Given that today was a wrap up day, two last classes, I learned quite a lot!
Most interestingly, I learned about some of the more interesting search engines on the web.
Lesson 57: TinEye is a great way to either avoid using someone's image without proper credit or find out who is using your image without proper credit.
Though my prof didn't really think of that use, that is ultimately what it's good for. He thought that it was to find similar images, but really it's to find all incidents of that image. It's a really cool tool, but I think it's more of a straight up tool than a search engine.
Lesson 58: Liveplasma. Oh man, liveplasma.
So here's the deal, Liveplasma can search books, movies and most interestingly, music. And it shows you everything it can connect with that. It creates a kind of cloud of linked items. For Music, it apparently compares the notes in order to cluster and connect different bands. For movies, it seems to base it on genre, style, director and actors. For books, it seems to be primarily author based, genre being a secondary characteristic and possibly thematic links as another variable for constructing the clouds.
It's epic, exploratory and amazingly intriguing.
I could look things up all day on Liveplasma!
Some other interesting ones did things like organizing results with images or into shapes. Tag Galaxy makes solar systems of relations and see also references out of concept planets.
I swear I'm not stoned, that is a 100% legitimate description of what the website does.
Don't believe me?
Seriously. Check it out.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Day 57: Extensions R Us
My last project was meant to be due today, but the prof gave the entire class a two day extension last week, so it's actually due Thursday.
And I still have no idea why he gave the extension. Hrm...
Today was painful, yet productive.
First of all, who ever said that working in a library is safe? I accidentally stabbed myself in the hand with a letter opener and got two paper cuts, all within 15 minutes! And one of those paper cuts I didn't notice until after it happened despite the fact it's under my nail! Ouch.
That's not to mention me pulling muscles trying to retrieve "Medical Surgical Nursing" (a single textbook, which according to Amazon weights 4.8kg) from reserve for people, or getting my fingers/hand caught in scissors or between piles of books and desk. Because I'm awesome.
Second, figurative pain. And today's lesson.
Lesson 56: No matter how careful, conservative and gentle you are, everything needs to be replaced eventually. Like my favourite black purse. Poor purse...
But isn't it just my luck that everything needs replacing at the same time? I ran out of all my toiletries, all of my food staples, and clean clothes to wear within the same few days.
I know living isn't cheap, but having to buy/pay for all those things on the same day is just painful.
Though it did mean that I got some nice smelling new soaps, went to the bank, did my grocery shopping AND did my laundry all in one day.
Being all productive...
Like an adult!
However, it wasn't caffeine withdrawal that had me feeling hungover yesterday. The cough has been joined by a killer sore throat that appeared out of nowhere and within a matter of hours started affecting my ability to speak...
I'm sick.
Well, better sick for exams than sick for projects.
I guess.
And I still have no idea why he gave the extension. Hrm...
Today was painful, yet productive.
First of all, who ever said that working in a library is safe? I accidentally stabbed myself in the hand with a letter opener and got two paper cuts, all within 15 minutes! And one of those paper cuts I didn't notice until after it happened despite the fact it's under my nail! Ouch.
That's not to mention me pulling muscles trying to retrieve "Medical Surgical Nursing" (a single textbook, which according to Amazon weights 4.8kg) from reserve for people, or getting my fingers/hand caught in scissors or between piles of books and desk. Because I'm awesome.
Second, figurative pain. And today's lesson.
Lesson 56: No matter how careful, conservative and gentle you are, everything needs to be replaced eventually. Like my favourite black purse. Poor purse...
But isn't it just my luck that everything needs replacing at the same time? I ran out of all my toiletries, all of my food staples, and clean clothes to wear within the same few days.
I know living isn't cheap, but having to buy/pay for all those things on the same day is just painful.
Though it did mean that I got some nice smelling new soaps, went to the bank, did my grocery shopping AND did my laundry all in one day.
Being all productive...
Like an adult!
