Week 9 Comments

I'm just a postin' machine today, y'all! Here are my comments for Week 9, brought to you by the Halloween-appropriate- and also, and this is quite rare, English-9-appropriate- lolcat!

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Week 9 Muddiest Point

Complimenting last week's muddy dog, pointing you towards SCALA's Technology Petting Zoo, and continuing the animalistic ferocity of this blog in general, may I present the muddy horse (with hooman accessoree)!

Now that I’ve been thinking on it a little bit (as I carefully *stifled laughter* edit this post), maybe HTML is that much more comfortable than XML because it seems a more natural extension of what I already do to edit my documents. I press CRL+i to italicize, then press it again to stop italicizing. If I were to write out what I was doing, say to instruct someone through IM a Librarian (a Help/Reference Desk service popular at many academic libraries and called Digsby at Pitt) about how to italicize something in their paper, I might just write it out like HTML. XML, not so much. Is anyone else getting the sense, like I am, that HTML is more semantic than XML, despite techie claims? Or am I just being an ostrich with my head stuck in the sand, incapable of moving forward at the necessary pace?

Week 9 Readings

Bergholz Tutorial
Maybe because it seems to take longer to write out, or because I came into this class as an HTML and an XML virgin , but XML just doesn’t seem any easier or more semantic to me. In fact, and maybe, again, because it was introduced first and I don’t even have my training wheels off yet, but HTML seems simpler.

XML Schema Tutorial
Yeah, no, totally didn’t convince me that XML is easier than HTML. Perhaps they need to get the guy who wrote the HTML instructions to come on over and write these ones. It makes me realize that it’s going to be a long time before I’m comfortably literate in either of these computer languages.

Survey of XML Standards
XML has vendors? Are there like XML conventions? Are they at ComicCon? ‘Cause if they are, I’ll totally go see them (since SCALA will be having a booth there at ComicCon anyways, not that I'm plugging SCALA or anything, nope no conflict of interest here)! Having a person actually give you an elevator speech on the importance of XML and its use would be so much more motivating and intriguing than (at this Debbie Downer part of the semester) trudging through useful, but difficult, articles.

Introduction to XML
You’d think after nearly 18 years of formal education I’d not be such a doofus. I totally should have read the Intro first! This was an excellent, concise, and clear explanation about why I should give a flying fudge about XML. Don’t think I’m converted to the good church of XML just yet, but I think I will go back and reread the other articles now that I’ve read this.

Week 8 Comments

This week's comments are brought to you by Doc Brown, of Back to the Future fame, whose hair I can so totally identify with. Sadly, on a daily basis.

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Week 8 Readings

Beyond HTML
The most important thing in this entire (read: loooong) article is right there in the abstract: "The new system met and exceeded the baseline expectations for content collection and
management, offering a greater control over appearance and navigation while still offering
customization features for liaisons." No matter what brave new world we're exploring in trying to better library services, I think it's important in every type, shape, and size of library that we remember that the end must always be to best serve the patrons. Georgia State University Library succeeded in that way, I think; andThat makes me feel warm and fuzzy.


HTML Cheatsheet, HTML Tutorial, and CSS Tutorial
All of these seem easy enough to follow, but they annoy me for no rational reason. It's almost like they'd be useful or something if I ever stooped to doing my own webpage authoring. Yes, I am a huge snob. Yes, I'm out of the closet now: I'm a playa hater. I don't want to know more about programming. I *heart* event programming to the nth degree, but I could do without ever trying to HTML my way out of a paper bag. Highly unfortunately for me, there's Assignment 6 to be done. Who knows, maybe I'll be converted to the good ways of HTML writing by the time the assignment is finished...yeah.

Assignment 5: Koha Bookshelf

Brought to you by Kobra Khan: Koha Komplete!

To read up on the art and science of NHL goaltending, see http://pitt4.kohawc.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/bookshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=16.

Week 8 Muddiest Point

Mud? I haven't seen any mud. Don't touch the stuff myself.

Know it's a little early...for me at least, but this week's muddiest point for me relates to Koha. Does it have a foreign language complex? I really wanted to add a book about Dominek Hasek (one of my favorite goalies) to my virtual shelf, but the book just wouldn't load past to the second screen (where you have imported the MARC record already, but need to assign it a barcode).

Could this be because the book (and parts of the record) is in Czech? I do have a couple of French books, too, but they're all translations. None of them had any trouble.

Is foreign language a common stumbling block for tools like what we're using this semester?

BTW, the book and all its AWESOMENESS can be found here: http://lccn.loc.gov/2004549421

Week 7 Comments

This week's comments are brought to you by the ever-addictive lolcats. Just like real cats, you may like them, but they really don't care about you.

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Week 7 Muddiest Point

"Muddy...tonsils?" You ask yourself. "Yes, indeed," I whimper, "and adenoids too."

I am sick. I hate being sick. I'm bad at it. Like 3 year old wrapped around mama's leg bad at it.

This week's muddiest point is two fold because I haven't got the energy to think of anything at a deep level. First of all, will we ever run out of IP addresses like they thought we did with ISBNs? Second, can you actually exchange books through Library Thing? I didn't think it was a place for physical exchange like Craigslist or anything.

Week 7 Readings

How Internet Infrastructure Works
Satisfactorally well written, but I still had to go back and re-read several parts in order to get the right idea. Is it just me misremembering again, or was there a big deal made out of T3 internet connections a while back--like was it used as a marketing campaign on the scale of the 10-10-220 commercials but with the idea of "bigger is better" like those insane razors?

Dismantling Integrated Library Systems
Every library I have worked in has used an ILS--but no library has been satisfied with theirs. I have found them clunky, plodding, and ugly--sort of like Shetland Ponies.
I'm glad to see that there is some recognition of the dissatisfaction with ILS's and that they may go the way of the OPAC in terms of improvments over time.

Inside the Google Machine
The video was a nice presentation and all, but like most companies' chest-thumping power points, it was overwhelmingly shallow. It didn't really explore how Google works (with the algorithyms and spiders and all), which would have been more to the point really, considering what we're studying and all.