Farewell

So we’re here, finally. We’ve reached our destination- the end of the semester. Who could have believed it would go this fast- I sure wouldn’t have.  To start off , where to start? We’ve learned so much information in the past fourteen weeks. I would like to dedicate this blog to three activities that stand out to me the most and my overall experience in Library 103. These events may not be the most valuable information, but they are something I thoroughly enjoyed and will take with me throughout my remaining term.  I must say I really enjoyed the blogs the most- at first it was somewhat of a hassle but it became more of a type of ‘teaching’ myself. I would reinstate the information me and my fellow classmates learned in the previous week.  Although it was only one day, I thought  the coolest class was the tour of the Library. There are many things in this building that you walk by every single day (well some of you) that you NEVER would have noticed in your years here at the University of North Carolina Wilmingotn. Ending with a preview of Country Soul, the libraries Surf exhibit, was brilliant. Last but not least, I really enjoyed the Youtube videos on the Students today. I have always wondered if there is someone brilliant enough to make a video like these- now I know there is. I hope I receive the oppornity to do a project/presentation on a subject of this sort; and I will be SURE to relate back to these videos. I want to conclude this blog with wishing you all farewell in the remainder chapter of your life, along with the many more to come. To say the least, I have enjoyed my time here in this room from 5:00-6:00 every Monday and Wednesday evening. Hope you have too.

Copyright (C)

No matter how who you are, how old you are, or where you live- you have at some time in your life struggled with the word COPYRIGHT. Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an orginal work exclusive rights to it. The legal action basically gives the copyright holder the right to be credited for the work, to determine who may adapt the work to other forms, who may perform the work, who may financially benefit from it, and other, related rights. The last week of class, we learned about Copyright and what it means to all sources. The coolest thing we learned about it is my favorite thing of all time, music. We watched videos on youtube of ‘mashups’(miss radom selected some sweet beeeeeats) where artists have taken segments from a particular song and used the beat/rhythm for theirs. This is COPYRIGHT! The only thing people don’t realize is the original artist has to pursue the case and go after whoever stole the art from them to press charges. It happens more than you would think in today’s world. Even with you- we have all been a victim of Limewire in one way or another- I know I have. We also learned about the four factors of fair use in copyright. 1) purpose of the use 2) nature of the original work 3) amount of the original work used 4) effect of the on the market. I thought these were all interesting facts of Copyright. The main thing I have learned that is it is better to give credit from the source you received the information then ingnoring the fact- for it is stealing! With that said, I am Copyrighting this blog-HA!   (C)   -Matthew Giles Nobles

www.wikipedia.org

Wiki-Change

Your recent edit to Nobility (diff) was reverted by an automated bot. The edit was identified as adding vandalism, or link spam to the page or having an inappropriate edit summary. If you want to experiment, please use the preview button while editing or consider using the sandbox. If this revert was in error, please contact the bot operator. If you made an edit that removed a large amount of content, try doing smaller edits instead. Thanks! // VoABot II (talk) 06:45, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

If you would have happened to been browsing the “Web” late night and been inquisitive enough to search ‘Nobility’ on Wikipedia at 2:45 AM- you would have found a completely different page than you might have expected. Before LIB 103, I never would have imagined you could change a page on Wikipedia- come to find out, you can. Earlier in the year we learned in class how to Edit The Page on an online encyclopedia. The message I received above is explaining that my recent edit to the source has automatically been changed. Although it seems there are no limitations to changing online sources, there are- only minor locks on certain doors though. I chose to completely erase every single word on the page and replace it with “Matt Nooooooooobles.” It was displayed for split second until reverted by an automated bot. When I went back and searched Nobility it displayed a link which involved links and how to make my editing stand in the online world. It advised me to use the preview option or the sandbox. There is also a bot operator that you can contact with any troubles that may arise. If you missed class this particular day for a particular reason- I advise you to experiment with editing yourself and test the waters of Wikipedia.

