Blog Post #6: Course Final Project-Website Creation

Here is my Final Project for this course. Click on the following link to access my LIS 753 website: Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems.

Blog Post #5: Commenting on "Blogs and The Need For Freedom"

In reading Heidi S's post, Why don't we just hand over our freedom to think independently while we are at it!, I've decided to add my two cents...

I'd like to start by commenting on Heidi's point, that "the passing of DOPA in the House of Representatives...[has lead to the notion that] instead of educating and teaching proper use of social networking sites, the government's answer is to shut it down completely."

Is restriction to information-access becoming a world wide phenomenon? I believe so.

I say so, for instance, because I can think of two countries whose governments are strongly attempting to take away certain interenet-related socializingly democratic freedoms from their citizens: that of the U.S. and India.

In India, the governement has decided to ban certain blogs/websites, through certain ISP providers, from user-accessiblity. The following post mentions how the "blogspot" domain is banned because of a directive given by the Indian government: Blogspot Banned…What’s Next?

And, in the U.S., the government passes a directive, with DOPA, that is not far-reaching from the above-scenario that occurred in India. For, by passing DOPA, "... the U.S government may very well succeed at imposing limitations on...[U.S. citizens'] access to information and online sharing communities."

So, what's going to happen next?

I can't be the only one that is begin to wonder the following questions:

Is a democracy really a "democracy"?
Is there really such a thing as "freedom"?
And, if "democracy" and "freedom" can truly be reached, just where may they exist?

Blog Post #4: An MLIS and a Computer Science degree needed?

While taking into consideration some of the job postings that are out there for librarians to apply to/for, I begin to wonder if today's Web 2.0 requires that in order for librarians to be Library 2.0 savvy they must possess a two-degree minimum.

It seems that it would be beneficial for today's 2.0 librarians to have both an MLIS and at least a Bachelor's degree in computer science, if not an MS in computer science or computer engineering. For example, the following job postings stress this Librarian/Web 2.0 point quite well:

Virtual Branch & Services Manager


Wayne State university Blog/Wiki/RSS/Podcast Librarian


Western NY - Special Library Technologies

Is this not true all over the librarianship field? The 2.0 generation(s) of the Web and Information Science are sweeping the field: from the Reference arena to that of Technical Services.

Blog Post #3: Copyright and the First Amendment

Access to information in today's society has become more of a commodity than in previous years, decades, and so on. The digitial world has made access to information more of a commodity than a U.S. constitutional right. "Librarians [are] targeted in [the] latest copyright battles". One the one side, librarians, the defenders of informational first amendment rights, on the other side, the publishers, those who own the copyrights to said information. The power struggle ensues when the two sides go head-to-head regarding the accessible rights to copyrighted information. "Fair use" to copyrighted information is what the two sides hold over each other's heads.


There are currently four factors [that are] considered in order to determine whether specific [information] is to be considered "fair use." These factors are: "1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes, 2. the nature of the copyrighted work, 3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and 4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work." (Fair Use in Copyright (BitLaw))


The above factors attributed to the "fair use" of information, in my opinion, heavily defend the librarians' side of the battle, for aren't librarians' desires to gather and have information applied to "nonprofit educational purposes"? I ask the following questions: 1. Why is there a limitation on the access of information in the United States? 2. Is the United States society not tailored around freedoms such as stated in the U.S. consitional amendments, and why does access to information not apply in this case? 3. Is not the limitation of access to information "unconstitutional"?


The first amendment of the U.S. constitution clearly states that, "The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable...To subject the press [or for that matter, the public] to the restrictive power of a licenser, as was formerly done, both before and since the Revolution, is to subject all freedom of sentiment to the prejudices of one man, and make him the arbitrary and infallible judge of all controverted points in learning, religion and government".
(Findlaw: U.S. Constitution: First Amendment: Annotations pg. 6 of 21)


So, why do publishers feel that they can change U.S. constitutional law? Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the U.S. pride itself on "freedom"? If monetary value is placed on freedom, is freedom no longer "free", but non-existent? I believe that the U.S. has to weigh how it truly gauges things...Is placing monetary value on supposed freedom more important than freedom itself? And, it copyrighting materials a freedom? A freedom for who?

Blog Post #2: Internet History...

History of the Internet:

There are differing opinions about how the Internet came into being. Here I am going to address it from one of those points-of-view...
ARPAnet gave birth to the Internet around 1969. It was never ARPAnet's intention to do so though. ARPAnet was attempting to allow research institutions the ability to time-share, not "to link people or be a communications and information facility." In 1974, the word "Internet" came into existence as a shortcut/nickname for the term "internetworking". In 1978, TCP/IPv4 was released. But, it wasn't until 1983 that TCP/IP was officially added to ARPAnet.

The Internet is "a worldwide system of interconnected networks and computers [using] the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) [that] is for information, communication, buying and selling, film, exchanging photos and music, sending messages, talking and messaging, etc." The major backbones of the Internet were formed, in the following years, respectively: NSFNET (1986), NSINET (1980s), ESNET (1980s), NORDUNET (1980s), TCP/IP protocol suites (1980s), and OSI protocol (1990s). And, "by the end of 1991, the Internet [grew] to include some 5,000 networks in over three dozen countries, serving over 700,000 host computers used by over 4,000,000 people."

Most of the Internet system tooday is comprised of private, eduational and research, business, and govermental organizations world-wide. And, the future estimated total of Internet users will rise, according to sources, from 600 million to close to 6 billion, as Internet usage becomes an economic necessity.

Blog Post #1: Welcome to My New Blog

My name is Christopher F. I am an MLIS graduate student at Domincan University, in Illinois, and am planning to graduate in December 2006. This is my blog for LIS753.