Normalization

I think that the most difficult concept in this unit is normalization. Although through the tutorial and example I understand how to go through 3 normal forms for database, to the real database, it is still difficult to design the tables according to 3 normal forms analysis. Practice is the best way to further my understanding of these topics. Exploring some case studies or examples will help me to better understand of these topics too.

Technology Plan

I enjoyed reading Information Technology Plan by Robert E. Dugan. This article addresses the importance of the technology plan, the structure of technology plan, the writing and key elements in a technology plan. It works as template of information technology plan. Information Technology at ALA: 2000-2005 provides a real example of technology plan. After finishing these two readings, I quickly understand how to write the technology plan.

The research paper, What went wrong? Unsuccessful information technology projects, summarizes the major reasons for the abortion of technology projects. They are:

1. Poor project planning. Specifically, inadequate risk management and a weak project plan. Risk management becomes more important as the organization gets bigger, so larger organizations need to pay more attention to this area.

2. A weak business case. Then need for the system should be justified in ways that relate directly to the organization's business needs.

3. Lack of top management involvement and support.

I think that this reading was most helpful to me. It answers several questions which puzzle me in daily work.

Unit8

I have been using MARC for 3 years. I didn't realize that MARC would become obsolete before I took unit 8. When reading the papers,“MARC must die” and “A bibliographic metadata infrastructure for 21^st century”, I was shocked and scared. I shared the information with my colleagues, and they don't believe that MARC will be substituted by XML soon. This might be a trend, but it won't happen so soon.

I learned XML with W3 school Online tutorial. I like to use this resources to teach myself because it is easy to understand and switch to the different tutorials for reference.

So far I have not had any problem with the installation of my demo system. During setting up the headless mode for my demo computer, I learned how to get rid of user password of my demo computer that I accidentally set up when I installed Ubuntu server on it. I am so excited that I can remotely access and manipulate my demo computer from my primary computer.

HTML learning and installation report

I started to learn HTML from “HTML tutorial, and PowerPoint: How to Create a Web Site”. It was not hard to understand the concepts and structure, but I still needed time to think it over.

HTML tutorial provides handy instructions and practice examples with their editor. It is easy to understand and follow. In addition, the HTML example and template the lecture provided is another useful resource. I used that template to create my web site. It took me some time to figure out how to display images, which were saved on my computer drivers and did not have web address in my Web page. Unfortunately, it is still my problem.

I did have problem with the installation at the beginning because I burned my live CD with DVD creator rather than CD burner. This caused a big trouble for me to install Ubuntu server on my primary computer. It took me a lot time to find out this problem. Otherwise, installation should be going on smoothly. After assigning the fixed address and installing the webmin for my demo system, I tested it with the browser of my host computer with https://192.168.1.3:10000, and it turned out I can access it from the browser of my host system . I am eager to do something on my demo system remotely through my host system's browser or through an ssh connection.