A Little Comment

So, are you checking from your SQL database? Because I keep seeing imagearts.ryerson.ca showing up when I check who's visiting this page. I assume that's you. That's the only way you could access from that site this page.

I saw you on March 13th. You were a new visitor February 13th. Unless you check directly from blogger as well.

Just thought I'd let you know I was keeping track of you too. Very sneaky.

It makes me feel better knowing you actually check them. But I do miss the lack of comments. Because it would be really unfortunate if I was doing these "pertinent" points in every entry and you hated it. Most unfortunate.

Have a great day. Happy Spring Equinox!

Visit to the New Catholic Times Donation

Today I went to visit the New Catholic Times donation, which is stored in the library offices. Right now, the collection is sitting on a desk in seven different cardboard boxes with tops. I took notes for each individual box. I will transcribe them here, so they can easily be references for my digitization proposal, which is due in the following week,

BOX 1--

• photographs range from 1970's to 1990's- mostly gelatin silver
• some photos are in better shape than others--some are yellowing, staining, fading
• in Manila folders loosely by location or subject--they are stored vertically, causing the photographs to curl (they appear RC and this is bad for them)
• Some subjects: Israel, Ireland, Italy, El Salvador, Movements, Life Issues, etc.
• large subjects such as Latin American and Eastern Europe
• "Marriage" subject shows up in two boxes
• some subjects have LOTS of photos and some have only 2 or 3

BOX 2--

• negative and proofs
• DISORGANIZED--some have contact sheets, some don't-- contact sheet have negs stapled in an envelop next to it
• some sheets are marked with the ones that are going to be printed or that were probably favourites
• do any prints in the other boxes correspond to the negatives or contact sheets?
  
• SEVERAL envelops of loose negatives, they are not properly housed
• orange book at the bottom of negatives and contact sheet
• some have roll number on them such as #1463
• SO MESSY, needs organization, there stacks of loose contact sheets

BOX 3--

• Manila folders with gelatin silver photos
• in loose groups--not necessarily arranged by story
• subjects: Abortion, Church & State, Dance, Catholic Groups, Africa, Balkans, Human Life Research (Also Africa--Algeria, with 4 photos in it, why a separate group from Africa?)
• combine groups? organize better? House?
• digitize all? or only important ones?
• some are badly stained--be sure to consider digitizing or finding original of quickly deteriorating ones
• digitize negs first?
• if find photo essays, they should be kept together

BOX 4--

• First Section-- Film (all prints of movies stills) SEVERAL-- some grouped in envelops by film
• mostly bishops, priests, pop-- hierarchy Catholic Leaders
• Media/media Literature--can be the same? better group names?
• Several Bishop folders: American N-Z; Bishops- worlds; Canadian Bishops (better organization???)

BOX 5--

• Mostly Persons folders, or icons
• many are staining or yellowing
• no organization to the folders
• another large film folder in the back--condense
• some persons are religious affiliated, ordinary or celebrity--NO DISTINCTION between folders
• mostly gelatin silver-- at least on B/W copier prints and 1 colour
• many prints have writing, stamps or captions

BOX 6--

• Less folders-- many aren't labeled or appear to be labeled wrong
• Subjects: Homelessness, Kenya, Christmas
• So much AFRICA--should there be one subject with sub categories
  
• not many photos, mostly gelatin silver (some are fading)
• what kind of organization could we have? Many of these are labeled on the wrong side or crossed out

BOX 7--

• more Manila folders of prints organized roughly by topic/subject
• SUBJECT: seniors, Phillipines, unemployment, Nuclear Power, Nicaragua, workers, New Foundland/Labrador, youth, United States
• poor categories redundant
• most in envelops are NOT part of an essay together
• staining, fading discoloration
• World Economic Protest 2002--color photos, latest envelops
• There are some color photos in this folder
• Poverty subject--no place names so can't add them to world places, very tricky and problematic with these subjects
• do we know any photographers???

This collection needs organization. This is the first and foremost problem that needs to be addressed with this collection. More issues and ideas will be addressed in this digitization plan.

Database Processing, Chapter 2 (Week 7)

Journeying deeper in database processing, including delving deeper into SQL and how it works. Some important points to note follow:

1. SQL is a data sublanguage. This means it is not a complete programing system, but rather it only creates and processes database data and metadata. These are called SQL statements and can be used in a number of ways. One of them is submitting them directly to the DBMS for processing.
   
2. The data extraction process selects only a few columns of the operational data. They use the example of Cape Codd Outdoor Sports and their database.
3. The framework for SQL query statements are SELECT/FROM/WHERE. For example SELECT Department, Buyer FROM SKU-DATA; These SQL statements transform tables. In the query results, they do not eliminate duplicate rows.
4. The DISTINCT keyword in query searches to remove duplicate rows, so there are less results to sift through. This is really important when there can be results of 100,000 or more to sift through
5. in order to SELECT ALL in a search use the * (asterisk) symbol. It will query all columns of a table.
6. The query to get specific rows from a specific table can use the WHERE in the query statement. For example:
   SELECT * FROM SKU-DATA WHERE Department = 'Water Sports';
7. In the WHERE section, if the column contain texts or date data, the comparison value must be contained within quotation marks (' '), for numeric data there doesn't need to be any notes EX. WHERE SKU > 200000;
8. You can also do a query for a single table and specified rows by changing how the SELECT section looks. For example: SELECT SKU-Description, Department
9. The Column used in the WHERE clause does not have to be the same as the column in the SELECT clause
10. In SQL queries, standard practice is to write SELECT, FROM, WHERE on separate lines
11. You cannot execute SQL queries unless your computer has Access installed. In Access you can create a "New Query" by clicking on the query tab on the left-hand side of the Access window.

This reading was a little confusing, but I know the SQL queries will get easier as time go on. Practice makes perfect. This much is true, especially for computers. If not, I can always call my older brother for help. He's known as the "computer prodigy."

Database Processing, Chapter 1 (Week 6)

This reading comes from D. Kroenke's Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design and Implementation (No link available), Chapter 1. The reading involved mostly different kinds of databases and different ways to create databases, all the easy technical overview to think about before getting started on a database project. Now on to the pertinent points of the reading:

1. The first kind of database applications available are SAP Applications. They are sometimes called client-server applications because the program is the client that connects to the database server. SAP applications connect to the database via a corporate network. These applications are written in Visual Basic, C++ or Java.
2. The second kind of applications are called e-commerce applications or any applications the run on a Web server. Users can connect to these applications from Web browsers like Explorer and Safari. Some common Web servers are Apache and Microsoft's Internet Information Server.
3. The third kind is Reporting Applications. They publish the results of database queries on corporate portals or a Web site.
4. The last kind of application is XML Web services. This application is on the leading edge of database processing. It uses a combination of XML markup language as well as other standards to create program-to-program communication. The code that comprises an application can then be distributed over several computers.
5. DBMS manages the database. The best DBMS available is Oracle from the Oracle corporation though it is much more difficult to use than the SQL server.
6. Database: a self-describing collection of integrated tables. Integrated tables are tables that store both data and the relationships among the data. Self-describing means that the collection contains a description itself.
7. Triggers are used to main database accuracy and consistency as well as to enforce any data restraints.
8. Stored Procedures are used for database administration tasks and are sometimes a part of database applications.
9. There are THREE types of Database design: Existing data, New Systems Development and Database redesign.
   

The many charts in the reading, made understanding these notes much easier. They were comprehensive and drawn out to show steps and relationships. For copyright reasons, I cannot copy them here, but attest to their usefulness.