UNCW Library's Mobile Website

All hail king iPhone lol and it's superior abilities. I kid, I kid (sorta). I myself I really like the Library's mobile website. It's very easy to navigate around, but that may be because my mobile device makes it much easier but I don't know how other devices handle it. On my iPhone, all I have to do is touch what I want to use, and it even has it so I can browse the entire library catalog and also search ebscohost...that's huge. By far, my favorite feature is the computer availability feature--which is awesome! This way I can strategically plan my library trips around the time that I see has the most computers available. That is, if I needed to use a computer. I have no suggestions other than possibly creating an iPhone app that allows me to do all of this via my phone without logging onto the Internet and typing in the library's homepage all the time. It would save time for all iPhone and maybe even those scheming android users.

Reading Response 5

Respectfully, I have to disagree with what the author (Daniel Solove) is saying in this article.  Yes, to a certain extent, what he’s saying is true, but for the most part it involves fallacious reasoning.  I think Solove is hazardously affirming the consequent by saying that because people put all their information on social networking sites, we’ve lost our privacy.  This is not true, because for the most part, we, the people who are on these social networking sites, control (for the most part) what we make available to the public.  Most of these sites do have privacy options that we can tailor to our own liken.  Sure there are instances where there are candid videos, and pictures that make their way to the mainstream and “go viral” but that’s the beauty of it…the control drifts and it makes things fun.  Sure I’m speaking from my perspective, but you have to look at all of the positives that social networks present to society before you dwell on the negatives, and put it all into a bad box of things we shouldn’t do in life.  The author, Daniel Solove, should take into account how social networking has changed the lives of millions.  These sites have increased the quality of life for millions I’m sure.  They’re going to help our children’s lives…these sites have proven to increase the level to which children or the people that actively participate in them, their level of extroversion…they make shy people socialites, and that’s beautiful.  If a little privacy has to be lost to make our world more social…then so be it.

Solove, Daniel J. "Do Social Networks Bring the End of Privacy?" Scientific American (2008): Web. 16 Nov. 2010.

News Report 5

Alas, the moment we’ve all been waiting for (Apple users at least), well kind of waiting for it.  If you’re an Apple user, then this is breaking news because let’s face it, there was nothing to fix in the first place, really.  This week Apple announced an update to its already flawless operating system “Snow Leopard.”  The update, which is entitled Mac OS X 10.6.5 offers roughly about six or seven “bug fixes.”  The thing is, these are bugs that the average Mac user wouldn’t know anything about.  10.6.5 is the latest installment of Apple’s series of operating systems that started with “Cheetah” (10.0), and is currently on “Snow Leopard,” which many will argue is a perfect operating system, with no known viruses to it.  Apple, which is a genius corporation under the auspices of CEO Steve Jobs, who revitalized the company, has grown to be the second largest company in the world.  It is without a doubt that Apple is preparing for their new operating system launch which will be entitled “Lion,” which most likely stands for them being the king of the technology jungle (I agree completely).  So even though “Snow Leopard” is a flawless running OS, they continue to push the envelope with new developments that show’s competitors like Windows, and Apple lovers worldwide that Apple does still have “the juice” and they’re using it, because you know what they say; “if you don’t use it, you lose it.”  So be on the lookout for Apple to continuously make technology better, and continue to show the world that a better computer does exist, one that lasts longer than 2 years.

Munchbach, Andrew. "Apple Release Mac OS X 10.6.5." BGR. N.p., 10 Nov. 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2010. <http://www.bgr.com/2010/11/10/apple-releases-mac-os-x-10-6-5/>

News Report 4

Ask Jeeves, Lycos, Yahoo, Bing, and of course, the heavyweight Google, are all search engines that have had their run as the heavyweight in the web searching industry.  With Bing being the exception.  Internet search engines have become one of, if not, the most important feature for web users on the quest for information.  The Internet has become a massively huge world of information and anything else you can think about, and it is growing exponentially every day.  Search engines allow the user to harness the power of the Internet and make it easier to find things in such a dense world. 

For a long time, Google has been the front runner for Internet search engines, boasting the highest number of visits among active websites, and the access to more cites than any other search engine…and it’s easy to use, and who doesn’t love ease of use?  But as the web becomes larger and larger, reaching about a trillion web pages, search engines can become filled with junk.  The solution to such junk, “Blekko,” a brand new search engine that is set to be Google’s new competition in the world wide web.  Blekko advertises that with ‘the human touch’ search engines are easier and also yield LESS spam.  Everyone has performed a Google search before, and the results come back in the range of a few million results…how many of those million results do you actually need?  Are you really going to sort thru that many results? The answer is no, and probably about 10 results will do me just fine if I’m doing research, but for the average user, your only looking for one or two results, and then that’s it.  Blekko’s stance is that with the human touch, you can refine your searches and make it easier to find more relevant information.  Blekko is advertising that you can “slash the web” with the use of slash-tags “/\.”  The problem is, users have to learn how to do this…and you know how American’s feel about change, and learning new things…anyone for that matter is normally not up to it.

So will Blekko become the new Google?  Will it oust Google as the number one search engine?  Will it even compete?  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Bosker, Bianca. "Blekko Search Engine To Rely On The Human Touch ." The Huffington Post. 1 Nov. 2010. Web. 2 Nov. 2010. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/01/blekko-search-engine-to-r_n_776806.html>.

