Unit 8 Technology Planning

During my 5 year tenure as "accidental" Director of the Embudo Valley Library I was responsible for writing 2 technology plans, submitting E-rate applications and utilizing the informaiton services and product discounts of Tech Soup as much as possible. While neither one of my technology plans can compare to the 60 to 80 page plans we looked at in the class, I did intuit, even without having studied the issue much, that a plan such as this should have an active and real life to it within the organization rather than simply meeting a set of requirements on paper. When I was updating the plan this past year it was interesting to see that we had actually achieved all the goals we had set for the library (even though, if truth be told, I hadn't looked back at that plan since writing it,) and despite some funding shortfalls. This was because the goals I set were modest, essential and achievable. The first time I wrote the plan it was essentially a "no brainer" because there were so many basic technology and organizational capacity needs that were not being met. I didn't need to convene a task force to see that there were several minimum expectations of a library that we were not meeting, i.e., we needed to catalog the books and purchase an automated integrated library system for one(!) update the laser printer and fax machine, and add a few more working computer stations! In the process of achieving those minimum goals we also added a dedicated server, WIFI throughout the building and started a website. As the library grows and becomes more sophisticated, the challenge for the future will be to capitalize on this new infrastructure and utilize a more participatory planning process with some enhanced tools (perhaps Tech Atlas), to develop the library's capacity further.

It may be of note that while E-Rate has published its technology plan guidelines, the plan approver for public libraries is always the State Library organization. It is probably best to study any details in the process for achieving State Library certification over and above the E-rate guidelines, though the E-rate guidelines also serve. And while this may vary from state to state, I think most state libraries are eager to approve technology plans. While it may be better for one's organization to have a robust plan; the reality is that time is short. I sometimes think that the library world spends a lot of time funding plans and studies that can become (as Michael Schuyler points out) obsolete even as they are being printed.

Unit 7 Web Servers and XML

I cannot claim to have "learned" XML this unit. I utilized the basic w3 tutorial site to explore it a bit. I have lingering questions I need to go back and try to resolve---such as---I think you don't put urls into xml ---do you? Why not--or if you do---what is the syntax? Still, I was somewhat surprised recently to find myself able to give a rudimentary description of what XML is and does (allows for the export, transport and to a limited degree "classification" of data as opposed to simply the display of data like HTML) to someone even less informed than I.

I am finding it odd to have a "little bit" of knowledge about the world of digital information, as it is making me more keenly aware of how vast that world is and how decisions are being made for me all the time which create and circumscribe my digital presence and what is possible in my working life where the computer is our main tool. If I were just a bit more savvy I could participate more fully and articulate options and solutions for myself rather than being so dependent upon others for IT help and problem solving. So in one sense this course has produced a feeling of empowerment with regard to the level of progress I've been able to make. On the other hand the fact that I remain so far behind and that I still cannot follow some of the more sophisticated posts from fellow classmates is somewhat disempowering.

Overall I was happy this unit with how smooth the remote login and creation of webspace for a user went this unit...I completed the XML tutorial and those assignments last week but then I was gone on a business trip all of last week so I wasn't able to capitalize on my slight advantage......Basically I will be very happy if I can complete most of the coursework before August 11th (also a deadline at work.)

Scrabbling for handholds, holding on with teeth....

HTML and the Creative/Destructive Power of a Typo...

I spent most of my tutorial time at the w3 schools website and found it very helpful, particularly the "try it yourself" button which brings up the joint screen into which you can plug html code and see its result display immediately.
Though I've spent several years of my life working in the graphic design field, everything I learned then was for creating printed output. I've never made much headway learning html or being able to create my own web pages. Perhaps this is because I've always found the lack of control that the designer ultimately has over a browser based "document" to be difficult, as an artist, to accept. The fact that you might put all this effort into a website that might not display correctly on a different browser or screen, with different default fonts and resolution always seemed uninspiring at best. Still, there have been many times when web design knowledge would have been very helpful. There have been three times in my life now that I've spent some time learning html, only to find I'd completely forgotten it by the next time I needed to use it. This time was no exception. I could remember almost nothing about HTML from 504 which I took almost exactly two years ago...though I suppose the tags and syntax were a little less alien to me once I got back into the tutorials.
When I re-discovered the url (thankfully posted in the assignment pages) for the website I created during that hectic morning in the basement of the UofA library two years ago, it was so strange and interesting. It was like a veil to the past lifting....I hadn't thought about that web page since that day 2 years ago. It was like reading an old letter, glimpsing a previous version of self. And though you can't really tell from my lack of any real progress in html, I have made some progress in understanding the core concepts of librarianship and helping the rural library where I've worked for the past five years take a few lasting steps forward.
When I noticed a two year old typo sitting there on my page I was suddenly seized with the desire to fix it---immediately, and in the process I began to understand the the site and the outline of how it is hosted to a greater extent. Thoughts I'd been having about quitting the class (after, ironically, another typo earlier in the day caused a system failure for Ubuntu) thankfully started to dissipate. I successfully installed the PuTTY and WinSCP applications and was able to log in and update my own forgotten web site as well as add a subfolder to my directory. I used the dual windows from w3 schools to paste in my old html code, fix minor errors on the now archival page, and then add an update at the bottom.
This was all rather exciting since I remember blindly and barely being able to follow instructions during 504 to create that page and getting lots of help from my neighbor to complete the tasks. I didn't really have an overall grasp of what I was doing or how to navigate back there again. Now I think I do understand how to get back to that server, how to upload files, and how to make changes to the web page. Progress.

