Data Compression Wikipedia
The first article of data compression was very helpful in terms of giving links and explanations of the buzz words used. There were a lot of random words and concepts that I had never heard before such as "lossless versus lossy compression." It was beneficial to read this entry before reading the very long article, "Data Compression Basics" because it allowed me to have a brief understanding of the terminology used in this field. This was especially important because "Data Compression Basics" was written in a rather casual manner, making some of the concepts confusing for those who are not very familiar with the subject.
Data Compression Basics
"Data Compression Basics" was a nice companion to the Wikipedia entry. I was able to use it as reinforcement of the concepts that I had just read on data compression. I thought that it also gave pretty good descriptions of the difference between data and information, two terms which I see getting mixed up a lot. This is the kind of article that is good to read/scan over once so that in the future you will know where to find detailed information on this subject. I can see it being a valuable resource to know about although I am not sure if I will be needing to know this much information on data compression anytime soon. Note to Self: The best part of this article would the example used regarding the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I must confess that it is by far one of my favorite religions.
Imaging Pittsburgh: Creating a shared gateway to digital image collections of the Pittsburgh region"
I did not really get a lot out of this article. I realized that it mentioned the steps involved in compiling and compressing data onto one site so that several organization's photographs could be placed online, but over all I did not really see the applicability of this article compared to the previous two.
YouTube
I do not really see how using YouTube alongside the library is really that great of an idea. It does not really seem that convenient. Sure you can have a video of someone clicking all over a website in order to show how to use an online catalogue or database, but you could do something just as easily by using a PowerPoint or text and screenshots. PowerPoint is not the best thing to use on the web always, but plain text is actually sometimes easier to follow than videos. At least in text based instructions and power points you can add hyperlinks. To be quite frank, most people at the library I work at cannot even log onto their computer let alone fathom trying to understand directions on a video. YouTube does have its benefits of having some obscure old videos on it that could be beneficial for a library to know about, but I am not sure that it could practically function in all of the ways this article suggest it could better than old fashion text instructions.
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4 comments:
I thought the reason we were assigned the Imaging Pittsburgh article was to show the relevancy and application of the information in the first two articles. I've compressed files, heard what a compressed music sounds like (almost metallic), and seen compressed images. But I didn't really understand the process of compression. For that reason, I liked that these articles were presented together.
Abby, I agree that YouTube would probably not be the best method of trying to illustrate how to use an online database, but I think that libraries should take advantage of any free press they can get. I envisioned libraries doing more a live commercial scenario in which they can show off the resources they have, introduce members of staff and have them talk about their specialties, and pretty much invite people to come learn with them!
I agree with you that the best part of the way too intense though using "language accessible to anyone" Data Compression Basics was the bit about the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I've been using data compression software for years, usually to send music files and had no idea there was such a thing as "lossy" compression. Live and learn.
I don't have a problem with youtube instructional videos. I think it's a smart move for institutions such as libraries and especially university libraries since it's pretty much a given that students will know what youtube is and have easy access to it. While I tend to get more out of actually doing something rather than watching it done I suppose there are people who can benefit from such videos.
My thoughts on the YouTube usage were similar to Kirsten's. It seemed like a good way to give people "tours" or get to know the resources and staff members. For the patrons who have trouble with computers, they may have difficulty learning from a video, but at least they could reference it whenever they needed to. It's not an earth-shattering resource, but I think any little bit can count and should probably be taken advantage of when possible!
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