Week 7 Reading Notes

How Internet Infrastructure Works This was a very nice summary of what the internet is and how it works. It makes it all seem so simple, yet it really is complex. It's pretty amazing that we can get so many people and companies with different interests to compromise and work together to build the internet. Wow! The moving illustrations on this site were nice too. Dismantling Integrated Library Systems What a chore it must be to try to coordinate multiple programs from many sources! This article made it sound as though past librarians were duped by vendors into buying programs too quickly without considering how specific pieces would fit together. Then there's the question of how much to build yourself and how much to buy? I'm not even sure how to answer that myself. I agree with this article's point, but it doesn't seem to offer much in the way of a step by step evaluation/integration process. That would be more helpful I think. Inside the Google Machine This was fun to watch. It makes me want to work for Google though. I wonder if they need any help with their book project? Some highlights: the world spinning around with all those lights shooting up. It was very pretty and also shows how much people all over the world really do have in common. Also I liked the concept of having 20% of your work time to do things you think are important. Even if you had a mind numbing job you'd still get to feel like you were making a difference in your own personal way.