The digitization (is that a real word?) of the Salem Witch Trials online was pretty amazing to me. The historical importance is broad, including books and letters, documents of all types (court files, quarterly reports, etc.) maps, and the more important individuals involved.
The University of Virginia have compiled together a collection of information that reminds me of our class discussions on a digital library for universities. The objects scanned and transcribed online are free and accessible--but the actual records would have taken a great deal of time to track down in a library archive. The cohesiveness of the web collection is user friendly and you have unlimited access, rather than be subjected to a protective librarian or archivist with the fragile records. There are even links to more online archives connected to the site.
I see the Salem Witch Trials online database as a progressive step towards a digital library.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Why was the site blocked?
After clicking on the 'why was the site blocked' link, I found that the diagnostic page helped me with understanding why the site was blocked.
As I had assumed, the website had been attacked by corrupted software. If this was a blog site or chat room, or forum, its very easy for bad software to be used to destroy the site. Containing the virus, or corrupted material introduced to this site is expected, but I had wondered why the site had not been taken down completely. Google labeled the site as 'suspicious' which means that it may or may not have bad software (?).
I was slightly intimidated with playing with the site because I had a scare with a Trojan a few years ago, so assessing the corrupted site from afar was my method of approaching the subject!
As I had assumed, the website had been attacked by corrupted software. If this was a blog site or chat room, or forum, its very easy for bad software to be used to destroy the site. Containing the virus, or corrupted material introduced to this site is expected, but I had wondered why the site had not been taken down completely. Google labeled the site as 'suspicious' which means that it may or may not have bad software (?).
I was slightly intimidated with playing with the site because I had a scare with a Trojan a few years ago, so assessing the corrupted site from afar was my method of approaching the subject!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Wikipedia
With my newly created account on Wikipedia, I immediately went over to several pages to check out the editing functions (Sesame Street, Unites States, and Microsoft). It was surprising to see that I could edit these pages without so much of an asking of whether my information was correct (although a disclaimer for sources was presented when I signed up); but really I could write anything I wanted. I had wondered though--the editors of the pages I went to, or of any page for that matter, had they been notified whenever edits were made to their pages? Were the moderators aware of the changes to superior, more important pages (such as public figures, government agencies, or history)? I did not save my changes but it made me wonder just how much misinformation was on Wikipedia and how much was actual truth.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Automation and Labor Issues
Automation was an on going idea that was proposed in the articles, the positives and the (probable) negatives that could come about from it's use. With the technology of our time it is not impossible to envision a university classroom being totally automated in regards to communications between teacher-student or student-student. There was concern of the process as being abused by the inevitable corporate interests that this kind of "knowledge based" would attract. I also took note that to many professors and students unfamiliar with these practices may interpret an automated classroom as intimidating or the use anything but user-friendly (meaning they would have to go the extra step to be trained for automation).
In Noble's article I found the UCLA student trial interesting because of the results it yielded. Being a student myself and knowing how much I rely on technology, I thought for sure that other students would respond well to an automation system. The UCLA students voted down the initiatives for automation and valued face-to-face instruction better.
There was also the ongoing debate about faculty and if they were expendable. With a technological system as advanced as a fully functioning automated "class" or "major" or "school" then that would also equal many job cuts. People are expensive and last time I checked, software programs worked for free. It's almost like if a school were to introduce an initiative for an automated program, then the faculty affected would be faced with a join-now-and-you'll-lose-your-job-later verses a lose-your-job-outright scenario.
In Noble's article I found the UCLA student trial interesting because of the results it yielded. Being a student myself and knowing how much I rely on technology, I thought for sure that other students would respond well to an automation system. The UCLA students voted down the initiatives for automation and valued face-to-face instruction better.
There was also the ongoing debate about faculty and if they were expendable. With a technological system as advanced as a fully functioning automated "class" or "major" or "school" then that would also equal many job cuts. People are expensive and last time I checked, software programs worked for free. It's almost like if a school were to introduce an initiative for an automated program, then the faculty affected would be faced with a join-now-and-you'll-lose-your-job-later verses a lose-your-job-outright scenario.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Pirating
Pirate-One and Pirate-Two, two individuals with whom I interact with on a daily basis. For all intents and purposes they are my friends, and therefore they see no reason not to be honest with me about their activities.
Activities meaning pirating. Pirate-One has four file-sharing systems running on his computer; although these programs are capable of downloading any digital media, Pirate-One's specialty is music. With a high-speed internet connection to his home, he's capable of downloading an entire album in less than fifteen minutes. "It's all copyrighted, yeah," he says, "but albums these days are really expensive. iTunes is the cheapest outlet for buying music--but that's still buying. If you go to a retail store you'll probably find the average CD costs between ten to twelve dollars. All that money for three good songs? Forget it."
Pirate-One has over two thousand songs downloaded from his file-sharing programs. "I have four of them because it throws off FCC. They hire techies to browse these programs. The people who have the most songs in a playlist for sharing are the ones that usually get busted. That's why I have four, to divide the amount I have with each and also to increase my chances of finding a hard song. I also disable my sharing so that no one else can see how many songs I have."
