Week 4

The focus of the readings this week is digital images. The Lesk and ARMS texts delved into the complexities of presenting a digital form of a text. Some of the issues covered are format, programming languages, and the ability to search the text. The topic of converting a printed text into a digital document, in particular, received a large level of attention. The quality of a scanned text depends on certain variables, including resolution. A text in a PDF file, for instance, is not a digital text; it is an image of a text.

Presentation of digital materials is an important issue with Websites. A digital library, after all, is a Website. The programming language used determines the technical details of a site. Languages like HTML, SGML, and XML require different specifications. The codes controlling the appearance of digital material are usually separate from the content being displayed.

Muddy Point: Are DTDs considered stylesheets?

Week 2

The readings for this week cover the topics that were discussed in class this week. Definitions and descriptions of repositories, handles, and interoperability were provided and discussed in detail. The primary subject of the readings was the structure of digital libraries. Not being knowledgeable in this subject yet, I found it difficult to comprehend the details of the architecture being described. I am, therefore, not able to make any comments about the research in these publications. Overall, the readings clarified and reinforced my understanding of the concepts that were brought up in class.

The reading about the world wide web could not be found at the link provided, so I am just commenting on the other three readings.

I have one muddy point:

Does OPL just involve the standardization of protocols?