web 1.0

Evaluating and Managing Information Technologies

When the Internet was first born as a military electronic communication project in the 1960’s no one though that the Internet along with the services that runs over its infrastructure will become a part of our life. The easiest way to think of the internet is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks (Whittaker, 2002)

Services as the WWW which has started early 1990’s allowing hyperlinking millions of academic documents to be accessed remotely, the WWW developed since then and become a way of delivery not just academic but all kind of multimedia documents. 

the mechanism of client-server architecture is what the WWW is based on, with the architecture a group of servers providing different or similar services listen to the requests sent by clients and responds back with the information or service request. For client to request a resource on the Internet we needed to the use methods to locate such resource in this case the Unified Resource Locator (URL) was introduced with the following construction

http://asma-library.blogspot.com/2011/10/school-of-informatics-msc-library.html

The above URL requests the html page school-of-informatics-msc-library located in older ‘10’ within folder 2011 located on the server hosting the blog ‘asma-library.blogspot.com’ knowing that these folder are on relative not a physical path on the hosting server due to reasons related to security.

 A database is a means of storing and retrieving structured data that is centrally located and managed in order to provide efficient access to pertinent information (Connolly, Thomas M., 2010)

Databases are represented logically using a relational model consisting of a two-dimensional grid containing the data, with rows representing the individual records and columns represent one piece of that record, for example a record for an employee will contain ‘Salary’ as a column name. One method of avoiding duplication of records is using keys, called primary keys, foreign keys are used to link tables together to represent the relation between them.
Designing a database starts with the ER model, which then can be translated into a database tables. Database tables should only represent one and only one entity, choosing the right primary key.

Structure Query Language (SQL) is the language used to manage the DBMS, it is a command line based language which has to be finished with a semi-colon and a return key.

There are two main types of search models, the exact match and the best mach. Both models are used to get the relevant documents related to a search made my users.

The exact match is based on Boolean logic using AND, OR, and NOT operators, the existence of two elements is required for Boolean operators to function.

The best match doesn’t require any operators, it allows the users to ender a natural language query, and the result of the search is a ranked list of documents.

With the addition of query modification either manual or automatic, the users can achieve better results.

Choosing the right retrieval system is important to get the relevant results as the request information type varies from data, images, audio etc.

Information retrieval or search plays an important role in a wide range of information management and electronic commerce tasks. On the internet, search portals like Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search are among the most popular destinations,( Belkin, Nicholas, 2004) Information retrieval is a systems oriented view of information seeking. It deals with unstructured information and focuses on the ranked recovery of documents from archives by the probabilistic matching of document contents with natural language requests using relevance as a test. (Macfarlane 2011)

"SQL was one of the first languages for Edgar F. Codd's relational model in his influential 1970 paper, "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks"and became the most widely used language for relational databases." (Today, the relational model is the dominant data model as well as the foundation for the leading DBMS products, which include IBM’s DB2 family, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft’s Access and SQLServer, as well as and Paradox. RDBMS represent close to a multibillion-dollar industry alone." (http://www.aspfree.com/c/a/Database/Introduction-to-RDBMS-OODBMS-and-ORDBMs)

we can use the Navigational deals with finding home pages, or transactional queries to find some service in order to finding any service for example to buy a self-case  in UK.

I understand between the differences IR and DBMS. IR searches information Retrieval
 that is related to the user; also another user use   the same search but be finding  for a very different result,  Databases search for an exact matching  in an indexed archive,  subject  relevant  the answer.

Managing data with appropriate information technologies in an efficient and professional manner that draws upon a critical knowledge of the nature and constraints of digital information

The Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) was the first language used to mark-up the WWW, it allowed linking between documents all over the world. A web browser that resides at the client side views the pages created with HTML. This browser is responsible to send the requested URL to the server and then interpret the response sent by the server to display it in a readable format to the user.

