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Overview
Required Materials
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Academic Integrity
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Communications
Schedule
XHTML Validator
CSS Validator
Instructor: Robert J. Sandusky
E-mail: sandusky at utk dot edu
Office Hours: Tuesday, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST, or by arrangement
Meeting Time and Location: Tues/Thurs, 3:40 - 4:55 PM ET, Communications 314
Objectives: This course introduces the ways in which document markup and related technologies (e.g., XHTML, XML, CSS, RDF, SOAP, etc.) are used in contemporary distributed systems on the World Wide Web (WWW) to support organizational, individual, discipline-specific and social goals.
Markup can be used to solve problems in information representation, visual design, information retrieval, and communications between computing systems. Practical applications of both structural and semantic markup (ontologies, semantic Web) will be introduced. The content of this course is applicable to (electronic) commerce; software development; data/document management and preservation; graphic design; and Web-based / Internet based systems development.
At the end of the semester, based upon your complection the class readings, assignments, lectures and discussion, you will be able to:
Course Catalog Description: (IS 460) Exploration of worldwide information and communication resources: email, newsgroups, web logs (blogs), and the World Wide Web. Discussion of information issues: copyright, censorship, privacy and access.
Textbook
Morville, Peter. (2005). Ambient findability: What we find changes who we become. Sebastapol, CA: O'Reilly. 204 pages.
Purchase this book online or at a local bookstore, including the UT bookstore located in the University Center. Publisher's book site.
Blackboard
The syllabus and other course-related information is available on the Blackboard system Online@UT at http://online.utk.edu/. This system provides support for asynchronous communications for the course. You will need your NetID and password to access the materials at Online@UT.
Please note that our class combines undergraduate students registered for IS 460 and graduate students registered for IS 590. Thus, you will each see two Blackboard sites for this course. The site that we will all use during the course is labeled IS 460 / 590 FALL 2006.
System and browser recommendations can be found at http://online.utk.edu/system_req.shtml. This page also provides links to other information about the system.
Grades are based on short assignments (25%), two examinations (20%), class participation (15%), and the term project (40%).
Your presence and participation is vital to the success of this class: attendance and class participation are mandatory. If an absence is unavoidable, please e-mail me before the absence, if at all possible. Class participation includes contributing during class discussions — sharing your thoughts and experiences about information technologies — and monitoring and posting to the asynchronous discussion boards (located on Blackboard) each week. The quality of your contributions is as important as the quantity of contributions.
Read the assigned materials prior to the class for which they are assigned, and be prepared to refer to passages or issues of interest to you during our discussions.
If you have questions about the class, look at the "Questions About Class" discussion board. Please post your questions first to the class bulletin boards located on the Blackboard system at http://blackboard.utk.edu/webapps/login/ unless the question is of a confidential nature (e.g., grades). Sharing your questions is helpful because (1) other people may have the same or similar questions and (2) you may get a faster or better response from other people in the class. I will be reading the discussion boards almost daily.
The project presentation is made near the end of the term (please refer to the schedule) and is based upon your term project.
Policy on late submission of assignments and projects: A minimum of 5% will be deducted from your grade for each 24 hour period your submission is late. Please contact me prior to any assignment or project due date (as far in advance as possible) in order to negotiate adjustments due to an emergency.
Final grades will be assigned as follows:| Letter | Score (%) | Semantics |
|---|---|---|
| A | 91-100 | Superior performance. |
| B+ | 85-90 | Better than satisfactory performance. |
| B | 80-84 | Satisfactory performance. |
| C+ | 75-79 | Less than satisfactory performance. |
| C | 70-74 | Performance well below the standard expected of advanced undergraduate / graduate students. |
| D | 60-69 | Clearly unsatisfactory performance; cannot be used to satisfy degree requirements. |
| F | 0-59 | Extremely unsatisfactory performance; cannot be used to satisfy degree requirements. |
| I | N/A | A temporary grade indicating that the student has performed satisfactorily in the course, but, due to unforeseen circumstances, has been unable to finish all requirements. An "I" will not be give to enable a student to do additional work to raise a deficient grade. All incompletes must be removed within one semester, excluding the summer term. Note that requests for incompletes are not likely to be approved for undergraduate courses. |
University of Tennessee Policy: "The responsibility for learning is an individual matter. Study, preparation and presentation should involve at all times the student's own work, unless it has been clearly specified that work is to be a team effort. Academic honesty requires that all work presented be the student's own work, not only on tests, but in themes, papers, homework, and class presentation. There is a clear distinction between learning new ideas and presenting them as facts or as answers, and presenting them as one's own ideas. It is part of the learning process to incorporate the thoughts or ideas of others into one's own mind and presentations with the purpose of learning and enlarging on personal boundaries of knowledge." (Hilltopics: Student Handbook, 2006-2007, p. 40. Available at http://web.utk.edu/~homepage/hilltopics/HILLTOPICS2006-07.pdf)).
