Grid computing

Grid computing is a term referring to the combination of computer resources from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal. The grid can be thought of as a distributed system with non-interactive workloads that involve a large number of files. What distinguishes grid computing from conventional high performance computing systems such as cluster computing is that grids tend to be more loosely coupled, heterogeneous, and geographically dispersed. Although a grid can be dedicated to a specialized application, it is more common that a single grid will be used for a variety of different purposes. Grids are often constructed with the aid of general-purpose grid software libraries known as middleware.




Grid size can vary by a considerable amount. Grids are a form of distributed computing whereby a “super virtual computer” is composed of many networked loosely coupled computers acting together to perform very large tasks. Furthermore, “distributed” or “grid” computing, in general, is a special type of parallel computing that relies on complete computers (with onboard CPUs, storage, power supplies, network interfaces, etc.) connected to a network (private, public or the Internet) by a conventional network interface, such as Ethernet. This is in contrast to the traditional notion of a supercomputer, which has many processors connected by a local high-speed computer bus.
Grid computing combines computers from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal,[1] to solve a single task, and may then disappear just as quickly.




One of the main strategies of grid computing is to use middleware to divide and apportion pieces of a program among several computers, sometimes up to many thousands. Grid computing involves computation in a distributed fashion, which may also involve the aggregation of large-scale cluster computing-based systems.



The size of a grid may vary from small—confined to a network of computer workstations within a corporation, for example—to large, public collaborations across many companies and networks. "The notion of a confined grid may also be known as an intra-nodes cooperation whilst the notion of a larger, wider grid may thus refer to an inter-nodes cooperation".[2]



Grids are a form of distributed computing whereby a “super virtual computer” is composed of many networked loosely coupled computers acting together to perform very large tasks. This technology has been applied to computationally intensive scientific, mathematical, and academic problems through volunteer computing, and it is used in commercial enterprises for such diverse applications as drug discovery, economic forecasting, seismic analysis, and back office data processing in support for e-commerce and Web services.


SOURCE- Wikipedia

SOCIAL MEDIAS /NETWORKING SITES ARE BOON FOR LIBRARY COMMUNITY: AWAITING YOUR COMMENT

comparing libraries with social media is a misnomer

There is a phenomenon (rather it should be called a fashion statement) among

library and information professionals that we are trying to equate libraries

with Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools. This phenomenon was more

visible in recently concluded two day conference in Shivamogga on “Collection

Management in Changing Context: Problems and Prospects” organized by the Kuvempu

University College Librarians’ Association, Shivamogga on August 19th and 20th

of 2011.





But the question is, can libraries be equated with Facebook and Twitter? This

comparison itself seems to be a complete misnomer. Here it has been tried to

look at how social media cannot be a replacement for libraries and the

misconception of this grand rhetoric.





Social media cannot be a replacement for cultural institutions like libraries.

Social media tools can best be used for providing library services (alerts, news

& events, chat references, post tutorials, etc.,) rather looking it as a

replacement for libraries. The argument of “Libraries without walls” and

“Paperless society” which emerged in the early 80s and 90s have not replaced

libraries. But technological developments have helped libraries to collect,

organize, and disseminate information in varied formats with multiple options to

access information. It is worth noting that library professionals were the

first to use technology for information processing. The Cranfield Indexing

experiment is a case in point. Thus as mentioned above, social media tools can

be best used as a supplement for providing library services.





Another important aspect is engaging digital natives in a critical study or

thinking. The nature of non-linearity of text available on the Internet has

contributing in cognitive decline of the Internet users. The recent works

mainly of Nicholas Carr’s “The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the way

we Think, Read and Remember”, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” and another

interesting article which has been appeared in EDUCAUSE Review entitled

“Individual Knowledge in the Internet” by Larry Sanger, the co-founder of

Wikipedia have critical of how the non-linearity of text available on the

Internet changing the way we read books either in analog or digital format and

turning us as a “skimming machine” instead of engaging in deep reading or

critical study.  Libraries for time immemorial have helped scholars to study

and engage in critical thinking. Does same ambience exist in a virtual world?





The longevity and the sustainability of social media tools are another important

issue to deliberate. The Interne savvy users prepare digital technologies which

are easy to use and allow collective participation. It has been pointed that

social network sites are famous just because these tools allow for connecting

with friends. The social media tools which are famous few years back have

become near-extinct. The tools such as Orkut, and MySpace have become less

famous day by day. The recent survey reports of Pew Internet and American Life

Project have found that there is a considerable decline of interest among

American Teenagers in blogging. The decline of using blogs in recent time raises

the question of sustainability of social media tools. Google Plus which has

been released very recently regarded as a potential threat for Facebook. Thus

the development in social media technologies keeps us always guessing what next?





In terms of Internet users mainly from third world countries like Sub-Saharan

African countries and some of the Asian countries like India are very few. In

India only 7 out of every 100 Indians are able to access Internet, if this is

the case how social media can be equated with libraries. Libraries have

remained as cultural legacy for centuries and it will continue with

technological developments mainly how we collect organize and disseminate

information. In this context comparing libraries with social media is a

misnomer. Library is not social media; social media is not library.
Vasantha Raju N

GFGC-Periyapatna

Mysore

EBSCO Discovery Service

 

EBSCO Discovery Service is also being used to support the needs of novice and advanced users at Asbury Theological Seminary. Meeks explains how EDS delivers the search experience that each user wants while also providing a broader and deeper range of content. "EDS gives novice users an even more basic experience than other previous methods because now, not only are they finding journal articles with just a few clicks but also books from our local collection and documents from our institutional repository. And our advanced users get even more information without having to go to three or four separate websites, but still get the same rich metadata they'd expect to see from publishers' websites."

Looking to the future Meeks hopes that together with EBSCO Discovery Service, they can connect their users with "improved quantity, variety and quality of resources in an experience that creates excitement and encouragement and limits failure and frustration."

EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution's information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box—searching made even more powerful because of the quality of metadata and depth and breadth of coverage.

The Base Index for EBSCO Discovery Service forms the foundation upon which each EDS subscribing library builds out its custom collection. Beginning with the Base Index, each institution extends the reach of EDS by adding appropriate resources including its catalog, institutional repositories, EBSCOhost and other databases, and additional content sources to which it subscribes. It is this combination that allows a single, comprehensive, custom solution for discovering the value of any library's collection.

The EDS Base Index is comprised of metadata from the world's foremost information providers. At present, the EDS Base Index represents content from approximately 20,000 providers in addition to metadata from another 70,000 book publishers. Although constantly growing, today the EDS Base Index provides metadata for nearly 50,000 magazines & journals, approximately 825,000 CDs & DVDs, nearly six million books, more than 100 million newspaper articles, more than 400,000 conference proceedings and hundreds of thousands of additional information sources from various source-types.

About EBSCO Publishing

EBSCO Publishing is the producer of EBSCOhost, the world's premier for-fee online research service, including full-text databases, subject indexes, point-of-care medical reference, historical digital archives, and eBooks. The company provides more than 350 databases and nearly 300,000 eBooks. Through a library of tens of thousands of full-text journals and magazines from renowned publishers, EBSCO serves the content needs of all researchers (Academic, Medical, K-12, Public Library, Corporate, Government, etc.). EBSCO is also the provider of EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), which provides each institution with a fast, single search box for its entire collection, offering deeper indexing and more full-text searching of journals and magazines than any other discovery service (www.ebscohost.com/discovery). For more information, visit the EBSCO Publishing Web site at: www.ebscohost.com, or contact: information@ebscohost.com. EBSCO Publishing is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.