The HTML pages can be created using the a simple text editor, to be able to do that a knowledge of HTML coding is required, it is all text based coding but saved with the extension ‘.html’. The HTML documents is built using ‘Tags’ these tags typically comes in pairs and enclosed in “less than/greater than” symbols. Tags are used to add metadata, format layout, add styles and structure the page according to the designer needs, there are common tags between browsers but some tags are browser specific.

One important component of any HTML page is images, to add an image with the format .jpg or .gif the <img> tag is used, this tag can be customized to display the picture the way we want by using the width and height parameters, add a border and create a hyperlink associated with it.

With the need to add the same look and feel to all pages without adding and repeating styling tags, and the fact that to change the design of a page will require changing the tags within the HTML for the whole site, the style sheets were introduced. These sheets would hold the format and page layout information needed by the browser; the style sheet is added by hyperlink to the style sheet. A style sheet can be linked to multiple pages but it is loaded once.

Applying the CSS to an html page created with notepad helped me to see the changes and the way the page is presented, some of the tutorials found on www.w3schools.com assisted me with understanding the basics of HTML programming.

With the vast increase of data and information, and the need to be able to access and retrieve them in a quick and efficient way applying security at the same time, databases approach was used to avoid the duplication caused by using file approach of saving data with DBMS to handle the requests between the user and the data itself.

Once the database table is created using the ‘Create table’ command, the data is filled into the table using the ‘insert into’ command. Querying the database is the main action afterwards with an extensive use of the ‘Select’ statement, which is considered the heart of SQL.

Various query statement can be used to select and display the records, these records can be displayed from a single table based on specific search criteria by the help of logical operators or can be joined select statement to show the data from two related tables.

Information retrieval of non-structured information depends mainly on indexing, which can be achieved by 3-4 steps.

Identify the fields such as Author, title, date etc to maximize accuracy

Removing Stop words by slitting up text with blank spaces

Stemming by removing suffixes e.g. water, waters, watered and watering as they all lead to one meaning.

Synonyms, specifying a list of similar meaning words will increase the relevant results.

Conclusions

The lectures have given a clearly to the different strands of digital information technologies, Web search allows much more flexibility and access to information using natural language,  the  relevant' highlights the key difference in Information Retrieval on the web and a database. The same query will be used to provide the same results, I understanding the more knowledge is gained information sources for future searches.

References

1.   http://asma-library.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 30 Oct 2011]

2.   Whitaker, Jason, 2002. The internet : the basic.

3.   MacFarlene, A. Butterworth, R. 2010. Lecture 01: Introduction to Computers and Digital Information. INM348 Digital Information Technologies and Architectures [online via VLE] through: Moodle [Accessed 26 Sep 2011]

4.   Connolly, Thomas M. 2010. Databases system : a practical approach to design, implementation, and management.

5.   MacFarlene, A. Butterworth, R. Dykes, J. 2010. Lecture 02: The Internet and the World Wide Web. INM348 Digital Information Technologies and Architectures [online via VLE] through: Moodle [Accessed 3 Oct 2011]

6.   MacFarlene, A. Butterworth, R. Krause, A. 2010. Lecture 03: Structuring and querying information stored in databases. INM348 Digital Information Technologies and Architectures [online vie VLE] through: Moodle [Accessed 10 Oct 2011]

7.   MacFarlene, A. 2010. Lecture 04: Information retrieval. INM348 Digital Information Technologies and Architectures [online via VLE] Available through: Moodle [Accessed 17 Oct 2011]

8.   Belkin, Nicholas. 2004 Evaluating Interactive Information Retrieval Systems: Opportunities and Challenges. [Online] Available http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/sdumais/chi04-sig-searcheval-final.pdf

9.   Refsnes, J. E. (2006), A Beginner's Guide to HTML. [online] Available at http://www.w3schools.com [Accessed 21 Oct 2011]

School of Informatics MSc Library Sciences

Digital Information Technologies & Architectures

Session 01:

