Since this is our last week, I have written several reflection blogs. In my other courses we have always written posts or papers looking back on our experiences during the semester. I figured I would keep the tradition alive with my blog. I have written a blog about this course and one reflecting on blogging. Now for my last post, I thought I would talk about the assignments we completed during the semester. There were several I liked and a few I was ready to pull my hair out while doing.
The first half of the semester I found out that I really did not like Google Reader. Then through this course I discovered the great book called Google The Lost Manual. I loved this book and my mom did purchase it for her library. Of course I later found out (during the ePrints 3 assignment) that the lost manual was a series and they had one about Facebook. I found that to be so cool and if I get a high school library position I plan on purchasing it. Of course Facebook may not be popular then, who knows!
The ePrints 3 assignment was one of my favorites. I thought it was really a great way to locate materials about social networking. I didn’t think I would like working on this assignment, but I was shocked that I did. Once you get the hang of using the website, it was easy. It created a list of resources and I think that is really beneficial for students and librarians. I would definitely use this type of technology in my library.
The Koha assignment was different in many ways from the ePrints 3 assignment. First, I found it really difficult to use and I was not too happy with it. I liked how we were able to use the virtual shelf and look at what everyone else had selected. This really helped me in the beginning when I was trying to figure out what to do. However, I do not think I will use this system in my own library, I found it confusing and I think students might as well, though I see the benefits of using this type of technology.
The Thoreau Fragment assignment was also one of my favorites. I think it was really interesting that we were asked to change the formatting around to look like an old version of the item. I have always liked playing around with the different font styles, so I found this really interesting. It also gave us a chance to become more familiar with the different font styles and sizes.
I also think the hyperlink assignment was fun and beneficial. It gave us a better sense of what to do with hyperlinks. This was beneficial because we didn’t have to start from scratch when completing this assignment. Hyperlinks are a great source for students.
The final assignment we had to complete was the webpage and this helped me to start an electronic portfolio. I think I may continue with this webpage and add my other courses to it, that way I will have an electronic portfolio for my time spent in the MLIS program.
I have really enjoyed this course and blogging about my experiences. I can definitely see myself using many of the different technologies in my future library. I am glad that I was able to work with so many different things over the last twelve weeks. I’m really excited about graduating but will miss this program. This is my last post, so I hope everyone has a great summer and next semester!! I'm off for vacation!!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Goodbye Blogging
I hate to actually admit it but I’m going to miss blogging. In the beginning of this course, I hated the idea of just randomly sharing thoughts. I did not want to share my feelings or comments with anyone else. I was totally against others reading what I had written and I just did not want to do it.
You hear all the horror stories of people getting stalked on the internet by others and it’s kind of scary. Though in this case I wasn’t scared of being stalked, but it still gave me pause when starting out. I also had friends who blogged and they shared everything. So I was really hesitant about blogging.
When I started I resisted the urge to enjoy this part of the course. I put it off until I had to. However as the weeks passed I started enjoying writing these things. I was able to complain about having issues with the assignments and I wasn’t the only one. One person in our chat even called us all “emo.” So it was nice that everyone was able to help each other out. I also found it interesting to look over other people’s blogs and get a sense of how they were dealing with everything. I liked that we were able to share and talk in our blogs, but it didn’t have to be personal or invasive.
In my other classes, we have always been told to write everything out in a word document before posting them on courseweb, that way in case something happens and it doesn’t post, we haven’t lost anything. I have always done this because I like having records of what I’ve done in school, especially since we have to complete portfolios for our interviews. So I started to do this with my blogs. I would type them up on word and then cut and paste them into my blog. This way if something would happen I would still have all of my blogs. Plus I was able to catch my spelling mistakes.
After this week, I am done blogging. Though I am thinking about creating a blog for my library, when I get a job. I probably wouldn’t blog for an elementary school, but I have seen it done. However, I would create a blog for a middle or high school library, to talk about things we are doing in the library or books I have read and recommend. I would want students to interact with it and to add their own comments. I think this would be a great way to involve students and to get some publicity, among students, for the library.
Even though I am going to stop blogging, at least for a while. I have really enjoyed this experience and am glad that I did it.
You hear all the horror stories of people getting stalked on the internet by others and it’s kind of scary. Though in this case I wasn’t scared of being stalked, but it still gave me pause when starting out. I also had friends who blogged and they shared everything. So I was really hesitant about blogging.
When I started I resisted the urge to enjoy this part of the course. I put it off until I had to. However as the weeks passed I started enjoying writing these things. I was able to complain about having issues with the assignments and I wasn’t the only one. One person in our chat even called us all “emo.” So it was nice that everyone was able to help each other out. I also found it interesting to look over other people’s blogs and get a sense of how they were dealing with everything. I liked that we were able to share and talk in our blogs, but it didn’t have to be personal or invasive.
