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.

DLINE

as a major computing portal focuses on research and development in computing sciences and technology. It has three major services. 1. Journals in Computer and Information Sciences, 2. Conferences in Computer and Information Sciences, and 3. Research in Computer and Information Sciences.




The DLINE will strive hard to accelerate high quality research in computing paradigms. The underlying purpose of the portal is to induce researchers to work and submit research on the experimental, architectural and theoretical focus in various computing systems.



The Journals in this portal will introduce the state-of-the art research in computing systems from different perspectives; and to design the computing systems to optimize the existing and to develop innovative computing and communications paradigms
Please log in to join this scholarly portal to access journals, research services, alerts, register for meetings and renew your membership. You can update your profile and change your preferences.




The dline package offers the full text content for the following journals




Journal of Digital Information Management

International Journal of Web Applications

International Journal of Computational Linguistics Research

International Journal of Information Studies

Journal of E-Technology

Journal of Networking Technology

Journal of Information Technology Review

Journal of Information Security Research

Journal of Intelligent Computing

Journal of Multimedia Processing and Technologies

http://www.dline.info/index.php

The DeweyBrowser

The DeweyBrowser, beta version 2.0, has a new interface and updated database. You can search for a topic or drill down through the summaries by clicking on a caption in the Dewey clouds. New features include the ability to filter search results by format, language of resource, and OCLC Audience Level. You can also search within a results set.


The interface provides the option of displaying the captions in one of several languages. Available languages are English, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish.

The prototype provides access to approximately 2.5 million records from the OCLC Worldcat database. The records are indexed and searched using Apache Solr. The prototype runs on a Linux platform, using the Apache HTTP and Tomcat servers

INFLIBNET released SOUL 2.0

Software for University Libraries (SOUL) is an state-of-the-art integrated library management software designed and developed by the INFLIBNET Centre based on requirements of college and university libraries. It is a user-friendly software developed to work under client-server environment. The software is compliant to international standards for bibliographic formats, networking and circulation protocols. After a comprehensive study, discussions and deliberations with the senior professionals of the country, the software was designed to automate all house keeping operations in library. The software is suitable not only for the academic libraries, but also for all types and sizes of libraries, even school libraries. The first version of software i.e. SOUL 1.0 was released during CALIBER 2000. The database of the SOUL 1.0 is designed on MS-SQL and is compatible with MS SQL Server 7.0 or higher. The latest version of the software i.e. SOUL 2.0 will be released by the end of the year 2008. The database for new version of SOUL is designed for latest versions of MS-SQL and MySQL (or any other popular RDBMS). SOUL 2.0 is compliant to international standards such as MARC 21 bibliographic format, Unicode based Universal Character Sets for multilingual bibliographic records and NCIP 2.0 based protocols for electronic surveillance and control.
for more detail visit-http://www.inflibnet.ac.in/soul/about.htm

Trying Out Bhuvan, India’s Satellite Mapping Tool

Trying Out Bhuvan, India’s Satellite Mapping Tool
Bhuvan, a satellite mapping tool similar to Google Earth, was launched last week by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It’s launch is ironic, given that the both the central and state governments in India have raised concerns about the amount of detail available.

Will Maharshtra’s Home Ministry also ask for Bhuvan to be censored? Political concerns aside, we really didn’t want to write about Bhuvan without trying it out first (remember the $10 laptop?). Our short, politically-correct verdict is that “it’s a start”, and it’s definitely not a myth.
Bhuvan details: Registration Plugin Download (11.3MB, EXE)
The non-politically correct verdict is a lot harsher, particularly given how difficult it was to review this product:
Installation & Registration Issues

Trying Out Bhuvan, India’s Satellite Mapping Tool

Trying Out Bhuvan, India’s Satellite Mapping Tool
Bhuvan, a satellite mapping tool similar to Google Earth, was launched last week by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It’s launch is ironic, given that the both the central and state governments in India have raised concerns about the amount of detail available.

