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Home - Course Web Pages - Fall 2006 - LIBR 202-14 Greensheet

LIBR 202-14
Information Retrieval
Fall 2006 Greensheet

Mikel Breitenstein
E-mail
Office Hours: Via Blackboard, phone, or e-mail. See Blackboard Course site.

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Greensheet Links Required Text and Readings Course Requirements Course Calendar

Resources Blackboard Blackboard Tutorials

LIBR 202 Resources Online Resource Supplemental Readings Inmagic Download

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Students must self-enroll in the Blackboard Course using the password supplied via MySJSU on August 21st.

Course Description

This course is a survey of the principles of information retrieval and their application to information systems and services. The course emphasizes models of user information seeking behavior and human information processing, and their relationships to retrieval models in information systems. It explores the fundamental processes of description, classification, information structures, database models, and retrieval intermediation as those processes are reflected in information systems of all types, including libraries.

Course Prerequisites: none

Student Learning Objectives

The goal of the course is to introduce the student to:

• basic concepts of information systems
• user information seeking processes
• those user and data characteristics that affect information seeking and use

At the end of the course the student should be able to:

• describe appropriate models of information seeking processes and factors influencing them
• describe the salient characteristics of an information system, using the models introduced and developed in the course
• describe how the characteristics of information systems, information, and users interact in the effective use of information

LIBR 202 supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:

• design, query and evaluate information retrieval systems;
• understand the system of standards and methods used to control and create information structures and apply basic principles involved in the organization and representation of knowledge;
• describe the fundamental concepts of information-seeking behaviors.

In addition, this section supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:

• demonstrate proficiency in the use of current information and communication technologies, and other related technologies, as they affect the resources and uses of libraries and other types of information providing entities;
• use service concepts, principles and techniques that facilitate information access, relevance, and accuracy for individuals or groups of users;
• demonstrate oral and written communication skills necessary for group work, collaborations and professional level presentations.

Required Text and Readings

Chowdhury, G. G.  (2004). Introduction to modern information retrieval. (2nd ed.). New York : Neal-Schuman. Website: www.neal-schuman.com  Paperback or hardbound is fine. Ask for a student discount – tell them "SJSU".

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Please purchase this book – you cannot rely on online sources for full documentation of the rules, which you must use in this course and master during your MLS degree. This book is available at most large bookstores.

Supplemental Reading List for LIBR 202 at http://witloof.sjsu.edu/courses/202/welcome202.html.

Students will need the SLIS resources at http://slisweb.sjsu.edu – using the links for Current Students that include software downloads for the DBTextworks software. MAC users will needs adaptive software or functions to emulate a PC.

Recommended Texts and Resources
The following are not required texts but will be used by the instructor in lecture and assignment preparation. Purchase of or access to these texts is suggested. These have been used in the past as textbooks, and contain a lot of useful explanations that might clarify a topic for you.

Chu, Heting. 2003. Information representation and retrieval in the digital age. Medford, NJ: Information Today. 

Allen, Bryce. 1996. Information tasks. San Diego: Academic Press.

Korfhage, Robert R. 1997. Information storage and retrieval. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Marchionini, Gary. 1995. Information seeking in electronic environments. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Meadow, Charles T., Bert R. Boyce, and Donald H. Craft. 2000. Text information retrieval systems. 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press.

Taylor, A. G. (2004). The organization of information. (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Additional required articles will be supplied in class.

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Course Requirements

Complete the New Student Technology Course
This is a mandatory short, self-paced online course on Blackboard that must be completed by all new SLIS students before orientation. The access code for this course will be sent to new students via MySJSU by July 1st. If you have questions about this course, e-mail Debbie Faires or Dale David.

For more information, see http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/slis/blackboardintro.htm

Web-based Instruction
This course will be operated mostly through Blackboard software, supplemented by e-mail and telephone communications as needed.  Students will need Blackboard access from August 23-December 15, when grades will be posted. This is a structured weekly course, not self-paced. Students must have continual computer access for the duration of the course. Microsoft Word 2000 or later must be used for all submitted assignments.

E-mail Requirements
Students will be required to send and receive files that may be as large as 8MB. If your current e-mail provider places smaller restrictions on your file sending and receiving capacity, you should obtain a free and unrestricted e-mail account from SLIS.

Expectations
Students will do assigned readings, respond to posted exercises and comments, and will complete major projects individually and in teams. The use of DBTextworks software will be required, and instructions will be supplied in Blackboard, or see the SLIS site of student resources. No advance knowledge is required other than basic computer skills required for the program. Adaptive software to accommodate MAC may be required.

Grading Scale
The standard SJSU SLIS Grading Scale is utilized for all SLIS courses:

97-100	A
94-96	A-
91-93	B+
88-90	B
85-87	B-
82-84	C+
79-81	C
76-78	C-
73-75	D+

Grading
Grading is based on adherence to the assignment instructions, content, and quality of presentation (including grammar, punctuation,and  layout). Grades on assignments may range from A+ to C, and F. A grade of A is given for work that exceeds the basic expectations in terms of quality and content. A B grade is given for completion of basic requirements and meets the standards for acceptable work in the course. A C grade indicates that some parts of the work were not acceptable. An F indicates missing or very deficient work.

