LIBR 287-05
LIBR 287-14
Seminar in Information Science
Topic: Web and Social Media Analytics (focusing on Measuring the Effectiveness of Social Media Usage in Libraries)
Fall 2012 Greensheet

Dawne Tortorella
E-mail
Office location: Online
Office Hours: Virtually via weekly Blackboard session (see D2L for schedule, one AM/one PM slot per week), by E-mail, by Bb IM, and by phone.


Greensheet Links
Textbooks
SLOs
Competencies
Prerequisites
Resources
D2L Login and Tutorials
iSchool eBookstore
 

D2L Information: This course will be available beginning August 22, 2012. You will be enrolled into the site automatically.

Course Description

Social media is a mainstream communication tool and little debate remains on whether libraries should maintain a social media presence. Instead, attention is turning to how best to integrate social media into the plethora of library communication and service efforts. Driven strongly by cause and effect, social media actions can resonant quickly throughout your service community.

In this course we will examine key principles of social capital in service organizations and how social capital is built and measured in the context of social media. Using case studies from libraries of all types, as well as government, business, and non-profit organizations we will analyze how to use social media tools in a concerted effort tied to metrics and results. This course will further provide methods of reporting these metrics in summary and visual form to organizational stakeholders.

Course Requirements

Mode of Instruction
Optional synchronous sessions (Blackboard Collaborate) will be provided throughout the semester to review course readings, provide demonstration, and present related concepts. All sessions will be recorded for asynchronous viewing. D2L will be the primary course repository for online discussions, submission of assignments, and for accessing readings and course materials. Additionally, virtual office hours (Blackboard Collaborate) will be available for drop-in and scheduled interaction.

 

Assignments

Organizational Profile: You will create an organizational profile to use as the basis for assessing social media communication. The organizational profile will include demographics (type of library or organization), service population, targeted audiences, brief inventory of key services and resources, time/event driven campaigns, and staffing. Sample messaging and social media communication plans will be based on your selected organizational profile. Example and grading rubric is available in D2L.  Due Date: October 15, 2012. (20% of grade) [Competency C - SLO #1]

Social Media Presence Sample or Plan:  Based on your organizational profile, develop a strategy for the organization’s social media presence. At least 3 social media platforms must be used in combination to support the organization's social media messaging. This assignment can be completed either through applied implementation and selection of a one-week time frame for review, or as a written plan identifying implementation steps and assignments for the organization. Examples of both implementation approaches and related grading rubrics are available in D2L.  Due Date: November 19, 2012. (20% of grade) [Competencies H, I - SLO #3]
Note: class participants will be asked to serve as audience members for colleagues’ organizations to elicit audience engagement.

Executive/Board Report: Prepare a 1-page Executive or Board Report which summarizes either a time period or a specific targeted campaign through social and web media. This report may include quantitative measures collected in the time period and compared against earlier periods, analysis of a specific campaign and the interaction/response elicited through social media, or development of an infographic to convey strategic information. Examples of these report types and grading rubrics are available in D2L. Due Date: December 10, 2012. (10% of grade) [Competency H - SLO #5, SLO #6, SLO #7]

Student Choice Assignments: Over the semester, students will select 5 task-based assignments to complete from approximately 10 choices. These are short assignments, usually template-driven, designed to help you organize management of social media and web content.  These assignments will be submitted via D2L dropbox. All assignments must be completed and submitted by November 26, 2012. Class members are encouraged to submit these throughout the course for feedback and to support discussion. The following examples illustrate the scope of these assignments:

    • Select a library or organization and visit their primary website. Document the visual and textual cues to their social media sites. Provide 3-5 strengths and/or weaknesses of how they communicate existence of their social media presence.
    • Use your own organization or a sample library.  Using a provided template, prepare a communication checklist to outline messages and social media platforms to be used in communication with your audience for a sample week.

