Course Schedule Fall Quarter 1997

Note: Except for Week One, all readings are expected to be completed prior to the class meeting.

Introduction to the course:

introductions

course objectives and expectations

Discussion: What are we going to discuss during this course?

• What is digital information? What is an online information retrieval system? What is information networking?
• Differences between an online public access catalog (OPAC), a bibliographic utility (OCLC), and vendor service (Dialog), and the Internet.
• Information networking as an emerging form of human communication and interaction. Internet discussion groups and forums.

Recommended Readings:

• Students not already familiar with using the Internet should read:

  Crispen, Patrick (1996). Roadmap96
  URL: http://rs.internic.net/roadmap96/syllabus.html

  A series of tutorials on accessing and using the Internet directed at users with minimal knowledge. Originally developed and distributed in 1994, Roadmap was revised and updated in 1996.

• All students should review the glossary of terms that will be used during this course.

Week Two

Discussion: How we got to where we are.

• Historical development of online search services and cd-rom products.
• Historical development of Internet.
• Internationalization of information.

Recommended Readings:
Don't be threatened by the number of readings listed; most of the following take no more than 5 to 10 minutes to read.

Cerf, Vinton (1993). How the Internet Came to Be.

Dated. Article by the "Father of the Internet."

Gray, Matthew (1996). Internet Statistics: Growth and Usage of the Web and the Internet

Summary text and raw data for Internet and Web through 1996.

Leiner, Barry M., et. al. (1997). A Brief History of the Internet.

Current. General social and technical history of the Internet by the people who were "present at creation."

Network Wizards (1997). Internet Domain Survey.

Number of hosts and domains advertised in the domain name server (DNS). This and the Internet Performance Measurement and Analysis project probably provide the most current statistical analysis of the Internet.

Parallax Design (1996-). Internet Facts

Links to a variety of resources that analyze the size, demographics, and business of the Internet.

Sterling, Bruce (1993). A Brief History of the Internet.

Dated. Scifi author Bruce Sterling provides a succinct history of Internet development.

Zakon, Robert (1994-). Hobbes' Internet Timeline.

Dated. History of the Net through 1994.

[No author] (1997?). Web Languages Hit Parade.

A study of the distribution of Internet sites by language. The Babel site, jointly sponsored by Alis Technologies and the Internet Society, includes numerouse documents on the internationalization of the Internet, including a list of major languages with links to language history, writing, and computer considerations.

Week Three

Discussions:

• Creating information resources on the Web
• Comparing Web authoring tools
• Defining quality: design versus content
• How page content and design relate to indexing and retrieval

  Note: We will not spend much time in class discussing how to author web pages; students are encouraged to use the LRS HTML tutorial, any other tutorial (check Yahoo), or one of the hundreds of books on HTML.

Practice:
Note: Be prepared to create a document in class.

Recommended Readings:

Flanders, Vincent (1996-). Web Pages that Suck

A glib guide to good design through analysis of poorly designed pages. Requires ability to view frames.

Glover, Jeffrey (1997). Sucky to Savvy: A guide to Website design.

Witty, sometimes off-the-wall, guide to designing Web pages.

Rettig, James (1996). Beyond "Cool" : Analog Models for Reviewing Digital Resources

How to determine content quality applying traditional print methods to digital resources. See also Evaluating Information Resources, from the instructor's IM577 course.

Siegal, Dave (1996-). Creating Killer Web Sites.

Abbreviated online version of Siegal's popular book of the same name.

Smith, Alastair (1996-).

Sullivan, Terry (1996-). Design Fundamentals

Tilton, James "Eric" (1994-). Composing Good HTML

Basic principles of design, authority, and content in developing Web pages.

SCSU Webteam (1996) HTML Tutorial

Tutorial for manual HTML production, developed by the SCSU Webteam.

Week Four

Discussions:

• Searching the Web, Part I.
  • Designing and Creating Subject Tree Directories

Practice: Searching the Web: Subject Tree Directories
Please refrain from using the search engines associated with each of these resources. The intent here is understand the organization and language of the subject trees.