In my other classes, we have always been told to write everything out in a word document before posting them on courseweb, that way in case something happens and it doesn’t post, we haven’t lost anything. I have always done this because I like having records of what I’ve done in school, especially since we have to complete portfolios for our interviews. So I started to do this with my blogs. I would type them up on word and then cut and paste them into my blog. This way if something would happen I would still have all of my blogs. Plus I was able to catch my spelling mistakes.
After this week, I am done blogging. Though I am thinking about creating a blog for my library, when I get a job. I probably wouldn’t blog for an elementary school, but I have seen it done. However, I would create a blog for a middle or high school library, to talk about things we are doing in the library or books I have read and recommend. I would want students to interact with it and to add their own comments. I think this would be a great way to involve students and to get some publicity, among students, for the library.
Even though I am going to stop blogging, at least for a while. I have really enjoyed this experience and am glad that I did it.
The End is Near
Wow! Time really has flown this summer. I can’t believe we are on our last week. It seems like yesterday we were starting out and had the whole semester ahead of us. I am glad that I got to take this course, but I’m just as glad that it’s over. I cannot believe I am leaving this program. In a few short weeks it will be the “real world” for me. I’m definitely nervous.
When I started this course, I was quite scared. I had never worked with many of the technologies presented. I was panicking at the thought of not being able to complete my work and failing. It would be my luck, last semester and not able to graduate!
This was my first and only fast track course in this program, so it was nice to get this experience in, before I’m done. I liked the fact that we basically got to work at our own pace. We were given deadlines to meet, but we could do all of the assignments when we chose to do them. Some of my other classes, the professor handed out assignments one or two weeks before the assignment was due, so we had to make time to complete them. I like working ahead and getting everything done prior to when it’s due.
I also enjoyed the chat sessions although I was glad they were not mandatory. I tried to log onto each and every chat, but sometimes life got in the way and I was unable to do so. I also liked meeting everyone during Fast Track weekend. It was nice to finally put a face to a name. Even though that was only a few weeks ago, it seems like a lot longer.
Although I did not like every single technology/program we used during this course, I am glad I got a chance to use them. It was definitely an eye opening experience and I hope to put all of them to good use when I get my own library.
This is one of my last posts, which is odd because I’ve become slightly attached to blogging. But I hope everyone has a great rest of the summer and good luck with school! To those of you who are graduating, congratulations and good luck in the real world!
When I started this course, I was quite scared. I had never worked with many of the technologies presented. I was panicking at the thought of not being able to complete my work and failing. It would be my luck, last semester and not able to graduate!
This was my first and only fast track course in this program, so it was nice to get this experience in, before I’m done. I liked the fact that we basically got to work at our own pace. We were given deadlines to meet, but we could do all of the assignments when we chose to do them. Some of my other classes, the professor handed out assignments one or two weeks before the assignment was due, so we had to make time to complete them. I like working ahead and getting everything done prior to when it’s due.
I also enjoyed the chat sessions although I was glad they were not mandatory. I tried to log onto each and every chat, but sometimes life got in the way and I was unable to do so. I also liked meeting everyone during Fast Track weekend. It was nice to finally put a face to a name. Even though that was only a few weeks ago, it seems like a lot longer.
Although I did not like every single technology/program we used during this course, I am glad I got a chance to use them. It was definitely an eye opening experience and I hope to put all of them to good use when I get my own library.
This is one of my last posts, which is odd because I’ve become slightly attached to blogging. But I hope everyone has a great rest of the summer and good luck with school! To those of you who are graduating, congratulations and good luck in the real world!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
I have no clue what to talk about…
This semester has been one of the toughest for me at Pitt. I’m almost done. I’m trying to do homework, work on my exit requirements, put my information up on PA Educator and I’m getting ready for interviews. I completed my webpage the other day and so I am out of assignments to talk about…haha. So this is the post that really has no point. Next week I plan on talking about the entire semester and what we did and how much I’ve enjoyed some of the technology and how I would like to throw some of the technology off a building!
I took a web design class in my undergraduate degree and I thought I had really learned a lot from that class. I had no clue there was so much more to learn. I figured I would be able to complete the last three assignments quickly and easily, no such luck. I had to re teach myself a lot of the web design information. I also learned a lot more from this course. I had no idea how to do externally linked style sheets and even though I am still confused a bit, I am able to do it.
I really like the idea of Google Sites and am thinking about using it to create an electronic portfolio for the MLIS program as well as one for my future library. I think it is a great way to introduce web design to students and staff. The only thing I did not like was including the Koha and ePrints 3 assignments because I was unable to post a direct link to the information.
