Reading Report #3

            I thought the article about librarians being “up and coming” was very interesting.  It was a different way of looking at librarians and the library that many people have not thought of before.  The first point of libraries being “scrappy” was not only funny, but a seemingly valid point.  It seems as though libraries have the best intentions, yet they have to constantly fight for funding.  Also, it is obvious being green is the newest trend throughout the US and world, so the library would make sense to be the number one place to easily obtain this environmental friendly point of view. 

            Likewise, I thought the second article discussing the future of libraries was also interesting.  I agree that libraries are going to need to change with the future and the easy access to all kinds of information online; however, I am not sure I think that they will change to the extent as portrayed in this article.  Although information is easily found online, I know many people do not like to read long articles or books on a computer screen, and would much rather check something out in the library.  While the article views a library as a fun and exciting place to be, which is great for children, many older students need to view a library as somewhere to concentrate and get stuff done.  With hot dog venders and concerts going on, writing a paper seems unlikely.  I personally go to the library when I need to focus and have no distractions, and this new way of a library seems like it would only distract me more.  I love the idea of making libraries more trendy so people want to come more (and hopefully get more funding), I just hope it is not taken out of hand and the original purpose of a library does not disappear. 

News Report 3

Flying Robot Swarm Takes Off
By Olivia Solon
September 27, 2010
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/robot-swarm/

Switzerland is developing flying robots to have communication networks for rescuers.  These robots are called SMAVNET, standing for Swarming Micro Air Vehicle Network.  SMAVNET’s can wirelessly communicate with one another.  The desired turn rate, speed, or altitude is sent to autopilot by the controllers running Linux.  During the swarming of the SMAVNET, the robots react to wireless communication between other robots or neighbors instead of GPS or positioned sensors.  Technicians came up with the idea to create SMAVNET by copying the ideal of army ants.  While army ants lay and maintain paths leading from their nests to food sources, the flying robots are programmed to lay and maintain communication pathways between a base node and users in the environment.  As of the date of this article, Switzerland had experimented with ten robots flying together, which is believed to be the most robots to swarm together.

I think this is a great idea.  Although I have many questions left unanswered by the article, and I have never heard of such a thing before, it seems like it can only help.  I do wonder what happens if weather is bad, or what the robots will do if an actual plane or helicopter is in the area; however, I am sure that I am not the only one to have thought of these questions.  Also, although robots are not really a huge part of life now, I will be interested to see what comes from these advances, and how robots may start to become a part of everyday life one day. 

News Report 2

'YouTube Instant' Creator Finds Instant Fame

By, Michelle Meyers
Sept. 13, 2010
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20016172-93.html?tag=topStories3


Last week a news article about Google Instant was discussed in my group. This week, as I searched online for an article, the most common article I received was about YouTube Instant. A student at Stanford, Feross Aboukhadijeh, tested Google Instant Wednesday as it made its debut and was so impressed he decided to use the same concept, only for YouTube. Only taking him three hours, Aboukhadijeh came up with a site that lets viewers search YouTube videos in real time. This allows people to type in what they are looking for, and the engine guesses what that video is and immediately plays it. Of course through his discovery, he received an offer from the CEO of YouTube for a full time job. Aboukhadijeh just finished up an internship with Facebook, and says he wants to finish college before accepting any job offers.


I think this is a good idea, but it needs a little work. If a user knows exactly what video they are looking for, it may be frustrating to have another video keep coming up. Also, it makes search words more important and valuable in finding a video. Likewise, what happens if the video that YouTube “thinks” you are looking for is not in fact that video, how do you search through the list of others available? While this site is already created, I feel like there needs to be ways around using YouTube real time if its needs do not fit the user. However, for someone randomly searching a video, I think this sounds like a very intelligent idea, and it does not seem like it will take long to have “real time” for everything available on the web.

Reading Report 2 "Is Wikipedia a Victim of Its Own Success?"

I think this was a valuable article. We are always warned in school that Wikipedia is not a reliable source, and that a lot of its information is false, however it is still useful. I think that it is interesting how fast Wikipedia grew at first, and how all of a sudden it practically stopped growing. Although it is unfortunate, it makes sense. How much information can we really add to it? Every time I search something online, Wikipedia always comes up with some kind of answer to my question. So far, I have not searched for something and not found an answer on Wikipedia.


Also, there are different kinds of people that probably get a rush from adding their knowledge to the website, and others, like me, who would never really think of doing it. Getting information and feedback from developing countries and people that do not have access to computers or the internet will always be a challenge for any website that is not likely to be overcome over night. While it may be nice to think of eventually everyone having the opportunities that we have in the USA, it is not realistic. Likewise, gathering information from diverse people is not an easy task, especially when there is no physical reward for writing online. Most people have better ways to spend their time then to share their knowledge with others. I believe that Wikipedia will probably be around for awhile, however, how often it is used will depend on the accuracy of its information, and of course whether or not someone comes up with something better.