my amazing blogness

10 of assignment 1

2007-04-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

There is new competition in town against the new sensation Wikipedia called Citizendium. This online encylopedia hopes to catch everyones interest like Wikipedia but avoiding the vandalism and other pitfalls that Wikipedia has. This is also nonprofit and volunteer contributors will be expected to give their real names. It also solicited guidance from academics and specialists. This site can still be dysfunctional because of the sense of tribalism, a sense of people writing over other peoples words.

9 of assignment 1

2007-04-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia's latest scandal is the revelation that a very high-ranking administrator, and employee of an associated commercial venture, Wikia, had falsified his academic credentials. The false statement was said on the New Yorker Aticle stating the Essjay was a tenured professor of religion at a private university with a Phd in theology and a degree in canon law. Truthfully Essjays real name was Ryan Jordan who was 24 and held no advanced degrees. The finger is now being pointed at the executive management.

8 of assignment 1

2007-04-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

Dozens of schools have recently started to reject gifts of free classic books because they say that todays pupils find them "too dificult" to read. Books from William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens have been refused to be stocked because youngsters have admitted that they were boring. Critics said the figures are a damning indictment of the quality of state education in the UK and come at a time when fewer than half of all teenagers are achieving basic standards in GCSE English. I believe that the students do not have a say in what they want to read in school at this early age. Classic novels should definitely be read to highten education of young people.

7 of assignment 1

2007-04-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

Fort Huachuca Library, located on an Army installation base in southeastern Arizona, has just recently closed after officials determined that the library did not meet community and Army standards. Sources from the Fort Huachuca Library, the library’s users, primarily soldiers and their families, were clearly left out of the decision process. ALA president Leslie Berger has even expressed her concerns to the military saying that depriving these library users from information, technology, and importantly education at times of war is a horrible idea. The militraries idea is to create partnerships with other businesses to have a municipal partnership.

6 of assignment 1

2007-04-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

A former pentagon analyst and a pro skateboarder are just some of the few latest readers to detail their favorite books in the list of "Who Reads What", which in the past few decades have been the top pics of presidents, atheletes, and movie stars. This year has had a strong representation about topics related to history. It is believed so because of the turmoil and war in Iraq that is taking place. It is also a relevant topic because it "correlates with what the times are" said from a retired librarian. There has also been a share of lighthearted books revealed by former president Bill Clinton.

5 of assignment 1

2007-04-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Recently, there has been a new website for all those library lovers to win a some money and show the world how much they appreciate the library system. Librario is an online community shared by people around the world who are in love with libraries. They have started a contest to see who has the greatest homemade video with the contestant professing their deep abiding love for libraries and the librarians who depend on them. The winning video will also be show at the American Library Associations Annual Conference in Washington, DC. This is a great way to show appreciation to our local libraries.

10 library quotes

2007-04-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

All that mankind has done, though, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books.- Thomas Carlyle

I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now -- only that place where the books are kept.- John Steinbeck

The walls of books around him, dense with the past, formed a kind of insulation against the present world of disasters.- Ross MacDonald

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.- Logan Pearsall Smith

If I had read as much as other men I would have known no more than they.- Thomas Hobbes

The great objection to new books is that they prevent our reading old ones. - Joseph Joubert

If we encounter a man of great intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Choose an author as you would a friend.- Wentworth Dillon

It is with books as it is with men -- a very small number play a great part; the rest are lost in the multitude. - Voltaire

reading assignment 5, web hoaxes...

2007-04-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

You always have to be careful whenever you are looking in the internet for the most reliable and most valuable resources. In most cases in college, whenever you are writing some sort of paper, you need to list references. Credibility is shown from articles or others related on the internet bythe foundation whom has created the credit or usually a copyright with a date. Many resources on the web has been proven to carry very false information about their accreditation. You have to be very careful in what you reference because anyone in the present can create anything and put it on the internet. This article describes different reasons of why counterfeit sites are created. Counterfeit sites pass their sites off as authentic and having accurate information. It also states that counterfeit sites are the most troublesome hoaxes on the World Wide Web. Counterfeit sites are made to look like legitimate sites, but in all actuality are full of false information. One of the main sites they use for example is martinlutherking.org which was proven to be completely false and totally biased. This article is very helpful in finding the sites worthy of doing research with. It points out particle things to pick out fo figure out if the site you are looking at is a reliable source. I truly believe that this problem will be ever growing till there are a couple limititations placed upon the net by maybe government officials.