(Each assignment is worth 5% of total grade, composite 25%)  [Competencies C, H, I - SLO #1, SLO #2, SLO #4]

Online Discussions: Online discussions comprise a key component of our learning experience. Each week a discussion post related to the readings will be provided. In addition, class members will be assigned to serve as moderator on a rotating basis, introducing a new and related topic to the week’s activities. An online discussion expectations sheet is available in D2L. (25% of total grade)

Course Calendar
Synchronous sessions (choose to attend live session or view recordings) [Subject to change with fair notice]:

Date/Time Topic
Thursday, August 23rd, 7-8 p.m. PT Class Introduction, review expectations, distribute class survey
Thursday, August 30th, 7-8 p.m. PT Social capital and the impact of social media/Social Network Analysis
Thursday, September 6th, 7-8 p.m. PT Review and demonstration of primary social media platforms
Thursday, September 13th, 7-8 p.m. PT Library case studies/Introduce Assignment [Organizational Profile]
Thursday, September 20th, 7-8 p.m. PT Social Media Strategy, messaging categorization
Thursday, October 11th, 7-8 p.m. PT Review drafts/feedback on Assignment [Organizational Profile]
Thursday, October 18th, 7-8 p.m. PT Trends: location-based social networks, mobile, media-based content
Thursday, November 1st, 7-8 p.m. PT Measurement and metrics, quantitative and qualitative measures and analysis
Thursday, November 15th, 7-8 p.m. PT Presentation of metrics; executive reports, statistical analysis, infographics
Thursday, November 29th, 7-8 p.m. PT Reserved for optional student presentations
Thursday, December 6th, 7-8 p.m. PT  Reserved for optional student presentations

Note: Based on previous scheduling commitments, I will not be available from September 22 - October 6. Course readings and assigned discussion topics/leaders will be scheduled during this period.

Grading

  • See assignment listing above for percentage allocated for each assignment
  • Up to 5 extra credit points awarded in total based on:
    • submission of additional Student Choice Assignments (see list of assignments above)
    • presentation of Social Media Presence Sample/Plan via Collaborate
  • For each day assignment is late, 2% of awarded points are deducted

Course Workload Expectations

Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will spend, for each unit of credit, a minimum of forty-five hours over the length of the course (normally 3 hours per unit per week with 1 of the hours used for lecture) for instruction or preparation/studying or course related activities including but not limited to internships, labs, clinical practica. Other course structures will have equivalent workload expectations as described in the syllabus.

Instructional time may include but is not limited to:
Working on posted modules or lessons prepared by the instructor; discussion forum interactions with the instructor and/or other students; making presentations and getting feedback from the instructor; attending office hours or other synchronous sessions with the instructor.

Student time outside of class:
In any seven-day period, a student is expected to be academically engaged through submitting an academic assignment; taking an exam or an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction; building websites, blogs, databases, social media presentations; attending a study group;contributing to an academic online discussion; writing papers; reading articles; conducting research; engaging in small group work.

Course Prerequisites

LIBR 200, Other prerequisites may be added depending on content

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  1. Develop conceptual and practical strategies for presenting information on a mobile device.
  2. Explain the elements of a good user experience.
  3. Describe user research techniques and a design and innovation methodology.
  4. Articulate the relationship between design thinking, user experience, and innovation.
  5. Analyze library websites with user research techniques.
  6. Evaluate a library website and identify good aspects and areas that could be improved.
  7. Describe how libraries can improve their physical touchpoints with user research techniques.
  8. Apply design thinking skills to identify opportunities for libraries.
  9. Identify nontraditional user-centered library programs or services and use them to explain opportunity for the future of libraries.
  10. Describe the web service model and be able to access and retrieve information from a 3rd party service.
  11. Design interfaces to display web service content on a variety of mobile devices through responsive web design.
  12. Examine programming and markup languages used for web application development.
  13. Navigate an IDE (integrated development environment) for web application development.
  14. Describe the model-view-controller (MVC) programming model.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

LIBR 287 supports the following core competencies:

  1. E Design, query and evaluate information retrieval systems.
  2. H Demonstrate proficiency in identifying, using, and evaluating current and emerging information and communication technologies.
  3. J Describe the fundamental concepts of information-seeking behaviors.
  4. N Evaluate programs and services based on measurable criteria.

Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

  • Blanchard, O. (2011). Social media ROI : Managing and measuring social media efforts in your organization. Que. Available through Amazon: 0789747413arrow gif indicating link outside sjsu domain
  • Shih, C. (2011). The Facebook era: Tapping online social networks to market, sell, and innovate (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall. Available through Amazon: 0137085125arrow gif indicating link outside sjsu domain
  • Solomon, L. (2011). Doing social media so it matters: A librarian's guide. ALA. Available through Amazon: 083891067Xarrow gif indicating link outside sjsu domain

Grading Scale

The standard SJSU School of Information Grading Scale is utilized for all iSchool courses:

97 to 100 A
94 to 96 A minus
91 to 93 B plus
88 to 90 B
85 to 87 B minus
82 to 84 C plus
79 to 81 C
76 to 78 C minus
73 to 75 D plus
70 to 72 D
67 to 69 D minus
Below 67 F

 

In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:

  • C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
  • B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work;
    For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA) — INFO 200, INFO 202, INFO 204 — the iSchool requires that students earn a B in the course. If the grade is less than B (B- or lower) after the first attempt you will be placed on administrative probation.  You must repeat the class the following semester. If -on the second attempt- you do not pass the class with a grade of B or better (not B- but B) you will be disqualified.
  • A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.

Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

University Policies

General Expectations, Rights and Responsibilities of the Student

As members of the academic community, students accept both the rights and responsibilities incumbent upon all members of the institution. Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with SJSU's policies and practices pertaining to the procedures to follow if and when questions or concerns about a class arises. See University Policy S90-5 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S90-5.pdf. More detailed information on a variety of related topics is available in the SJSU catalog at http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/catalog/departments/LIS.html. In general, it is recommended that students begin by seeking clarification or discussing concerns with their instructor. If such conversation is not possible, or if it does not serve to address the issue, it is recommended that the student contact the Department Chair as a next step.

Dropping and Adding

Students are responsible for understanding the policies and procedures about add/drop, grade forgiveness, etc. Refer to the current semester's Catalog Policies section at http://info.sjsu.edu/static/catalog/policies.html. Add/drop deadlines can be found on the current academic year calendars document on the Academic Calendars webpage at http://www.sjsu.edu/provost/services/academic_calendars/. The Late Drop Policy is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/aars/policies/latedrops/policy/. Students should be aware of the current deadlines and penalties for dropping classes.

Information about the latest changes and news is available at the Advising Hub at http://www.sjsu.edu/advising/.

Consent for Recording of Class and Public Sharing of Instructor Material

University Policy S12-7, http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S12-7.pdf, requires students to obtain instructor's permission to record the course and the following items to be included in the syllabus:

  • "Common courtesy and professional behavior dictate that you notify someone when you are recording him/her. You must obtain the instructor's permission to make audio or video recordings in this class. Such permission allows the recordings to be used for your private, study purposes only. The recordings are the intellectual property of the instructor; you have not been given any rights to reproduce or distribute the material."
    • It is suggested that the syllabus include the instructor's process for granting permission, whether in writing or orally and whether for the whole semester or on a class by class basis.
    • In classes where active participation of students or guests may be on the recording, permission of those students or guests should be obtained as well.
  • "Course material developed by the instructor is the intellectual property of the instructor and cannot be shared publicly without his/her approval. You may not publicly share or upload instructor generated material for this course such as exam questions, lecture notes, or homework solutions without instructor consent."

Academic integrity

Your commitment, as a student, to learning is evidenced by your enrollment at San Jose State University. The University Academic Integrity Policy F15-7 at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/F15-7.pdf requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The Student Conduct and Ethical Development website is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/studentconduct/.

Campus Policy in Compliance with the American Disabilities Act

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, or if you need to make special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible, or see me during office hours. Presidential Directive 97-03 at http://www.sjsu.edu/president/docs/directives/PD_1997-03.pdf requires that students with disabilities requesting accommodations must register with the Accessible Education Center (AEC) at http://www.sjsu.edu/aec to establish a record of their disability.

icon showing link leads to the PDF file viewer known as Acrobat Reader Download Adobe Acrobat Reader to access PDF files.

More accessibility resources.