Egypt and Technology

It is interesting to have read that Egypt shut down the internet to deny protesters the ability to keep in communication through the use of the internet. This is something that the United States have debated in having as well, a kill switch that the President has in order to shut down the internet. I wonder what it would take to do that in the United States. I find it terrible that a president can have such power and that it was used in Egypt, especially in a time that many people see as a tyrannical power position by the president. Without getting into the politics of the matter, I still find the power that the government can have over such communication to be a huge issue. It also calls into question what other powers major corporations and governments can have over such a system that is widely used and a major form of communication if not THE most widely used medium for communicating with others, for political and non-political reasons.

The Blogosphere and I

I find it not hard but weird to keep a blog at this point. I feel that blogs can fall into the world of unnecessary but can also be super necessary to a job. I feel weird updating a blog about my life or thoughts as opposed to how I would feel updating a blog for a job. Maybe it is because these blogs hardly get read or just because it is about myself. Whereas if this was a job where people read it, be it book reviews, library happenings, etc I would find it easier to update. I feel that I do not fit in the blog world in terms of writing about myself of experiences, it's not that I do not have any (though that is up for contention) but more that I prefer in person communication when referring to my life. This happens in all different realms, phone conversations, emails. In letters even I find it hard to write about my life. But this might be a good introductory to managing a blog and realizing how to keep one updated weekly.

Refworks and Me

Though not hard, I found the refworks assignment to be fairly tedious. I understand the purpose of Refworks and think it can be an efficient and good tool to use, yet at the same time I feel that I will continue to write out my citations by hand, or typed by myself. Maybe my problem was finding sources to allowed you to export it easily, and therefore the lack of unanimity by sources to use the same bibliographic tool (refworks, bibex, etc.). I still would find it easier to write these out at the moment, it also gives me a good understanding of the guidelines of annotation be it APA or Chicago. The assignment did teach me how to best use refworks which is a good thing and nice to know.

The Firefox Awaits

It's nice to be using Firefox again though it seems to go a little slower on the mac I have. I just switched to a Mac computer and though I would not call myself a "mac guy" it is a nice little laptop. Yet, when I switched a couple months back (and switched from a pc to a laptop) I stopped using firefox in lieu of safari. I will say I think Firefox is better for the most part, maybe it is just something about me to side with Firefox but I feel it is the best of the internet browsers. It was always better than using Internet Explorer and I still think it is mostly better than Safari. It is nice to be learning about different add-ons because I never explored this realm on my own.

Furthering My Thoughts Upon 2600

It will be exciting to learn more about computer programming for both my future jobs but also because I am finally able to talk to most of my undergraduate friends. In my undergrad I was the outsider because most of my friends were doing computer science or engineering and I was always taking english or social science classes. It will be good to finally know some of what they are talking about, though now they are going to be even more light years away. Reading the book and articles for class has been helpful and I can talk to the kids I know in their language a little

The Snow Hits before Linux

I am excited to know a bit more about Linux, though I might not learn the right amount to run Linux, it should be interesting to know more. Though I knew that companies like Mac and Microsoft deal in shady business, it is funny to hear out loud how they all stole ideas off of another. This class should hopefully provide some good history and content to display a sort of knowledge about information technology and systems which will be nice for me to have. Other than that alls my technology (this blog and email) are getting the jobs done for what they need to be.

The Beginning; OR The Exciting World of Information Technologies Pt. 1

This is the first post for Intro to Information Technologies. I assume I will have more to write about in the future as I learn more in this class. I feel that this will be an important class to know for my future as a librarian. This will be a good introduction to using different technologies to further that cause. This blog will serve, I suppose, as a journal and adventure into this world and also be an experience in using the internet to relay information we have. How great. Post over.