I’m giving myself a few days away from my portfolio and then I am going to go back and look at it as a viewer to see if I really like the way it looks. From there I will make changes, if necessary. I have really enjoyed working with Google Sites!
I took a web design class in my undergraduate degree and I thought I had really learned a lot from that class. I had no clue there was so much more to learn. I figured I would be able to complete the last three assignments quickly and easily, no such luck. I had to re teach myself a lot of the web design information. I also learned a lot more from this course. I had no idea how to do externally linked style sheets and even though I am still confused a bit, I am able to do it.
I really like the idea of Google Sites and am thinking about using it to create an electronic portfolio for the MLIS program as well as one for my future library. I think it is a great way to introduce web design to students and staff. The only thing I did not like was including the Koha and ePrints 3 assignments because I was unable to post a direct link to the information.
I’m giving myself a few days away from my portfolio and then I am going to go back and look at it as a viewer to see if I really like the way it looks. From there I will make changes, if necessary. I have really enjoyed working with Google Sites!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
My Electronic Portfolio…
The final assignment for this course is the HTML webpage. After much debate I decided to use Google Sites to create my electronic portfolio. I really liked the background and simplicity of the Google site. Also, with all my courses, homework, graduation, and getting everything ready for interviews, I really didn’t have as much time to devote to my webpage as I would have liked.
So after I made the decision to use Google sites, I went and made my website public. Next, I added the link to my Pitt homepage (http://www.pitt.edu/~anh55/) and I checked to make sure that the linked worked and it did!
The next step was also easy. I started by creating several different subpages, one for each assignment, ePrints 3, Jing, my blog, Scopus, WorldCat, Koha, and the two Thoreau fragment assignments. I kept them in alphabetical order. The next step was to start filling in the subpages with information. For this step I had to decide what I wanted to do for each assignment, did I want a link; it actually posted there, or make it an attachment. I used each of these ways to incorporate all of my information into my website.
For the Koha assignment I made two subpages, this way the reader can see the master collection as well as the cataloguing information. Originally I wanted to have a link to the Koha webpage, but the reader may not be able to sign in and view my virtual shelf. I found this cut and paste way much more user friendly. I faced a similar problem with ePrints 3. I ended up just cutting and pasting my master list into the Google Site.
Finally, I wrote out information that described what each assignment was. Overall, I really like the way my webpage looks and I think I might use this website for my entire online portfolio!
So after I made the decision to use Google sites, I went and made my website public. Next, I added the link to my Pitt homepage (http://www.pitt.edu/~anh55/) and I checked to make sure that the linked worked and it did!
The next step was also easy. I started by creating several different subpages, one for each assignment, ePrints 3, Jing, my blog, Scopus, WorldCat, Koha, and the two Thoreau fragment assignments. I kept them in alphabetical order. The next step was to start filling in the subpages with information. For this step I had to decide what I wanted to do for each assignment, did I want a link; it actually posted there, or make it an attachment. I used each of these ways to incorporate all of my information into my website.
For the Koha assignment I made two subpages, this way the reader can see the master collection as well as the cataloguing information. Originally I wanted to have a link to the Koha webpage, but the reader may not be able to sign in and view my virtual shelf. I found this cut and paste way much more user friendly. I faced a similar problem with ePrints 3. I ended up just cutting and pasting my master list into the Google Site.
Finally, I wrote out information that described what each assignment was. Overall, I really like the way my webpage looks and I think I might use this website for my entire online portfolio!
Monday, July 20, 2009
I found another form of technology I am not a fan of…
When I started this assignment, I thought all we had to do was put hyperlinks into the fragment assignment. Piece of cake, I actually knew how to do this part of the assignment. I was looking forward to it, actually, and was quick to start looking for words to use and websites to embed. Of course, things are never that simple. Then I realized we had to create an externally linked style sheet. Gulp! I was in trouble!
After reading over what I had to do in order to complete this type of style sheet I was horribly confused. I had used CSS in my Seton Hill University webpage, so I was somewhat familiar. However, when we wanted to create the same background/format for each page we simply cut and pasted. We did not have to create an externally linked style sheet. So my past experience was not going to be any help.
So, I did the easiest part, for me, first. I went through and created 12 hyperlinks for different words in the text. I tried to give more information for words/places people might not be familiar with. I also tried to put at least one hyperlink in each paragraph. When I was done I went to the web address..http://www.pitt.edu~anh55/Thoreau_fragment_2.html to check and double check that all the links worked.