Can Wikepedia Ever Make the Grade

2007-04-10T06:50:00.000-07:00

It seems one of the greatest sources on the internet to find timely information is the open source encyclopedia called Wikepedia. Many studies have been done to prove the efficacy and expertise of this website including one professor placing false information into the site and seeing if anyone was to catch on. His theory that Wikepedia can have false information was beaten after hours he posted the false information. Wikepedia editors deleted his false information 3 hours after he posted them. Still there are many skeptics that believe that in this encyclopedia, you do not know if you are reading an established person in the field or some random joe out there. But also there are other scholars out there beginning to want to contribute to the encyclopedia saying that "if you can't beat them, join them" attitude. Many scholars also believe that the site is always in a state of constant flux meaning that anyone can post information that is false and it stays on there for a couple hours for people to read then it is taken off. It is very vulnerable to vandelism. But there are signs of success for Wikepedia through plenty of studies that have been done. One study has shown that Wikepedia was as precise as commercial enclyclopedia. Still there are many questions that rise, like are Wikepedians good historians? In conclusion, it just seems that there should just be an attitude adjustment that everyone must adapt to the aggressive, transparent approach to scholarship favored on the web.

Libraries play vital role within our communities

2007-04-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

This article explains of why libraries play a great role in every community. They did studies on the value of the library and how we don't have to spend a single dime when we use anything in the library. Researchers did studies of the worth of libraries to their communities. Researchers has also done surveys on how the library improves the overall quality of their life and how it increases property values. Over 80 percent of business owners said that the information in the library contributed to the success of their business.

A new way to keep runners connected to fans

2007-04-07T12:19:00.000-07:00

Something new has been made to increase the advancement of informational technology. Chips have been made so runners can attach it to themselves for their loved ones and others to have the most recent time they are in the marathons even when they are cities away. The chips are attached to shoes and when they run across rubber mats, a signal emits to an antenna which is then transferred to a central database. Although this new technology is not perfect, its a great way to keep up with everything in a marathon because you cannot follow the races at all times.

Reading # 3

2007-03-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

The article talks about how big internet search engines mainly google has been the biggest competition to the academic library. It seems that the original search engines (libraries) are now being overlooked because of the internet. Many people are now complaining of of how students now shun to look for databases and articles that are exclusively for students only and go the easy way out on google-ized databases. There is a good comparison on the article about libraries being a great smorgasbord. And how people want stuff thats quick and easy like the greasy burger and fries (google). Google-izing research has been coined the term info-besity.

Researchers believe that this needs to turn to being info-dieting meaning confronting the large databases and articles through libraries like looking at a salad plate. There is also research being done to find ways to make the library databases like google, going great with the term "if you can't beat them, join them". Although many researches still believe that research is not supposed to be easy and that this is why people are in college so they can face many challenges and gain experience.

Researchers are trying to find ways for searching to be much easier and less complicated, because of students "little patience". There have been many softwares that have been coming out recently like ProQuest and RedlightGreen that has many resources. It's all going to take everyone working together if these new software comes up. And there also should be more encouragement for everyone to start using the fantastic academic library databases.

students shun search for infomation offline

2007-03-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

As more and more people get used to the world wide web, it seems that more students rely on research mainly on the internet rather than using other resources like going to the library and other things. Many educators believe that students should go back doing research the old way like reading books and articles and finding worthy sources rather than quick internet sources. Many studies have been done by professors to see the percentage of those who still does research offline. A vast majority of high school and college students rely on the internet as a form of research and even more use it solely as their research method. Some professors are trying to encourage the "old fashioned" way of research by insisting that students have no "gray" literature in their papers. This forces students to use reliable sources such as periodicals and published sources. Currently a majority of students find this a hard thing to do because they have never been taught how to use a library or find these sources. It is important that students understand the value of having reliable information to use in their research. This will ensure that students make more trips to the library and their research papers and dissertations contain more accurate information.

Assignment 1 post # 2

2007-02-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a great story of how someone is making a lot of money once again using technology like the internet rather than opening a store. Joshua Opperman became depressed after having a divorce with his wife having left that whatever dignity he had left and a very expensive ring. He tried to sell the ring back to jewelers but they wanted a big percentage of the ring in return. So he decided to start an auction online and he created the site "I do...Now I don't" after hearing about other people with the same predicaments. He had no experience with jewelry so he teamed up with a jewelry store. He has been getting a lot of great responses for this website and he believes it will be even better in the future.

This is definitely a great idea in our times right now. The rate of people getting married and having fancy weddings only to throw it all away in the next few years are very high. The internet provides a very safe venue to sell very expensive things if you know what you are doing and he certainly does.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/02/14/heartbreak.diamonds/index.html

reading response 1

2007-02-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

It seems that as we move closer and closer towards the future, the immense growth of information has given as a sense of uneasiness and discomfort. Terms such as bombardment, overload and flooding of information are being used to suggest information to be feared. The article explains of how we optimistic terms and phrases are not being heard anymore. One person can help cope with this “overload” and that is the librarians who devote their life and time by helping people with information. The library is being used as the key component to an infrastructure which is a structure or a foundation that holds something very big together. The structure that holds the library together could be compared to the information cycle. The information cycle consists of a creator (author) making a product (book) giving it to distributors (vendor) giving it to the decimators (library) and the information is reached to the users.