Will Maharshtra’s Home Ministry also ask for Bhuvan to be censored? Political concerns aside, we really didn’t want to write about Bhuvan without trying it out first (remember the $10 laptop?). Our short, politically-correct verdict is that “it’s a start”, and it’s definitely not a myth.
Bhuvan details: Registration | Plugin Download (11.3MB, EXE)
The non-politically correct verdict is a lot harsher, particularly given how difficult it was to review this product:
Installation & Registration Issues

Skype – Make free calls and great value calls on the internet:-is now in news

Intelligence agencies have asked the government to consider blocking Skype as operators of the popular global VoIP (Voice over Internet

Protocol) engine are refusing to share the encryption code that prevents Indian investigators from intercepting conversations of suspected terrorists. The Cabinet Committee on Security has accepted the recommendation in principle but has not set a date for initiating action. The urgency to track Skype calls stems from the fact that terrorists -- as the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai showed -- are increasingly using VoIP services. The shift to VoIP has been prompted by the growing ability of intelligence agencies to intercept mobile and other calls. Like the BlackBerry service, VoIP operators send their signals under a specific code which makes it difficult for others to decipher. Sources said Skype has shared its encryption code with the US, China and other governments but is refusing to accept similar Indian requests. Since Skype is not registered here, Indian authorities have been forced to mull the drastic option of blocking its gateways here. This, however, may not be entirely effective as Skype can route traffic through other service providers. The agencies feel blocking the gateways will at least serve as a signal to local service providers against carrying traffic from Skype or any other similar service provider which does not share the encryption code with the government. Sections 4 and 5 of the Telegraph Act gives government the right to grant licence for any kind of telephony and also the right to intercept. Last year, government amended Section 69 of the Information Technology Act to empower itself to take over servers of Net and telecom service providers and demand the encryption code. This may still be no remedy against recalcitrant overseas service providers who usually have their servers abroad. Last year, the government had a similar run-in with Canada's Research in Motion, BlackBerry makers and service providers, and the UAE-based satphone operator Thuraya. Indian agencies are also keeping their fingers crossed, not sure whether the department of telecom -- with a stake in sectoral growth -- would like to lean on VoIP service providers on the issue of sharing encryption code. Besides, there's also a feeling that the government would be wary of people's response to the snapping of Skype. The free service is used by a vast majority of urban middle class Indians for communicating with families and friends spread across the world. Last year, TRAI had sent a recommendation (with data from 2007), that Skype and Goggle should be asked to pay a licence fee, after being brought within the licence regime. However, government turned it down saying they were not based in India.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Spooks-want-govt-to-block-Skype/articleshow/5082066.cms

National Commission on libraries to be set up

For KVS LIBRARIAN....

RECOMMENDATIONS
1. In view of the past work done in respect of School libraries the NCERT should work as a Nodal Agency for monitoring the development of School Libraries in the country. 2. The school library sector comprises of those of Primary, Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools. The organization and services of these libraries should be spelt out while framing guidelines and norms or best practices. 3. The post of a professionally trained Librarian may be included in the skeleton staff of the secondary schools not withstanding the strength of students. 4. The school library budget should be of at least 5% of the school’s educational budget. 5. National census of school libraries in India is strongly recommended 6. Guidelines regarding Collection development strategies may be framed keeping in mind the need of the students. 7. Standards for libraries and services should be developed by the apex bodies in the form of handbooks/manuals. 8. NCERT to conduct in service or professional development programs for school librarians from time to time on regular basis. 9. Integration of Information literacy across the curriculum. 10. LIS expert to be in the accreditation team for recognizing the schools. 11. LIS courses to add school librarianship modules in universities and vocational streams. 12. Representation at National Forum to advocate for school libraries.
13. Compulsory Performa to be circulated to the students to know “What they want”. 14. IT incorporation in the libraries. 15. Provision for State/ Central awards for school librarians by NCERT/Govt. bodies

