Week 3

Readings

LESK

I originally worked as a graphic designer, so the section on the history of computer typesetting was of particular interest. The text chapter really helped me stop thinking analog and start thinking digital. Seeing how a computer encodes, reads, retrieves…. These are tasks I’ve taken for granted, without understanding how a computer accomplishes them. The bit about OCR errors, with examples and an explanation of systems that are resistant to them was helpful.
The Image chapter is a good counterpoint. Scanning and display technology is explored in detail. The we go to a discussion of costs – digital versus print. This part is a repeat of what has been discussed in many classes so far.
Material feels slightly outdated.

ARMS

This reading is much more modern. While the LESK was interesting for its historical discussions, I find this one more helpful for this class. Much more clear. The in depth description of PDF documents was very interesting. The HTML and XML was a repeat from a prior class.

Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences

There is a lot of technical data in this one. The first page did a good job of describing a DOIs purpose and process. Useful quote:
“DOI is an acronym for Digital Object Identifier. The DOI system provides for unique identification, persistence, resolution, metadata, and semantic interoperability of content entities (“objects”). Information about an object can
change over time, including where to find it, but its DOI name will not change.”

Muddiest Point

No mention of Assignment 1 during class! I had noted all due dates from the syllabus in my calendar, but I almost missed this!