CRITIQUE ON THE USE OF WEB-BASED INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

A Web search engine is a search engine designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. Information may consist of web pages, images and other types of files. Some search engines also mine data available in newsbooks, databases, or open directories. Unlike Web directories, which are maintained by human editors, search engines operate algorithmically or are a mixture of algorithmic and human input. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Using the World Wide Web or the Web for information retrieval has become the norm rather than the exception. With the availability of the internet and service providers, more and more people are relying on the Web for their information needs.

Though we know that information retrieval thru the Web is faster since they are readily available than the traditional way of retrieving information (thru library researches) the user still has the final decision on what source of information to use.

The choice of search engine to use is a decision that the user has to make since he will use whatever information that a particular search engine will show. A basic knowledge of the information need would help the user in choosing the best source of information.

CRITIQUE ON THE USE OF ONLINE AND DIGITAL MEDIA

An online database is a database accessible via a network, now generally the internet. It differs from a local database, held in an individual computer or its attached storage, such as a CD.

A CD-ROM (Compact Disc, read-only-memory) is an adaptation of the CD that is designed to store computer data in the form of text and graphics, as well as hi-fi stereo sound.

Use of the online database are now more popular than ever, with the widespread use of the internet, people are relying more and more to online databases for information that is accessible and updated.

Though the use of the online database is dependent on the need of the user, it is very important that a user determine the best database to use to be able to get the information that will be most useful to the user. Reliability of the online database must also be established so that information retrieval will be more definite.

CD ROMs are also good sources of information but due to the limited storage capacity of the disc, a user might have to use or view several CDs to be able to retrieve the best source of information. Also due to the high cost of CD ROMs, not everybody can afford to maintain an updated database on CD ROMs.

Personally, I would prefer using online databases, since they are readily available thru the internet, though some of them may not be free. Finding the right database that will fit one’s need is the most important aspect in information retrieval.

CRITIQUE ON THE JULY 16, 2008 FORUM

The Ortigas Center Library Consortium (OCLC) Inc. sponsored a forum on “Strategies in Effective Searching of Information” last July 16, 2008 conducted by Dr. Angelina P. Resurreccion of the Rizal Technological University.

It was a rainy Wednesday and I have to hurriedly leave the office at 12:30pm to be on time for the 1pm forum at JRU. It is my first forum in relation to the new course that I am taking, Library and Information Science. I was very excited, my expectations were high since this forum was recommended / required by Ma’am Sharon for her LIS 260 class to attend.

When I entered the venue I was grateful that the class of Ms. Sharon was seated near each other.

The forum started at 1:45pm with the usual opening remarks and the long introduction of the lecturer. Finally, Dr. Resurreccion started the forum. I was taking down notes since we were told to prepare a report on the forum and when the speaker noticed how hurriedly some of the audience was trying to write down all the points that she was making. She then said that her power point presentation is available in CD for P50.00. She went thru her power point presentation with out elaborating on some of the concepts that she was presenting.

I was seated beside Ron, and I asked her about some of the topics (like pathfinder and web harvesting) that were presented. Ron was able to give me a clearer idea of what was presented using layman’s term.

Dr. Resurreccion also mentioned that they started in their school the Information Literacy Program, but when one of the audience asked how can they access the effectiveness of the program, she was not able to give a concrete reply.

Overall, it was a rather disappointing forum. Maybe Ms. Sharon also felt this way because she changed her instruction to us to make a critique on the forum. Or maybe I was just expecting too much after being introduced to Web 2.0. Or maybe the topics discussed is not anymore new to me since I have encountered most of them in my reading assignments or it has been discussed though briefly in our class.

WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES AND HOW IT CAN BE USED IN LIBRARIES

WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES AND HOW IT CAN BE USED IN LIBRARIES

TITLE OF THE ARTICLE: Blogs for Libraries
AUTHOR: Greg Schwartz
PUBLISHER: WebJunction
URL: http://www.webjunction.org/do

TITLE OF THE ARTICLE: Libraries and RSS
AUTHOR: Richard W. Boss
PUBLISHER:
URL: http://www.pla.org/ala/pla/plapubs/technotes

TITLE OF THE ARTICLE: Wikis and Libraries
AUTHOR: Walt Crawford
PUBLISHER:
URL: http://pln.palinet.org/wiki/index.php


Abstract of the articles:

Web 2.0 offers many technologies such as RSS (Really Simple Syndication), Wikis, New and revised programming methods like AJAX and APIs, blogs and blogging, Web Services, Social networking software, social bookmarking and many more.

For this reading assignment, I decided to choose RSS, Wikis and Blogs since these 3 technologies from Web 2.0 would be the most useful for me in my work, studies and personal life.

Really Simple Syndication or RSS as defined in the article that I read is an XML-based tool for constantly scanning the content of a Web site for updates and then broadcasting those updates to all subscribers through a feed. A “feed” is a broadcast to those who have subscribed to the service. RSS was developed by Netscape for MyNetscape. For libraries, the advantage of RSS is that patrons do not have to log onto the Web site to look for information since the information is fed as soon as it is available.

Blog is a shortened form of the word “Weblog” and refers to a specific variety of website where the content is provided in an ongoing series of date entries. Weblogs are designed to facilitate easy usage and frequent updating by the author. Blog is also defined as a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer. For librarians, weblogs are an excellent way to stay current, posting regularly to a blog encourages one to actively engage the process of information seeking and current awareness.

Wikipedia defined a wiki as a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. It was also defined as a Web site that allows visitors to make changes, contributions, or corrections

Implications of the new things I learned to my work / to me as a person:

Blogs, Wikis and RSS and other Web 2.0 technologies are something that I do not use or come across in my line of work. Since starting the LIS 260 course, these terms became words that have meaning and use for me.

