LIS 753-02: Internet Fundamentals and Design

Spring 2006


Dr. Kate Marek
Dominican University Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Crown 342
708-524-6648
kmarek@dom.edu

Office hours as arranged by appointment.

Overview
Schedule
Assignments


Course Overview

LIS 753 is an introduction to the fundamentals of the Internet, including its origins, evolution, current state, and future. Critical Internet issues such as privacy, copyright, and other related topics will be examined. Students will have a basic understanding of Web content languages and the Internet as a result of this course. Pre-requisites are 701 and 703.

Topics will include networking, Internet protocols and architecture, the World Wide Web, Web site design and evaluation, browsers, HTML coding, search engines, and digital libraries.

Course Goals

To gain a basic understanding of networking principles and techniques, Internet protocols and architecture, and major telecommunication issues.

To gain a basic understanding of the World Wide Web, coding standards, Web site design and page layout, and current issues.

To develop the understanding and skills to produce a group of linked HTML documents that can be published on the Internet.

To understand the use and benefits of the World Wide Web in libraries today, and to gain an appreciation for the Web's many complex social and legal issues.

To gain an understanding of the complexities that are involved when libraries today mount digital resources on the Web, and how this fits into a national and international information infrastructure.

Textbooks

Castro, Elizabeth. HTML for the World Wide Web; Visual Quickstart Guide. 5th Edition. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2003.
Gralla, Preston. How the Internet Works. 7th Edition. Indianapolis, IN: QUE, 2004.

Hands-On Experience

Each student will have the use of a Windows workstation that is connected to the Internet and the World Wide Web during class lectures and labs. Students are required to have active Dominican logins on the network.

Students will be able to search the World Wide Web using different search engines, will have the available tools for coding HTML documents, and will be provided with an account for loading HTML files on the Dominican Web server.

Most classes will include a Lab portion for HTML instruction and practice. Students will need active Dominican University student email and Web page accounts. Forms are available in the Technology Lab, Lewis Hall ground floor.

Student Assignments and Grading

(Last Updated 1/10/06)

  1. Weekly X/HTML practice assignments: Ten total assignments, 1.5 points each. Exercises are due no later than the beginning of the class period following the week the Exercise is introduced. Late Exercises will not be accepted. Graded exercises will be returned to you regularly, and all graded exercises will be resubmitted as a unit/portfolio at the end of the semester (April 26).
    15 points (15% of grade)

  2. Mid-term Exam: Wednesday, March 1.
    25 points (25% of grade)

  3. Web site. Due: March 29, 2006. Web sites are due at the beginning of the period. Late assignments will be subject to a 5% grade reduction per day. Details regarding this assignment will be distributed as a separate handout later in the semester.
    30 points (30% of grade)

  4. Group Work: Table Talks on Internet topics. On Wednesday, April 5, we will have a rotation of Table Talks on a variety of Internet topics. Each small group will be responsible for posting a list of readings and a list of disucssion questions on an Internet topic as assigned. Postings are due on Blackboard by March 22. Each member of the group will lead one Table Talk session on your assigned topic. Please be aware that for the evening to be successful, full attendance on April 5 is extremely important.
    10 points (10% of grade)

  5. Table Talk Summary Essay. Due April 5. Write a 3-page, double spaced essay responding to several of the Table Talk topics. Details regarding this assignment will be distributed as a separate handout later in the semester.
    10 points (10% of grade)

  6. Class attendance, participation, and effort, including Blackboard postings as required.
    10 points (10% of grade)

Grading

Note: Please refer to the Dominican grading policy (distributed in class) regarding GSLIS standards for letter grades.

A

A-

B+

B

B-

C+

C

C-

D

F

94-100

90-93

86-89

82-85

78-81

74-77

70-73

65-69

60-64

0-59

Academic Honesty and Integrity:

"All students of the GSLIS are expected to observe high standards of academic honesty and integrity. Any student whose conduct violates such standards may be subject to disciplinary action as determined by due process." (GSLIS Bulletin, p. 48) Plagiarism is unacceptable and will result in project failure. See Purdue University's "Avoiding Plagiarism" at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html or Indiana University's "How to Recognize Plagiarism" at http://education.indiana.edu/~istd/test.html if you feel unsure about what is and is not considered acceptable behavior when using other people's words and ideas.

Schedule and Readings

January 18 January 25 February 1 February 8 February 15 February 22 March 1
March 15 March 22 March 29 April 5 April 12 April 19 April 26

January 18

No class meeting on campus.
Following the instructions you receive via e-mail, participate in a Blackboard discussion based on readings about Internet history and development.

Readings (To be completed during the week with comments posted on the Blackboard Discussion Board):

Berners Lee, Tim. "Enquire Within upon Everything." From Weaving the Web. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Available at course Blackboard site in the Course Documents folder.

 Bush, Vannevar. "As We May Think." Atlantic Monthly, July 1945. Available online at http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush

Cerf, Vinton G. "A Brief History of the Internet and Related Networks." Available at http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/cerf.shtml

January 25

Internet Background and History (summary of Blackboard discussion). HTML Basics.

Exercise #1.

Readings:

Castro: Introduction; Chapter 2; pages 59-66, 73-75; 117-125.

February 1

Design and content; metaphor in Web design. Internet Mechanics.

Exercise #2 (Images and Font Styles)

Readings:

Castro: pages 104-105; 104-114.

Gralla: Chapters 1-8; 19-23.

