This is IT!

I just put the finishing touches on my portfolio, and I wanted to make one last post before I submitted my link on BlackBoard.

This is the link to my site, just in case anyone is interested:

http://www.pitt.edu/~eal47/index.html

My externally linked CSS was working on every computer that I tried this morning. I just wanted to be sure :o) All of my links were clickable, too -- and they went to the right places! This last assignment feels like a great accomplishment! Putting everything together in one place is a great way to showcase how busy we've been this semester!

I didn't want to disobey any copyright laws or anything, so I went into PowerPoint and made that little background image and tiled it. It took a few tries to get it to work - but it was fun to experiment and see how a little change would affect the way that it looked.

I am so excited for all of the skills that I have learned in 2600, and I really hope that I have the opportunity to use them in the future. After taking this class, I decided I would like to go into the technical side of libraries. It was fascinating exploring all of the different systems available, and learning about their relevancy in libraries today. I just need to decide which classes to take next semester, and then I'll be on my way!

*****

So that means summer vacation begins NOW! (Well, after I watch my last humanities lecture, that is.) I am so excited to spend time with my husband, read books for pleasure, take naps, goof off, and not study after work each night! It's going to be a fabulous break! So here's to us!! Happy SUMMER!!!

WAHOOOOOOO!

Oh my goodness I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am!!! I totally figured it out!

Last night, husband sat down with me and both of our laptops, and we figured out that my site was working with Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox ... but not IE. So, I finally remembered that Dr. Tomer mentioned using the W3C Validator to check for both HTML and CSS errors. After I fixed my heading and took out some rogue asterisks, IT WORKED!

So I just need to touch up a few more things, and then I will be finished with my portfolio! It is an unbelievable feeling to finally get something like this to work! I seriously have learned so much through this process ... I hope to be able to play around with this some more in the future!

A bit of a rant ...

Oh my. It's been one of those days. So, I spent a decent amount of time last night working on my CSS for my portfolio, and I felt like I was really getting close. Every time I made a change, I would load it through Filezilla and see my progress. I thought everything was going very well! That is, until today. I tried to pull it up on my computer at work during lunch, and it was like my stylesheet was non-existent. So I have to figure out why in the world it works on my personal computer, but not from work!

Then, to top it all off, I got my grades for my humanities course. Overall, I was pleased. EXCEPT for my collection project. She didn't feel like I spent enough time on marketing techniques and is letting me send her my revision. I don't have the foggiest idea what in the world more I can say! If I choose to leave it the way it is, then I will end up with an 89 on the project. But, you see, I am a perfectionist in the worst way, and I don't know if I can handle that ... Saturday seems so close ... yet so far!!!

One Step at a Time

I'm working on my portfolio and CSS assignment today ... I feel like it is really slow going. But I'll get there soon enough! I'm just thankful that we still have a few days until it is due. As I get further along, I realize that there were so many things I could have done differently on the previous assignments ... I may go back and touch them up if I have some extra time.

On an unrelated note ... I think this is a lot of fun!

Way to be, NPR!

Check out THIS fabulous article from NPR - it is a fantastic piece in support of librarianship!

It's called: "Why The Next Big Pop-Culture Wave After Cupcakes Might Be Libraries"

ENJOY!!

Summertime Storms

I absolutely love summertime storms! Sunsets with thunder and lightening are so much fun! It's been unbelievably hot here, but the rain made the temperature go from 97 to 73 this afternoon - unfortunately, it will be right back up there again tomorrow. Here's to hoping the humidity index will finally go down.

I finished adding the links to my fragment last night - it really went quickly after I decided which links I wanted to use. I tried to create the external CSS, but it didn't go over very well. I'm super thankful that he extended that due date! I have plenty of time to work on it after tomorrow, so I'm not too worried.

What else ... well, I'm having a heck of a time deciding which classes I want to take next semester. I've switched a few times. Right now, I'm enrolled in Information Architecture and Technology in the Lives of Children. I'm debating over Digital Libraries or Metadata ... I just don't know which way to go! At least I have a month left before I have to commit! :)

Off to finish up my 2543 lecture from last week -- this past weekend really threw my schedule off!

I'm dreaming ... of a nap!

It's either allergies or tension or exhaustion ... I'm not feeling too well. There's been so much crammed into these past few weeks that I'm starting to feel it! Rest is on the horizon, though!

So I have developed a bit of a love / hate relationship with Zotero and RefWorks. My humanities project was due yesterday, and I had a last minute realization that Zotero didn't pull through the cities in the citations. I was able to get it all corrected, but MAN! It was a bit aggravating to have to go back to find each source again - I am just so thankful that it's all over!

