So, to be honest, I actually read most of these articles. Not just skimmed as with previous units, but READ. The subject of project management is something I am weak in. I have always had grand ideas, but never really bothered learning how to make those ideas happen. Certain things I could just wing it and figure out as I went, but for major projects, that just does not fly. The Cervone articles were the most helpful as the broke down the concepts of project management into clear and easy to follow components- identify and correctly define issues, understand the context of decisions, identifies options, evaluate the risk of each option, prioritize options, choose one based on risk assessment and option assessment, take action and inform stakeholders, then review the choices made. I actually took notes. Crazy.
Several of the articles functioned in this manner, although many of them focused too much on the technology plan to be of use throughout my other job functions. The main idea was the importance of project management, and how some companies make errors when they do not utilize experts in project management. I couldn't say I found any bad advice, I just found articles that were not easy to read as I could not relate to them. They were too tech jargony for me to be interested in. I felt myself skimming those articles and switching back to Cervone for clarification.
I saved several of the articles for later perusal. Really enjoyed this unit.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Unit 11
Unit 10 really killed me. After posting an update today, I noticed I had already posted some answer to Unit 10. That resulted from taking too long to process information and trying to break it up over the course of time. Unit 10 took me about six hours to complete all assignments. In comparison, Unit 11 took me one hour. Only one? Using the coding and the function of copy and paste works well. I did have to break up the copy and paste and take it line by line to ensure I knew where I wanted the code to look. I created an entirely new database in no time at all.
So looking back over the course of the class, I would say my biggest improvement was in the creation of databases using a variety of tools, PHP, Webmin, and the MySQL monitor. I picked that up the quickest. I am really really really really weak on MySQL queries. I could not for the life of me figure out the pattern, and I am normally quick with such things. I kept getting an alias error and then could not ascertain how to establish an alias. I need more practise with this.
Have I changed my aspect? Yes, overall. Folks that understand this must be extremely patient. I feel stupid for not being able to do this as easily as I thought I would. Then I recall that folks take COURSES, lots of courses to learn how to do these things. I should not feel so bad. I do feel accomplished from the Unit 11 Assignments.
Digital information creates a new set of issues to solve. I can see how easy it is to make a faulty database, and how frustrating one little typo can be. It is too easy to make a mistake when it comes to digital information. I will probably be more forgiving when I encounter an error on a website as I now understand how difficult it is to manage all facets of the information being provided. No wonder IT is such a high paying job.
So looking back over the course of the class, I would say my biggest improvement was in the creation of databases using a variety of tools, PHP, Webmin, and the MySQL monitor. I picked that up the quickest. I am really really really really weak on MySQL queries. I could not for the life of me figure out the pattern, and I am normally quick with such things. I kept getting an alias error and then could not ascertain how to establish an alias. I need more practise with this.
Have I changed my aspect? Yes, overall. Folks that understand this must be extremely patient. I feel stupid for not being able to do this as easily as I thought I would. Then I recall that folks take COURSES, lots of courses to learn how to do these things. I should not feel so bad. I do feel accomplished from the Unit 11 Assignments.
Digital information creates a new set of issues to solve. I can see how easy it is to make a faulty database, and how frustrating one little typo can be. It is too easy to make a mistake when it comes to digital information. I will probably be more forgiving when I encounter an error on a website as I now understand how difficult it is to manage all facets of the information being provided. No wonder IT is such a high paying job.
Unit 10
Working through the various routines was straightforward. I did have one issue, which I was pretty sure I would have. I decided to take my home computer to work to try and get some of my class done during the downtimes. All went well. I was able to use vmware and do assignments one through three.... easy. Then I got to the part where I needed to login to webmin. I knew that I would have issues as my network was now ASU instead of my home network. I went through trying to figure out how I could still complete my assignments at work... but I just could not do it. I believe it has something to do with how my computer is recognized at the ASU network vs my home network. Ifconfig indicated my ip address was still the same.... but I have a feeling ASU assigned me a different IP. Also, I was using ASU guest, I know there were recent hacking issues with ASU so I suspect security was pretty tight. Soon as I came home and tried webmin, I had zero problems. I did note that I keep creating users and I neglected to write them down. Definitely a learning experience there. SQL was ok. It was not as intuitive for me as some of the other languages we have used. I have the least experience with SQL so I am sure that figured into being a little more awkward. I feel I am in the home stretch, now if I can just pass those pesky quizzes.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Unit ten
Unit ten took a while. I began working again and was having the issues with connectivity at work vs. access to my computer and home network. That being said, learning MySQL was .... fun? No, really. I had a time when I got stuck on a prompt and left me hanging with a '>.... what the heck? Well I finally figured out that it meant I needed to close a single quote. So, finished that and voila... suddenly MySQL was easy. It all comes down to learning the correct commands.
I did not find SQL to be any easier or more difficult than the other languages. It all comes down to knowing what you want to do and finding the command to do it. A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.
The class for me has been mostly about applying these technologies instead of hearing the words. Sure I had heard of linux, or SQL, or XML, or what have you, but rarely had I been forced to use them. Having a class ensured I actually made sense of what we read. But the reading was tough. Actually, the reading was probably the toughest for me. A lot of it would make sense until it did not make sense. Then I started reading for the sake of reading. Giving it a break would usually help, but did not work in the weekly time constraints so well. Ah well. I am glad to have taken the course, but it was rough. Not sure I would want to go through it again.
Now to have time at home to finish the database and complete exercises ten through 12. almost there.
I did not find SQL to be any easier or more difficult than the other languages. It all comes down to knowing what you want to do and finding the command to do it. A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.