Then I started working on the style sheet. I created my .css file (like it said in the book) and added all of my rules into it. Then I typed the appropriate link information into the Thoreau file, removed certain tags and prayed. The moment of truth had arrived and it was time to see if my style sheet had linked properly and would work. I typed the web address in and hit enter. Of course, it did not work and my fragment assignment was a complete mess. It didn’t work the next 12 times I tried to do it, either. I also tried @ import linking and that didn’t work. I kept playing around after an hour of failing, I was pretty mad. Also in my works, sort of deleted the entire assignment off of my unixs file. I panicked, because I had erased everything, all of my hyperlinks and the majority of my work. In a moment of clarity, I typed in the web address and by some miracle the website was still there with all of the hyperlinks. I opened the source information and copied and pasted it into a new file. Everything had been saved!
I ended up turning to the internet for help. I eventually found a website that helped me to figure out what I was doing wrong. Even now I’m still not sure what happened. But it worked and my style sheet linked up to the webpage.
Once, I figured that out I quickly completed the assignment! Now only a few more blogs and an electronic portfolio and I’m done!
After reading over what I had to do in order to complete this type of style sheet I was horribly confused. I had used CSS in my Seton Hill University webpage, so I was somewhat familiar. However, when we wanted to create the same background/format for each page we simply cut and pasted. We did not have to create an externally linked style sheet. So my past experience was not going to be any help.
So, I did the easiest part, for me, first. I went through and created 12 hyperlinks for different words in the text. I tried to give more information for words/places people might not be familiar with. I also tried to put at least one hyperlink in each paragraph. When I was done I went to the web address..http://www.pitt.edu~anh55/Thoreau_fragment_2.html to check and double check that all the links worked.
Then I started working on the style sheet. I created my .css file (like it said in the book) and added all of my rules into it. Then I typed the appropriate link information into the Thoreau file, removed certain tags and prayed. The moment of truth had arrived and it was time to see if my style sheet had linked properly and would work. I typed the web address in and hit enter. Of course, it did not work and my fragment assignment was a complete mess. It didn’t work the next 12 times I tried to do it, either. I also tried @ import linking and that didn’t work. I kept playing around after an hour of failing, I was pretty mad. Also in my works, sort of deleted the entire assignment off of my unixs file. I panicked, because I had erased everything, all of my hyperlinks and the majority of my work. In a moment of clarity, I typed in the web address and by some miracle the website was still there with all of the hyperlinks. I opened the source information and copied and pasted it into a new file. Everything had been saved!
I ended up turning to the internet for help. I eventually found a website that helped me to figure out what I was doing wrong. Even now I’m still not sure what happened. But it worked and my style sheet linked up to the webpage.
Once, I figured that out I quickly completed the assignment! Now only a few more blogs and an electronic portfolio and I’m done!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Finally a Google Apps I actually like….
The last assignment for this course is to create an online portfolio of the work we did throughout the semester. At first, I was freaking out over this assignment. I had to create a website from scratch and make it a working portfolio. I could never do that in the amount of time left. So I did what I’ve been doing this semester, I put it off and put it off. After the Thoreau assignment though, I have calmed down and plan on using both my personal website at Pitt and Google Sites to complete it.
We have learned in my other courses that some school districts like the idea of electronic portfolios. It shows that you are tech savvy and able to use different technologies. I was not too thrilled about this and was not looking forward to creating one. However, I think this class has helped me to better understand web design and I actually cannot wait to complete this portfolio.
I started looking at Google Sites, I figured I would hate it as much as I did Google Reader. However, I found that it really works and is easy to use. Everything is set up for you and you just need to punch in your information. I started adding in some of my assignments already. I have copied and pasted one into the web site, another I added as an attachment and the third is a link to another web page. I am still playing around and trying to figure everything out. I am also not sure how I am going to upload the ePrints 3 assignment or the Koha assignment. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
I’m still not sure if this is exactly what I am going to use as my portfolio or if I will just create a web page on the unixs server. I may try both and see which turns out better. Either way I think it is beneficial to learn different techniques and applications that are out there. I’m glad I finally found a Google application that I actually like!
We have learned in my other courses that some school districts like the idea of electronic portfolios. It shows that you are tech savvy and able to use different technologies. I was not too thrilled about this and was not looking forward to creating one. However, I think this class has helped me to better understand web design and I actually cannot wait to complete this portfolio.
I started looking at Google Sites, I figured I would hate it as much as I did Google Reader. However, I found that it really works and is easy to use. Everything is set up for you and you just need to punch in your information. I started adding in some of my assignments already. I have copied and pasted one into the web site, another I added as an attachment and the third is a link to another web page. I am still playing around and trying to figure everything out. I am also not sure how I am going to upload the ePrints 3 assignment or the Koha assignment. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
I’m still not sure if this is exactly what I am going to use as my portfolio or if I will just create a web page on the unixs server. I may try both and see which turns out better. Either way I think it is beneficial to learn different techniques and applications that are out there. I’m glad I finally found a Google application that I actually like!
