Thursday, August 28, 2008
Reading Assignment Week 2
Moore's Law-Wikipedia and SA Podcast
Moore's Law, as the 'driving force of technological and social change,' (2) the self-fulfilling prophecy of the information age, is something of which I had been completely unaware. The rate at which transistors are constantly doubled and scaled down, has given me a mental picture as to how technology has advanced. Being able to visualize chips as small as 32 nm (6) has helped me to understand how and why technological devices are getting smaller and smaller; why the brick-sized cell-phones of the eighties have transmogrified into the lipstick tube-sized bluetooths we see all around us today.
The speed at which information is transmitted seems to be of utmost importance to today's user; "It now makes sense in many cases to trade space for time [...] at the cost of using more disk and memory space: space is getting cheaper relative to time." (8) People want information at their fingertips. They are willing to pay for this instant accessability. And it makes me wonder: is the vetted information available in libraries a commodity which has lost value simply because much of it cannot be accessed instantaneously? What is the the cost/value ratio to information which takes more time to retrieve, that is, if time is an increasingly precious commodity?
This reading has been very informative and thought provoking. I had no idea people were making predictions about computers in 1950!
Computer Hardware-
I know little about PC's. I know how to save documents on to my USB, how to unplug and re-plug the transmitter to my wireless mouse when it is not working, how to send email, set up facebook, and operate a few computer programs.
This reading has familiarized me with the components of my computer; the difference between Hardware, Software and Firmware; typical PC Hardware vs. Removable Media Devices. Though I am just learning about computers, I find it interesting to note the outdated devices, and how quickly some of them (HD DVD for example) have become obsolete. It is also interesting to know how everything is connected.
Computer History Museum-
History of the Internet-
The history of the internet is both fascinating and inspiring. From the first drawings on napkins depicting circles and squares connected by lines, to the internet 'cloud' we saw in our first class, the progression is truly amazing.
The Muddiest Point:
I am a remote viewer, and I found it hard to hear students' questions/comments during the lecture. Would it be possible to add another microphone in the room?
We had discussed in lecture how books are a container associated with the library. Is it possible to separate the container from the information, and still fully experience the content? In some ways, I think the container, the book, provides a tactile experience which is fundamentally tied to the pleasure of reading.
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3 comments:
I have to admit that like you I didn't know but so much about the technical aspects of a computer. I knew just enough to be dangerous. However I am finding that the further I go into library work. The more I m needing to know.
I work in a University Library and I am finding myself doing things that I didn't know a year ago. For example, helping set up a wireless connection, resetting passwords and fixing issues with the circulation e-mail.
I am so with you on your comment in "The Muddiest Point" about the experiential nature of content--the tactile experience puts content in context. Books aren't the only option, obviously, for a physical experience of the content: if you're using an audio file, you'll remember the feeling of the earbuds; if you're watching a video online, your spine will remember the curve at which it sat to view the vid, etc. etc. etc.
In some ways, I agree with your statement about people wanting information at their fingertips. Another variable to consider beyond speed is the reliability and expertise of the author of said information. Case in point: people searching for information on google.com versus yahoo.com. From my own experience in the mid- to late 1990's, I would go to yahoo.com when I wanted general information about a topic because I knew an information professional had gone through and chosen those links as useful for a given topic. However, google.com is definitely the more prevalent search engine today. It uses an algorithm to determine which link you are more likely to want instead of using an informational expert to vet the links. Is this a sign of what is to come in the future? Are we going towards a future where the information we find is only the most popular or the most marketed, rather than the most accurate or most reliable? Are we already there? Or have we always been there, and now we're going away from that model? Are we moving from a centralized model of information retrieval (going to a library, consulting yahoo.com, or some other informational expert) to a decentralized model (using google.com or wikipedia.org)? What are the implications for us a future librarians/information professionals?
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