XLINK, XPointer, XPath - ways of linking to paths of other documents contained on the web
• XML's way of hyperlinking

• Like HTML, XML has a stylesheet 
• XSLT - allows XML be turned into HTML - skips formatting language

Muddiest Point

How many times has HTML been updated?  Will there ever be a standardized markup language for the web that doesn't change? 

Week 9: CSS

CSS:

• made HTML easier by having a separate area for formatting code (the design elements)
• saved a lot of time in designing web pages for developers
• a rule is a line of code that states the style of the particular element
• CSS is broken down to two parts: the selector and the declaration
• the selector tells the computer the area to modify (the body, paragraph etc.)
• the declaration specifies what you want to change or add
• the declaration is split into two parts (split by a colon) the property and value
• the property specifies the style like color or font and the value specifies the specific of that style like font size or the actual color. 

• declarations can be grouped together, separated by a semi colon, if more than one style is applied to the same element
• it is also possible to group together elements that you want to apply one style to, for example head 1, head 2 and head 3 all need to be in bold

• there is also the ability to add in your own comments into the coding, this lets you have the ability to look back at the code and know exactly what it is intended for if you want to make adjustments later
• id selector-lets you add a style to just one element
• class selector-lets you add a style to a group of elements
• there are 3 ways of adding CSS
• externally - consists of one file that can be applied to multiple pages
• does this by including code on the page that will link back to that file

• internally - there is one page that has it's own style

• inline - not advisable to use because the style is included in the tag

• backgrounds - allows you to customize the background of the page
• color is described depending on the type of color it is ex. RGB
• can add an image, CSS will repeat the image so it will cover the whole area
• CSS will also allow you to add text, font type, color, alignment, decorations, links, tables etc to the background as needed by your design

• browsers - must use a browser that recognizes CSS
• this can be a trial and error process to find the right browser and CSS that can work together, can be buggy

• inheritance - elements in HTML will inherit the styles from the CSS style sheet

• Basically CSS is the creative force behind web page designed.  It was established to make the process easier and separate from building the web page content that HTML is set up for.

Assignment 4: CiteULike

My url for my citeulike library:

http://www.citeulike.org/user/kkdickens

Week 8 HTML

Notes for HTML

• HTML - hyper text mark up language
• I have always thought HTML was computer code, how to create web pages and such, this it is not, it is a mark up language that the web reads in order to describe web pages

• HTML documents describe web pages that are displayed via a browser

Case study involving Georgia State University, 2000

• The library as well as subject librarians from around the university were given control over individual web pages via Front Page software.  They set up, organized, and ran each page according to their own needs.  The result was confusion.  The pages were created with no restrictions which resulted in flawed web pages.  They were not helpful to students or staff and had poor visual consistency. 
• These pages were also technically inferior.
• In 2000 the library sought to remedy these problems and hired someone to manage the library web pages and their content
• A quote on the definition of content manager "Content management (CM) can be defined as the process of collecting, managing and publishing content (Boiko, 2001; Thamaraiselvi, 2002)."
•  The library and web manager knew they had to seek something besides Front Page to handle their information needs
• They chose to go with a database design featuring MySQL
• The MySQL had tables for the various library holdings (journals, books etc.) and associated information
• Greater control for the librarian to handle the information within the tables and how it looked on the web page
• After some time working within this system they decided to hold a survey before conducting an update to see how this system was received.
• The result of this migration to a CMS was generally positive and achieved the goals of the library.

Overall this article was informative and interesting though I did get a bit unclear as to the details of the CMS and the technological terms used to fully explain how this migration took place.  Am interested to learn more in class so the finer details can become clearer.  

Muddiest Point

I am a bit unsure of the difference between DOI and PURL as identifiers.  How do they differ from one another? How does DOI work?

Week 7: Internet

Notes from this weeks reading:

The pieces of the internet:

• If connected to the internet then that computer is just a single piece within a larger network of millions of computers
• When the computer connects it is though a ISP (internet service provider)
• There is no one entity that controls the network, rather a group networks that are of a higher level
• NAP - network access points
• at the network access points all other computers connect with the higher levels computers and thus are all interconnected
• Routers help your computer to communicate with others; they do this by figuring out where to send the information
• Routers are like a bridge that connect one computer to another
• What is referred to as the backbone is the physical representative on this network - the cables 

 Google video notes:

• The graphic of the dots of lights that indicate Google searches is impressive, it makes real how many of us really use Google at any given moment in a day
• The globalization of the world through Google is amazing
• The one second slide- again how amazing to see how much we rely on Google services.  Not only just on Google but if we look at in the most simplistic terms, Google is just one avenue people you to access information and look how often it is implemented in a second.....that is A LOT of information being accessed through just one search engine.

Assignment 2: Jing

The url for the Jing Video -
How to search and purchase a song via iTunes.

file://localhost/Users/karindickens/Desktop/2011-10-01_2154.swf

The url for the Jing photoset through flickr -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13514678@N00/sets/72157627751474432/

Muddiest Point

As I understand it content management is similar to the position held by a records manager, is this correct.  Is this just the technological equivalent to the records managers, or rather a computer system that enables the records manager to organize, sift and collect records (content)?

Week 6: RFID

The discussion about RFID (radio frequency identifier) has been touched upon in several classes this semester.  Like any new technology it is met with some apprehension in the library setting.  Cost/risk analysis as well as privacy issues seem to be the two points of concern.  In the article included in this week's reading "Management of RFID in libraries, from the Journal of Academic Librarianship by Karen Coyle, she discusses the merits of RFID in libraries. 

The role of RFID in libraries seems to focus on two areas of functionality: security and inventory.  Unlike barcodes that have to be within the sight of the reader, RFID can be scanned while embedded in an object, in this case a book.  This already presents a greater efficiency and usability. With security Coyle (2005) argues that though it doesn't present anything revolutionary it is not necessarily worse either; it maintains the same level of security already present in libraries.  It's merits come with what else it can provide in addition to security.  Because RFID has an ability to hold information it can also provide libraries a way to store book information, record it's location within the building or track the book through the return process.  I believe as the technology is embraced by libraries the use for RFID will only grow, allowing for a more efficient system that can be to the benefit of an already tight budget.  

Though Coyle mentions the fully automated check-out system that RFID can provide,  as tempting as that may sound I believe having a duel system is more ideal, specifically self check-out and a staffed check-out.  With RFID still being developed, with unknown limitations and high cost of changing systems, this allows the library to start to move into the future of new technologies without leaving the older more familiar system behind.  

As a side note the two article via wikipedia covering networks was both informative and eye-opening.  I was happy to see technological terms I was familiar with and have come into contact with (LAN, ethernet, and wireless technologies used in cell phones and wi-fi networks), though I was unclear about some of what was discussed I look forward to getting clarification in class.