I Heart the Help Desk….
When I was working on the Thoreau assignment, I could not figure out where my personal website was supposed to be. I tried everything to get to the unixs.cis.pitt.edu and nothing seemed to work. I read of the discussion boards and e-mailed others asking for help. Nothing seemed to work and I was at the point of tears because I just knew I was going to fail the assignment.
Around this time was when I figured I would e-mail the help desk and see if someone could e-mail instructions. A few minutes after I sent the e-mail I received a phone call from them. One of the workers quickly walked me through the steps to finding the help guides to log onto the unixs site and to help me figure out how to load my web page onto it. I was thrilled! Finally something that actually helped me and did not make me want to take a baseball bat to my computer. I asked him a few more questions and he assured me that the help desk would answer all of my questions, but would not do my homework for me. I would never have asked, but it was nice to know I had someone to deal with my technical questions without having to go to campus.
Of course things did not go smoothly, I was able to log on and see my files, but no matter how many times I saved the document and typed in the address nothing was coming up. I kept getting the error page. So I ended up calling the help desk two more times before I finally figured out my error.
I am so thankful to them for helping figure out what was wrong and why I could not get onto the server. If anyone ever has a problem, call them they will help you in a quick and efficient way. I had never used them before, because I had heard people complain about them, but I would recommend them for any and all computer related problems. Thank You!!!
Around this time was when I figured I would e-mail the help desk and see if someone could e-mail instructions. A few minutes after I sent the e-mail I received a phone call from them. One of the workers quickly walked me through the steps to finding the help guides to log onto the unixs site and to help me figure out how to load my web page onto it. I was thrilled! Finally something that actually helped me and did not make me want to take a baseball bat to my computer. I asked him a few more questions and he assured me that the help desk would answer all of my questions, but would not do my homework for me. I would never have asked, but it was nice to know I had someone to deal with my technical questions without having to go to campus.
Of course things did not go smoothly, I was able to log on and see my files, but no matter how many times I saved the document and typed in the address nothing was coming up. I kept getting the error page. So I ended up calling the help desk two more times before I finally figured out my error.
I am so thankful to them for helping figure out what was wrong and why I could not get onto the server. If anyone ever has a problem, call them they will help you in a quick and efficient way. I had never used them before, because I had heard people complain about them, but I would recommend them for any and all computer related problems. Thank You!!!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Thoreau’s A Week of Pain and Confusion….
When I started the Thoreau fragment assignment, I was not sure what or where my personal web page was located. I went to the discussion boards and found out I was supposed to use a server unixs.cis.pitt.edu. So I typed this into the URL and it came up an error page. I went back to the discussion board to figure out my issue. I did not really understand the directions that were given and I eventually had to go to the help desk to figure out my issues.
Once I was able to get onto the server, I thought it was actually kind of fun to create and view my own webpage. The next problem was trying to figure out what an early edition of Thoreau’s A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. I worked on changing font size and family. Then I decided to change the background color. In the end, I was actually really happy with what I created. I also went back and added a link from my home page (www.pitt.edu/~anh55) to the Thoreau assignment. This way there are two ways of accessing my webpage. I liked trying out different fonts and other techniques on this webpage. It helped me to become more familiar with web design and the unixs server at Pitt. (Too bad I will never use it again, since I’m graduating in a few weeks!)
This assignment, though hard at the beginning gave me a better sense of how to create a webpage. I enjoyed playing around with the website and trying to see if I could create something that looked like an early edition of the work.
My only question for the hyperlink assignment is how are we supposed to save it. The first assignment was Thoreau_fragment_1.html and the directions for the second one say to save it as the same. Should we make it fragment 2 or what? Who knows? I guess that is just something to discuss in another post.
Once I was able to get onto the server, I thought it was actually kind of fun to create and view my own webpage. The next problem was trying to figure out what an early edition of Thoreau’s A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. I worked on changing font size and family. Then I decided to change the background color. In the end, I was actually really happy with what I created. I also went back and added a link from my home page (www.pitt.edu/~anh55) to the Thoreau assignment. This way there are two ways of accessing my webpage. I liked trying out different fonts and other techniques on this webpage. It helped me to become more familiar with web design and the unixs server at Pitt. (Too bad I will never use it again, since I’m graduating in a few weeks!)
This assignment, though hard at the beginning gave me a better sense of how to create a webpage. I enjoyed playing around with the website and trying to see if I could create something that looked like an early edition of the work.
My only question for the hyperlink assignment is how are we supposed to save it. The first assignment was Thoreau_fragment_1.html and the directions for the second one say to save it as the same. Should we make it fragment 2 or what? Who knows? I guess that is just something to discuss in another post.