The Digital Divide Inside the Library

The Digital Divide Inside the Library

Technology and reference are intertwining strands of public service. The task of keeping up with Librarians (and their jobs) is getting techier. As our systems get more sophisticated and our desire to overhaul and remake those systems gets more intense, libraries need librarians who are tech savvy and back office staff who are pure tech. It's not uncommon to hear librarians declare that "Technology is Reference", but is that a one-way street? There's no doubt that reference librarians need a strong technology skill set, but do our techies need to have public service experience or skills?
I often tell people that I have a Sesame Street job. That is, "librarian" is a job that just about everyone has heard of and everyone has some idea of how it works. Of course, as we all know, most people believe that we read books all day and are incredulous that graduate school is required for wielding a date stamp (I once told a doctor that we had a "whole semester on using that stamp"). But I suspect that doctors, police officers, firefighters, teachers and everyone else with a Sesame Street job has the same problem with outsiders' perceptions of their work. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I learned that astronomers had to be really, really good at math.
As with any job that we've watched a muppet perform, it can be surprising to folks outside of libraryland that getting a first library job is often a challenge. Like many professions, we subject ourselves and our pools of applicants to a newbie paradox: you need experience to get a job, but how do you get a experience without a job?
"Experience" in this case, usually means something fairly specific: public service. Like many other librarians, I leveraged retail experience in an interview for my first job at a reference desk. Librarians are frequently mid-life career changers, so we are often open to letting people learn on the job when it comes to many aspects of library work. Despite that, we never want to gamble when it comes to face-time with our patrons.
In large part, this is due to the unteachable aspects of working with people. It's much easier to teach someone to use an ILS than it is to teach a new hire to be personable. Technology can be learned in a way that service skills can't. Sort of.
Technology and reference are intertwining strands of public service. The task of keeping up with Librarians (and their jobs) is getting techier. As our systems get more sophisticated and our desire to overhaul and remake those systems gets more intense, libraries need librarians who are tech savvy and back office staff who are pure tech. It's not uncommon to hear librarians declare that "Technology is Reference", but is that a one-way street? There's no doubt that reference librarians need a strong technology skill set, but do our techies need to have public service experience or skills?
The answer may just be a personal one. I have been a back-office techie and found that I was somewhat unmoored by the experience. I felt that I was a walking bundle of solutions looking for problems. But I did have time to explore technology I wasn't as familiar with and I learned a lot. Keeping up with technology isn't something easily done from a public service desk.
The highs and lows are different, too. Every technology worker knows the doldrums of a seemingly unfixable problem and the ecstatic thrill of technojoy when a solution is finally found. Working with the public can provide similar ups and downs, but it more frequently offers a fuzzy middle. It's easy to see librarians as overly cautious, but that caution is often the result of the endless shades of gray that public service offers. Even the smallest decisions invite feedback, both good and bad. Librarians are secretly brilliant actors, maintaining a poker face and neutral body language no matter what the question or comment.
That seemingly effortless neutrality does have a price, though. Human nature makes it easier for front line staff to remember (and try to avoid) complaints. Public service also puts staff in constant contact with the library's least tech-savvy patrons. Dedicated librarians see themselves as advocates for their patrons, which, when combined with sufficient time on a public desk can result in a more tempered enthusiasm. There's a reason our tech folk often start sentences with "wouldn't it be cool if..." while librarians are seen as pushing back with "how is that going to work?" It's not that public service makes us negative, just that it inspires a let's-think-about-this-a-minute outlook that can come as a cold splash of water.
Each area of librarianship offers a valuable perspective, but I see a lot of snark online that's veering towards a dismissive attitude toward public service librarians who seem hesitant about techie insights and ideas. Like any good bipartisan, I think it's important to remember that we're all driven by the same goals--we want to provide the very best to our patrons. Often, that librarian with the "negative" perspective is thinking of patron complaints she has handled in the past. Chances are, those angry patrons have been mollified and assuaged by the very person who seems to be raining on everyone's parade. That's not always the case, of course, but if we think it's important to listen to our crankiest of patrons, shouldn't we also pay attention to our coworkers who help them?
I've been advocating for kindness as a guiding principle for working with patrons, but it's an equally important value for working with each other. We can celebrate each other's "wouldn't it be cool" moments and projects with fervor and still appreciate the learned caution of the public service staff. Rather than rolling our eyes about unions or veteran librarians who haven't mastered the new CMS, kindness encourages us to ask those front liners about their concerns and get to the root of their caution. Online, librarians are focused on pushing forward those who are resistant to change. We vent on twitter and blogs about the luddite librarians who don't understand why they can't change the text in an image on their library's website or who panic at the prospect of migrating to an open source ILS.
Libraries need change and we need to get better and quicker at adapting--there isn't room for actual luddites in the library. But when it comes to working with our colleagues, I think we're headed toward a double standard. We need our front line staff to understand tech, to be sure, and even in the short time that I've been a librarian, I've seen huge leaps forward in that area. Tech savvy is increasingly like public service experience--it's something organizations are unwilling to take a chance on. We expect librarians to keep up with tech and be willing to learn more about it, but we're less skilled at differentiating between problematic resistance to change and thoughtfulness.
In any organization, the IT staff has a lot of power. They know things the rest of us don't. Passwords, how to get the printer to work, why the screen on that public machine is upside down...but I think we're doing them a disservice if we don't give them access to our end-users. Our patrons are at the heart of our libraries and time spent with them shapes and informs staff perspectives. It's easy to huff at experienced librarians who seem slow to learn new technologies and dismiss their concerns, but it's also lazy and immature. We owe it to our users and our colleagues to take the time to look for insight from all corners of our organization.

Let's Play with KOHA

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Let's Play with KOHA

View more presentations from Ashoksatapathy. (tags: ashok of)