Media Center Web Pages
A little History
Computers first came into practical use in the mid 1900’s. However, there was no way to link the computers to share information. Then, in the 1960’s the United States government’s Department of Defense developed a network of military and government computers. The network was intended to protect the information on those computers in case of war or disaster. Soon, universities, corporations, and other organizations developed their own computer networks. Eventually, these networks joined with the government to form the internet. The word internet means an interconnected network of networks, today called The Internet.
Tim Berners-Lee
Photo World Book Online
Later, in 1989 The World Wide Web was created by Nuclear Research physicist (CERN) Tim Berners-Lee. In 1990 he wrote the software code (HTML) for the internet and in 1991 the web was introduced. It was free for users to retrieve files, usually individual plain text files from a server. Since then the internet has grown exponentially.
Technically speaking, what is a web page?
A web page is a document or information resource that is suitable for the World Wide Web. Every Web page is identified by a unique URL, or Uniform Resource Locator, and can be accessed using a web browser and displayed using a monitor or a mobile device. The information is usually in HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) or XHTML (Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language) formats and may provide navigation to other resources using hypertext links. Web pages are hosted/reside on web servers that display the page when the URL is requested. Some web pages may have restricted access for a private network or corporation intranet. www.wikipedia.com
Picture of a web page
Photo Google.com
Web pages now
Today Web pages are a necessary part of how we do things on the internet. According to Kevin Kelly a founder of Wired Magazine there are close to a trillion web pages in existence on the internet today. How many people use the internet? Answer- Approximately 272,066,000 people access the web in North America and 6,930,055,154 people World Wide surf the web each day, Wow!!
Media Center web pages
In recent surveys according to the text Technology and the School Library (Jurkowski, 2006) nearly 90 percent of school library media specialists maintain websites. The question now is how to organize the website, what features will it have, what to add on or link to, and how to find the time to keep it updated. Many library media specialist are expected to maintain a web site a part of the media program just as they maintain their book collections. The library website for many patrons is a place where they can access electronic resources, view policies and procedures of the media center, share news and information, find booklists, as well as learning tools such as pathfinders and links to teacher blogs. There are important advantages to having a media center website which include real time updates, the ability to update information as soon as it changes. This capability can be vital to students and teachers. Patrons can also access information from multiple locations using the media center web page. A calendar of events and the current book lists may also be posted on the school web site. Different school libraries have different purposes in mind and they should reflect the individuals using the site. There are literally dozens of features and hundreds of ways to present the information on a media center web page so consider your options carefully and don’t over do it.
Walter Minkel recommends that librarians include specific links on web pages to teacher assignments, bibliographic aids, the library catalog, databases and local institutions such as museums, parks, zoos and historic sites as well as contact information about your media center. (Jurkowski, 2006)
Listed below are some things to consider before you begin designing a school library web page.
1) The software or program you will use to create the page
2) Web hosting (if it’s an issue)
3) Website purpose
4) Design and usability
5) Organization of web content
I recommend visiting these helpful websites for ideas and information when creating your media web page.
How to create a web page:
Web page templates:
References
Edwards, P. N. (2011). Berners-Lee, Tim. Retrieved October 18, 2011, from World Book Student Web website: http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar749226&st=the+internet
Jurkowski, O. L. (2006). Technology and the School Library. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc..
Sutter, J. D. (2011, September 12). How Many Pages are on the Internet? Retrieved October 18, 2011, from CNN Tech website: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-09-12/tech/web.index_1_internet-neurons-human-brain?_s=PM:TECH
World Internet Usage Stats. (2011, March 11). Retrieved October 17, 2011, from Miniwatts Maketing Group website: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm
Posted for Heidi, Christy, Leigh Anne & Stacie-Group3
Thank you for your brief history of the Internet! I find it helpful to have a definition and succinct description and history of whatever I am studying. The statistics for Web users are amazing! I think back to 1990, when I didn't even have a computer, and it is hard to believe that the online world is as it is just 21+ years later.