Blogging is now part of a weekly activity that I do since our reading assignments are sent thru our blogs. Blogs will be most helpful for me in my studies, by reading thru the blogs of my classmates I would have access to other sources of information that they have used and I would know their views on the subject matter.

Wikis and RSS are two technologies that I still have to learn and be familiar with but from what I have read in the different articles that I have seen, these two technologies would be most helpful in information searching, retrieval and updating.

Wikis have already proliferated and it has many users but we have to be discriminate in using the information that we get from the wikis since many have contributed in the inputting of the information on a certain subject, it will all depend on the users of wiki how they will perceive the information they get as reliable or not.

RSS will be very useful in getting immediate updates from other websites especially those sites that you have an interest in. I still have to learn how to use this technology but I know that by the end of this course, I will be able to use RSS.

What is Web 2.0?

Title of the Article: What is WEB 2.0 anyway?
Author Alexandra Krasne
Publisher:
URL: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter

Abstract of the article:

Web 2.0 is described as a moniker for an emerging set of internet – based tools and an emerging philosophy on how to use them.

The technologies encompassed by Web 2.0 include blogs, tags, RSS, social bookmarking and AJAX.

Blogging – online journals created by individuals or organizations and covers any topic under the sun. Permanent links or permalinks allow other bloggers to link directly to a specific post and it encourages inter-blog dialog.

RSS – is the acronym for Really Simple Syndication, the idea of RSS is to get the latest updates from the Web without having to open a web browser. All that is needed is to download an aggregator to an individual’s desktop and one will be able to get receiving feeds from a person’s favorite sites.

AJAX – is the acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. An AJAX-driven applications makes the result of a search immediate. There is no waiting time.

Three things I learned from my Reading Assignment:

1. Web 2.0 is the new technology that is developing in the internet and it encourages active participation of contributors.
2. Web 2.0 includes blogs, tags, RSS, social bookmarking and AJAX.
3. Web 2.0 will pave the way for more exchange of ideas and information.

Implications of the new things I learned to my work / to me as a person:

LIS 260 has opened its doors for me in terms of being updated in the world of internet. When Ms. Esposo mentioned Web 2.0 in our class, I do not have any idea what it is. I have heard or read about blogging, but I have never experienced doing a blog. Since we were encouraged by Ms. Esposo to use the blog as a means of submitting our Reading Assignment and using the internet as a source of information, I am now spending more time in the internet, searching for reading materials, comparing articles and choosing the best article to read and give feedback on.

Web 2.0 for me is a little intimidating since I am being introduced to new technologies and new terms that is not normally being used in my work. But this is a good preparation for me to become a librarian of the future.

Information Retrieval System

Title of the Article: Modern Information Retrieval Chapter 1: Introduction
Author: Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Berthier Ribeiro-Neto
Publisher: Addison-Wesley-Longman Publishing co.
URL: http://sunsite.dcc.uchile.cl

Abstract of the Article:

Information retrieval basically deals with the representation, storage, organization and access to information items. The key goal of an IR system is to retrieve information which might be useful or relevant to the user.

The introduction and development of the World Wide Web to the general public has dramatically changed the interest in information retrieval.

The article discussed mainly the Chapter 1 of the book Modern Information Retrieval and referred to chapters that will further expound on the topics that were briefly discussed in the introduction.

Three things I learned from my Reading Assignment:

1. Information Retrieval Systems are tools that can be used to retrieve information which might be useful or relevant to the users.
2. Information retrieval used to be of interest mainly to librarians and information experts but with the introduction of the World Wide Web, the perception of people on information retrieval has dramatically changed.
3. Security, Privacy, Copyright and patent rights are some of the concerns / issues which has not been properly addressed in the use of the WEB.

Implications of the new things I learned to my work / to me as a person:

Information retrieval used to be limited thru doing researches in the library or interviewing resource persons. But with the development of computers and the emergence of the World Wide Web, it has become easier, faster and cheaper to gather information. We now have more resources of information since the Web made it possible for the public to post useful information But we have to be discriminate in deciding which of these information resources are the best source because only the user would know what information is relevant or important to him.

Inside a Computer How it Works

Title of the Article: How PCs Work
Author: Jeff Tyson
URL: http://computer.howstuffworks.com

Abstract of the article:

The Personal Computer is considered a general purpose information process device.

The article discusses the main components of a desktop computer like the CPU, Memory, Motherboard etc and how each part is important for the efficient function of the computer. Also the PC connections is discussed as the way for the computer to connect to the world around it thru the Input/Output (I/O) devices such as the monitor, mouse, keyboard and others, thru the ports such as parallel, serial, USB or Firewire or thru the internet / network connections using the modem, LAN card, Cable model, DSL modem or the VDSL modem. It also discusses how the computer powers up beginning from time the PC is turned on and does POST - power-on self test until it is turned off.

Three things I learned from my Reading Assignment:

1. The computer is considered as a very powerful device and it has become a very important integral part of our life especially for our work and home use.
2. The development of the computer will continue to evolve as the needs of man becomes more diverse.
3. It is very important to understand how a computer works so that a person can maximize its use.

Implications of the new things I learned to my work / to me as a person:

Before I took the MLIS, the computer for me is just a tool that I use in the office to do my work, prepare my reports, and send my interoffice e-mail. I sometimes use the internet at home for browsing thru topics that I was interested in. But since starting the course in LIS260, I came to realize that the computer is an important gadget not just for report preparation but also for browsing and relative information that will be of use for our discussion. I have also come to realize the