Today is the day for the 2600 quiz. I'm re-watching some of the lectures to cram in every bit of info that I can. I have no idea how well I will do - open book will help a lot, but that means having a strong enough understanding to find anything that I need to look up. I also need to work on the assignment for this week. We're getting so close!!!

HTML Solved

All things considered, it was a nice trip to Pittsburgh. I lived through the presentation, and classes went rather smoothly. It was great to see everyone again, too! I did leave my phone cord in the hotel room (oops!) - but it was 5:30am when I left for the airport (4:30am MY time) - so I forgive myself. I got home about 4 hours later than I planned, too - storms in KC kept us circling for awhile, and then we ended up in Omaha because we burned too much fuel. I'm tired, but happy!

I just finished up the HTML assignment - I was super intimidated by all of the different programs we had to use, but somehow I figured it out! The hardest part for me was trying to figure out how to rename the page. I named it index.html at the start, and then could not for the life of me figure out how to change it. I finally found it in the coding, and it was such an easy fix! I just made it all so complicated, when it really was right in front of me the whole time. I have not even started to think about the next part ... and then there's the quiz this coming weekend ... so much left to do! After this weekend, everything should start winding down - summer vacation is getting closer!

Breathing in Pittsburgh

Well, I made it to Pittsburgh! It wasn't too painful of a trip (minus the part about trying to find a printer cartridge before I left town). I'm staying by the airport this time ... probably not the best decision I've made ... but now I know.

This next week will be rather painful, I fear. I have a TON going on. The presentation for my humanities class is tomorrow. I am not a fan of public speaking - so we'll see how that goes. I'm kind of dreading it. I spent the evening working on my research assignment for that class, and I only have one left - so progress!! For 2600, I've been trying to work on our next HTML assignment, but I feel rather out of the loop. I have been stumbling through this one - setting up all of the different programs is what throws me off - especially since I am rather new to my Mac, and most of the info is about PC's. I'm not even thinking about the quiz yet because I have a super big project due next week for my other class. There just isn't enough time ...

One step at a time, right? It's all about breathing.

It's not that bad ...

I just finished the Koha assignment, and I just want to say that it really is not as difficult as everyone made it out to be. After I watched the first tutorial and read through the second one, and I was really feeling pretty good about the assignment. When I got to the discussion boards, that all changed - I was really intimidated by everyone's comments. But once I logged in and found my way around, it really was pretty simple. It feels great to cross that off of my TO-DO list.

On an unrelated note, today is my fourth anniversary!! Husband and I hope to go see some fireworks tonight, but I have a feeling the impending rain may change that. Here's to hoping for clearing skies!

From NPR ...

I thought this was an interesting interview with Matt Martinez from NPR:

Another day ...

I came across THIS article, and it goes right along with the this weeks lecture: "Creating a Library Database Search using Drupal".

I keep hearing that we are over the half-way mark of the semester. That's a bit overwhelming, because there is still so much to do! I'm thinking I am going to take a few days vacation to try to catch up on everything. I don't think I am really behind, but I know that the next few deadlines will be upon us in no time! Next week is my close week at work, too. **sigh** So maybe the week of the 4th ...

I have yet to begin on my Koha assignment - I'm stumped about a topic for my collection. I am also working on the collection for my humanities project, and may try to tie the two together. I did get the grade for my 2600 quiz, and was pleasantly surprised! I'm still waiting to hear back on some of the assignments, though. Hopefully they were able to access my one for Omeka.

The Answers ....

There was a common theme between the lectures in both of my classes last week: as information professionals, we must decide the level of assistance we want to provide to our patrons. The question becomes, do we give them the answers? Or give them the tools for them to find the answer themselves?

The discussion boards for our classes are a prime example. Some students ask questions without trying to figure them out themselves - they just expect the answers to be given to them; whereas others will try anything and everything they can think of, and ask a question out of desperation and fatigue.

My humanities professor gave an example during her lecture of a student at the reference desk, and asked us how we would handle the situation. I do not have any professional experience in libraries, but I would like to think that I would help them use the tools to locate the answer themselves. This is probably a fanciful daydream, though. There will always be the impatient student, scrambling at the last minute to finish their paper ... they may not want to take the time to find the answer - they just want it so they can finish up and move on. It's a dilemma that I don't think I'll figure out until I am in the situation firsthand. But it's nice to dream ...

