I guess I have a lot of questions about databases because this was a concept a little more difficult for me to grasp. One of my questions would be if you could clarify again the difference between primary key and foreign key? Also, if possible, for the popular/most used databases, show us some online examples of these so that I can visually portray them in my mind when thinking of the differences between database types? Thanks!

Assignment 1 Link

The link to my Flickr account is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67717223@N03/sets/72157627585225167/
Enjoy!

Databases

The information on databases that we had to read for this week was..a lot. While I would consider myself to be slightly ahead on the IT learning curve of average individuals my brain still gets tangled when delving into the ins and outs of different databases and how the actual data gets stored. Luckily, I still recognize their extreme importance to society, especially in this digital age, but it is so surprising to think about the amount of times we access a database without acknowledging that it is one.
Which brings me to the Internet Movie Database, most likely one of my favorite websites of all time. IMDb is an external database, meaning that it has "data collected for use amongst multiple organizations" (Wiki article). According to IMDb's Wikipedia entry, it started out as a hobby of Col Needham (IMDb CEO) in early 1989. He, along with other film enthusiasts, kept lists pertaining to movies, such as one on the actresses who had the most beautiful eyes. This group would go to a Usenet group and post their lists there via a bulletin board called rec.art.movies. However, it wasn't until October 17, 1990, when Needham wrote a series of Unix shell scripts that made the lists searchable, and therefore, a data base.
Obviously the website's interface has evolved over time. Now a visitor to the site is able to access virtually any movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games or fictional characters that have ever been featured in entertainment. Heck, even my sophomore year screenplay writing professor has his own page for that one Emmy he won in 1989. A link to any particular page will have subsections to address topics such as a film's plot synopsis or a character's most memorable quotes. My personal favorite has always been the trivia section, where there is always a surprise waiting.
Even though the underworkings of databases seem tedious, it makes their infrastructure much more fascinating when you look at some of your favorite web destinations. Taking a closer look at IMDb has even inspired me to try and reread exactly what goes into such a construction.

Muddiest Point Week 3

My muddiest point doesn't have to do with as much clarification but of a suggestion as to how exhibit the differences between compression types. For instance, when I think of a vector graphic I think of Adobe Illustrator. Using this program makes it much more easier to understand how vector graphics retain their shape as the image's size is enlarged or reduced. I know that it was easier for me to understand the difference between an image dealing with vectors vesus a pixelated image by going into the actual program and showing how the vector graphic remained the same despite its size. I understand the stipulations behind this strategy, but in my media arts background I had an easier time understanding the differences between image types when I could see them.

Week 3 Readings: Compression Makes Entertainment

Our weekly readings for Week 3 were to support our upcoming lecture on multimedia representation and storage from the point of the documents compression to how those documents benefit the public.
These readings made me think about my film work in high school and college. When the movie was done we would compress the film in its entirety so it was easier to share. The art of compression was always a little tricky, as the rate of its compression and the desired quality of the output had to be factored depending on how the movie was going to be used. Typically we would compress it several ways: one that would be small enough to be shown on the web, one that would be shown on a large screen, one that could be emailed, etc. Usually the movie would be exported into a quicktime format, a much, much smaller file than the working file. The file that was being worked with off of the program held all the footage, titles, audio, sound effects and music in its raw form, making it impossibility large to burn to a DVD or rely on for universal viewing.
Needless to say, I have a pretty good understanding of why the compression process is important, even if I only have an inkling of how its actually done. After reading the articles on data compression I can't really say whether or not I understand it much better, as the in depth look pretty much went over my head, although the fact that data compression is integral to sharing multimedia on the web.
Without compression it would be unfeasible to think that we could put all those photographs (like the Imaging Pittsburgh project) or millions of videos (YouTube) on the internet. Thanks to my undergrad education I have seen compression's usefulness first hand. I first realized how small images/videos have to be on a web site when I took a web design course in college. It was kinda annoying at first that I had to resize all my images and learn the concept of HTML and CSS to design a web page that wouldn't take all day to load just because I didn't take the time to accommodate. Luckily for the everyday person, there are programs such as Flickr and Youtube or templated designs for websites that take the work out of going through each file. You can load a video file onto YouTube and it will adjust the quality of the video so that the viewer can watch the movie in a timely fashion. If you take a photo with your smartphone it will adjust the size of the image so that it will send as a MMS. Its really neat and makes life so much easier.
In summary, surfing the internet would be pretty boring if data compression did not exist.

Muddiest Point Week 2

I suppose I could come up with a multitude of inquiries about our lecture on computer hardware and software, mostly because it is almost too complex to imagine how it all works together so well. We all have some sort of familiarity with these parts, although I don’t think many people, apart from those who specialize in the subject area, are totally sure what is their exact role.

One question in particular that came up during the lecture was whether the memory cache on the motherboard has the same purpose of the cache that is used for web pages. During college we talked somewhat about the cache function, but I was curious about the differences and similarities between the two.

Another question I had was whether we could get an example of the type of computer that a typical consumer would purchase today, in terms of the CPU, OS, RAM, etc.

Week 2 Readings: Existensial Crisis Over Computers Ruling The World

The article on Google books, Digitization and the European libraries addressed a subject that has long been of interest to me. As a undergrad I was a Media Arts & Design major. Half of the time I felt like I was majoring in the internet. One of my required courses was on media law. Interestingly enough, this was probably one of my favorite courses, albeit the least creative. In this class we spent a lot of time discussing how Google is scanning books upon books in order to make them easily accessible to the public. Admittedly I haven’t given much thought to the subject since completing that course over three years ago and now, so I am sure the project has undergone many changes along the way. Our primary concern when discussing it was how they were getting around that pesky copyright issue. Is it possible to just scan an unimaginable amount of books, put them on the internet, and not have to pay enormous fees to do so? Copyright privileges don’t come cheap, especially for the amount of books Google has used.

Additionally, I just don’t get how the leading nations of Europe are having troubles financing such a large project while Google seemingly has had none. I agree with the one leader that it is concerning that Google’s distribution of materials would facilitate the interpretation of European literature, politics and history. I would be a little alarmed too if the heritage of my country was translated into Americanese before I had a chance to do so first. Yes, it is great to have multiple viewpoints involved, but I do feel bad for the Europeans for falling behind.

Preserving history and literature is incredibly, undeniably important, but I can’t shake the weird, creepy feeling I get when I think about a world where a book, made out of good ole’ paper, does not exist. If I think about this too much I might give myself an existential crisis, but I’m not totally down with Google, even if I religiously use their search engine/email/maps/cellular telephone/browser, etc. I just don’t want to wake up one day and realize that Google is turning us all into robots that are shaped like the one on my Android.

The articles on computer hardware and software had me reminiscing back to my glory days as a five-year-old. My father is a sales engineer for a company that sells computer parts to some other company who assembles them or something like that. In any case, he was always on the up and coming trends, and I’ll never forget the joy I felt when I played the bird racing game on our 1988 Macintosh desktop computer. The evolution of how computers have gone from that black and white, no internet connection, boxy looking contraption to this vibrant, RAM infused beauty I have on my lap is astonishing. As another part of my media background I had a brief history course on computers and I have seen the exhibit on them in the Air & Space Museum. Is there ever going to be a time where we just cannot improve on them anymore? Reading the articles now, especially on software, you realize how much you take for granted receiving a laptop installed with the basic necessities. If you need anything extra, you just pop over to Staples or download it from the internet. It has become so convenient and user friendly to connect with others that I almost get annoyed by the fact that there is still not a universal wi-fi system. Oh well, I’ll keep dreaming.