Reading Assignment #5

Reading Assignment #5

Data Compression: Wikipedia. A good primer for explaining what data compression is and how it works.

--This article helped me so how much I take my computer really for granted. That I expect it to automatically do whatever I want it to do when I want it done. Like play my videos without really thinking about it.

--Reading the examples of lossless & lossy made sense. For some reason I chuckled when it said that 26 was a smaller file size than 25. [9]8. Sometimes my literal sense of thinking plays havoc with what I am reading.

--I have never understood what is meant by “Internet telephony.” Why is it called that?

--To read about something that started in the late 1940’s/early 1950’s was really refreshing after reading about the 1960’s so often.

Data Compression Articles: By the time I had finished reading these articles I thought, “Everything I ever wanted to know about data compression, but I was afraid to ask has now been answered.” Have to say though I don’t consider it a waste of my time. I like the fact that the author injected little shots of humor throughout and that if it became too complex they would cite an example for understanding what they were talking about.

--I love reading what the abbreviations stand for and how they apply to what we are doing.

--For some reason reading the LCS lines seeing how they progressed and what values would come next interested me a lot. It became almost like a game to try and figure out what would come next and how the next value was reached. Would I want to do it all the time? Heck no! I can only imagine that they will get harder so I’ll quit while I’m ahead.

--Reading about RGB also interested me as well, because I remember my ambulance driving training and being taught about different colors meaning different things within the color spectrum.

--I also liked learning about the on-line streaming process since I like listening to ESPN radio on-line and watching Sportscenter on-line and understanding how it works.

--Looking at the image block section was interesting because it still is hard for me to believe that such a small thing can make a big difference.


Imaging Pittsburgh: I love history so this article was a real treat for me

--It sounds like such a simple idea but reading everything that went into it was very eye opening. That it involved a grant for one thing to make it happen and that it took the photographic collections of three institutions to help out as well.

--Looking at the 1955 photo was kind of strange because where I went to college about 20 years ago part of the city looked like that in 1988.

--One would think that working on a project like this there would be a consensus just about every-time. In an ideal world maybe but we don’t live in an ideal world now do we? Reading about the challenges made me see just how much work had to go into this. Not only did they have to deal with issues like selecting the pictures but also technical issues such as Metadata & the Web-Site. It was nice to see that the article did not mention anyone throwing up their hands and saying that they were going to quit. Although I am sure there were moments people wanted to.

--This article was done in 2004 I wonder what kind of progress has been made since then?

You-Tube: I admit I am a huge You-Tube visitor so this article held my interest from beginning to end.

--The ease of using You-Tube makes me wonder sometimes why more schools don’t use it more often. My guess is that they probably explored it at some point but have found logistical issues too bothersome.

--It says in order to upload an artist or TV show or basically anything from the entertainment spectrum that you need permission. I am willing to bet that some of the videos are done without permission. That the “copyright police” could have a field day with you-tube if they wanted to, and that makes me wonder if there will ever be the day that certain areas of you-tube will become pay-per-view.

Muddy Question: While I enjoy reading and learning about the abbreviations in the 2nd article I found at times it was difficult to keep all of the abreveations straight in mind. There were times I had to go back and re-read something to undestand what I just read. Did anyone else have this issue and how did you deal with it?

Blogs where I have posted:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4181925387762663697&postID=2509969814099689784&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1475137707322366107&postID=7852200519071717247&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5671000685629389967&postID=3390927621638259886&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4527425204800506090&postID=5390955881482592986&page=1

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1129785935180596689&postID=3512837352940137481&page=1