Week 6 Reading Notes

Week 6 Reading Notes Local Area Network Wikipedia Article I found it funny that people kept predicting the year of the LAN. It's odd that it got a name and an acronym before it was even officially invented/perfected. I didn't realize how much work went into its creation, I always kind of assumed local area networks arose spontaneously when more computers were used. Computer Network Wikipedia Article This article was very useful. I liked the fact that it defined many terms succinctly. It will be a good resource to go back to in order to brush up on my terminology and understanding. One thing I learned was the term internetwork. I never realized the internet is just one form of internetwork. I've always just thought of it as THE INTERNET, something that just exists. It's interesting to look more in depth at it, and to actually realize that people created it, it's not really a "living" entity. It's a relief to hear that the terminology for the hardware components of networks as they make logical sense. A bridge bridges gaps, a repeater repeats a signal, and a router routs information. I wish other sciences could use common English words instead of making up new terms for everything. For example, why can't biologists just call mitochondria "Producers" to signify that they produce ATP? You Tube: Common Types of Computer Networks Just another review of Computer Networks. It was comforting to hear that I'm not the only one who has trouble remembering/translating acronyms. Management of RFID in libraries What a great informative and interesting article. A few points though, I've tried the RFID's in credit/debit cards and so far they don't seem to work very well. This will need to be remedied. I also disagree that checking books out is mindnumbingly dull work. That was alwasy one of my favorite jobs since I got to be in direct contact with patrons. Therefore I agree with those who worry about getting rid of the human interaction with patrons. Still, I suppose if you provided the option of desk vs self checkout many people would still prefer the human contact just like at grocery stores with self-checkout options. I don't quite understand why privacy would be more of an issue than with bar code checkout. In all actuality it might encourage shy library users if they don't have to show anyone what they are checking out. Sometimes you just don't want to be questioned or explain your reading taste, you just want to run in and run back out to your busy life.