INFO 284-01
INFO 284-10
Seminar in Archives and Records Management
Medieval Manuscripts: Codicology
Fall 2015 Greensheet

Dr. Linda Main
E-mail
Office: Clark Hall 420B (San José)
Phone: 408-924-2494
Office Hours: Virtually by e-mail


Greensheet Links
Textbooks
CLOs 
Competencies 
Prerequisites
Resources
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Canvas Information: Courses will be available beginning August 20th, 6 am PDT unless you are taking an intensive or a one unit or two unit class that starts on a different day. In that case the class will open on the first day that the class meets. Course sites will close on February 28, 2016.

You will be enrolled into the Canvas site automatically.

Course Description

This course will focus on codicology – the study of all aspects of the making of medieval manuscripts The course runs for 4 weeks: August 20th-September 17th

At the completion of the codicology class students will understand the:

  • Context of manuscript production and the people involved
  • Terminology employed to describe the elements, styles, and forms of manuscripts and manuscript illumination
  • Physical processes and techniques employed and in particular:

How designed
Why illuminated
How illuminated
Parchment, pens, layout of text, illumination, decoration

  • Types of text encountered

We will also consider how technology has enabled detailed world wide access to manuscript collections and examine some of the processes involved. 

Due to the online access now widely available there is an increasing fascination with medieval manuscripts.

  • In January 2015 Stanford ran a MOOC entitled: Digging Deeper: An Online Course about medieval manuscripts

Also see:

where  Erik Kwakkel blogs about medieval GPS, selfies, medieval speech bubbles and medieval texting.

The assignments will focus on fun and innovative ways to teach about early manuscripts and the assignments should act as evidence for comps J and K.

Course Requirements

Assignments

Assignment One CLOs 1,2

The content for the class will focus on Western Europe. Pick another area of the world (can be a specific country) and research the tools and materials used to make books before the development of printing in that part of the world. Your research should cover writing supports, inks, paints, illumination, decoration, binding. Due 3rd September (48 points).

Assignment Two CLO 3

You have been asked to meet with a school group (K-12 –pick your age group). The instructor wants the students to understand how manuscripts were made. You have decided to set the following scenario to make it fun for the group.

You are a monk or a nun in the late Middle Ages. Your monastery or nunnery is opening a new site on remote Rathlin Island off the coast of Northern Ireland. A scriptorium is to be set up at the new site. You are to develop a step by step manual that contains precise instructions for the members of the new community who will be setting up the scriptorium. Due 17th September(48 points)

Discussion Questions

Discussion Question One -due 27th August (2 points) CLO 3

Discussion Question Two-due 10th September (2 points) CLO 1

Late assignments will not be accepted. If you have an illness (medical certificate supplied) or a family tragedy please contact the instructor

Course Technology

This class makes use of a variety of technologies, and you should not take the class if your computer and Internet access are not fast and you are not comfortable with Web 2.0 tools. The assignments will be submitted as web sites built on a passworded Wordpress site dedicated to the class.  No Web programming skills are required but you will be expected to be comfortable with Web 2.0 tools that have easy to use user interfaces.

We are not using textbooks but will be using:

Inside the Scriptorium One

Inside the Scriptorium Two

IMPORTANT NOTE The school has a site license so there is no cost for iSchool students. You will access the software via a secured site that we run.

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

INFO 284 has no prequisite requirements.

Course Learning Outcomes

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

  1. Describe the textual and visual elements of the various layers of the main text and glosses.
  2. Describe the physical production of medieval manuscripts.
  3. Investigate the context of production and the people involved.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

INFO 284 supports the following core competencies:

  1. C Recognize the diversity (such as cultural and economic) in the clientele and employees of an information organization and be familiar with actions the organization should take to address this diversity.
  2. F Use the basic concepts and principles related to the selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation of physical and digital information items.

Textbooks

No Textbooks For This Course.

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.

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