However, it wasn't caffeine withdrawal that had me feeling hungover yesterday. The cough has been joined by a killer sore throat that appeared out of nowhere and within a matter of hours started affecting my ability to speak...
I'm sick.
Well, better sick for exams than sick for projects.
I guess.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Day 56: OMG? Nope! OMP! One more project!
Handed in my group's Bibliographic and Factual Sources report today.
What an interesting experience.
Let me sum up:
Some information necessary to answer our question (we chose a question about ballet) was 100% not available. We asked the source directly; they haven't even released it yet. I hate red herrings.
Equal division of labour does not always wind up equal. We split the questions in a way that should have been exactly equal and made complete sense, and yet, I feel like my end wasn't nearly as intense.
No page count was listed, but apparently, we were potentially 4x longer than the limit.
So here's a lesson for any future MLIS students in Bibliographic and Factual Sources...
Lesson 55: Ask about the page limit.
Our paper was 15 pages long, plus 3 pages of references, just to answer all the questions put forth in the assignment. I honestly don't think there was much we could have cut out. Between the topic summary, methodology and search strategies, and all of the answers to our hypothetical client's answers, we could have maybe cut a page without sacrificing something that was directly asked for in the assignment.
However, apparently two of our classmates had asked what the page count should be. One was told, emphatically, by the prof "Please don't make it too long!". The other was told by the TA that it should be 5-7 pages.
That would have been good information to have.
Our M.O. was "as long as it needs to be to contain all necessary information".
But ya, awesome.
On the other hand, I only have one more project to do! Then it's exams! Then I go home! *happy dance*
What an interesting experience.
Let me sum up:
So here's a lesson for any future MLIS students in Bibliographic and Factual Sources...
Lesson 55: Ask about the page limit.
Our paper was 15 pages long, plus 3 pages of references, just to answer all the questions put forth in the assignment. I honestly don't think there was much we could have cut out. Between the topic summary, methodology and search strategies, and all of the answers to our hypothetical client's answers, we could have maybe cut a page without sacrificing something that was directly asked for in the assignment.
However, apparently two of our classmates had asked what the page count should be. One was told, emphatically, by the prof "Please don't make it too long!". The other was told by the TA that it should be 5-7 pages.
That would have been good information to have.
Our M.O. was "as long as it needs to be to contain all necessary information".
But ya, awesome.
On the other hand, I only have one more project to do! Then it's exams! Then I go home! *happy dance*
Friday, November 25, 2011
Day 55: Cinémathèque Québécoise
Honestly, I have a lot of feelings. And a lot of them can be summed up with nothing but long strings of vowels.
But I'll try to be brief.
And coherent.
Today the McGill Student Chapter of the ACA (Association of Canadian Archivists), which I am on the exec for as a member of the Commsquad, went on a field trip. And no, I wasn't the one who suggested the destination, as perfect for me as it was.
We went to the NFB's Cinémathèque Québécoise. And it was glorious.
Honestly, I knew I wanted to work for the NFB, because of my film background, and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to visit one of the places I could work if I do wind up there!
I learned a few things, more fun facts than lessons, but bear with me!
Lesson 53: The Cinémathèque developed its own thesaurus which it uses for indexing, and uses a modified version of the AACR2. Their organization system is (modified) Library of Congress.
Lesson 54: Not all libraries weed their collections.
For that second lesson, I had always hoped it existed, but I was worried it was just a silly, idealistic dream. But no! The Cinémathèque Québécoise aims to maintain a complete retrospective of film throughout time, so if they get rid of a document it's only ever because it has fallen into unusable disrepair, or is being replaced with a new copy. But preservation is a large part of what they're about.
Also, they're huge into making their collection digitally accessible.
A library after my own heart! *swoon*
But I'll try to be brief.
And coherent.
Today the McGill Student Chapter of the ACA (Association of Canadian Archivists), which I am on the exec for as a member of the Commsquad, went on a field trip. And no, I wasn't the one who suggested the destination, as perfect for me as it was.
We went to the NFB's Cinémathèque Québécoise. And it was glorious.