Pirate-One chalks up prices and mediocre album content as means to steal music. Pirate-Two is similar in the fact that she sells bootleg films. With her digital moviemaker software and a high bit torrent, she's able to download a full film sometimes in less than ten minutes. She pieces together the parts of the movie in moviemaker and burns the copy onto a blank disc, making a complete bootleg film. Of the film that I watched, the sound and video quality was something I'd expect to see in a real DVD. "Going to the movies is ridiculously expensive. You go to watch a film on the weekend and the tickets are ten bucks. Then you have snacks to pay for, which are Disney prices. After the day is done you've spent twenty bucks. Most college kids can live off of twenty bucks a week!"
Pirate-Two sells her bootlegs to friends and acquiantances, but does no real mass marketing. She says it's fun to sell "good films" to people she knows cannot afford the high theatre prices.
Let's face it: most young adults have pirated something that was copyrighted, especially if they were around long enough for the Napster phase. These two pirates are only a representation of others who have not wanted to pay the high price for entertainment, and I assume those who do also pirate for this reason.
Activities meaning pirating. Pirate-One has four file-sharing systems running on his computer; although these programs are capable of downloading any digital media, Pirate-One's specialty is music. With a high-speed internet connection to his home, he's capable of downloading an entire album in less than fifteen minutes. "It's all copyrighted, yeah," he says, "but albums these days are really expensive. iTunes is the cheapest outlet for buying music--but that's still buying. If you go to a retail store you'll probably find the average CD costs between ten to twelve dollars. All that money for three good songs? Forget it."
Pirate-One has over two thousand songs downloaded from his file-sharing programs. "I have four of them because it throws off FCC. They hire techies to browse these programs. The people who have the most songs in a playlist for sharing are the ones that usually get busted. That's why I have four, to divide the amount I have with each and also to increase my chances of finding a hard song. I also disable my sharing so that no one else can see how many songs I have."
Pirate-One chalks up prices and mediocre album content as means to steal music. Pirate-Two is similar in the fact that she sells bootleg films. With her digital moviemaker software and a high bit torrent, she's able to download a full film sometimes in less than ten minutes. She pieces together the parts of the movie in moviemaker and burns the copy onto a blank disc, making a complete bootleg film. Of the film that I watched, the sound and video quality was something I'd expect to see in a real DVD. "Going to the movies is ridiculously expensive. You go to watch a film on the weekend and the tickets are ten bucks. Then you have snacks to pay for, which are Disney prices. After the day is done you've spent twenty bucks. Most college kids can live off of twenty bucks a week!"
Pirate-Two sells her bootlegs to friends and acquiantances, but does no real mass marketing. She says it's fun to sell "good films" to people she knows cannot afford the high theatre prices.
Let's face it: most young adults have pirated something that was copyrighted, especially if they were around long enough for the Napster phase. These two pirates are only a representation of others who have not wanted to pay the high price for entertainment, and I assume those who do also pirate for this reason.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Reocurring topics in the Humanist Archive
Some reoccurring topics within the Humanist archive relate back to overarching ideas that progressing technology cannot seem to solve. Of those are the arts; from the postings in the late eighties through present time, Shakespeare’s plays were headlined numerous times. It was also interesting to see how throughout the years there was a constant effort to redefine the slang for digital age. With coding and HTML methods only becoming more vast as technology advanced, there were revisions to the “slang” list several times every year.
I had to remind myself that e-text/email technology had not been embraced by the public in the late eighties/early nineties, so as the years passed there was discussions on whether to go paperless, or the advantages of an e-document method of communication versus paper. Plenty of ideas were expressed in these titles, with most of them focused on evolving the technology as it was to the next level.
It was surprising to see topics on social networking sites and such as e-mail usage increased in the mid-nineties. A more connected society with computers means more networking in all senses, as not only I saw voices for social networking but also job offers, students sharing/asking for research in other areas of the world, discussions on international translation and partnership with multi cultural users (language specific e-text). Also there were warnings about new viruses spreading through e-mail. I saw very little of this in the late eighties section of the archive; closer to our present year the alerts were frequent.
I had to remind myself that e-text/email technology had not been embraced by the public in the late eighties/early nineties, so as the years passed there was discussions on whether to go paperless, or the advantages of an e-document method of communication versus paper. Plenty of ideas were expressed in these titles, with most of them focused on evolving the technology as it was to the next level.
It was surprising to see topics on social networking sites and such as e-mail usage increased in the mid-nineties. A more connected society with computers means more networking in all senses, as not only I saw voices for social networking but also job offers, students sharing/asking for research in other areas of the world, discussions on international translation and partnership with multi cultural users (language specific e-text). Also there were warnings about new viruses spreading through e-mail. I saw very little of this in the late eighties section of the archive; closer to our present year the alerts were frequent.
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