Reading Report 3

In this reading, they talk about the origins of the library and how they are changing. In the beginning, libraries were centers of knowledge, holding all the important writings of the time. Libraries were used by those who wanted to obtain knowledge but could not afford to buy the books themselves. But now, libraries are no longer being used as often for those who need specific information due to the increase of information availible to people on the internet. Mainly, the people that use libraries today are only those who read for enjoyment. The article then list ten trends that are leading to the new age of libraries, the first of which is the change in communication. People have far more ways of communicating information throughout time such as the telephones invention to todays wide use of internet and podcasts. Next is the innovation of technology and how each thing we use today becomes obsolete in the future. Third is the ability to store lots of info into small places. Fourth is the search for information becoming more and more complicated since there is soo much info out there. The fifth trend talks about how we do everything on the go and the sixth talks about how soon reading will no longer be usefull and we will be a verbal society. The seventh talks of how we are becoming a global society because of the amount of buisness done overseas. The 8th and 9th trends talk about how we are closing in on a new era of globalization such as a global tax system, and many other systems having the same standard worldwide. It also states how we will no longer base things on the product but instead on the experience we had from the product. The last trend talks about the new era of libraries changing from information centers to centers more based on your local culture.
Overall I think this was a very interesting reading. We our becoming an era that does not really use the library as much for gathering info and we have seen changes in libraries incorporating many more computers and other technologies. Although I believe many of the points made in the trends were good, many seemed a little far fetched, such as our society becoming a verbal society. The need for writing in my mind will be forever. I believe we are also very far from using a global standard in buisness although the idea is good and more than likely will eventually happen somewhere down the line. Overall, the writer of thearticle in my opinion is right that the library will change to match our ever changing society, and try and match our need for new technology and hopefully it will do so and always be a place to increase knowledge.

News Report #2

Medpedia: A Collaborative Encyclopedia for Health Care
The New York Times
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/medpedia-a-collaborative-encyclopedia-for-health-care/?em

Medpedia is a new website much like Wikipedia except purely for the medical purpose. Unlike the other online encyclopedias, there will be some limitations to Medpedia. The only people allowed to write and edit on the site will be certified professionals who will also have their own page with information about themselves and their credibility. Although there are other sites on the web such as Webmd.com, the creator of the site, James Currier, hopes to create the most extensive site on the web of medical information which would include an area for other patients to share their treatment stories as well as talk directly with the physicians who edited the site. The site has already had a great deal of support from the medical community with large medical schools such as Harvard and Berkeley contributing as much as 7,000 pages. Eventually, the creator of the site hopes that he can create an extensive variety of information about anything in the medical field along with how to prepare for surgeries, questions that should be asked to their doctors, the average overall cost, along with multimedia. Along with all that, eventually, Currier hopes to be a place where doctors can publish journals along with any other piece of information the physician has to offer.
In my opinion, this is a great idea. It is very important to have as much information as possible about the medical field available to everyone. Being accessible to all physicians, it will enable them to put a wider variety of diseases or disorders that are somewhat less common and very hard to find information about. It is also good to know that the only people publishing this will be professionals. Hopefully the site will take off and we will have all the information we could every imagine from the medical field.

"State of our economy: Use of libraries booms"
Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
2/5/2009
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09036/946973-55.stm

With our economy the way it is right now, people are starting to use more and more of our free recourses. One of the most popular being our libraries. According to library directors, there has been a huge upward trend of people using the library. They are coming in to use free services such as the internet. With the economy bad and people without jobs, many are no longer willing to pay twenty or so dollars a month to use the internet at their home, instead they are heading to libraries where staff has said their computers are being used up all day along with the rentable laptops. Many are also bringing their own laptops to use the free Wi-Fi that libraries provide. Along with that, many are going to get help with online resumes, searching for jobs, and unemployment benefits. Utilizing both the free internet along with the free service the librarians give with help on the topics. Sales of books have also gone down due to the lack of disposable income, and have led to a large increase in the amount of books being checked-out. This not only applies to books but also with DVD’s that many libraries allow people to check-out. Not only are there less titles sitting on the shelf but a long waiting list for the more popular titles exists according to one librarian.
In my opinion, this is a very good thing that people are using these free services provided to them. The library is a great place to go since there is so much information along with many people there to aid you if you are confused on something. It is also a great way to save a lot of money. Instead of renting from an expensive video store, they have many of the same titles at the library available for free. Same goes with books, instead of buying it then putting it aside forever when you’re done, you can just borrow it and send it back to the library for others to read. I think this trend should continue even if the economy picks up again because libraries are great source of free information that usually go underutilized.

Reading Report 2

Wikipedia has undoubtedly become a very popular source of information for many people, especially students. I myself am a common user of the site. I agree with some of the professors that are understandably concerned about the great amount of trust that people put into the site. Of all the times I have used Wikipedia to do research, I have never once gone to do background checks of the provider of the information or the information itself. I just take the information as correct. It was comforting to see that when the professor had put up false information on some the topics, within hours it had been fixed. With the high amount of traffic going through some of the heavier researched topics of Wikipedia, I believe that the facts on those should for the most part be trusted since people are often editing them and making corrections, although one must beware of the chance that the information may be put up their falsely and even if it does get changed back within hours, you may be in the in-between area where it is wrong. Wikipedia in my opinion should remain open to all users, but should have a little harder of a sign up or some sort of way of making it so there are less random users and more scholars putting up information. It is too easy to put down false information of a smaller topic that less people have information about or will go about checking I order to make sure the information is fact or not. Such as the case with John Seigenthaler Sr. As well as the case where a scholar changed false information believed to be correct only to have it changed back by another user. Overall though, I am going to continue to use Wikipedia, although with more caution, to get basic information on a subject. I will also use other sources though since there is still the chance that the information is incorrect.