LIBR 246-01
LIBR 246-10
Information Technology Tools and Applications - Advanced
Fall 2006 Greensheet
Ellee Wilson
E-mail
Office Hours: Most weekday evenings by e-mail, and by appointment by phone
| Greensheet Links Required Text and Readings Course Requirements |
Resources Blackboard Blackboard Tutorials |
This course is conducted entirely online via Blackboard and email. The access code for the Blackboard site will be sent to those enrolled in the class via the My.SJSU.edu messaging system on August 18. Contact professor via email if you do not receive your access code by Aug 24, 2006.
Course Description
One of the most prevalent uses of the Internet is to find information. The information being sought can pertain to just about any type of information bearing object – text, image, video, audio, multimedia, and physical entities. Conversely, the challenge is how these objects can be found; that is, how to make information about them available to support findability. The goal of this course will be to examine the techniques for making information objects findable by searching or browsing websites. In this course, we will examine the concepts of metadata, aboutness, and XML technology as they are applied to websites as information collections.
Course Prerequisites: Libr 202
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, students will have:
- reviewed information retrieval concepts as they pertain to findability;
- studied metadata, categories of metadata, and the specifications for defining a data dictionary;
- understood the role of standards for supporting interoperability between computer and information systems;
- practiced subject analysis on images to describe their aboutness for supporting findability;
- identified fundamental elements of XML technology in XML documents;
- analyzed complex information-providing websites for their ability to support collocation across different media-type information objects.
LIBR 246 supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:
- design, query and evaluate information retrieval systems;
- 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;
- 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.
In addition, this section supports the following SLIS Core Competencies:
- use the basic concepts and principles related to the creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation and organization of specific items or collections of information.
Required Text and Readings
We will be reading three chapters from:
Morville, P. (2005). Ambient Findability. Cambridge, MA: O’Reilly.
This text is available at the SJSU Library as an electronic resource. It is also available from Amazon.com.
The rest of the reading materials will consist of articles from journals accessible through the SJSU Library. The list of articles will be provided on the blackboard site.
Course Requirements
Assignments
There are four modules (Findability, Metadata, Aboutness, and XML). Assignments for each module will be essay or problem questions that require exploring the concepts introduced in the module. There will be a final project that will focus on synthesizing all the concepts introduced through analysis of a website. Detailed information on assignments and the final project will be available on the course Blackboard. Students are also expected to participate in online discussions for each module.
Late assignments will be accepted up to the first two days late with an automatic 10% reduction in points. No assignments will be accepted on the third day after the due date. If you have an illness (medical certificate supplied) or a family tragedy please contact the instructor. No incompletes will be awarded.
| Assignment | Points | Due Date |
| Findability module | 15 points | September 14th |
| Metadata module | 15 points | October 5th |
| XML module | 15 points | October 19th |
| Aboutness module | 15 points | November 9th |
| Final Project | 30 points | December 5th |
| Discussion Board | 10 points | Ongoing |
Assignment due dates may be subject to change with fair notice.
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 Criteria
Following directions and asking questions in a timely fashion, completing all work on time and at an acceptable graduate level, showing evidence in your work of critical thinking skills and learning (integrating reading, prior knowledge, and new information) will define the grading criteria.
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/
School of Library & Information Science
One Washington Square - San José, California USA, 95192-0029
Phone: 408-924-2490
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