Honestly, I knew I wanted to work for the NFB, because of my film background, and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to visit one of the places I could work if I do wind up there!
I learned a few things, more fun facts than lessons, but bear with me!
Lesson 53: The Cinémathèque developed its own thesaurus which it uses for indexing, and uses a modified version of the AACR2. Their organization system is (modified) Library of Congress.
Lesson 54: Not all libraries weed their collections.
For that second lesson, I had always hoped it existed, but I was worried it was just a silly, idealistic dream. But no! The Cinémathèque Québécoise aims to maintain a complete retrospective of film throughout time, so if they get rid of a document it's only ever because it has fallen into unusable disrepair, or is being replaced with a new copy. But preservation is a large part of what they're about.
Also, they're huge into making their collection digitally accessible.
A library after my own heart! *swoon*
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Day 54: And so it begins again.
Let it be known: Today was the beginning of the end of the first half of my first year of library school.
My last cataloguing class.
Cue the over-dramatic sobs.
Seriously though, I liked cataloguing. And if I ever have a labelmaker and a bunch of free time, I'm totally going to Dewey-decimalize my entire non-fiction book collection. And if it's that much free time, I may just do the same to my fiction.
Because, yes: I am that much of a nerd.
Looking even further forward than the mere end of semester...
Work wanted to know my holiday plans to get December/January tentatively scheduled, so I had to actually check over my schedule for next semester.
Lesson 52: 3 weeks off for Christmas, and four-day weekends all semester.
I thought I only had 2 weeks off for Christmas, but I've actually got post-New Years recovery time!
I feel like I planned really well! Or... well, we'll see how I feel about that when next semester rolls around.
All my classes crammed into two days, with no breaks, makes me feel like every day of school next semester is going to be like my Wednesdays... Except even more condensed. Rather than class from 8:35-5:25 with leisurely lunch 'n library breaks, it'll be 8:35-2:25 with no breaks but the ones my profs give me.
Better start packing lunches more consistently!
Also, I guess the posting is going to become very sparse next month... The only days that will count as a day of library school will be my exam days. And I'll really just be a rain cloud those days.
Unless I can reign that in to provide an analysis of the difficulty of the exam in question and the apparent effectiveness of my studying... Hmmmm...
My last cataloguing class.
Cue the over-dramatic sobs.
Seriously though, I liked cataloguing. And if I ever have a labelmaker and a bunch of free time, I'm totally going to Dewey-decimalize my entire non-fiction book collection. And if it's that much free time, I may just do the same to my fiction.
Because, yes: I am that much of a nerd.
Looking even further forward than the mere end of semester...
Work wanted to know my holiday plans to get December/January tentatively scheduled, so I had to actually check over my schedule for next semester.
Lesson 52: 3 weeks off for Christmas, and four-day weekends all semester.
I thought I only had 2 weeks off for Christmas, but I've actually got post-New Years recovery time!
I feel like I planned really well! Or... well, we'll see how I feel about that when next semester rolls around.
All my classes crammed into two days, with no breaks, makes me feel like every day of school next semester is going to be like my Wednesdays... Except even more condensed. Rather than class from 8:35-5:25 with leisurely lunch 'n library breaks, it'll be 8:35-2:25 with no breaks but the ones my profs give me.
Better start packing lunches more consistently!
Also, I guess the posting is going to become very sparse next month... The only days that will count as a day of library school will be my exam days. And I'll really just be a rain cloud those days.
Unless I can reign that in to provide an analysis of the difficulty of the exam in question and the apparent effectiveness of my studying... Hmmmm...
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Day 53: Old man yells at cloud
Or more accurately, young woman yells at internet.
Same difference.
My internet has been generally uncooperative all day. In fact, it has been for a couple weeks, it's just gotten worse. I'm not sure if this is a sign that my computer is dying, or that the internet quality in my area is just that bad. Could just be both.
In any case, as a result, I probably won't be able to publish this until tomorrow. But them's the waters.
