675 week 1

For the first week in the IRLS 675 class, the assignment is to collect 25-30 digital objects that will be used to experiment with ways to organize digital collections. Seemingly simple task. And I am flummoxed. It is a case of not being able to see the trees for the forest. As someone with a computer and a connection to the Internet, I must have loads of digital objects but I am not finding a cohesive theme besides me finding the content useful/funny/beautiful/necessary/etc. I have pulled together the necessary number of items but I am not happy with it. And a surprising amount of items I find reasonable to share are ephemera or silliness. Am frustrated and think I need to go back to the drawing board for this one. Luckily all the installations went well so there is that positive for the week.

Week 11

To summarize were I was at the start of this class is easy - I have had no previous experience with the technologies I use beyond the most elemental level, I knew how to turn on the computer and that was about it. I relied on the software to make all the decisions and distinctions for me. Over the weeks I have had a massive expansions of my knowledge, in good ways like learning about Linux, command lines and PHP which fit into my librarian mind logically and well. It would seem like MySQL should as well but I have a major stumbling block with that section and am having a hard time ingesting the information. Still the difference from start date to know is immense and very satisfying. What I am interested in seeing is what information will remain useful after the class is done and I am not in my 'student' mode.