• A2Z Directory. A direct competitor with Yahoo; developed by Lycos. Compare with The Point.
• InfoSeek. In addition to a robust search engine, InfoSeek has a large subject directory.
• Argus Clearinghouse Subject Oriented Internet Guides. Useful topical guides to selected information sources available on the Internet.
• Reader's Digest. LookSmart.
• Magellan from the McKinley Group. Reviewed and rated Web sites. Even if you don't like the sanitized Web provided by Magellan, take a look at the idiosyncratic Magellan Voyeur.
• The Mining Company.
• TradeWave Galaxy. A hierarchical subject index with particular strengths in commercial and recreational sites.
• WWW Virtual Library. Competes with Yahoo and A2Z as the most widely referenced and oldest guide to Internet resources. The distributed subject catalogue (participating servers in several countries provide subject hierarchies coordinated by the W3 Organization) exhibits considerable detail.
• WWWomen. A directory for women's issues.
• Yahoo!. The most widely referenced guide to Internet resources.

Recommended Readings:

Barry, Tony, and Joanna Richardson (1996). Indexing the Net - A Review of Indexing Tools.

While several of the links suffer from "link rot" (i.e., no longer work), this paper discusses the historical development of natural language processing in web environments.

Morville, Peter (1997). Web Architect: All problems are not nails.

Brief overview of search engines, directories, and virtual libraries.

Schneiderman, R. Anders (1996). Why Librarians Should Rule the Net.

An opinion article encouraging the descriptive cataloging of Internet resources.

Sullivan, Danny (1997). Webmaster's Guide to Search Engines

Covers how search engines harvest Websites and create rankings, and compares search features.

Westera, Gillian (1996-). Robot-Driven Search Engine Evaluation Overview

An overview and comparison of search engines that use spiders/harvesters to create the database.

Indiana University Library (1996). Understanding WWW Search Tools

Week Five

Discussion:

• Searching the Web, Part II.
  • World Wide Web--Search Engines
  • Meta-indexing
  • Comparing Internet search tools

Practice: Internet Search Engines


Indexing full content

• AltaVista, from Digital.
• Excite
• HotBot, from Wired Magazine.
• InfoSeek, sponsored by Netscape.
• Lycos, from Carnegie Mellon University.
• WebCrawler, sponsored by America Online.

Indexing page elements

• World Wide Web Worm, from the University of Colorado.

Recommended Readings:

• Bocher, Bob (1997). Effective Use of Web Search Engines.
• Koch, T., et. al. (1996). The building and maintenance of robot based Internet search services: A review of current indexing and data collection methods.
• Leighton, Vernon. (1997). Performance Among World Wide Web (WWW) Index Services: Alta Vista, Excite, Hotbot, Infoseek, Lycos
• Webmaster's Guide to Search Engines and Directories
• Winship, Ian. (1995). World Wide Web Searching Tools: an evaluation.

Week Six

Discussion:

• Information seeking behavior

Practice: Internet Search Engines
Note: You may add the Yahoo search engine for this week's practice.

Simultaneous Unifed Search Indexes

• Dogpile.
• Inference Find.
• MetaCrawler.
• SavvySearch, from the University of Colorado.

Configurable Unified Search Index

• CUSI: Search the Internet, from Quarterdeck.

Recommended Readings:

Nahl, Diane (1996). Affective Monitoring of Internet Learners: Perceived Self-efficacy and Success.

Presentation at the 1996 ASIS Annual Conference.

Nahl, Diane (1997). An Integrated Theory of Information Behavior: Taxonomic, Psychodynamic, Ethnomethodological.

A terrific (and lengthy) analysis of information seeking behavior in electronic environments. Note: I've never met Dr. Nahl, a Professor at the University of Hawaii, but I find her writing to be very stimulating.

Week Seven

Discussion:

• Information Technology and Society: Bane or Benefit?
• The future of the book

Recommended Readings:

Note: Don't be intimidated by the long list below, all of which are in the LRS collections or available online. I'm not asking that you read all of these, but you should be aware of the two general philosophic positions put forward: one supporting (often with evangelical fervor) technological progress, and one (with frequent ad hominem attacks on the evangelicals) cautioning whether any technology represents progress. If you are limited for time, look at least at Birkerts, Mander, Negroponte, Rheingold, and Talbott's Netfuture. An interesting dialogue between several of those listed below was published in Feed, 1995.

Birkerts, Sven. (1994). Gutenberg Elegies: the fate of reading in an electronic age.

Birkerts takes the lead in promoting the perceived technological threats to both scholarship and individual personality.

