Week 5- Reading Notes

wikipedia.org: Local Area Network
I don't think I quite understood the twisted pair cabling technology.
The history of how LANs were used to cut down on costs was interesting. I think most LANS have firewalls now due to concerns about security.

wikipedia.org: Computer Network
It was helpful to realize that LANs are categorized by a variety of ways. I found it helpful to read that "the network topology" is not necessarily associated with the "physical layout of the network." I do not know that I would have considered a typical home workstation a LAN, so this definition surprised me. I found it odd that GANs have no universal definition. Perhaps as more people use and quantify this network, they can agree upon a definition.

youtube.com- Common Types of Computer Networks
This was a quick snapshot of the various kinds of networks used. I found the note about fiber optics used to produce networks interesting because I think this is what my college used to update our network a few years ago. They had to tear up the roads and grounds to lay the cables. It was annoying. I wonder if it was worth it or if this has become an outdated technology by now.

Coyle's Management of RFID in Libraries
It seems that RFID can be used for good or evil. Most people are familiar with implanting chips into pets in the event that they become lost. The illustration of using RFID in books to decipher whether or not they have been checked out or not when customers walk through the security gates of a library kind of gave me the heebie jeebies. It seems to me that the title of the books has to be obtained before one can tell if it has been checked out or not. It concerns me because I value patron privacy. I'm probably just being paranoid, though.