Friday, July 10, 2009
CSS
This week we were supposed to read chapter eleven and twelve from the web design book. I have really started to like this book; I find it much more interesting than the previous text. I also like it because it has helped me in creating my website for this course. I’m starting to think that I actually will not sell this book back when I graduate from this program at the end of the month. I am still looking for my other web design book from undergraduate. Still unable to locate it, of course, this happens whenever you clean.
Chapter eleven was about cascading style sheets and I was pleasantly surprised to find out I actually remembered them from my other course. I thought it was funny that one of the benefits of CSS was that it was less work. I don’t know why I thought this was funny, but I did. I had liked this concept in my other course and it made editing and changing appearances so much easier. As with the other chapters, this one broke down the steps to creating a CSS. This was a really easy way to understand what you had to do.
I also liked the examples on page 189. They showed the same XHTML document, but with several different designs. This was a great way to illustrate the benefits of CSS. If you create a webpage and dislike how it looks, CSS helps you to change it as many times as you want in a short amount of time.
When the book listed the steps to creating a CSS it was very brief. But when you moved onto the next few pages it broke down each step in a more detailed description. They also included several notes that would help explain information. Tips were also included in this chapter. I really like how they include all these extract items in the sidebars. I think this makes this book more than just a manual, but a complete guide to web design.
At the end of the chapter they give you other resources for CSS information. I also liked this because it was a way to help readers locate more information, without having to go to the back of the book for a list of resources used in creating it.
Even though I am not completely done with my webpage I feel that I am better able to complete it, by using this book. I have actually recommended it to several people outside of this program.
Chapter eleven was about cascading style sheets and I was pleasantly surprised to find out I actually remembered them from my other course. I thought it was funny that one of the benefits of CSS was that it was less work. I don’t know why I thought this was funny, but I did. I had liked this concept in my other course and it made editing and changing appearances so much easier. As with the other chapters, this one broke down the steps to creating a CSS. This was a really easy way to understand what you had to do.
I also liked the examples on page 189. They showed the same XHTML document, but with several different designs. This was a great way to illustrate the benefits of CSS. If you create a webpage and dislike how it looks, CSS helps you to change it as many times as you want in a short amount of time.
When the book listed the steps to creating a CSS it was very brief. But when you moved onto the next few pages it broke down each step in a more detailed description. They also included several notes that would help explain information. Tips were also included in this chapter. I really like how they include all these extract items in the sidebars. I think this makes this book more than just a manual, but a complete guide to web design.
At the end of the chapter they give you other resources for CSS information. I also liked this because it was a way to help readers locate more information, without having to go to the back of the book for a list of resources used in creating it.
Even though I am not completely done with my webpage I feel that I am better able to complete it, by using this book. I have actually recommended it to several people outside of this program.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
More about Koha
When I read the instructions for the Koha assignment I was excited that we were able to pick the topics for our 25 items. I originally set out to find items based on blogging, since it is something that we are working with in this class. However, I ended up changing my mind and topic to vampires. I like them and I thought it would be fun to choose a different topic, something not related to technology.
With that in mind I set out to find 25 items that would be useful to me. I started by looking at Amazon and Barnes and Noble online. I thought it would help me to figure out what books, magazines, movies, etc. I would want to include. Then I moved onto Access PA and the Library of Congress, in order to complete my task. After I had gathered my 26 items ( I like even numbers) I logged onto Koha, which in itself was a task.
I remember getting the e-mail about Koha and logging on when I got it. However, a few weeks had passed since that e-mail and I couldn’t remember which Koha server I was on or my name and password. I thought I had written those down and had saved the web address in my favorites. I was wrong on both accounts. So, as I usually do, I panicked! I figured I had deleted my e-mail with this information because I like to keep my e-mail fairly clean. The thoughts going through my head were all about how I was going to have to e-mail Dr. Tomer and tell him I had no idea my username, password, or which Koha server to use. Luckily, when I got on my e-mail account, I discovered that I had panicked for nothing. I had kept the important e-mail and was able to log onto Koha.
Of course, things did not get any better from there. I logged on and was soon faced with the dilemma of where to click to add these items. But since I sort of knew the assignment I was able to locate the Cataloging tag with ADD MARC under it.
Even though it was easy to locate the materials it was very time consuming putting them in Koha. I started this assignment around eleven in the morning and finished about four thirty in the afternoon. The other item that threw me off was the Virtual Shelves. I thought it was called, “lists” and was upset that I could not find where to load these items too. I’m just glad I am done with that assignment.
It was interesting using Koha and seeing a different way of cataloging; however, I am pretty sure I will never use this item ever again. I found it really time consuming and at points difficult to understand. I’m glad I got to try it, but don’t expect me to become a fan!