"The University expects that all academic work will provide an honest reflection of the knowledge and abilities of both students and faculty. Cheating, plagiarism, fabrication of data, providing unauthorized help, and other acts of academic dishonesty are abhorrent to the purposes for which the University exists. In support of its commitment to academic integrity, the University has adopted an Honor Statement (see page 11)." (Hilltopics: Student Handbook, 2006-2007, p. 41. Available at http://web.utk.edu/~homepage/hilltopics/HILLTOPICS2006-07.pdf).
The assignments and project you complete in this course will be, for the most part, paperless. You will create a set of course-related Web pages as you work on the short assignments and term project. Note that this means that your pages will be accessible to the world as well as your classmates.
The short assignments are described week-by-week in the schedule section of this syllabus. In general, these assignments deal with practical skills and practical aspects of markup as specific issues are introduced throughout the course.
Your term project will be presented as a set of well-coded, validated, hyperlinked XHTML pages. The set of short assignments affords you the opportunity to design and implement much of the structure you'll need to hold the content you generate for your project.
Each student in the course will present the results of their term project in a set of well-coded, validated, hyperlinked XHTML pages. The "short assignments" (described above) will support the development of the structure you'll use to present your project content.
Each student is responsible for developing a specific, tractable project related to the course's objectives. The project proposal will be one element of the set of course pages and will be a part of the final project deliverable.
One possible approach to the term project is to select a domain you're already familiar with, such as your undergraduate major or your profession, and conduct your project within that domain.
The grading for the term project – 40% of your final grade – will break down according to the following:
Students with Disabilities
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of the impact of a disability or you have emergency information to share, please contact the Office of Disability Services at 191 Hoskins Library at (865) 974-6087. The ODS coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. For more information, see http://ods.utk.edu/.
Please post your questions first to the class bulletin boards located on the Blackboard system at http://online.utk.edu/. Sharing your questions is helpful because (1) other people may have the same or similar questions and (2) you may get a faster or better response from other people in the class. I will be reading the discussion boards almost daily.
I am almost constantly on e-mail and will respond to your questions within 48 hours. Here are the methods you can use to get in touch with the instructor or the GTA.
Instructor: Robert J. Sandusky
E-mail: sandusky at utk dot edu
Office Phone: (865) 974-2785
Fax: (865) 974-4967
Graduate Teaching Assistant: Joshua Hogan
E-mail: jhogan7 at utk dot edu
Mailing Address:
School of Information Sciences
University of Tennessee
451 Communications Bldg.
1345 Circle Park Drive
Knoxville, TN 37996-0341
Week 1: 8/24 – Welcome & Course Introduction
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Week 2: 8/29 & 8/31 – The Internet & the Basics of Markup
Due before class
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 3: 9/5 & 9/7 – XHTML: An Application of XML
Due before class
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 4: 9/12 & 9/14 – Metadata
Due before class
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 5: 9/19 & 9/21 – CSS
Due before class
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 6: 9/26 & 9/28 – XML
Due before class
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 7: 10/3 & 10/5 – Findability
Due before class
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Week 8: 10/10 – Accessibility
No class Thursday, October 12: Fall Break
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 9: 10/17 & 10/19 – Syndication
Due before class
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 10: 10/24 & 10/26 – Internationalization
Due before class
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 11: 10/31 & 11/2 – Knowledge Models I
Due before class
Readings to complete for class
Additional resources
Week 12: 11/7 & 11/9 – Knowledge Models II
Due before class (Note: no class meeting on Tuesday, November 7, 2006.)
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 13: 11/14 & 11/16 – Metadata
Due before class
Readings to complete for class
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 14: 11/21 – Metadata
No class Thursday, November 23: Thanksgiving
Readings to complete for class (Tuesday, November 21)
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 15: 11/28 & 11/30 – Summation & Student Presentations
Due before class
Readings to complete for class (Tuesday, Nov. 28)
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 16: 12/5
In-class activities
Additional resources
Week 17: 12/13 – Term Project Due
Term projects are due by 16:59 ET (4:59 PM) on Wednesday, December 13. Submit zipped file and Web URL to the digital dropbox in Blackboard.
Updated: 20061109. Copyright 2006 Robert J. Sandusky