The class for me has been mostly about applying these technologies instead of hearing the words. Sure I had heard of linux, or SQL, or XML, or what have you, but rarely had I been forced to use them. Having a class ensured I actually made sense of what we read. But the reading was tough. Actually, the reading was probably the toughest for me. A lot of it would make sense until it did not make sense. Then I started reading for the sake of reading. Giving it a break would usually help, but did not work in the weekly time constraints so well. Ah well. I am glad to have taken the course, but it was rough. Not sure I would want to go through it again.
Now to have time at home to finish the database and complete exercises ten through 12. almost there.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Unit Nine
Wow, this week turned out to be a bit more interesting for me. I like organizing and considering ways to access information. It also allowed me to work on a project that I kept putting off. This week getting through the reading was the toughest part. After going through the lecture and doing some of the reading assignments, it all felt like gibberish. So... I gave it a rest overnight and slept.. a lot. Then I woke up this morning and re-read. Suddenly it was in English again and I was able to pull through. I can honestly say I read more and understood more this week than in prior weeks. I had a hard time drawing the ERD with the new method of identifying relationships. Instead of pulling out my hair, I decided to verbalise the relationships and table figuring out the drawing tool. Why stress out at this time?
I am also having issues with the quizzes. Some of the questions are obvious to me, other are not. This clearly goes back to skimming vs. detailed reading. Guess there is no way around detailed reading for this class. Stay tuned! I am excited about my database.
I am also having issues with the quizzes. Some of the questions are obvious to me, other are not. This clearly goes back to skimming vs. detailed reading. Guess there is no way around detailed reading for this class. Stay tuned! I am excited about my database.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Unit 8
This was quite a bit of reading, took me a bit longer than it should have to get through the reading.
First, a couple thoughts. Planning takes time, having a good strategic plan is important for an organization to identify and attain goals. A good strategic plan will consist of having a strong technology based component. I have seen many strategic plans, usually they are decent and appear to be well thought out, but I am just not sure how they go about ASSESSING the attainment of a strategic plan. So many people know what they want, but they do not know how to reach it. Additionally, we gather a lot of data but we do not all have the ability to data mine the information to find patterns in the information. It all comes down to time. The advent of technology has caused a society that likes information fast, and some things just require time, which we cannot always afford. Libraries can be lean workplaces, that is, there is not always enough staff to really put time into learning how to gather statistical information, or participate in professional development opportunities. As a former library staff member, training was focused on librarian development and not support staff. Someone has to run the day to day operations of the library.
All right, so the train of musing ends. I believe the document that was the most useful to me was the "State of the Union" article by Eric Chabrow. Highlighting the difficulties and pitfalls really made me consider issues with strategic plan, and specifically consider issues with technology plans. All libraries seem to want the same things, and the write it down in a pretty format as they need to as a means of getting government funding for certain projects. I just do not feel the oversight over technology projects is there.
That being said, I do see myself working on technology plans in the future. I have enough technology ability that I could be a contributing member of a team. I do wish I could take a class on statistics first, so I could see what all this data mining business is about.
First, a couple thoughts. Planning takes time, having a good strategic plan is important for an organization to identify and attain goals. A good strategic plan will consist of having a strong technology based component. I have seen many strategic plans, usually they are decent and appear to be well thought out, but I am just not sure how they go about ASSESSING the attainment of a strategic plan. So many people know what they want, but they do not know how to reach it. Additionally, we gather a lot of data but we do not all have the ability to data mine the information to find patterns in the information. It all comes down to time. The advent of technology has caused a society that likes information fast, and some things just require time, which we cannot always afford. Libraries can be lean workplaces, that is, there is not always enough staff to really put time into learning how to gather statistical information, or participate in professional development opportunities. As a former library staff member, training was focused on librarian development and not support staff. Someone has to run the day to day operations of the library.
All right, so the train of musing ends. I believe the document that was the most useful to me was the "State of the Union" article by Eric Chabrow. Highlighting the difficulties and pitfalls really made me consider issues with strategic plan, and specifically consider issues with technology plans. All libraries seem to want the same things, and the write it down in a pretty format as they need to as a means of getting government funding for certain projects. I just do not feel the oversight over technology projects is there.
That being said, I do see myself working on technology plans in the future. I have enough technology ability that I could be a contributing member of a team. I do wish I could take a class on statistics first, so I could see what all this data mining business is about.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Unit Seven. Easy------ I thnk??
Unit seven was another week of procrastination. Zipped through everything and I am even sure I understood some of what we did for the assignment. For XML I went about it the same way as I had for HTML. Read a little, and just tried to absorb as much as I could while reading, then went about practising it. In this case I had to look at quite a few examples of XML. I wrote up my practise exercise, copied it to my server's website using WinSCP and then posted it in the dropbox. That is when I noticed that it was not quite kosher. Oh well, looks like it will be a minor fix with the tags I used. Somehow it did not recognize the titles of what I typed in?
Just spent a few minutes troubleshooting. I think the XML element <title> gives the title to the website. I changed the element to <book title> and that seemed to work. I can see how XML is pretty specific with its tags. It makes sense though.
Update on my system. Everything seems to be working correctly. I can ping, I can change information using the server and have it show up on WinSCP. I am not sure H O W it is all working together, but it is. SO far so good.
Just spent a few minutes troubleshooting. I think the XML element <title> gives the title to the website. I changed the element to <book title> and that seemed to work. I can see how XML is pretty specific with its tags. It makes sense though.
Update on my system. Everything seems to be working correctly. I can ping, I can change information using the server and have it show up on WinSCP. I am not sure H O W it is all working together, but it is. SO far so good.
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