Stephenson, Wen. (1995). The Message Is the Medium: A Reply to Sven Birkerts and The Gutenberg Elegies. Provides a very sound critique of and response to Birkerts' generally pessimistic thesis.

Unsworth, John. (1996). Electronic Scholarship, or, Scholarly Publishing and the Public. Another excellent retort to Birkerts.

Dertouzos, Michael (1997). What Will Be.

From the chair of computer science at MIT, an optimistic tour of the potential of many technologies.

Lanham, Richard. (1993). Electronic Word: democracy, technology, and the arts.

Chapter 4 of Lanham's book is available online.

Mander, Jerry (1997). Interview.

An interview with Mander and excerpts from his In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations (1991).

Nahl, Diane (1995). The User-Centered Revolution: 1970-1995.

Originally published in Encyclopedia of Microcomputers, Volume 19, (New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.), 1996, pp. 143-199.

Negroponte, Nicholas. (1995) Being Digital.

The antithesis of Birkerts and Slouka; from the director of MIT's Media Lab.

Postman, Neil. (1992) Technopoly: the surrender of culture to technology.

Among the more rational of technology detractors. His earlier speech to the German Informatics Society (Stuttgart: 1990), Informing Ourselves to Death, provides a glimpse at Postman's overall theme.

Rheingold, Howard. (1994- ). Tomorrow, a series of columns.

Rheingold is considered one of the "gurus" of cyberspace. You might need sunglasses for the neon colors at this site.

Rheingold's seminal book, Virtual Communities, is also available online.

Slouka, Mark. (1995) War of the Worlds: cyberspace and the high-tech assault on reality.

While making a few valid points, Slouka's discourse is overly alarmist.

Stoll, Clifford. (1995) Silicon Snake Oil: second thoughts on the information highway.

A great lengthy essay that grew into a rambling book.

Talbott, Stephen. (1996) The Future Does Not Computer: transcending the machines in our midst.

Talbott edits the very interesting online forum, Netfuture, which provokes discussion of the main thesis presented in his book: namely that we should consider the consequences of mindless adoption of technology.

Several essays supporting Talbott's thesis (along with Birkerts, Slouka, et al.) can be found at Confronting Technology.

Turkle, Sherry (1995). Session with the Cybershrink: an Interview with Sherry Turkle.

Interview by Herb Brody that originally appeared in Technology Review. Turkle is known for her research into how computers can enhance as well as disturbingly alter personality.

Unabomber (Kaczynski?). (1995) Unabomber Manifesto.

A rambling attack on technology in general. More newsworthy than Birkerts, Slouka, Sale, or Talbott, but far less reasoned.

Mark Slouka offers an interesting defense of the Unabomber's analysis of the issues ("Sympathy for the Unabomber") if not his methods.

Week Eight

Presentation:

• Presentation of search engine evaluations from two groups (to be determined)

Discussion:

• Computer-mediated communication
• Freedom of information and censorship (a politics of cyberspace)

Recommended Readings:

• Herring, Susan. (1994) "Gender Differences in Computer-mediated Communication: Bringing Familiar Baggage to the New Frontier"
• Shade, Leslie R. (1994) "Gender Issues in Computer Networking."
• Electronic Frontiers Foundation (1995- ). "What's HOT in Censorship & Free Speech" Bulletins
• Hoffman, Donna L., and Thomas P. Novak. (1995- ). The Cyberporn Debate.

Week Nine

Presentation:

• Presentation of search engine evaluations from remaining groups (to be determined)

Discussion:

• Copyright and Fair Use

Recommended Readings:

• Cooke, Lynn (1995- ). Hot Property Hyperlinked Bibliography (Intellectual property and copyright law as it applies to electronic media.)
• Electronic Frontiers Foundation (1995- ). "What's HOT in Intellectual Property & Fair Use" Bulletins
• Oakerson, Ann. (1996). Who Owns Digital Information? From the July 1996 edition of Scientific American.

Week Ten

Discussion:
• Future: Where do we go from here?
• Virtual communities: hype or hope?
• Summation

At the end of this course, please complete the Course Evaluation and forward it to the instructor. Completing the evaluation will assist the instructor in improving the content and quality of this course. Evaluations will not be reviewed until after course grades have been submitted. Thank you.