Garlock and Piontek, Designing Web Interfaces to Library Services and Resources, Chapters 1-4. (Available on Blackboard, Course Documents folder.)

"Introduction to Web Design," Indiana University. Available at http://inkido.indiana.edu/w310/storyboarding/introduction/introduction.html

Barrett, Edward, Levinson, Deborah A., and Lisanti, Suzana. The MIT Guide to Teaching Web Site Design. Chapter 3: Planning a Web Site. MIT, 2001.
Note: See especially the material on the use of metaphor in designing a Web site. This article is available via the course Blackboard site.

"Symbolism," from Web Page Design for Designers. Available online at http://www.wpdfd.com/wpdsymb.htm

February 8

Internet Usability and Accessibility; HTML validation and syntax checkers.

Exercise #3: Miscellaneous elements.

Readings:

Castro: Chapter 24.

CSE Validator Lite. Available online at http://www.htmlvalidator.com/lite/.

Nielsen, Jakob. "Usability 101; Introduction to Usability." Available online at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html.

Nielsen, Jakob. "UseIt.Com: Jakob Nielsen's Website." (Browse various links.) Available online at http://www.useit.com/.

"Research-Based Web Design and Usability Guidelines." (Browse various links.) Available online at http://usability.gov/guidelines/.

"Useable Web." (Browse various links.) Available online at http://www.usableweb.com/.

W3C. "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0." (Browse content.) Available online at http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/.

February 15

Follett Lecture: "The Googlization of Libraries: Debunking the Internet Godzilla Myth." Attendance is required.

Exercise #4: Tables.

Readings:

Castro: Chapter 14

Page Tutor: Tables. Available online at http://www.pagetutor.com/pagetutor/tables/.

The Table Sampler. Available online at http://wp.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/table_sample.html.

February 22

Internet publishing; finding and using a Web host.

Exercise #5: Tables II, Applets; Absolute and relative URLs. Mid-Term Review.

Readings:

Castro: Chapters 25-26.

InterNIC / Internet Domain Name Registration. Available online at http://www.internic.net.

Domain Name Registration, Register.Com. Available online at at http://www.register.com/retail/index.rcmx.

Host Critique. Available online at http://www.hostcritique.com/?gclid=CI2H-v-ewIICFST4SAod2EnLAQ.

TopHosts.Com. Available online at http://www.tophosts.com.

Top Hosts Showcase. Available online at http://www.comparewebhosts.com/TopHosts.asp.

WebHost Directory. Available online at http://www.webhostdir.com.

March 1

**Mid Term Exam**

March 8: Spring Break. NO CLASS.

March 15

Search Engines; Google.

Exercise #6: Styles; Cascading Style Sheets.

Readings:

Castro, pages 41-43; 68-69; Chapters 8-10.

Google. "Our Search: Google Technology." Available online at http://www.google.com/technology/.

Google. "Google Web Search Features." Available online at http://www.google.com/help/features.html

Sullivan, Danny. "Major Search Engines and Directories." Search Engine Watch. Available online at http://searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156221.

Ferguson, Charles H. "What's Next for Google?" MIT Technology Review, January 2005. Available online at http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/01/issue/ferguson0105.asp.

March 22

Blogging; RSS. (Table Talk Topics readings list and discussion questions postings due.)

Exercise #7: Blogs; RSS.

Readings:

Blogs:

Blog Software Breakdown. Available online at http://www.asymptomatic.net/blogbreakdown.htm.

"Why and How to Use Blogs to Promote Your Library’s Services." Available online at http://www.infotoday.com/mls/nov03/fichter.shtml.

Overview of the weblog tools market. Available online at http://tinyurl.com/67bpn.

Garrod, Penny. "Weblogs: Do They belong in libraries?" Available online at http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue40/public-libraries/.

Schwartz, Greg. “Blogs for Libraries.” Webjunction.org. Available online at http://www.webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=767

Clyde, Anne. "The Internet Courses: Weblogs or Blogs." Available online at http://www.hi.is/~anne/weblogs.html.

Blog Glossary. Available online at http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary.html.

Herzog, Susan. “BlogBib.” Available online at http://blog-bib.blogspot.com/.

RSS:

McKiernan, Gerry. “Rich Site Services: Web Feeds for Extended Information and Library Services.” Available online at http://www.llrx.com/features/richsite.htm.

Cohen, Steven. “RSS for Non-Techie Librarians.” Available online at http://www.llrx.com/features/rssforlibrarians.htm.

Government Information Locator Service; RSS Tutorial. Available online at http://rssgov.com/rssworkshop.html.

March 29

Podcasts. (Web Pages Due.)

Exercise #8: Web audio; Podcasts. Note: please bring standard headphones.

Readings:

Castro: Chapter 17.

“How Podcasting Works,” from HowStuffWorks.com. Available online at http://computer.howstuffworks.com/podcasting.htm.

Newitz, Annalee. “Adam Curry Wants to Make You an iPod Radio Star.” Wired, March 2005. Available online at http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/curry.html.

April 5

Table Talks. No exercise.

April 12.

Lab: Dreamweaver

Exercise #9: Dreamweaver. (Summary Essay Due.)

April 19

Lab: Dreamweaver, continued.

Exercise #10: Dreamweaver (continued)

April 26

Metadata; XML. (Student Exercise Portfolio due.)

Readings:
To be distributed in class.

Last updated 1/10/06