Week Six:

REQUIRED READING NOTES

Local area network
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Area_Network

• Defined as the computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a home, school, computer lab, or office building - using network media. 
• They include a smaller geographic area and non-inclusion of leased telecommunication lines.
• Ethernet over twisted pair cabling and Wi-Fi are the two more common technologies currently used to build LANs.
• An increasing demand and use of computers in universities and research labs pushed for a need to provide high-speed interconnections between computer systems. 
• Simple LANs consist of one or more switches. switches - connected to - router, modem, or ADSL modem - for Internet access.
• LANs can maintain connections with other LANs via leased lines, leased services, or the Internet

Computer network
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_network 

• Telecommunications network that allows computers to exchange data. (the best known computer network is the Internet)
• Networked computing devices pass data to each other along data connections. -- Data is transferred in form of packets. -- Connections (network links) between nodes are established using either cable media or wireless media. 
• Nodes - includes hosts such as personal computers, phones, servers as well as hardworking hardware. 
• Two devices are said to be networked together when one device is able to exchange information with the other device, whether or not they have a direct connection to each other.
• CNs support applications such as access to the world wide web, shared use of application and storage servers, printers, fax machines, use of email and instant messaging. 
• Computer networking is a branch of electrical engineering, telecommunications, and computer science.
• A computer network facilitates interpersonal communications allowing people to communicate easily via email, instant messaging, chat rooms, telephone, video telephone calls, video conferences. It also:
• provides access to information on shared storage devices is an important feature
• allows sharing of files, data, and other types of information giving authorized users the ability to access information stored on other computers on the network. 
• allows sharing of network and computing resources
• A network packet is a formatted unit of data carried by a packet-switched network. 
• control information and user data
• There are various networks: local area, home area, personal area, storage area, campus area, backbone network, metropoolitan area, wide area, enterprise private network, virtual private

"Management of RFID in Libraries" by Karen Coyle
http://www.kcoyle.net/jal-31-5.html

• RF stands for radio frequency. the ID is identifier. 
• tag itself consists of a computer chip and an antenna, often printed on paper or a flexible medium.
• RFID is an advanced technology compared to barcodes. the tag does not have to be visible to be read; instead it can be read even when it is embedded in an item.
• might carry a complex message - limited to an identification number
• chip is part of the RFID tag that can carry many bytes of information. 
• RFID is not a single technology. 
• RFID tags used for automated toll taking for cars (easy pass)
• located in car keys to gain entry into buiildings
• used to track animals on farms or lost pets
• Asks the question if libraries should use RFID technology. 
• libraries should use new technologies because the conditions in the general environment that led to the development of the technology are under the conditions in which the library operates. 
• Libraries look to RFID as a security mechanism. 
• facilitates security in a variety of ways. the tag used has a special "security bit" that can be switched from 'checked-in' to 'checked-out'.
• The tags must be durable because the items will be used frequently.

Thoughts 

So these readings were interesting to me because I actually understood most of it. I am familiar with the terms Local Area Network and Computer Network because of basic computing courses that I have taken since junior high. I really enjoyed the RFID article however because it was most relevant to the LIS program and it was written in a way for me to understand the technology. I definitely understand what RFID is and how it is utilized for all kinds of functions.