It's a REVOLUTION

I received this video in an email and thought it was really neat! Enjoy!

Omeka? Oh my!

Last night I spent hours on my Omeka assignment. I finally finished and made it to bed around 1 am. I felt like I was just making it way too difficult - but I could not figure out a faster way of adding all of the meta data in lieu of copy/paste. At least it's finished now. Tonight is dedicated to my humanities assignment. After Wednesday, I should be back on schedule - the quiz really confused my life!

This morning (at work), I attended the White Belt training for Lean Six Sigma. I had heard varying reviews of the course, but actually found it very interesting - and applicable! Continuous process improvement should be present in every work environment, and providing associates with the tools and training to better accomplish their goals is a fantastic way of encouraging pro-activity and resourcefulness. I do work in a retail corporate office, but the Lean Six Sigma process could be very beneficial to libraries. I am interested in participating in the Yellow Belt training, but am not sure if my supervisor would be willing to allow me to attend. I guess it never hurts to ask ...

I'm Quizzed Out!

Oh my. So I just finished the quiz - I don't feel very good about it. I didn't even have time to get to the extra credit! There were a couple of questions towards the end that I was not really prepared for, either. My answers felt rather vague - it was frustrating because I have all of these examples that I could give from work (especially since we're going through a major conversion), but I had absolutely no time to get it all out! I totally blanked on one question, too. At least it's over, right? Deep breath. I still have so much left to do this weekend - ONWARD!

Day of Preparation

Quizzes, tests ... they all make me incredibly nervous. Today is solely dedicated to preparing -- and hopefully taking it (if I feel comfortable enough). I've listened to all of the lectures, done all of the reading, yet don't really feel comfortable enough with the material. I am so thankful that they are keeping it open all weekend! I'll let you know how it goes.


I bought my tickets for FastTrack weekend Thursday. I am honestly disappointed that 2600 is not meeting. I have to take a day of vacation time at work, fly out there, and then spend two nights in a hotel just to go to one three hour lecture to make a presentation. That's an expensive three hours!!!

Zotero Installation Screencast

I just completed my screencast for the installation and configuration of Zotero. This was actually a good experience! I get a kick out of trying all of these new systems. Jing was a lot easier than I expected, too! It was a bit intimidating, at first, but after you get going, it's not that bad. I noticed in my Google Reader that people were having difficulty getting the aspect ratio correct - I probably should have looked it up or something, but I just played with the HTML code until it was smaller. I also saw on the discussion board that some of the recordings are disappearing off of their blogs ... so I'm going to put the link HERE and then embed my screencast below. Hopefully it will stick one way or another!

Lab One - CHECK!

I just finished my lab in Dabble DB. I'm happy to say that it went pretty well. I use Excel daily at work, so I was pretty familiar with all of the tasks. It was a little awkward following the instruction sheet, though. I'm used to running free - but this was good experience. I work in the Treasury department at a retail corporate office, and one thing that I do is manage the check receivables. I create numerous spreadsheets each month documenting every check that we receive (all of the basic info - payer, amount, check number, date, etc ... as well as coding for our internal accounting structure). I then load the spreadsheet into our ledger. I'm really thankful that I have the experience to work with Excel ... I only wish I was able to attend training to learn more of the functionality. It is really interesting to watch some of the expert users automate systems with Macros. It's a wonderful tool - I wish I had more experience!

I honestly forgot about the lab, so I have been working on that instead of the Zotero project. The goal is to get Zotero done tomorrow, as well as watch a lecture and the research assignment for my other course. I know it's a lot to squeeze in one day, but husband gets back from his race on Sunday afternoon, and I want to spend at least a little time with him. I also need to start getting ready for this quiz! I'm hoping that there are not too many technical questions on the hardware - that has been the most difficult part for me!

Anticipation and Contemplation

I turned my first assignment in Sunday night. It felt good to get it off of my plate. I have seen some posts by others regarding the Zotero assignment, and plan to start that on Thursday. It doesn't sound like it is going very well for some, which makes me a bit nervous. I've never used Zotero. We'll see - hopefully it will come together well.

I subscribe to a local listserv, and one of the messages today contained a link to an article on a new method of checking out books in Manchester, England. Here is the LINK. In one sense, I think that it is great the way that Microsoft and schools are experimenting with innovative technology. Fingerprint technology is popping up everywhere. Even some of the computers where I work are equipped with fingerprint identification security. I recognize the concerns about security of personal information, but when you think about it, we really leave fingerprints everywhere. I guess that matching the identity with the fingerprint is where it becomes sketchy ... so I can see that. All things considered, if someone is uncomfortable, then they can just opt out. It is a voluntary system, after all.

