Reading Notes 9/17 Week 3

Data compression

Wikipedia 

* Computer Science, information theory, data compression, source coding and bit rate reduction all involve encoding info with less bits.

* Lossless compression reduces bits by eliminating redundancy

* Lossy reduces by identifying info and removing it

* Compression is useful because it cuts back on resources used

* Lossless data exploits statistical redundancy

* Prediction by partial matching is an example of probolistic models

* In contrast, Lossy data compression loses what info can afford to be lost

* --As an example- JPEG rounds off less important visual information (colors)

* Data compression can be viewed as a type of data differencing

* For audio, acceptable loss of quality, transmission and storage size depend upon the application

* Lossy compression is used in mp3’s, computers, radio and many other things.

* Speech encoding is a part of audio data compression

* Videos use compression as well

Imaging Pittsburgh

Edward A. Galloway

• Purpose of project would be to allow public to have access to the different visual collections held by 3 different institutions
• Content partners are responsible for choosing what to represent & then delivering it
• Will hold over 20 collections from 3 different places
• New partners are being contacted
• Will allow people to view and gain a better understanding of the changes in Pittsburgh land use, infrastructure and localities- among other things
• Users can: search, browse, read & explore, order reprints!
• Complications include lack of dialogue outside of designated time period
• Another challenge was metadata needs vs. public needs
• Institutions shared ideas which allowed others to re-think their current systems
• Creation and use of separate databases was a challenge in workflow

Paula L. Webb

YouTube and Libraries: It Could Be a Beautiful Relationship 

• Libraries can set up their own “channels”
• Through YouTube a library could add a video to a blog, or send to cell phones
• Can upload and edit material whenever you want
• Could be used for archive purposes because a library can use it to store many different videos
• Can use to give instructions to students and help answer their questions (sounds like embedded librarian!)

Muddiest Point:

I cannot pinpoint just one! I understand some of it, but for the most part I feel very overwhelmed with all of the information given. Also not sure if it will really be my job to know all of the inner workings of the computer.  Sounds more like IS than MLIS so far.