Today's lesson is actually entirely unrelated to my rage against the (interconnected) machine(s).
Lesson 51: Google keeps a fully accessible archive of all its past Google Doodles, including the interactive ones, so you can go revisit, and play with, the best of the best in perpetuity. Including the PacMan one, and one of my all-time faves.
And this is totally MLIS related! First of all, I found this while doing my Dialogoogle project for Information System Design while googling halfheartedly for Google. Which kind of makes me wonder if googling Google on Google is like dividing by zero... But also, archives! Even fun, seemingly frivolous things need archiving! Particularly when they're as gorgeous as a lot of Google Doodles have been.
In fact, Google Doodles are so pretty, the Google store will even sell you some of them on t-shirts.
You know, even despite this Dialogoogle project, which is designed to make us hate Google, I still love it.
Can't take away my Google love!
Another fun fact: Google actually works via Pigeon. But that doesn't mean displaying a picture of "parrots posing seductively in resplendent plumage" will have an effect on your site's ranking!
Same difference.
My internet has been generally uncooperative all day. In fact, it has been for a couple weeks, it's just gotten worse. I'm not sure if this is a sign that my computer is dying, or that the internet quality in my area is just that bad. Could just be both.
In any case, as a result, I probably won't be able to publish this until tomorrow. But them's the waters.
Today's lesson is actually entirely unrelated to my rage against the (interconnected) machine(s).
Lesson 51: Google keeps a fully accessible archive of all its past Google Doodles, including the interactive ones, so you can go revisit, and play with, the best of the best in perpetuity. Including the PacMan one, and one of my all-time faves.
And this is totally MLIS related! First of all, I found this while doing my Dialogoogle project for Information System Design while googling halfheartedly for Google. Which kind of makes me wonder if googling Google on Google is like dividing by zero... But also, archives! Even fun, seemingly frivolous things need archiving! Particularly when they're as gorgeous as a lot of Google Doodles have been.
In fact, Google Doodles are so pretty, the Google store will even sell you some of them on t-shirts.
You know, even despite this Dialogoogle project, which is designed to make us hate Google, I still love it.
Can't take away my Google love!
Another fun fact: Google actually works via Pigeon. But that doesn't mean displaying a picture of "parrots posing seductively in resplendent plumage" will have an effect on your site's ranking!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Day 52: Cream Soda and American Internet
I was going to write about how frustrated I am about how US-centric a ridiculous proportion of the internet is... but I feel like being frivolous today, so that's a lesson for another day.
Lesson 50: "Acquaintance softens prejudices." -Aesop's Fables
Since I've been living in Montreal, I've been disquieted by the fact that Crush cream soda is not pink here. Crush is pink back home, and I've never liked any clear cream sodas. Logically, I knew there probably wasn't any difference between the colours of Crush soda, but I still just didn't like it.
This weekend, Crush was on sale at Pharmaprix and we needed a bunch of it for our pre-Yule Ball Butterbeer tasting, which turned out absolutely delicious.
And now, I find I don't mind the clear Crush.
Now if anyone reading this will be in Montreal this Saturday, you should come to the Quidditch Team's Yule Ball! It's only 5$ and is going to be fantastic fun!
I have a bunch of tickets to sell, so if you want to come I can totally hook you up!
Lesson 50: "Acquaintance softens prejudices." -Aesop's Fables
Since I've been living in Montreal, I've been disquieted by the fact that Crush cream soda is not pink here. Crush is pink back home, and I've never liked any clear cream sodas. Logically, I knew there probably wasn't any difference between the colours of Crush soda, but I still just didn't like it.
This weekend, Crush was on sale at Pharmaprix and we needed a bunch of it for our pre-Yule Ball Butterbeer tasting, which turned out absolutely delicious.
And now, I find I don't mind the clear Crush.
Now if anyone reading this will be in Montreal this Saturday, you should come to the Quidditch Team's Yule Ball! It's only 5$ and is going to be fantastic fun!
I have a bunch of tickets to sell, so if you want to come I can totally hook you up!
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