I commented on the following blogs this week:
http://nancyslisblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/readings-notes-unit-14.html?showComment=1292036654362#c2861034555622895306
https://lis2060notes.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/reading-notes-dec-6-for-dec-11/comment-page-1/#comment-23
Friday, December 10, 2010
Week 14 Readings
The Gruman reading and the YouTube video this week explain cloud computing. The best description for me was in the Gruman article: cloud computing is "basically virtual servers available over the Internet." The YouTube video was helpful in explaining SaaS, HaaS, and the ways in which cloud computing is flexible, reliable, and inexpensive. What I like about it is that you can connect to your materials using any computer or device. What I wonder about is privacy--I imagine the things I'm storing in the cloud are potentially accessible by anyone, right?
I realize now that I've been using "cloud computing" for a year or so at my job, with Amazon's Jungle Web storage system. And Google Docs. How 'bout that--I'm trendy!
I can see where cloud computing will become even more popular as technology forces us to find ways to increase our storage needs and "utility" capabilities. It'll be interesting to see how these services give Microsoft a run for its money in the future, too.
I very much enjoyed reading the Frey article about "the future of libraries." This kind of brings the whole term full circle for me. The bottom line is: Technology is always changing, and search technology will become more complicated; thus, we'll need librarians around to help people find their way through it all. Frey's summation that libraries need to "embrace new information technologies" is nothing new. But I liked some of his suggestions: a technology advisory board; technology discussion panels and guest lecture series. All of these things would be quite useful in any library setting.
I realize now that I've been using "cloud computing" for a year or so at my job, with Amazon's Jungle Web storage system. And Google Docs. How 'bout that--I'm trendy!
I can see where cloud computing will become even more popular as technology forces us to find ways to increase our storage needs and "utility" capabilities. It'll be interesting to see how these services give Microsoft a run for its money in the future, too.
I very much enjoyed reading the Frey article about "the future of libraries." This kind of brings the whole term full circle for me. The bottom line is: Technology is always changing, and search technology will become more complicated; thus, we'll need librarians around to help people find their way through it all. Frey's summation that libraries need to "embrace new information technologies" is nothing new. But I liked some of his suggestions: a technology advisory board; technology discussion panels and guest lecture series. All of these things would be quite useful in any library setting.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Week 13 Readings
The “No Place to Hide” Web site (I found it at http://www.noplacetohide.net/) was very interesting. I skimmed the final chapter of O’Harrow’s book, and, I guess none of it really surprised me. Since 9/11, I do feel we have become a “surveillance state,” for better or worse. I want to be left alone, yes, but I also want airlines to catch folks like the underwear bomber before I get on a plane. So is this the price we have to pay, in the age of technology? As long as we have the technology, there will be people (and governments) who want to use it--again, for better or worse--at the expense of our privacy. I guess I have accepted that my habits are known to others: where I shop, how much money I have at any given time, what books I read, what coffee shops I frequent, who I’m calling and when. And if someone wants to use that knowledge against me, I imagine there’s very little I can really do about it. Really: what can one single person do about it?
The Electronic Privacy Information Center’s history of the Department of Defense’s “Total [later Terrorism] Information Awareness” highlights the problem of squaring individual privacy with the government’s use of technology. The Terrorism Information Awareness system “was envisioned to give law enforcement access to private data without suspicion of wrongdoing or a warrant.” It would “capture the ‘information signature’” of people the government pegged as potential terrorists or criminals, using financial, medical communication, and travel records. Interesting to see that computer scientists voiced concerns about privacy and security risks of TIA.
The thing I always think about when it comes to matters of privacy is not so much the information being gathered but how one interprets it, who interprets it, etc.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center’s history of the Department of Defense’s “Total [later Terrorism] Information Awareness” highlights the problem of squaring individual privacy with the government’s use of technology. The Terrorism Information Awareness system “was envisioned to give law enforcement access to private data without suspicion of wrongdoing or a warrant.” It would “capture the ‘information signature’” of people the government pegged as potential terrorists or criminals, using financial, medical communication, and travel records. Interesting to see that computer scientists voiced concerns about privacy and security risks of TIA.
The thing I always think about when it comes to matters of privacy is not so much the information being gathered but how one interprets it, who interprets it, etc.
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