ReplyDeleteYour lists of considerations for a Web site and what to include on one for the media center will be very helpful to me and my group as we are setting up our Web page for this class.
I agree with you about having the site updated often and being available to users from anywhere. These are just a few of the reasons I love having my smart phone: up-to-the-minute news, instant communication with people, and the ability to access information from anywhere with an Internet connection.
Thank you for your post!
Sue Thach
The statistics you give for daily Internet usage are truly amazing! I made it all the way from K-12 without ever going online. It is amazing to think about how different this generation’s educational experiences will be simply because this one tool – the Internet – is available to them.
ReplyDeleteWe will have an entirely different generation of teachers, too, who are now learning about teaching in completely different ways than our teachers were taught. If my high school media specialist is still teaching, I’m sure her media center runs a lot differently now than it did almost 20 years ago. I wonder, if we are all working as media specialists 15 or 20 years from now, how much the technology we are studying now will have changed, and what kinds of new technology will be available? It will be interesting to see how the Internet and web pages continue to evolve over time.
Terese Scheiderich
I really enjoyed reading your history of the internet. I didn’t realize it was first used by the military and it is really interesting that HTML was written by a nuclear physicist. It seems like it just appeared all of a sudden in the 90’s. The numbers are amazing. It is hard to believe that so many people are using the internet.
ReplyDeleteI keep a classroom webpage, but it does not get much traffic due to our families not having internet access. I use Google calendar for events and try to update our themes monthly. We take lots of pictures in Prek and I try to post them too. The kids enjoy seeing their pictures on television or through the digital projector. I love your idea about including local links for zoos and museums. I am really excited at the thought of keeping a page for the media center…..hopefully it will get more traffic. It definitely is a great way to communicate. Thanks for sharing all your research. I really enjoyed reading your post.
Heidi,
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to believe that 90 percent of media centers have webpages. We have one but at present we can't edit it because our district is in limbo regarding the service provider that hosts the website. When I ask about starting one somewhere else and just linking to it I keep getting the "just wait a bit" response. I appreciate the templates you provided. The ideas may prove to be of benefit. Your list of things to consider will give us some things to think about for class and for a real webpage. I had a great webpage last year when I was in the classroom. I want something very different now, and ideas run through my head constantly. I'm sure some of the information you provided here will help me refine my plan.
Thanks again,
Leigh Anne
Good information about the history of the internet and webpages. That is impressive that 90% off all media centers have webpages. My school is in the 10%! I think that Minkel’s suggestions for media center webpages are good, especially having information about teacher assignments. When teachers assign big projects, most of the time the students rely on the media center. This also promotes collaboration between the classroom teachers and the media specialist. Good website resources for building websites too!
ReplyDelete-Rebecca
Thanks for including the information covering the history of the internet. Reading that information actually made me think about how I have used computers in my life and how they have evolved in such a short period of time. To begin with...my first experience with a computer was in elementary school. It was such a cool...mystifying device. I remember my first assignment was to create a book out of a story I had written. We would also play Oregon Trail & Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? in groups because there were not enough computers for everyone to have their own. Ha! How times have changed and now I feel old! Now computers are such a large part of many children's lives even at an early age. When I think of the crazy fast evolution of computers and the internet...I wonder what the next 20 years will bring!
ReplyDeleteThanks for including the links of 'how to' websites. That will be very useful as we all begin to create our own websites.
Heidi-
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the background info on the internet. Having gone to school in the 'dark ages' I can still remember the first computer that I saw- it was a Honeywell on a cart and you had to dial the phone and lock it onto a modem. I'm dating myself I know- it just amazes me how far technology has come in just the past few years.
I appreciated your 'how to' links. I've been thinking about web pages with the next assignment coming up. Both of my daughters schools have webpages but they are very basic-hours and links mostly. I think it would be really neat to be able to provide more entertaining information to entice the students to use the mc website for more than just the basic info. I'll definitely check out the templates and review your list of suggestions to consider when planning my webpage. Thanks for the great info!