An Introduction to computing

Levels of Data Representation

◦ Bits

◦ Bytes

◦ Formats

◦ Files

◦ Documents

Coursework

What I Learned  in the first lab:

I have had experience with HTML,to editing and  creating HTML using the programs Microsoft Word or Notepad .
the point of this lab was to demonstrate the relationship between binary and ASCII, as well how different forms of media (in this instance, an image) is displayed within different formats of documents.
Also, know the importance of using your image . By choosing "link" image and inserting it into your word file as a link, and saving it as an HTML file

In the lab class we did practical exercises to show the releveance of ASCII file extensions and the differences between saving files as HTML, rich text etc.
We learned how to embed a link to an image rather then the image itself.
This lecture gave me an overview of the focus of the course - Information rather the IT.
I can now distinguish between the different conceptual levels at which data is represented, managed and stored.
I understand the terminology of bits, bytes, files and documents.

• A file extension is a few characters on the end the end of a file's name, after a full stop.

· .txt -- a text file, consisting of ASCII characters
· .doc -- a Microsoft Word document
· .gif, .jpg, .png -- three different image formats commonly used in web pages,
· .html -- a web page
· .exe -- a program on Windows computers
· .mp3 -- a sound file
· .mpeg -- a video file



Session 02:

How to create HTML code for your Website

Basic Webpage page. Every Webpage must contain the following code to begin and end a Webpage.

<html> - this specifies where the html code begins and ends
<head> - this contains information which is not displayed, and is useful for metadata
<title> - a fairly self explanatory one, this changes what you see at the top of your browser window
<body> - this begins and ends all the stuff in the web page

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Your Title Goes Here</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
All text, image files, sound files for your page are placed between the start <BODY> and end </BODY> tags.
</BODY>
</HTML>
Each one of those is called a tag.
HTML Tags. In HTML, a tag tells the browser what to do. When you create an html page, you use tags for many reasons - to change the appearance of text, to display a graphic, or to create a link to another page. The tags you write are not visible on the browser, but their effects are noticeable.

• Tags begin with the symbol < > and end with </ >. Tags usually come in pairs, one to start an action and one that ends it.

Session 03:

Structuring and querying information stored in databases

·         Database Management System (DBMS).

·         A database can therefore be defined as an integrated collection of data shareable between users and application systems.

• The rows in the table represent individual records containing all of the information for one thing.

·         The columns (sometimes called fields or attributes) represent one individual piece of information about a thing.

• One of these attributes is usually chosen to uniquely identify that row in the table.

·         Database design usually starts with an 'entity relationship'

·         In a good information system data should be stored in databases, then exported into spread sheets to be turned into bar charts and the like.

     SQL: for 'Structured Query Language

• create table tablename ( column1, column2, ... comma separated list of the columns in the table.
• Each column is defined by at least its name and the type of information to be stored in it.

·         the list of values to be inserted into the table must be in the same order that the columns were created in the create table command, and that text must appear between quotes.

• SELECT fields(s)
• FROM table(s)
• Multiple fields should be separated by commas in the SELECT part of the statement.

·         SELECT *

·         FROM table - selects all.

·         Filter use WHERE clause.

·         Use comparison operators.

  = equal to

   < less than

      > greater than

     <= less than or equal to

  >= greater than or equal to

      <> not equal to

• We can perform searches on multiple criteria using the following logical operators.

AND

OR

NOT

In the lab, I queried the biblio database:

I found this and difficult because,   I have never worked with databases before; I need to more practices  to learning about SQL.

I am aware of the key elements of the Relational Model.

I have a general overview of database design

I know how to Querying data bases

 SQL; HTML are the new to me seems to be easier to understand.

 

Session 04: Information Retrieval

20  queries were used to evaluate the relevance of results returned using querying using both natural language searches and then combine natural language with Boolean logic operators and quotes (AND OR ""), first using www.google.co.uk and then www.bing.com.

