Week 14

The readings for this week cover a lot of topics. Many of them I have learned about in other classes, so the material was more accessible than the technical readings earlier in the term. The Lesk reading I found particularly interesting because it was discussing issues concerning digital materials that were just becoming important at the time it was written. More than a decade later, those issues have become everyday realities for information institutions like libraries. Licensing agreements, subscriptions for digital publications, and copyright restrictions are now issues confronted on a daily basis.

The Arms article discusses how the issues mentioned above have necessitated the creation of systems that can distinguish between users. License agreements, for example, force me to sign into the ULS network every time I want to use it. As the article points out, systems designed to only allow people with a specific right of access can be cumbersome and frustrating. When I have to sign into the ULS system for remote access after being kicked off for the umpteenth time, I start to get irritated.

Interfaces and Human Interaction (Week 11)

The articles for this week focus on the issue of creating interface systems for digital libraries. One of the topics covered in them is the disconnect between the designers and users of these systems. The designers frequently have established ideas of how an interface system should function. These ideas,though, may not be suitable to how the intended users of a system actually use information resources. Learning about how these users interact with a system is therefore an important consideration in a system's design.

Another issue raised in the articles is the idea that a user is not a monolithic entity. The information requirements of users differ as well as the skills they bring to an information search. For example, one user may be able to easily locate relevant information in a long list of information sources while a different user feels overwhelmed by the number of resources to choose from. This difference in the ability of users to process information renders creating systems that all users can understand a challenge.

Preserving Digital Resources

As much as digital technology provides many benefits to the information profession regarding access, the drawbacks of digital systems can render them problematic for long-term preservation. The articles for this week explore the complexities of a topic that may not be initially considered when a digital collection is created. One the most important aspects of modern technology is at the heart of preservation difficulties. This happens to be the planned obsolescence of hardware and software over a relatively short period of time. How is a system going to be able to change with the software and formats that become standard five years after its creation?
Digital resources on disks that can no longer be read by current hardware and software are useless to the organization that created those resources. As more and more digital resources are created, the preservation issue will take on greater importance in the planning of digital collections. The Open Archival Information Systems model is an attempt to confront the issue.

The number of ways data can be lost in digital systems is frightening. There is the predictable possibility of storage devices ceasing to function. Information could also be added to the system incorrectly, resulting in the absence of that data. One of the more insidious sources of data loss mentioned in Littman's article is a software that deletes files because of an error in its code. These digital resources are extremely vulnerable, perhaps more vulnerable than the analog material they are replacing.