With that in mind I set out to find 25 items that would be useful to me. I started by looking at Amazon and Barnes and Noble online. I thought it would help me to figure out what books, magazines, movies, etc. I would want to include. Then I moved onto Access PA and the Library of Congress, in order to complete my task. After I had gathered my 26 items ( I like even numbers) I logged onto Koha, which in itself was a task.
I remember getting the e-mail about Koha and logging on when I got it. However, a few weeks had passed since that e-mail and I couldn’t remember which Koha server I was on or my name and password. I thought I had written those down and had saved the web address in my favorites. I was wrong on both accounts. So, as I usually do, I panicked! I figured I had deleted my e-mail with this information because I like to keep my e-mail fairly clean. The thoughts going through my head were all about how I was going to have to e-mail Dr. Tomer and tell him I had no idea my username, password, or which Koha server to use. Luckily, when I got on my e-mail account, I discovered that I had panicked for nothing. I had kept the important e-mail and was able to log onto Koha.
Of course, things did not get any better from there. I logged on and was soon faced with the dilemma of where to click to add these items. But since I sort of knew the assignment I was able to locate the Cataloging tag with ADD MARC under it.
Even though it was easy to locate the materials it was very time consuming putting them in Koha. I started this assignment around eleven in the morning and finished about four thirty in the afternoon. The other item that threw me off was the Virtual Shelves. I thought it was called, “lists” and was upset that I could not find where to load these items too. I’m just glad I am done with that assignment.
It was interesting using Koha and seeing a different way of cataloging; however, I am pretty sure I will never use this item ever again. I found it really time consuming and at points difficult to understand. I’m glad I got to try it, but don’t expect me to become a fan!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Koha = Evil
I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend! Luckily this week I was able to get all my homework done before the holiday and so I was able to sit back and relax. Even though I did put the Koha assignment off until the last minute again! I plan on completing the next assignment as early as I can, but since I have class all day Tuesday, it makes me wonder if I won’t be rushing to complete it again.
When I initially read the assignment I thought we had to add a link to our own personal website. So I started working on my website, hoping I would be able to make it work and that I would be able to add the hyperlink to connect my website to the Koha assignment.
So I started the assignment and kept thinking to myself, how was I going to get this on my personal website. No clue! I was pretty much stumped and figuring I was going to fail the assignment because I couldn’t figure out how to hyperlink it. I finally finished the assignment around 4 o’clock on Friday afternoon and I was getting ready to go away for the weekend, so I was pretty upset that I still hadn’t put it on my website.
So I went back to the syllabus and decided I would reread the instruction, hoping there were instructions on how to put it on the webpage. Well, I was pretty surprised that I did not have to actually create a webpage for this assignment but for the Thoreau assignment, which came next. I reread the assignment instructions again, just to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. Then just to be safe, I asked my mom to read them and look. I was shocked (and thrilled) that I had actually completed the assignment and didn’t need to do anything else. I was going to be able to go away and not have this giant black cloud hanging over me, because I hadn’t been able to complete the assignment.
The silver lining in this whole mess is that I have the basis for my webpage down and it will be easy to just link my Thoreau assignment to it!
When I initially read the assignment I thought we had to add a link to our own personal website. So I started working on my website, hoping I would be able to make it work and that I would be able to add the hyperlink to connect my website to the Koha assignment.
So I started the assignment and kept thinking to myself, how was I going to get this on my personal website. No clue! I was pretty much stumped and figuring I was going to fail the assignment because I couldn’t figure out how to hyperlink it. I finally finished the assignment around 4 o’clock on Friday afternoon and I was getting ready to go away for the weekend, so I was pretty upset that I still hadn’t put it on my website.
So I went back to the syllabus and decided I would reread the instruction, hoping there were instructions on how to put it on the webpage. Well, I was pretty surprised that I did not have to actually create a webpage for this assignment but for the Thoreau assignment, which came next. I reread the assignment instructions again, just to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. Then just to be safe, I asked my mom to read them and look. I was shocked (and thrilled) that I had actually completed the assignment and didn’t need to do anything else. I was going to be able to go away and not have this giant black cloud hanging over me, because I hadn’t been able to complete the assignment.
The silver lining in this whole mess is that I have the basis for my webpage down and it will be easy to just link my Thoreau assignment to it!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Creating a simple page…this will probably be hard to do!
Chapter four of the Learning Web Design book deals with creating simple page. As I have written previously I have worked with creating websites, but really do not remember what I am doing. I hoped this chapter would be a great refresher and I would be able to start work on my own personal webpage.