www.wikipedia.org

A Vision of Students Today

Monday in class we watched a video, A Vision of Students Today, on Youtube. We followed by discussing the video and how it applied to our everyday life. Michael Wesch is the creator of the theory/idea. I did not fully absorb the information until I came home and watched it the next day. I must say, it is precise to the exact point. Wesch, along with his Spring students of Intro to Cultural Anthropology, hit the nail on the head with stating exact facts that we have all wondered about. I can not tell you how many times I have sat in class and curiously thought about how much time and money are wasted everyday by college students. 3/4 of my friends barely go to class, and if they do- they definitely do not pay attention. I even consider myself a strong student that is motivated to do well and receive a balanced education- and I even find myself barely ‘learning’ the material in the classroom.  Several of the major points I favored were cost of books, facebook, and multi-tasking, and all the money spent on classes with lack of attendance. Every student is forced to buy hundreds of dollars worth of text books- yet they will NEVER be opened by most. Even if the average college student takes the inititiative to study- they have online notes and review guides that are much more to the point than abundance of redundancy throughout the text. Also, I liked how it showed that you’ll read 8 books and over 1000 facebook profiles. All the money spent on classes by the parent, and students still do not come. At the very end of this it shows how much hours it totals to in one day, 26.5- proving that college students have to multitask. Wesch hit the nail on the head with his point in this video- I feel all students in the nation should view it.

Web of Science

Web of Science is an online academic database. Web of Science is a part of ISI Web of Knowledge- which is ISI Thomson. Web of Science has been around since about 1958. This prestigious database is built into many other databases: ISI Web of Knowledge, Web of Science, Zoological Record, BIOSIS Previews, & Journal Citation Reports.. The many different databases cover about 8,700 leading journals of science, technology, social sciences, arts, and humanities. The main subjects covered are: Sciences, Social Sciences, & Arts / Humanities. The citation and abstract databases are accessed with links to full-text.  You might be wondering- how can I find this useful tool of information? Well, there are two ways to find Web of Science through the library. One is going to the Database & Articles tab and the other is searching the Journal tab then finding a link to it through an indexed journal article. The only downside of Web of Science is you do have to pay a subscription to the server. Another great thing is full text articles are available through links that are indexed to direct you to the proper database. Web of Science reaches out to everyone, but they specify in attracting a more scientific community. The use of Web of Science is specifically licensed to institutions such as universities and the research departments of large corporations. If you ever have trouble with this awesome database- the best librarian you could consult is Peter Fritzler. I suggest you get out there and dig into all the information waiting for you through Web of Science!

Myspace

We have all been victims of the world’s most popular networking program, Myspace, at one time in our life. MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos for teenagers and adults internationallyEarlier in the year, we discussed Myspace/Facebook. My roomate and I randomly started discussing the old ‘Myspace’ days sitting on the couch. I was overly enthralled with the discussion, so I figured I would learn more about this masterpiece of a program and share it in my blog. Headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California, where it shares an office building with its immediate owner, Fox Interactive Media. MySpace is currently the world’s fifth most popular website, and the third most popular website in the United States. The company employs over 300 people. One thing I thought was really cool is Myspace does not disclove revenues or profits. What blew my mind, was Myspace attracts 230,000 new registrations per day. Think how many people that is, per day! My favorite thing about Myspace, is the music. The music section allows up to 6 MP3′s per band. The music section was introduced at the end of 1998 in December. Myspace has evolved into a whole other networking world where almost anything is accessible. We have all at one time in our life, along with the other billions, been addicted to Myspace!