Reflective, Intuitive, Visual, Global; Networking knowledge and my own learning curve....

The piece on learning styles was very helpful in that it reinforced my feeling that I really need to slow down and reflect more deeply. I am worried about my grade, (I'm realizing I have a sort of ego/vanity thing about being a straight A student so far at SIRLS) but this is knowledge that I desparately need now and in the future and ironically I've had to let go of the need to get everthing turned in on time, i.e., the grade, in order to focus in on comprehension.....

My lack of networking know-how has been a weakness that has plaugued me in many ways. Being a more or less "accidental" librarian has meant a sharp learning curve in many, many areas, but the IT realm has been the area that I've had the most difficulty with. I think my learning style according to the Felder and Soloman article, has made learning systems admin knowledge especially difficult for me to gain in the field. By that I mean; I was able to pick up a lot of knowledge pertinent to librarainship on the job, and in the field, bit by bit, but systems admin knowledge and knowledge of networking always seemed beyond my reach.

Maybe this was because I could only pick up tidbits at best and I tended to disreguard those tidbits as too piecemeal to really help me. Since I didn't understand the big picture of how the internet works and how the local network fits in, I tended to feel that all IT stuff was beyond my scope....As a result my learning curve regarding networks and IT issues has remained rather flat these past 5 years running a public library.

I think my need to understand connections and relationships (intuitive) as well as the big picture (global)--has also made me a bit impatient with the details of Linux and thus its been harder to really absorb the nuts and bolts lessons we've had up until this unit. The networking overview of unit 5 has been very helpful for me. Yet, I've really had to read and re-read in order to pursue something like real comprehension....I also found myself engaging with the material more deeply during this unit and following up on non-required links and questions of my own. I think a course that explores the overall historical and cultural development of the internet and the digital era would be a great class for me ---at least I'd really enjoy it!---(I wonder if there is one like this at SIRLS?), and I've found myself increasingly drawn to the irony of this amazing informational tool---the internet---developing from DARPA/ARPANET research. Is this an incredible example of Yin/Yang interconnection in real life?

I have friends who went to jail for a time over 10 years ago for intentionally breaking in and destroying a "clean-room" in a military R&D facility used to construct GPS satellites. GPS satellites were at least in part funded and built to guide submarine launched nuclear weapons to hard targets; giving commanders the means to start a "limited nuclear war." At the time GPS was not a household word and we thought the idea that the GPS satellites would be used for civilian purposes was just a bunch of PR hogwash, but now of course GPS is pivotal in all kinds of civilian information infrastructure and navigation systems, search and rescue operations etc. etc... AND trident II nuclear missiles are still out there floating around on submarines. I hate to think what would happen in the event of some mistaken command on that network...

Overall this is the first unit in the course that I've felt I've really understood---at great cost, as I am now so far behind. I also see how much there is still to learn. I hope I can get caught up to the class again as I see the importance of asking questions in a timely way. I am also starting to wonder about the DigIn certificate and if it might be for me. I can't quite believe I am thinking in this way, since I've always felt I was not smart enough to understand and unravel IT stuff, but maybe I'm starting to see that if I approach it in the right way---so that I can stay engaged and interested and fit the small pieces into the big picture---I CAN actually learn this stuff.

Interestingly, I now think I've gained just enough understanding to see how woefully ignorant I've been in this realm, and just how much it is costing me.