Cloud Computing

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's your computer in the clouds! Tonight I sat down and watched the couple of online videos that had been posted on cloud computing. A lot of it came across as blah blah blah, but on CNet news spot with Dan Farber, I understood/grasped a bit more when the guy being interviewed said that the notion of cloud computing originated in the early days of the internet when developers drew the internet to be a cloud (I think I have that right). I found it funny when the guy also said that the young people today don't in a million years realize that the internet is not just a light switch, it's so much more than that. I also liked one of the people that was interviewing and said cloud computing was being able to let your so and so manager go on vacation since you don't have to be in worry over your server going down. It's just another tech related thing I truly take for granted.

I also was planning on trying to get started on assignment number four but when I reread the directions for like the millionith time, I realize that I definitely am going to need to do some further readings before 123, I can just make my demonstration. I mean we're using jing, but talking about firefox for zotero, saving it to screencast, and then finally having it end up in my blog-I am exhausted from just typing and thinking about all those steps. I think I am okay with the tech/hardware requirements-my boyfriend used to be an avid WOW player (thankfully I have broken him of that nasty "habit" ha ha), so the mic should still be good to go.

Majorly bummed that tomorrow starts yet another week. This wekend was not nearly long enough. Stop with the work and assignments though, s'il vous plait. I need to breathe. Relaxing would be nice too.

Dim dim-dim sum?

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist the cheesy title for this post. Because I was sick on Thursday I was actually able to participate in the evening's open classroom chat as normally I wouldn't be able to as I have a class that night from 6-9 pm. I do think "attending" was worthwhile although when the mics opened up, it was a little creepy hearing some of my classmates' voices within my apartment... Not to say they sounded creepy, but just how incredible technology really is sometimes. I found it somewhat helpful, although knock on wood it seems I have not been having nearly as many problems access wise as some other people have, so I am extremely glad for that.

I'm a little bit tired here from my rather full day, but I would like to comment a little bit on Linux/Unix (for the longest time I apparently was mispronouncing Linux). I guess you have to be an "inster" to know the jargon. I think the purpose? (for lack of a better word) of operating systems like linux and unix are really neat and innovative. My time in the program thus far is that the positives of open source anything far outweight the negatives. Although I don't understand every layer there is to the free and open source collaboration, the fact that it can be used & modified & redistrubited by anyone is just awesome and truly the wave of the future. I am so sick of these multibillion dollar greedy businesses/companies/corpotations where everything is under lock and key. Not to mention that Tux the penguin is an incredibly cool looking mascot.

So I completed assignment #3 the other day and while I was starting to descend into freak out mode when I couldn't get the RIS feature to work properly, I was most relieved when I found out I could export my worldcat items on my list I had created using CQV? instead. It was cool for me to then see everything just like that put into an excel spreadsheet.

Although I have a little time before assignment #4 is due, I see this one as being a bit more invovled so my aim is to get started sometime this week to allow for frustration mode. Wishful thinking, I would love to get as many assignments for this class done as possible in advance, as in my other classes I am truly feeling overwhelmed.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend-disfrutelo!

Hump day-thumbs up? thumbs down?

I just wanted to say that I hope for anyone who is reading my most likely boring blog likes my new profile image. I thought one was in order. For anyone not familiar, it's of the Giralda in Seville, Spain. During Moorish occupation it was the city's minaret. I studied there during college and it is truly a beautiful city. Enough of my pitch for Spanish tourism...

I made it through most of the readings for this week yesterday and might I say they were just a wee bit boring. There are so many things I could say on this, but I'll begin with APPLE! and Mac OSX. I have always been an apple girl. Although there was a time when I did have a toshiba lap top (shhh don't tell Steve Jobs), I did rediscover my apple side almost three years ago when I proudly walked myself down to the almost too hop Apple store in Shadyside and got myself a new lap top whom I affectionately call "Whitey" (it's white in case you couldn't infer). For me, the average computer user, apple everything is great. Although I am constantly getting into debates over apple vs. windows vs. microsoft, etc with my boyfriend, a software developer as well as bonafide apple hater at times, I'll always think they're the best suited for me. I know that a lot of people opt for apple products because they're the cool thing to have and they're so sleek and snazzy, I didn't get my macbook for those reasons (maybe my ipod but not my comp). I got them because I feel they are user friendly and designed for people who didn't receive a BS in Comp Sci. When I had my pc laptop, I was constantly getting viruses regardless of the amount of times I ran updates/security checks/installed new security software. Although I have read that apple computers are starting to become the target of more security threats, I still feel that they offer an overall better package in terms of security and convenience. Sure they cost more but you are paying for a ton of behind the scenes stuff, something that won't be had on your $300 lap top from Walmart of Best Buy.