Celebrating 2800!

I just submitted my final paper for LIS 2800! Blackboard kept giving me errors, but I finally was able to click submit! Wahoo! The course was an unbelievable experience, but it has been a bit stressful these past few weeks - finishing that up, while beginning two new classes. I am thankful that I chose to take it, though.

I am pretty close to finishing up the first assignment for this class. I actually began using RefWorks during my first semester, as Tomer told us about it during orientation. It has made an INCREDIBLE difference for me - it saves so much time. During my undergrad, we use MLA. I do not have any experience with Chicago or APA, so I need all of the help I can get! It was really helpful during the literature review for archives, and I am expecting to get a lot out of it for my Humanities project, too.

Last night, I visited the 2600 miscellaneous folder, and found the video on RSS feeds. It was really helpful - I only wish I had found it earlier! For some reason, I really get a kick out of those silly videos - they're great fun! I was not able to get the one on Wiki's to play (I think Blackboard hates me right now). I'll try again soon. I also started to listen to the Weinberger lecture - he cracks me up! I really enjoyed his book during Understanding Info - I may have to revisit it!

Internet Crunch

I saw this article earlier today, and thought it was rather relevant to some of our class discussions:
Are you ready for the big Internet crunch?
I am rather disappointed in the technical descriptions (IPV4 vs IPV6 ) - I feel like I am going to have to do some research before I can really comment on this, but it seems quite relevant.

Is it really about me?

Last night, I spent about an hour trying to figure out how to transfer the supplemental lectures to my iPod ... FINALLY after numerous Google searches and ill-suited hits, I was able to pack up and head to the gym for a much-procrastinated workout. I think that is one of the only times I have ever had difficulty finding what I needed from Google. I know that it was not a ridiculous request ... things were just not fitting together (who knew that my iPod would not support that kind of Mp4?).


Anyway, after the lecture by Dr. David Clark, I started thinking about privacy. Clark made a comment about how as users, we are afraid (generally speaking) of our online contacts and interactions. People choose to use screen names instead of legal names, personal information is highly guarded, and physical location is rarely specified. I don't think that this is a bad thing. In fact, some individuals that are hesitant about physically stepping out and speaking up are allowed a forum where they have the choice to acknowledge responses, or even to reveal their true identity. For many, this freedom can be empowering and inspiring.


This lecture reminded me that in one of the earlier chapters of our text, there was an Ethics & Issues box that discussed how our personal information is seen as currency (Box 1-4). I had never quite thought of it in these terms, but it really makes sense! My Dillon's card gives me coupons for exactly what I purchase, and Expedia sends me travel deals for Pittsburgh. If some random person on the street asked me what I like to buy at the grocery store, I would probably look the other way - I mean, that's personal, right? But then I scan my card each time I shop, and a random person can keep track of what kind of cereal I buy. It's just that I get something out of it ($1 off two boxes!). Expedia knows which airlines I fly, which hotels I frequent, and even which months I tend to travel. Am I more "at risk" by volunteering this information? Sometimes, that may be the case - but are they really going to look through all of their records to find my specific detailed information? Probably not! In the vast pool of information, I am a needle in the haystack. It's not about me (however much I may want to believe)-- it's about the statistics.

Avoiding a Culture Perfect

This is my first blog! I must admit, this course is very intimidating to me, but at the same time, it's so exciting! The video by Meredith Farkas gave me a bit of courage - she said something along the lines of avoiding a "culture of perfect" (I cannot remember her exact wording). We shouldn't expect everything we do to be flawless and exceedingly clever - it's just not reality. So I'm jumping in!

This is my third semester as an online FastTrack student, and between work and school, I feel like I barely have time to breathe! But I love the coursework - I only wish I had more time to devote to it! For me, the beginning of the semester is always the most overwhelming ... so much to plan on ... so much to absorb ... I'm really looking forward to getting into the swing of things. I feel that this class is going to provide essential skills to become successful in a library job (well first, maybe to help me find one!). I like to think that I'm open to technology - it's a lot of fun learning about the latest and greatest. From the past two semesters alone, I feel so much better equipped.

As I just mentioned, I really enjoyed Meredith Farkas' presentation. Her descriptions of Web 2.0 and its prelude really clicked. The lecture by Sir Tim Berners-Lee was super informative, as well. All in all, a great first week! Off to watch lecture 2!