The 3 main types of information need:

Navigational queries: finding a home page.
Transactional queries: searching for a service in order to make a transaction Informational queries: to satisfy a need for information

1-Find the website for Oxford University.

The words I used were simply "oxford university", and the first search result that popped up (out of 696.000 results in 0.25 seconds!)

When I used Bing, using the same search term "oxford university that popped up (out of 142.000. results in 0.18 seconds!) used navigational query

2- 2. Where can I buy bookcases in the UK?

We used transactional query, I went to Google and first typed the words "bookcases sale UK", and came up with "about 1,230,000 results in 0.22 seconds".

into Bing, their first result was actually the advert result for Google we came up 69.000 results

3. Find sites were you can buy car insurance?

 it is , transactional query, I was using google.uk, that I was in the UK. So they only returned car insurance companies in the UK in my results were 6.690 in 0.23 sec

I entered the same search into Bing I find 69,300,000 results in 20 sec

4-Who is the president of Uruguay? Can you find a biography of them?

This information is an informational query

In Google gave me Wikipedia as their first three results the results were 59.000 in 0.22 sec

I went off to Bing to type in the same search, "urugay president". The first result listed were also the Wikipedia

When I searched the  Biography

I went to Google and used ' "Uruguay president" AND "biography "I find in Google 1700 results  I find in Bing 177 results in first page

5.Who was "Captain Swing" and what role did he play in the early 19th century in English history?

This is  informational query when I Google "captain swing English history I find second results , so I modification the query  into Boolean query form "captain swing" AND "English history"

, and typed into Bing '’ I find in Wikipedia article as my second  result Bing produced the same top result Wikipedia .

 

 

Overall when the average precision for all search types were:

Using Natural Language: Google:88% Bing:88%

Boolean operators: Google:70% Bing:71%

Google (no. of queries)                          

Navigational 90%
Transactional 85%

Informational 76.00% 78.00%

Bing (no. of queries)
Navigational 90%

Transactional 85%
Informational 88%

Conclusions:

In general I found Google to have better precision then Bing when using both natural language and Boolean queries.

The queries covered varying needs such as transactional and navigational.

I an understanding of the IR points of view; users, sources and systems

IFLA

Who we are
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession.
Founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1927 at an international conference, we celebrated our 75th birthday at our conference in Glasgow, Scotland in 2002. We now have over 1500 Members in approximately 150 countries around the world. IFLA was registered in the Netherlands in 1971. The Royal Library, the national library of the Netherlands, in The Hague, generously provides the facilities for our headquarters.

Aims

IFLA is an independent, international, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization. Our aims are to:

• Promote high standards of provision and delivery of library and information services
• Encourage widespread understanding of the value of good library & information services
• Represent the interests of our members throughout the world.

Core Values

In pursuing these aims IFLA embraces the following core values:

1. the endorsement of the principles of freedom of access to information. ideas and works of imagination and freedom of expression embodied in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
2. the belief that people, communities and organizations need universal and equitable access to information, ideas and works of imagination for their social, educational, cultural, democratic and economic well-being
3. the conviction that delivery of high quality library and information services helps guarantee that access
4. the commitment to enable all Members of the Federation to engage in, and benefit from, its activities without regard to citizenship, disability, ethnic origin, gender, geographical location, language, political philosophy, race or religion.

Membership

We have two main categories of voting members: Association Members and Institutional Members. Associations of library and information professionals, of library and information services and of educational and research institutes, within the broad field of library and information science, are all welcome as Association Members. Institutional Membership is designed for individual library and information services, and all kinds of organizations in the library and information sector. International organizations within our sphere of interest may join as International Association Members.
National Association Members, International Association Members and Institutional Members have voting rights in elections and meetings. They are entitled to nominate candidates for the post of IFLA President. Individual practitioners in the field of library and information science may join as Personal Affiliates. They do not have voting rights, but they provide invaluable contributions to the work of IFLA, by serving on committees and contributing to professional programmes.
More information on IFLA Membership and joining IFLA can be found here.