In doing some of the readings this week, I constantly was thinking "wow" to myself. Although you know there exist operating systems beyond those put out by Apple and Windows, it's still amazing and even a bit intimidating to read about the numerous other ones. I still remember my first day of classes and I went up to the 8th floor lab to check my email. I sat down at what I guess was a Sun? computer and thought, "well this is certainly different but I'm sure I can figure it out." Lo and behold I couldn't figure out how to get started and kinda slunk away before any of the smart tele people could see my ignorance. It goes to show you that there is not one person who can't feel embarassed about something-sometimes for me technology is it.

This is somewhat of a long post, so I'll save my thoughts on Unix and Linux until next time.
Au revoir les enfants (great movie!)

Week 3? Madre de dios!

I am almost to the point of flabergastion that we have entered into week three. Besides feeling that I am never going to have a handle on things in any of my classes, I also feel that I never am going to have the time to do something as simple and fun as going to the movies.

Had a nice enough Memorial Day although by the time we had finished eating, and my boyfriend had set up his father's new router, it was already after 5 pm by the time we got home. Wanted to get caught up with a ton of stuff but totally do not see that happening.

So, I just finished adding everyone's RSS feeds for their blogs (well everyone's links that actually worked) into Google Reader. What a tedious task. SO with assignment number two for the class done and submitted, already looking ahead to the next one. Although I am familiar with WorldCat and used it before to look up certain items, I have never exorted things before. In print, it doesn't seem like that terrible or long of an assignment; however, I am not going to approach it as naively I did the last one, when I thought the whole scopus/refworks work could be done in two hours tops. HA! I already know for certain that I am going to need to look up a definition for RIS. At times I am truly envious of today's youth-this is all content and information that is second nature to them. I can see why at times my 84 year old grandfather is so lost in the whole world of technology and computers. Learning technological concepts from scratch can actually be difficult whether you're a reasonably intelligent 23 year old (in the case of myself) or someone that lived through the Great Depression.

Speaking of World Cat, I was on it last night for an assignment in another class. Sometimes I loathe having to do searches, especially with such specific search delimiters you need to set. I think I will end here since I need to read the last chapter for week two's reading. I do not want to get any more behind. I believe it is data output-que divertido! Although I will admit it is nice knowing what is considered input data, what is output data. Now I don't feel as out of at times around my boyfriend's techie coworkers.

Adios a toda le gente. Y feliz dia de memoria.

Technology-what an energy drainer sometimes!

Seeing as how it's almost my bed-time I thought I would write my third post for this week on the pros and cons of technology en la vida de Julia. Currently, there are more pros than cons.

Pro: Enables me to take graduate classes from the comfort and convenience of my own home.
Con: In one of my other classes, I have yet to receive an answer on what I consider a highly important question from the professor, even though I have asked him three different times in three separate emails. I am almost to the point of furious over this matter because in a non-physical interaction setting, people can just ignore/gloss over the things you ask. If I was on campus, I would obviously get an answer because I would not go away until I had one.

Pro: I am becoming more technological savvy and career attractive. My mom who herself is a librarian labels herself as being part of the old-school generation of librarians. Although she is savvy enough with the most major of applications and programs, she does not go out of her way to keep on the up and up-i.e. Library 2.0
Con: I am a bit torn on this as I am very much the traditionalist/historical lover at heart-I always fear and wonder if technology will gradually do away with all of the traditional/historical and what I consider beloved aspects of librarianship...

Pro: The world is at your fingertips...
Con: It honestly sometimes is mentally exhausting having to keep up with all of the technological mediums these days-multiple email accounts, facebook, google docs, google reader, rss feeds, etc... Although I hardly have all the time in the world due to a busy school/work & home schedule, I feel that if I don't log onto courseweb multiple times a day, I am going to miss out on something, be terribly behind. Sometimes I really wish I didn't have to bother with any of it.

I have class on Thursday evenings so unfortunately I couldn't participate in the live chat session. From reading the chat transcripts I saw that I need to subscribe to everyone's blogs through Google Reader. Me and Google Reader haven't had the best of times. I plan to do that step tomorrow, should be a fun day to spend my day off...

I do have to say though that my classmates are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Although online education def. has its negatives, people are always there to help you. I really like that aspect about it.