Blogs

So I am going to be honest here, when I first thought of creating a ‘blog’ – I had a vivid image of boredom and random nonsense on a computer screen. According to Webster’s, a blog is a portmanteau of web log. Come to find out, blogs have transformed the use of the internet in more ways than one. You can find a blog on just about any subject that comes to mind in this age and time. I have started to realize over the previous weeks in this course.The source we use, Web Log, is a more of an informational blog site which is very well set up. I am not the blog expert but I like the way the system is set up. We think of a blog as an assignment to discuss the technological advances of the library world we have learned throughout the semester. But what other blogs are out there? You can find a blog on anything from politics, motorcross, fraternity t-shirt designs, lizards, and pottery. Name anything- and you can very well find a blog on it. I have started to use blogs for more than just this assignment. I highly enjoy blogs about my fraternity, KAPPA ALPHA ORDER. There are many web logs that connect different chapters around the nation.

CMC-Watson School of Education

Some students have crowned it with the title of the “Nicest Building on Campus.” When other students have never stepped foot in the vicinity. All I know, for sure, is the building is phenomenal. Our library class met at the building on the thirteenth of February. After gazing at what I first thought was a musuem, we went into the depths of the center into the Curriculum Materials Center (CMC). The Curriculum Materials Center is the Watson’s School of Education library for UNCW students, as well as non UNCW students. The library was different than most, but impressive for sure. The CMC library has every single elementary book you can think of that you used growing up. It also has every single toy you can think of that you used growing up. Not only literature, but the library offered computers and certain programs that assist teachers and students with learning basic studies. They have every resource you need for any project, from laminating machines/copiers to mini staplers. A main focus of CMC is training students to become effective teachers for the future of America. This method is practiced through actual tutoring of the surrounding community. After we took the tour of the room, we got to witness students tutoring children using these resources. I plan on using these resources that the Watson School of Education have to offer.

Mid-Semester

It is February 27th, a cold Wednesday night. Only three more days until the infamous appearance of Spring Break is upon us. The upcoming week is refreshing as two golden doors sweeping past your face screaming “Freeeeeedom!” But another side of Spring Break is that you are half way through the semester. I really can not believe this much of the year has gone by. It seems like yesterday I was signing up for classes on Sea Port after eating a home-cooked meal with Christmas melodies filling the air. As I said before, I was pretty skeptical about taking this course, but I am exceedingly content with my decision. As I look back on the past six weeks- I see a major improvement in more than just knowledge of the library. I have learned the basics of research. I now know where the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress originated. Not only that, but how they work and why one is better for a specific area (i.e. Elementary/College). One thing I have learned in this course that every student can never know enough of is Citations. Not only how to cite certain sources but where to find useful resources in the Library. I have learned about several cool websites offered through Randall that give you step by step analysis. I can use this for the rest of my life- because like we learned in class- it is better to cite something than to not. Another key point we have learned in class is how to use Catalog and Databases. Not only how to use them, but their specific purpose. We have also learned how to fully benefit from these sources by Booleon Operators, which broaden your search results. Other than these main points, we have learned many other beneficial information. I am eager to see what else we learn the remainder of the semester.

Dewey Decimal

From the time you started elementary, you have been taught to “look up” a book a certain way. This way is the Dewey Decimal sytem- also called DDC. It is a propiretary system of library classification. It was developed my Melvil Dewey in 1876. The Dewey Decimal system is designed to organize everythign into ten main classes- which are then subdividided into ten divisions then divided again into ten sections. This makes it very easy to find things knowing that you have a set number of places the publication could be. DDC is coded by a numerical system increasing from left to right.  It is listed by a whole to the left of the decimal is in counting order, while the digits to the right of the decimal are compared one digit at a time, with a blank coming before zero. In my eyes, the Dewey Decimal system has been almost shaped to perfection. I particuarly like the increasing of numbers method because it can never change or fluctuate. The one thing I do not like is that we, as students, are taught this method in the Library our whole lives. But as soon as we get to college- they completely change it and expect for us to learn a whole new way. This way is the Library of Congress Classification system. It is a well planned system for the library, but it does not compare to DDC’s simplicity. I think, as a whole, America should choose a standardized, National classification system for all libraries in America.