Corporate Partners

More than 25 corporations in the information industry have formed a working relationship with IFLA under our Corporate Partners scheme. In return for financial and 'in kind' support they receive a range of benefits including opportunities to present their products and services to our worldwide membership.

Relations with Other Bodies

We have established good working relations with a variety of other bodies with similar interests, providing an opportunity for a regular exchange of information and views on issues of mutual concern. We have Formal Associate Relations with UNESCO, observer status with the United Nations, associate status with the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) and observer status with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In 1999, we established observer status with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In turn, we have offered consultative status to a number of non-governmental organizations operating in related fields, including the International Publishers Association (IPA). We are members, along with the International Council on Archives (ICA), International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), of the International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS). The mission of ICBS is to collect and disseminate information and to co-ordinate action in situations when cultural property is at risk.

World Library and Information Congress: IFLA General Conference and Assembly

Our conference is held in August or early September in a different city each year. More then three thousand delegates meet to exchange experience, debate professional issues, see the latest products of the information industry, conduct the business of IFLA and experience something of the culture of the host country.
More information on the current conference or past and future conferences can be found here.

Regional Meetings

A range of professional meetings, seminars and workshops are held around the world by our professional groups and Core Activities. Use the IFLA website and IFLA Journalto find out what is going on when and where.

Governance

The governing structure of IFLA has been revised and came into force in 2008. The revision was necessary in order to reflect the opportunities presented by our increasingly global membership and the greater ease of worldwide communications. For the description of the governing structure please consult the IFLA Statutes.

Assembly

The General Assembly of Members is the supreme governing body, consisting of delegates of voting Members. It normally meets every year during the annual conference. It elects the President and members of the Governing Board. It also considers general and professional resolutions which, if approved, are usually passed to the Executive Committee and the Professional Committee for action as appropriate.

Governing Board

The Governing Board is responsible for the managerial and professional direction of IFLA within guidelines approved by the Assembly. The Board consists of the President, the President-elect, 10 directly elected Members (by postal and/or electronic ballot, every 2 years) and 6 indirectly elected members of the Professional Committee (by the professional groups through the sections and divisions, and the Chair of the Management of Library Associations Section); up to 3 Members may be co-opted.
The Governing Board meets at least twice per year, once at the time and place of the annual World Library and Information Congress.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee has executive responsibility delegated by the Governing Board to oversee the direction of IFLA between meetings of this Board within the policies established by the Board. The Committee consists of the President, President-elect, the Treasurer, the Chair of the Professional Committee, 2 members of the Governing Board, elected every 2 years by members of the Board from among its elected members, and IFLA's Secretary General, ex-officio.

Professional Committee

It is the duty of the Professional Committee to ensure coordination of the work of all the IFLA units responsible for professional activities, policies and programmes. The Committee consists of a chair, elected by the outgoing Committee, the chair of each of IFLA's 5 Divisions plus 2 members of the Governing Board, elected by that Board from among its members, the President-elect, and the Chairs of the FAIFE and CLM committees; an additional member may be co-opted.
The Professional Committee meets at least twice per year, once at the time and place of the annual IFLA General Conference.

Core Activities

Issues common to library and information services around the world are the concern of the IFLA Core Activities. Directed by the Professional Committee, the objectives and projects of the Core Activities relate to the Federation's Programme and the priorities of the Divisions and Sections. ALP (Action for Development through Libraries Programme) has very wide scope, concentrating on the broad range of concerns specific to the developing world. The others cover current, internationally important issues. Preservation and Conservation (PAC), IFLA-CDNL Alliance for Digital Strategies (ICADS) and IFLA UNIMARC. Core Activities are each managed by a Director, who reports to the Professional Committee and Governing Board. IFLA is grateful to the following libraries and their librarians for generously hosting these Core Activities: Bibliothèque Nationale de France (PAC), Biblioteca Nacional, Portugal (UNIMARC) and the British Library, United Kingdom (ICADS).
The Action for Development through Libraries Programme (ALP), Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE), and Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters (CLM) Core Activities, Committees, and programs are managed by the IFLA Senior Policy Advisor. These committees report the Governing Board.