Late Assignments
Late work is not accepted. However, all students have the option of turning in one assignment (except the Midterm or the final group project) up to 48 hours late, without penalty or explanation. See explanation in Blackboard in Course Rules.

Evaluation

3 Weekly Assignments	W1, W2, W3	30%
Assignment 1	A1	20%
Assignment 2 (team project)	A2	30%
Class participation (includes specific postings, student led discussion (10%), chats, and team work – quality, not quantity, is to be emphasized		20%

Academic Integrity
Your own commitment to learning, as evidenced by your enrollment at San José State University, and the University's Academic Integrity Policy requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty are required to report all infractions to the Office of Judicial Affairs. The policy on academic integrity can be found at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/F06-1.pdf

Reasonable Accommodation of Disabilities
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, please e-mail me as soon as possible. Presidential Directive 97-03 requires that students with disabilities register with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) to establish record of their disability.

No matter where students reside, they should contact the SJSU DRC to register. The DRC Web site: http://www.drc.sjsu.edu/

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Course Calendar

The Course Calendar is subject to reasonable modification – see Blackboard site for more details and supplementary materials.

Please read approximately in sync with the topics and titles listed.

Week 1 (August 23) – Introductions
See following Wednesdays for the first days of the weeks

Weeks 2-4 – Module 1 – Documents, Formats, and Measurements
Text Readings:
Chapters 1-3 in Chowdhury text

Week 2 – S1 – Measures of Retrieval - DUE September 6

Week 4 – S2 – Words - DUE September 29

Other Readings and Resources:

1. http://www.loc.gov/marc/marc.html explore this resource, especially the brief introductions to MARC, and bookmark http://www.loc.gov because it is a fabulous resource for many topics in our field
2. Chapter 1 in Marchionini, Gary, Information Seeking in Electronic Environments – this is available at the 202 restricted readings website. This text, often used in courses like this, may help you get additional clarity on the basics of the things this course will cover.
3. ASC Online http://radio.weblogs.com/0109575/stories/2004/09/07/2004KnowledgeStructuresToolbox.html - this is something I found, and it does look useful – but use with care, since it is just a blog – one person's project
4. Gonzalez – What is FRBR.pdf to be posted

Weeks 5-7 – Module 2 – The Indexing System and Condensed Writings
Text Readings:
Chapters 4-5, 8

Week 6 – S3 – As We May Think – DUE  October 4

Other Readings and Resources:

1. "Understanding Metadata" at http://ww.niso.org this is an excellent website for you to explore
2. Wordnet online at http://wordnet.princeton.edu
3. espgame at http://www.espgame.org I think this is more gimmick than research, but some of you might get hooked!
4. Olson and Givens. Olson Givens indexing.pdf
5. Araghi, G. F. indexing Araghi.pdf
6. Bush, Vannevar. 1945. As we may think.

Weeks 8-10 - Module 3 – The Controlled Vocabulary System and Classification
Text Readings:
Chapters 6-7, 9, 20-21

Weeks 8-10 – A1 – A Small Faceted Classification - DUE October 25

Other Readings and Resources:

1. wikipedia on taxonomy - I was surprised that this was quite useful and seemed pretty accurate
2. Thesauri online from the American Society of Indexers http://www.asindexing.org/site/thesonet.shtml
3. Kwasnik, Barbara H. "The Role of Classification Structures in Reflecting and Theory Building," Proceedings of the 3rd ASIS SIG/CR Classification Research Workshop. Pittsburgh, PA. October 25, 1992, 63-81. Part A and Part B in 202 restricted readings

Weeks 11-13 - Module 4 – The Searching System
Text Reading:
Chapter 9

Weeks 12-15 - Team Project – Index Terms for an LIS Database - DUE December 6

Other Readings and Resources:

1. Drabenstott, Karen. (2004). Why I still teach online searching. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 45 (1), 75-80.
2. Loureiro, Oscar & Siegelman, Hava. (2005). Introducing an active cluster-based information retrieval paradigm. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 56 (10), 1024-1030
3. Araghi, G. F. retrieval Araghi.pdf

Weeks 14-15 (November 29) - Module 5 – The User-Interface System
Text Readings:
Chapters 10–14

Other Readings and Resources:

1. Ju, Boryung, & Gluck, Myke. (2005). User-process model of approach to improve user interface usability, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 56 (10), 1098-1112.
2. Beghtol, Clare. (2005). Ethical decision-making for knowledge representation and organzation systems for global use. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 56 (9), 903-912.
3. Vishwanath, Arun. (2005). Impact of personality on technology adoption: an empirical model. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 56 (8), 803-811.
4. Pomerantz, Jeffrey. (2005). A linguistic analysis of question taxonomies. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 56 (7), 715-728.
5. White, Ryen, Jose, Joemon, & Ruthven, Ian. (2005). Using top-ranking sentences to facilitate effective information access. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 56 (10), 1113-1125.
6. anything in the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 55 (12) – an entire issue about music information retrieval from 2004.

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