Studies show that the total number of hours people spend using various media has slightly changed. Original print did not have a major change on the total number of hours being spent. Telephones are being used more because of technology and so has the radio with its significant increase. Many studies were done with television and some of its recent technologies like the satellite and cable. There was also a significant increase with this technology and it studies show that it will keep raising. The database industry has had a steady increase with its usage and it shows from total revenues. Databases on the internet and the very important CD ROM are mostly being used. As the amount of information increases, the number of electronically stored records has increased immensely. The library is one of the most important sources of media dating back to the settlement of America. It is the best way to retain media. The number of libraries keep growing and not decreasing which is very good. Libraries are very eager to influence developments related to the infrastructure.

I believe that the more information that we gain now will help us dramatically towards the future. I don’t think there should be pessimistic terms such as overload and bombardment because it widens every ones intellectual views. I am also glad to see that there has been an increase on all the medias being used as to date because there needs to be a more literate future.

Study: More kids exposed to online porn

2007-02-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

Numerous survey results show that more and more teens are now being exposed to online pornography during a 12 month span and 66 percent of these teens were not online to sought them out. Many of the teens that took the survey say that is very common to see something like that on the internet. These images online come as pop ups while people view different websites and also in web sharing programs. Many doctors and psychiatrists believe that exposure to these things at such early ages could lead to kids becoming more sexually active.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/02/05/kids.online.porn.ap/index.html

2007-01-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

Assignment #2: 24 hour report of information sources:

1. 8:00 a.m. My alarm sounds giving me information to wake my day up and get ready to go to the gym. But my body is also telling me that I stayed up till 2 in the morning last night so I need more sleep and therefore I did so hitting the snoozed button.
2. 9:00 a.m. I finally get up to get the wall street journal out on the yard to catch up on the latest trends and what’s going on in the stock market for my financing class. The journal is a great piece of information and is very valuable to me so I can learn where to invest my money when time comes.
3. 9:00 a.m. While outside, all my senses kicked in telling me that it was freezing! I wasn’t wearing any shoes telling me that the ground was cold and the wind chill felt like it was below zero. This in sequence told me what to wear today.
4. 9:45 a.m. As soon as I was walking towards my car to go to class, I see the trash truck came. This in turn gave me lots of information. One, my roommates are going to kill me because it was my turn to take out the trash and two, we are once again behind with trash and we are going to have to overfill it for next week.
5. 11:30 a.m. After class I went to get a quick grab to eat at Pita Delight. On my way there, my car was telling me information that I am low on gas and to fill up. When I get to the gas pump, I notice the prices which were not too bad so inflation on gas prices weren’t too bad at these times compared to a couple months ago.
6. 12:30 p.m. I get home and start reading text books for my lectures to make sure I stay on top of things this semester because I learned from last semester that it is better to keep up with your reading to make a better grade. I had to learn that information the hard way!
7. 2:30 p.m. After a lot of extensive reading, my brain tells me that I need to take a nap. So I go to my bed and set my phone alarm for 3:30.
8. 3:30 p.m. After waking up I go to the living room seeing my roommate play one of the newest technological models which was the playstation 3. I knew from once I walked into the living room I wanted to beat him for the third time in a row. I played the video game learning how to play through the game control features but then I lost.
9. 4:30 p.m. I start getting ready for work at 5 and I’m not looking forward to it. I make my 10 minute commute as usual through my shortcut I found on mapquest about 2 weeks ago.
10. 5:30 p.m. I’m at work being bored because it’s pretty slow. The server from earlier today said it was busy in turn meaning that it was probably going to be slow tonight.
11. 8:00 p.m. It was amazingly slow tonight so I just sat there and watched to sushi chefs carve out amazing things to decorate plates like roses out of carrots and blooming flowers out of radishes. I would rather be doing that and learning than sitting here waiting for my next table.
12. 9:00 p.m. It was close to closing time so I start doing my closing duties to get out as fast as possible because my girlfriend said she was coming over later. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry tonight so that told me that I was definitely going to be able to leave early.
13. 9:30 p.m. I decided to be a sweet boyfriend and buy some sushi for my girlfriend. I came home with the sushi and she became very happy in turn making me very happy. This information told me that I wasn’t going to be in the dog pound.
14. 10:30 p.m. We sat on the couch trying to figure out what movie to watch on digital cable on demand (one of the greatest things ever created) which is definitely a great source of information. We found Good Will Hunting and watched it giving us loads of information and values about life.
15. 1:30 a.m. The movie was over and everyone looks pretty tired. We sat there for a few minutes discussing about the movie and what we thought about. We reflected our views and points to each other. Then we retired to our beds and went to sleep.

squid hunting

2007-01-16T13:27:00.000-08:00

I rage for hunting squids down in the pacific ocean.