On SaaS

We have been talking about SaaS in class.

Here are my 2 cents worth. Not that these are any revolutionary ideas, but just to register a thought...
The biggest problem with SaaS and cloud is TRUST. It is true that lowering expenses may be a big benefit for users. But for big corporations, these are high-stakes information we are talking about e.g. financial data and information of clients. There need to be lot of security and high confidence to have them reside in a third party server somewhere out of their surveillance. On the other hand, for SMEs, the cost-savings may not be significant for them to risk compromising the integrity of their data. These seem to suggest that SaaS and cloud might not take-off, since neither the big boys nor the small players see benefits that outweigh the downside. However, with big names (such as Google and Amazon) putting their stake in this, the level of trust will increase, and cloud and SaaS will eventually be the command of the day. When cloud and SaaS becomes widely accepted and practiced, opportunities for smaller vendors will ensue.

What would be the technology that will supersede optical disk?

There was a discussion in class some weeks ago on what would be the technology that will supersede optical disk. I am definitely not a tech-buff. In fact far from being one. But talking to one (my husband) and based on what I gathered from classes thus far, I guess the "next thing" will not be a tangible storage device, it will be cloud. Imagine for an instance, if information is so mobile and connectivity is such commonplace, there may no longer be a need for people to carry a physical storage device anymore. We can log in anytime, anywhere, to access our information from the cloud, right?

"Is Google making us stupid?" I think the Internet is driving me crazy

When I first moved into my current apartment, the estate manager asked me why don't I subscribe to cable TV. I told him that the Internet is enough to keep me busy. I was serious - I do not have time to watch television nowadays. The internet, is a time-sucker.

Ok, to be fair, with internet banking, its ability for us to book things online, register for classes and communicate etc, the Internet allows us to save time and the hassle of having to get out there physically to get things done. However, as much as it has helped, it is also a huge source of distraction (to me). Look at how our life is entrenched in the computer these days - we will be flittering between hyperlinks, checking our emails, chatting, MSN-ing, checking facebook, and now we have one more new addition to the list - the blackboard. Yes, luckily I refused to allow facebook and twitter to dominate my life. But as it is now, it's already bad enough. I long to savor what it is like to be able to do ONE thing at a time... in PEACE...

In any case, I do prefer reading over watching television (if we don't consider the content). In a way, television is a more passive mode of receiving information. We are just "fed" with the information. Reading is supposed to be a more engaging activity than watching television. It allows me to stop any time, think and process the information read. So I like it better. But the problem is, I can hardly read in peace especially when I read online, let alone engage in any deep thinking.

I read an article sometime ago, "Is Google making us stupid?" by Nicholas Carr. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/
It resonates well with me. The author argues that we are no longer "engaged or "making rich mental connections" when we read online as compared to when we read in the past. What Carr says is, when we read online, we "remain largely disengaged", unlike reading a tactile book. But with our lifestyle today, we hardly have the luxury to hold any book in peace anyway, so I guess it makes no difference anymore...

I experienced an epiphany...

I heard from Kate in class 2 days ago about the things she had to go through; I told Jeff over lunch yesterday how I could empathize with Kate. We were lamenting a little about responsibilities of being "grown-ups", how the problems are universal and transcend countries and cultures - everyone has to make a living, needs a roof over our head, has to fulfill obligations in the multiple roles an average adult takes on.

Today, I am moved by this epiphany that I am extremely lucky. Back home, I was bound by responsibilities at work, at home, as an employee, a daughter, a wife, a daughter-in-law, a sister, a friend and a colleague, but luckily not yet a mother! I have excellent and understanding family and friends who loves me, but obligations in these roles are inevitable. Am I taking life too seriously? Well, I am not sure. To make things worst, my mind is always greedy for too many things - always on a lookout for business ideas, ideals of solving problems at work, writing a book, creating stuff for self-satisfaction, ideals that I cannot always fulfill. I am glad to be where I am now, as a student, I need only to be accountable to myself and I think the school's schedule is making me slow down a little with other desirous thoughts. I just killed a chimerical idea of trying to supply micro fiber cloths to Giant Eagle when I saw how expensive those things can be in this part of the world. Guess what?! I was actually surfing the net for suppliers for micro fiber cloths and amazed at how convenient it is to be connected to global suppliers worldwide now with the internet! Then I thought I better stop dreaming and wasting time, and get back to work!

Anyway, I am reveling in my freedom now...I count my blessings.

On Omeka

I believe there is a way for me to feedback to Omeka.net.

I thought there should be a window pop-up or something similar to prompt users that the page is expiring and whether users wish to continue working on it; somewhat similar to what online banking websites usually do. What happened was this...I was working on the Dublin Core page and when I decided to save the changes, the page expired on me, and I lost all my inputs! The Dublin Core page requires lots of work to be done on it, it is likely that people will get carried away working on it. It does not help that the save button only appears right at the end of the page with no reminder to save the work intermittently. Worst, the page expires and just logs users out without warning and users had to start all over again. Not too intelligent a design.

On the same note, since the Dublin Core page is such a long page with so many fields, there should be something that functions like a content page link or a drop-down box that showcases all the fields on that page. These list should have the ability to bring users directly to any of the fields, instead of having users to scroll up and down looking for a particular field.

Jing Assignment

Watch the video below on how to Install & configure Firefox extension for Zotero
To watch it on a bigger screen, click on the link below:
2010-06-08_1100

I love Jing

Hey dear,

I learned this during my course... Check out Jing (http://www.jingproject.com/)
The end result is what you see above. Excellent for use to embed explanations/ short screen presentations into your website.

It is used together with screencast.com, where you can upload easily onto your website. Just sign up and try they are all FREE!

How can we make organisations/ companies value the importance of good information management practices, and thus invest in it?

I see a business opportunity. But I still do not have the formula to make it happen. It will only be successful if our society are "educated" and "convinced" that there is value in information management and preservation. Allow me to explain - as we examine the role of information in the society today and generate new knowledge, we should keep in view how such knowledge would serve society and not allow it to remain academic. We live in a pragmatic world where monetary motivation and commercial gains are likely impetus behind new frontiers in many industries. Investing in the preservation of information and having good information management system in place is often seen to just benefit long term noble good and have no financial benefits for businesses such as in the generation of revenue or in cost-cutting. Proprietors of commercial businesses will not invest in information management and preservation strategies that do not have a direct impact on their bottom line. I am thus especially interested in how information professionals can create a new climate where commercial industries would appreciate that sound information management and (digital) preservation practices are not only good for mankind (as in heritage industry, libraries and all) but can also be a charter for commercial interest.

I know this sounds like a chimerical ideal. Like what Dr Tomer said in class, even libraries are finding it hard to justify to invest in preservation of their collection (their information assets!), let alone commercial entities! But if you have any brilliant idea on how information people can start creating a climate where investing in good information management strategies is something all companies and organizations will die to strive for, leave me a note...

Refworks assignment - Scopus/ Google Scholar

Google Scholar and Scopus ought to improve? I am commenting here from an end-user point of view...
it was painful having to import the articles one by one from Google Scholar into Refworks. Google Scholar does not allow multiple selection! And Scopus, though was better than Google scholar in this aspect (it allows concurrent and multiple selection), did not indicate how many records have been selected for export to Refworks. And for some reason, I was logged out after perhaps idling for too long and Scopus did not log my history! I had to do the selection all over again.