Hey gang, nice websites out there. Here is my humble attempt at code writing:
http://rainbowlibrary.com/rainbowlibrarycourses.html

Hey all – I’m grading ALL DAY today. Please share your project URLS here if you’d like. Those I’ve seen so far are great! Think about how far you’ve come with your skills!

Posting #1

I found the readings for this section interesting, especially the article on website plagiarism. I was actually quite surprised by that particular article. I agree that the wholesale copying of the content of someone else’s site is wrong, and by this I mean all of the visible elements and content of a website – the text, the images, the links. The matter of the actual code used to create a site, that’s a lot trickier for me. I see HTML, XHTML, and CSS as building blocks, like bricks or concrete blocks or even Legos. For some things there are only a limited number of ways you can write the code in order to achieve the results you want. Since this is the case, two people can sit down and write very similar code. When you come across a website that does something interesting, and you work with HTML, I think it’s only natural to look at the source code and perhaps play with it a bit to see how it all works. By exploring other people’s code you learn things you might not otherwise learn and that leads to innovation. Up until now I knew just enough about HTML to be able to look at the source code on broken pages to find links, but I haven’t really known enough about HTML to be able to look at the page source and really understand what I’m looking at. I think encrypting your HTML would be a very bad idea. Without the sharing of code I don’t the think the internet would be the place it is today.

(posting 5)
One of the problems I have with prospective web related jobs is that I am always unsure of what level potential employers expect in terms of knowledge. I have become over the course of this semester pretty adept with a range of technology, but not to the point where I feel I could be called an expert. Yet more and more often I realize that my skill level may be more than adequate for the job in question. Part of the problem is that it is never obvious which side of the dividing line a potential employ is in terms of technology. Being raised with computers, I take a number of skills for granted and do not see them as special or complex in anyway. Recently however it has come to my attention that I have been underselling my competency with technology to many potential employers. The one nice thing about this class has been that technology seems so much closer to what I consider to be my ability level. Rather than shy away from jobs that advertise a need for technological prowess, I take a second look as realize that in many cases positions I had written off as being about my ability are actually well below what I am capable of.

(post 4)
For me it has always been hard to think about the future of the web. Part of my trouble is that the web already feel so much like the future, that thinking about it’s future feels redundant. In some way I feel that they way in which we as a culture have sought to mark the development of the web by way of number designation to be disrespectful. Many people point to web 2.0 as the version that promoted social interaction and collaboration. But those are values that have been part of the web long before it was deemed web 2.0. That being said, I really think that a semantic web would actually be a step in a new direction. The one question I have about the semantic web is, while the search maybe able to identify relevant information, a great deal of information will still exist in restricted databases. So while search may be more accurate will they not still be limited to the same content they currently are? Also such a great deal of search failures are due to the user and not the technology. I am unsure that the semantic web could overcome the rate of user error. For my part, if you accept that there is a web 2.0 you can point to the fact that people in web 2.0 have a different relationship to not only the technology but the world around them. Online social networking not only changed peoples behavior online, it altered their behavior in the real world. I am not sure that the sematic web will change our behavior in any significant way. It will just make our current relationship with technology more productive. But perhaps that is the way technology changes us. The advent of the car altered our culture and how we interact with our geography. Since that time, cars have simply become faster and more efficient. But it would be ignorant to assume that nothing ground breaking occurred in automobiles in the last 50 years just because it did not match the initial cultural alteration. Perhaps then the sematic web is a refinement of an existing cultural alteration. Maybe web 3.0 is not the invention of the car but rather the technological equivalent of the construction of the freeway system.

(posting 1)
I am actually far more interested in the ways in which libraries can become involved in mobile technology than any other tech trend. It is one thing to have an online presence as a library, it is something entirely different to exist literally in the pocket of your patrons. I am a bit of a luddite, but ended up getting a smartphone a year ago by accident. Since that time, I have found that having applications like Overdrive on my phone makes me much more likely to interact with my local library digitally. Having a worldcat application also makes life extremely easy. Having that presence on a mobile device is a total game changer. Phones have gotten to the point where a great deal of what I need to do with a computer can be done with my phone. True, many of my academic pursuits require a fully functioning laptop at the very least, but most of my digital life has nothing to do with academics. I am not saying that libraries should abandon their mission to service the educational needs of a community. I just think that libraries can become more involved in the non-academic lives of their patrons through mobile technology. Already applications like having a call number texted to my phone, have made my life radically easier. Being able to locate books on worldcat makes me more likely to actually go to a library. Many would argue that being a future librarian it is easier for me to pick up these new trends and that most people are better suited to traditional service methods. Yes I believe that some patrons will always prefer our traditional service options. But libraries cannot become the place that hides from tech trends just because those trends may sometimes become fads. The reality of things now is that it may become harder and harder to tell the deference between fads and trends

(posting 2)
Let me first say that I understand the reasons for which copyright laws were created and I even agree with the sentiment. I don’t believe that artist should die broke while companies make millions off of their intellectual property. My problem is that I do not believe that our conception of intellectual property is up to date with where we stand artistically or culturally. Come to think of it, I am not really sure that copyright as it exists now is doing anything more than propping up the old ways of distribution, which economically favors the companies over the artists. All too often digital transmission of intellectual property and peer to peer sharing is cast as “piracy”. On some level, it may in fact be piracy. But those same technologies that have are seen as criminal, have also done an enormous amount of good for any number of artists. Napster, torrents, and Youtube may let me download or listen to music for free, but it is also an opportunity for artists to get their art out in the public conversation. These technologies have allowed for artists from around the world to obtain a global audience. Before the internet, it is doubtful that many fringe genres would have ever built an audience large enough to justify a global recording contract. The internet has made that possible. I understand the frustration many artists who found success via the traditional way must feel. The fact of the matter is that the world is changing fast and paying homage to laws 3 decades out of place is simply not culturally productive. There has to be a way to protect the artist and accept that in the new era, digital sharing is a reality that cannot be litigated away. I really think libraries need to be on the forefront of pushing for radical alteration in terms of fair use laws. It is after all obvious that most of the major companies are trying to write libraries out of the game completely. Libraries were created to preserve of our national cultural heritage. We need a radical new dedication to preservation and dissemination.

(Posting 3)
The lack of broadband penetration always appears to take many people aback. Whenever I see or hear and article that discusses how many people lack true broadband access the author always takes a tone of surprise that people do not have access. I live Champaign, IL, by all accounts a very tech minded town that has some of the most powerful computers in country. Yet if you go even a few miles outside of town, broadband is difficult to come by. Many institutions and pundits act as though only the most remote area’s lack broadband, but my experience is that you do not have to go very far out into the country before broadband becomes a rarity. Granted this is not always the case, but it is much larger problem than most people really want to admit. Also in many areas in which broadband is available, it is often more expensive than it would be in an urban area. So while an area may have the ability to access broadband internet connections, they may not have the economic means to do so. When I have traveled to communities well off the beaten path in places like Montana and Alaska I have heard just how frustrating it is for people who could truly benefit from broadband but are not seen as being cost effective when it comes to laying cable. More than one person has commented to me that the lack of technological penetration in rural areas is making life unsustainable for the people growing our food and harvesting our raw materials.

Don’t get mad because you can’t send me a form message yet, but I’m still working on that for my own good. But, here’s the real deal, peeps. : )

http://www.jenniferhovanec.com

Here’s my final project. Hopefully now I’ll stop messing with the code, at least for a little while.
http://www.tangled-threads.net/index.html