Reading day

Two days a week I work at a community college library. I unfortunately am not being prepped for being a future Library of Congress librarian in terms of tasks and work I do, but a nice thing about it is that in my down time I am able to get school work done. Hence, why I have titled this blog entry "reading day."

Seeing as how this semester is almost a month shorter than the fall and spring, I am really feeling overwhelmed and know it's a matter of sinking or swimming. I've never sank in all my years of academia, but it's still tough none the less.

I have gotten started on this week's readings for class, well one chapter down, two to go. I found chapter four interesting because it provided me with why some technology components are they way they are and do the things they do. Last semester I took a class with Dr. Bowler entitled "Technology in the Lives of Children" (it's a special topics course and I highly recommend it). Anyway, I liked the fact that the DC text mentioned the program One Laptop per Child. I had never heard of it before the class last semester, but having lived and traveled to numerous developing countries, I feel that it is a wonderful initiative. I know that much controversy and opposition exists, but how else can children who have nothing educational wise succeed in the future and become strong leaders of tomorrow, if they don't have the tools to succeed with? No one can deny that technology is the road to the future, and all children, whether American, Afghan, or Nicaraguan, need to be given the opportunity to succeed. Didn't mean to babble so much, but I hope the program continues to receive more support & funding in the future to help even more children. The following is a link to a newspaper article relating to the OLPC program-http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicholas-negroponte/afghanis-desperately-want_b_182913.html in case anyone is interested in reading more on it.

Although the textbook provided information on how to take apart your computer, see the insides, etc, I don't think that is something I would ever want or attempt to do. I can personally say that I am satisfied with just reading about all the internal intricacies and whatnot. Although some of the content was a bit over my head and I had to go back and re-read certain parts and definitions, memories of my college comp sci class are flooding back. Although in both instances the technical content was incorporated with current events/interesting aspects as well.

I checked out the Computer History museum's website and have to say I am a bit disappointed that it's in California (although I fully grasp the why considering the whole Silicon Valley set-up). When I'm at home I want to check it our further, but it seems like a truly unique visit place.

Half done with week 2-too few remain in this really short semester.

Ciao gente.

Oy vey-what a day

So I think that I am a bit behind with the whole blogging thing although the last few days have been abysmally bad for me. I must say up front that I created a blog for a time, wrote a couple of odd pots, but just as with my numerous diaries as a child over the years, it went by way of the wayside... Obviously, a good grade is awesome motivation to keep at it.

Between having an infected finger which hurts like the dickens to type (it's my right pointer, of course it wasn't the pinkie) and waking up sick this morning, I became greatly annoyed with assignment 2 when working on it today. Invoking a popular saying of my mom's, there were many points when I was going to lose my religion. Never fear though, I completed it, it just took hours longer than I ever thought it would. Technology and I could be equated to oil and vinegar. Once "mixed" and things are going well together, we're all cool but things are totally crappy when they are not happily flowing. I probably have patience for just about every facet of life except when it comes to technology. I am def. of the belief that cell phones, ipods, computers are all great innovations except when one minor thing doesn't work and your whole life is thrown into a tizzy. I must sound incredibly bitter here, but seriously, I am mentally drained from looking at so many citations.

Since I started doing the readings last week, I did have a breakthrough of sorts in how I think of technology. I am a Spanish speaker, although I didn't start learning the language until I was in high school. For me it was quite difficult having to learn all of the grammatical nuances of the language, since for everyone's native language, it's just stuff we pick up naturally. I have been using a computer and other forms of technology since I was in elementary school, although if you asked me to identify the internal parts of a computer or explain what such and such is, I probably wouldn't be able to. I see this class teaching me the "imperfect subjunctives" in the tech. spectrum. I'm sure I'll gripe a whole lot more about it all, but by the end I'll be proud of myself for being able to identify such intricacies...

Although I constitute as being part of the digital generation, I have never thought of myself as a digital native. I check my email constantly and go on facebook a couple of times a day, but other than that, I don't live and breathe blogs, RSS feeds, sites like delicious, etc. I'm sure I'm in the minority over this, but I don't think that we're at a point yet in society where it has to be one way of thinking & doing/all or nothing.

I have a ton of questions about the whole Google Reader thing and RSS feeds. My boyfriend who is a major technology nerd has a copy of Googlepedia in the apartment. I'm sure if I read all 800 some pages of it, no questions of mine would be left unanswered, but since time is quite the luxury these days, that will just have to wait. I did post to courseweb my question, so hopefully someone will have pity on me.

C'est tout pour maintenant-all for now.