LIS 2600 Weekly Blog: 2010-10-03

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Week 6 Comments

Here are my comments for this week:

http://marclis2600.blogspot.com/2010/10/readings.html

http://lostscribe459.blogspot.com/2010/10/week-6-readings-computer-networks.html

Thanks.

This was a pleasant enough introduction to local area networks. Anecdotally, it reminded me of the days in high school when a group of my tech-savvy friends would get together for LAN parties. Frankly, I had no idea what they were talking about at the time…

The most interesting aspect of this article for me was the history it provided. As is usually the case for me, I had no idea that this type of technology goes as far back as it does.

Networks article (Wikipedia)

‘Terrestrial microwaves use earth-based transmitter and receiver [sic].’ I love that we’re studying something that necessitates the use of the phrase ‘earth-based.’ I keep waiting to hear the Twilight Zone theme… But seriously, I found the introductory discussion of the various types of wireless technologies to be pretty helpful.

Networks (Youtube video)

Very simply put. Not much to say about it, really. I thought it was summed up a little bit better in the Wikipedia article on networks, but I certainly appreciated the brevity of it.

RFID article

These things are everywhere, and I guess I don’t have anything against a library using them. They’re functional, can be designed to be unobtrusive, and just because a library decides to use them doesn’t necessarily mean that they (or anyone else) will gather information (e.g., your whereabouts, etc.) about you. (That concern seems a little ‘Bladerunner’ to me, anyway, but I suppose that’s the greater concern about RFID.) As with many new technologies, the potential for ‘creepy’ uses is there, but as with any new technologies we just need to have faith that they’ll be used in courteous, respectful (relative to privacy) ways. I say, bring on the RFID— I’ve already got one in my car, why not have them in my library?