I really like when books give you step by step instruction on how to complete something. It just makes life so much easier and this book did not disappoint. In five easy steps this chapter stated it would demonstrate the steps that “cover the basics of page production.” It started with a brief overview of the steps. Then the chapter went into creating the word document, one section for Mac users and one for Windows. This was nice, especially since I do not know if I will always have a PC or if I’ll switch to a Mac later on. After walking the reader through this process the book starts in on a detailed look at each step.
Even though this book does not have the colorful and sometimes entertaining pictures that our other text has, the pictures here are way more helpful. The exercises and sidebars are also helpful in designing a webpage. I especially like the tip about slash vs. backslash. During my practicum some of the students had problems figuring this out and it nice to have something to use to explain it to them.
The other helpful sidebar was the one dealing with some typical problems. It is always nice having a place to go to answer some of the questions you may have, especially when you are new to the material. I have decided that I really like this book and it might be one of the few I do not sell back at the end of the semester. Especially since library web pages are becoming popular and it would be nice to be able to design and update my own! Even though I have yet to start my webpage, I will do that before the end of the week. I have class tonight and all day tomorrow and I hate starting something that I can’t finish in the same day. So it looks like Thursday and Friday are my days to complete this part of the course. Next week I’ll start detailing my experience with creating this webpage, bet it won’t be as easy as I hope! Have a great weekend everyone!
I really like when books give you step by step instruction on how to complete something. It just makes life so much easier and this book did not disappoint. In five easy steps this chapter stated it would demonstrate the steps that “cover the basics of page production.” It started with a brief overview of the steps. Then the chapter went into creating the word document, one section for Mac users and one for Windows. This was nice, especially since I do not know if I will always have a PC or if I’ll switch to a Mac later on. After walking the reader through this process the book starts in on a detailed look at each step.
Even though this book does not have the colorful and sometimes entertaining pictures that our other text has, the pictures here are way more helpful. The exercises and sidebars are also helpful in designing a webpage. I especially like the tip about slash vs. backslash. During my practicum some of the students had problems figuring this out and it nice to have something to use to explain it to them.
The other helpful sidebar was the one dealing with some typical problems. It is always nice having a place to go to answer some of the questions you may have, especially when you are new to the material. I have decided that I really like this book and it might be one of the few I do not sell back at the end of the semester. Especially since library web pages are becoming popular and it would be nice to be able to design and update my own! Even though I have yet to start my webpage, I will do that before the end of the week. I have class tonight and all day tomorrow and I hate starting something that I can’t finish in the same day. So it looks like Thursday and Friday are my days to complete this part of the course. Next week I’ll start detailing my experience with creating this webpage, bet it won’t be as easy as I hope! Have a great weekend everyone!
Crossovers…they’re not just for TV shows
I’ve noticed that a lot of what we are learning overlaps in many of my classes. Last fall all of my classes had at least one section that overlapped. This had happened to me in my freshman year of college at Duquesne University. I thought it was odd, but helpful in many ways. Still I hadn’t really expected it to happen during graduate school, but I’m not complaining it usually is really beneficial!
This semester the concept of metadata has been the overlapping idea in this course and in my Organizing Information class. We had one week devoted to learning about this concept and I will admit I was still a bit confused on what it was and why we used it. So when metadata was mentioned as part of the ePrints 3 assignment, I was not too happy.
Here I was with no clue as to what I was supposed to find out about this metadata, so I kept putting the assignment off. I guess I figured I would have some sort of epiphany and I would actually understand the subject matter. Of course this did not happen.
When I finally sat down to do the assignment, I found a new article and began working through the steps to complete the upload. I was happy to find out that ePrints 3 actually has marked areas for all of the metadata information. I could actually understand what was being asked of me to locate! This made me very, very happy! Some of the information was not present in any of the articles or books I decided to upload, so I left those boxes blank.
This exercise really helped me to better understand the concept of metadata. Without it, I still would probably be a little confused on this idea and would never have had firsthand experience using it.
This semester the concept of metadata has been the overlapping idea in this course and in my Organizing Information class. We had one week devoted to learning about this concept and I will admit I was still a bit confused on what it was and why we used it. So when metadata was mentioned as part of the ePrints 3 assignment, I was not too happy.
Here I was with no clue as to what I was supposed to find out about this metadata, so I kept putting the assignment off. I guess I figured I would have some sort of epiphany and I would actually understand the subject matter. Of course this did not happen.
When I finally sat down to do the assignment, I found a new article and began working through the steps to complete the upload. I was happy to find out that ePrints 3 actually has marked areas for all of the metadata information. I could actually understand what was being asked of me to locate! This made me very, very happy! Some of the information was not present in any of the articles or books I decided to upload, so I left those boxes blank.
This exercise really helped me to better understand the concept of metadata. Without it, I still would probably be a little confused on this idea and would never have had firsthand experience using it.
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