Wiki Article on LAN

LAN is a term that I have often heard bandied about when discussing telephones versus cellular phones. "I'll have to call you back on a LAN line because my cell phone is losing reception" is one instance.

So it surprised me that the use of this term in that example is probably improper, considering that LAN stands for Local Area Network and refers to computers and devices connected in a network, such as in a home, school, or office building.

According to Wikipedia, the defining characteristics of a LAN are a higher data transfer rate than a Wide Area Network, a smaller geographic area, and no need for leased telecommunication lines. Examples of the structure over which LANs operate are Ethernet and Wi-Fi.

Muddiest Point for 10/4

I had no muddiest point for this class.

Comments for Week 5

http://maj66.blogspot.com/2010/09/metadata-and-dublin-core.html#comment-form

http://jsslis2600.blogspot.com/2010/09/week-4-reading-notes.html#comment-form

An Overview of the Dublin Core Data Model

The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative is an international effort to create a consensus across disciplines for discovery-oriented description of diverse resources in digital form.

DCMI is currently identifying and providing semantics for a core set of types of resources (people, corporation, place, etc.) that will facilitate the description of electronic resources.

In other words, DCMI are a set of rules archivists from a range of disciplines follow in order to catalogue resources in an electronic, digital format.

Introduction to Metadata Article

Metadata, data about data, in the past 100 years has solely been the responsibility of info. professionals involved in cataloging, classification, and indexing.

Today, with the rise of new technologies, the average user of the internet is engaged in creating metadata through the use of web page title tags, folksonomies, and social bookmarking.

Library meta data provides intellectual and physical access to collection materials including indexes, abstracts, and bibliographic records all created according to catalogue rules (AACR, MARC, LCSH, or AAT).

Meta data shared over a network has five main functions: it certifies the authenticity and the degree of completeness of the content, it establishes and documents the context of the content, it identifies and exploits the structural relationships that exist within and between info. objects, and also it provides some of the information that info. professionals might provide in person.

Folksonomies and social bookmarking are examples of user-created meta data. The advantages of this type of meta data are that communities can create meta data based on their needs, and it is an inexpensive way of augmenting existing meta data. The disadvantages are: lack of quality control, and inoperability.

Database Wiki Article

Database (referred to herein as db) - an organized collection of data for one or more users, typically in digital form

Database Management Systems DBMS consist of software that operates databases. DBMSs can be categorized in several ways: the db model they support (relational, XML), the type of computer they support, the query language used to access the db, or any performance trade offs that characterize the db.

There are at least 7 types of db: operational, data warehouse, analytical, distributed, end-user, external, and hypermedia.

So far, in my lifetime, I have probably used a distributed db, an end-user, external db, and a hypermedia db.

Muddiest Point for 9/27

I'm glad we are learning about Unicode. I often wondered how other languages adapted to technology, particularly Chinese and Japanese. What does a keyboard look like for those languages? Is it QWERTY?