Divisions and Sections

Sections are the primary focus for the Federation's work in a particular type of library and information service, in an aspect of library and information science or in a region. All IFLA Members are entitled to register for Sections of their choice. Once registered, voting Members have the right to nominate specialists for the Standing Committee of the Sections for which they are registered. The Standing Committee is the key group of professionals who develop and monitor the programme of the Section. Sections are grouped into five Divisions.

Regional Activities

Three Regional Sections (Africa, Asia and Oceania, and Latin America and the Caribbean) make up the Division of Regional Activities (Division 5). They are concerned with all aspects of library and information services in their regions. They promote IFLA activities and work closely with the IFLA Regional Offices, located in Pretoria, South Africa; Singapore and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups may be set up, on a temporary and informal basis, to enable groups of Members to discuss specific professional, or social and cultural issues relating to the profession. Discussion Groups may be established for two-years, once renewable, and must be sponsored by a Section.

Publications

The results of the programmes developed by IFLA's professional groups are recorded and disseminated in our publications.

• IFLA Journal is published four times a year. Each issue covers news of current IFLA activities and articles, selected to reflect the variety of the international information profession, ranging from freedom of information, preservation, services to the visually impaired and intellectual property.
• The Annual Report records IFLA's achievements during the previous years.
• The IFLA publications series, published by IFLA's publisher, De Gruyter Saur in Berlin, Germany includes such titles as: Digital Library Futures: User perspectives and institutional strategies, Strategies for Regenerating the Library and Information Profession, and the 3rd edition of The World Guide to Library, Archive and Information Science Associations
• The IFLA Professional Reports series feature reports of professional meetings and guidelines to best practice. Recent reports include: Using research to promote literacy and reading in libraries: Guidelines for librarians, Mobile Library Guidelines, International Resource Book for Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons: 2001-2008.

Resources

Many librarians and information professionals throughout the world, who contribute their time, expertise and financial resources, make our achievements possible. Approximately 60% of our income is derived from membership fees.
Other sources of income include sales of publications, contributions in cash and kind from our corporate partners, grants from foundations and government agencies.
Our Core Activities programme is supported by grants from international funding agencies and the generous support through donations and in kind contributions by natinoal and university libraries and national associations.
To all of them we record our grateful thanks.

IFLA Website

See the separate page on the IFLA Online Presence.

MARC Format

What is MARC?
MARC is an acronym for MAchine Readable Cataloging. It defines a data format initiated by the United States Library of Congress thirty years ago. MARC is a computerized method of recording the information needed in a cataloging record: the call number information, descriptive fields, subject headings and other access points. Creating a MARC record means that library systems can search for and display specified pieces of information stored in a cataloging record.
In the attached document: Basic fields in a MARC record and Blank MARC Worksheet , we’ve identified the basic MARC fields and have provided a printable MARC worksheet.
Check out the following helpful MARC information and training sites. Have a favorite or two of your own? Please add additional sites as a comment.
MARC punctuation ‘cheat’ sheet
This is a handy cheat sheet developed by Adam L.Schiff
http://www.slc.bc.ca/cheats/marcpunc.htm
The Idaho Commission for Library’s offers a wealth of short, informative (and free!) Adult Basic Library Education online courses developed to help you become familiar with a wide range of library activities and functions. Check out Introduction to MARC Cataloging and many others at:
http://libraries.idaho.gov/able
Here is a short, free online tutorial developed by OCLC
Introduction to MARC Tagging by OCLC
http://www.oclc.org/support/training/connexion/marc/default.htm

MARC Standards
This webpage provides extensive information about MARC tags and how to use them in a bibliographic record.
http://www.loc.gov/marc/