Reading Response 4

This article makes a lot of valid points about “infobesity” and the need for an “infodiet.”  With me being a student, I have a biased opinion on the subject.  “Google-izing” information is very, very convenient, although I wouldn’t advise google for extensive research methods, such as applied and application integration, but only a means for basic research for ones own personal gain.  I can agree with the author on that point, but, although I do agree with that, I cannot attest to NOT using google for an extensive search.  A lot of college students are in a big rush, and most are heavy procrastinators, so if I can, I will speak for most college students when I say, we just don’t have time to use massive databases such as EBSCOHost.  In these case’s, we turn to google for a ‘quick fix’.  I can see how using this quick inefficient way of research, I can see how this has lead to a drop in the overall quality of the research work as a result of poor research methods.  Once again, I agree with some parts of the article, it makes a lot of valid points, but with me being a college student I can understand why this has happened…I’m not promoting “infobesity” nor downing “infodieting”—I’m just being realistic, and the time we live in now, the need for quick and easy information is in high demand, and with technology evolving and becoming more and more faster, I don’t see “infodieting” being feasible at all.


Bell, S. (2004). The Infodiet: How Libraries Can Offer an AppetizingAlternative to Google. Chronicle of Higher Education, 50(24), B15. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Reading Response 3

So libraries are the next big thing huh?  I see what this first article (Linda Holmes) is trying to portray about the library being “cool” but I just don’t buy into it just yet.  Sure the library has plenty of positive attributes she points out such as the free stuff that the library gives out, and the free wifi, and the openness to the public.  She left a few things out; the library is an awesome to be social, and meet new people, if you are a socially extroverted person, the library could be a paradise.  But on the other hand, I find it very hard to believe that anyone would find it the least bit entertaining to watch a library feud over library funds.  There will be no arena for a match against public libraries, competing for government funds.  I’m all for the library and its uses but really?  How boring would that be?  There is a TV show on MTV called “Silent Library,” where the contestants have to compete in absurd activities such as a pie smashing contest and yet still keep quiet or else they would lose, and forfeit the prize.  That is entertainment, but it’s not plausible because in no instance would anyone be able to do the things that they do on this TV show.

The article by Sue Dremann is also on the same level, and I’m all for making libraries cooler to be more appealing to younger kids and the population as a whole, and I feel like the restructuring of libraries is long overdue.  In my opinion libraries should represent the current, and not “of the future” as Dremann states in the title of her article.  By that I mean, libraries should reflect on the society in which it stands as the center of, and currently what is going on at the time.  It shouldn’t be a place where anyone is intimidated by the technology, that will only be a repellant.  As for the wii’s and game systems, I’m all for it.  Usually when I think about the library I think about inordinate amounts of stress just piling up, to the point where I hate coming to the library because it can be so easily associated with depression and stress.  I think making the libraries more sociable would definitely help out with the attractiveness of libraries.  The last thing is that I completely disagree with Dremann with her painting librarians as the super cool, super fast almost superheroes…I mean their really cool, just not superheroes, not quite yet.  Maybe when libraries hover, then they’ll be extremely cool.

Holmes, Linda. "Why The Next Big Pop-Culture Wave After Cupcakes Might be Libraries." Blog. NPR. NPR. Linda Holmes, 10 July 2010. Web. 7 Oct. 2010. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/07/20/128651136/why-the-next-big-pop-culture-wave-after-cupcakes-might-be-libraries>

Dremann, Sue. "'The library of the Future begins to Emerge." Palo Alto Online News. 13 Mar. 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2010. <http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=11573>.

News Report 2

Apple’s iPad, perhaps the biggest tech gadget of recent history was launched earlier this year and once again Apple revolutionized technology with the release of their highly anticipated iPad.  The iPad, a tablet device would serve as the newest must have device from the highly touted Apple lineup.  Among the device’s features, the newest, the iBooks store was Apple’s answer to the Electronic Readers that were already on the market from Barnes and Noble and Sony.  The iPad tackled that market by not only being a book reader but it’s also a media library where you can also stream Netflix movies, and also watch YouTube videos, straight from the device…not to mention it had a built in iPod as well, and the ability to access the App Store with over 200,000 apps available to the everyday user, the iPad is the no-brainer buy.  The glossy screen, and the 10 hours battery life made the device more desirable than the competition, which after almost a whole year, they remain to be unchallenged. 

After Apple released the iPad, the competition scrambled to jump in this field of tablet devices, but to no avail (as of yet) nothing has worked.  All of the other devices have not made it through the final testing stages, and if so they don’t work nearly as good as the iPad, so why bother even releasing them.  Although Apple did leave the door open for the competition by not putting a camera on it, the competition has mainly failed to step up to the plate.  But Apple’s biggest competitor in the field of mobile devices, Google is desperately trying to compete.  Android operating systems will be on almost all of the new devices and they will include cameras, which the current iPad does not have.  BUT, right in time for the Holiday Season Apple is said to release the newer iPad devices which will be sure to have a front-facing camera that will allow users to run Face-Time a video conferencing app from Apple.  By doing this Apple puts itself two steps ahead of the competition, and it doesn’t look too good for the other companies right now.  The iPad sold 80 millions units the first weekend of sales…I foresee Apple continuing its dominance with the release of the first iPad, and then also the second-generation iPad to stay ahead of the curve.  You have to love Apple.

Bosker, Bianca. "New 'iPad 2' To Be Released in Time For Holiday Season?" The Huffington Post. N.p., 14 Sep. 2010. Web. 14 Sep. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/13/new-ipad-2-release-set-fo_n_714604.html>.