Comments for 12/18/2010

http://magpie-maggiemagpie.blogspot.com/2010/12/week-14-readings.html#comment-form

Reading Notes for 12/13/2010

1)      Galen Gruman. “What cloud computing really means” InfoWorld, April 2008. http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/07/15FE-cloud-computing-reality_1.html

I learned from the above article how the idea of cloud computing and shared storage space evolved from the need of shared data across communities of the world. This idea would be amazing for libraries in a conflict environment, where the data from these libraries can still be stored and shared via cloud computing.

2)      Explaining Cloud Computing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hplXnFUlPmg&NR=1

During my work, I was part of a project where the database we work on was stored on servers in other country but which we can access and work with it, because this type of database leasing agreement is for only 10 percent of the cost of having it on our servers in addition to human resources cost. This is a very interesting development, and shows how cloud computing can benefit libraries in countries with developing economies.

3)      Thomas Frey. The Future of Libraries: Beginning the Great Transformation

http://www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=120

In the above article Mr. Frey makes important assumptions on how libraries are shifting from being centers of information to cultural centers. He points out the idea of changing roles for libraries and how this will affect the type of work done in libraries in the future.

Assignment 6

http://www.pitt.edu/~iaw5/

http://www.iaw5lis2600.moonfruit.com/

Reading notes for 12/6/2010

1)      No place to hide site: http://www.noplacetohide.net/  

This website includes very thoughtful discussions. I first read the interviews contained on the homepage. They really did an excellent job at conveying how data collection tools and security measures increased after 9/11, and these interviews served to outline some of the major players involved in this change. 

I then clicked the link to read Robert O'Harrow's book "No Place to Hide." This reading was actually quite shocking. The extent to which one can be followed, tracked, and monitored is astounding. This text arose many questions for which I have not formulated any sort of conclusive opinion to share. But for me, it seems like all of the devices that supposedly make my life so much easier are the same devices that are taking any rights of privacy. But as more and more we come to depend on these technologies, more and more we in a sense submit to the idea of being "monitored". Do we not have the right to in a sense opt out; is this right taken away from us?

At any rate, this reading brought up a lot of very important questions that I think, noting the present state, everyone should at least be considering.

2)      TIA and data mining http://www.epic.org/privacy/profiling/tia/

This website provided information regarding the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's (DARPA) creation of a tracking system called Total Information Awareness (TIA). From what I understood, the system sought to collect as much data or information about people as possible (via multiple sources), and then through algorithms and human analysis, create a database that would be able to aid in the capture of terrorists, but the funding was cut by congress in 2003.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS8ywG5M_NQ

I was not able to access the above video and was not able to locate it on the internet.