INFO 202-11
Information Retrieval System Design
Summer 2016 Syllabus
Dr. Lei Zhang
E-mail
Office Hours: Via email, Blackboard IM, or Collaborate by appointment
| Syllabus Sections Prerequisites Requirements Assignments Workload Expectations CLOs Competencies Textbooks |
iSchool Resources Canvas Login and Tutorials eBookstore |
INFO 202 Resources |
Canvas Information: Courses will be available beginning June 6th, 6 am PT 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.
You will be enrolled into the Canvas site automatically.
Course Description
This course covers the design, querying, and evaluation of information retrieval systems, from web hierarchies to controlled vocabularies.
Course Requirements
Complete INFO 203 Online Learning: Tools and Strategies for Success.
This is a mandatory 1 unit course that introduces students to the various e-learning tools used in the iSchool program. For more information, see: http://ischool.sjsu.edu/current-students/courses/core-courses-and-electives
Technology Requirements
- Have the minimal home or work computing environment:
http://ischool.sjsu.edu/current-students/technology-support/home-computing-environment - Meet the School of Information's Technology Literacy requirements:
http://ischool.sjsu.edu/prospective-students/admissions/technology-literacy-requirements - INFO 202 students will use WebData Pro, a web-based database management and information retrieval system, to create databases, manage database structures and records, and create a web-based interface for searching the database. WebData Pro is compatible with current browsers for Windows, Mac OS X, and iOS.
Assignments
| Assignment | Learning Objectives | Portion of Course Grade |
Exercises (in support of the Projects)
|
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | 30% |
Projects
|
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | 50% |
| Discussions | 5, 6, 7, others | 20% |
| Total | 100% |
Exercises help prepare students for the project work; they are graded credit/half-credit/no-credit.
Project 1 is done in groups, with two-thirds of the project grade based on group work and one-third based on individual deliverables. Projects 2 and 3 are done in partners or solo.
Students are expected to provide a substantive and constructive response to the discussion topics, read other students' postings and contribute to the discussion.
Course Calendar
A course calendar is available from the course site at the start of the semester.
Assignment Due-Dates
Submit assignments by midnight Pacific Time on the due date. Late assignments are not accepted except in cases of serious illness or family emergency. Check the course site daily for announcements and discussion posts.
Writing Requirement
If the instructor finds that a student's writing is unacceptable, the instructor will require the student to sign up for online writing tutoring. The student will ask the tutor to confirm with the instructor that he/she is attending sessions.
Course Topics
| Lesson | Topics |
| 1 | Introduction to the course & Overview of concepts
|
| 2 | Introduction to IR systems and system design issues
|
| 3 | Designing for search
|
| 3.5 | Information organization & retrieval
|
| 4 | Design processes
|
| 5 | User research
|
| 6 | Search
|
| 7 | Evaluation
|
| 8 | Designing for navigation
|
| 8.5 | Information architecture
|
| 9 | New developments & trends
|
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 202 has no prequisite requirements.
Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Design two major kinds of information retrieval systems: metadata and web hierarchies.
- Understand the basic vocabulary and concepts of information retrieval (IR), and use them in class discussions and analyses of IR design projects; understand the concepts, principles, challenges, and work embodied in the assignments as representative of concepts, principles, challenges, and work described in course content.
- Identify standards and best practices for metadata, classification schema and hierarchies, and apply them in assignments.
- Identify an appropriate user group for an IR product, assess their information needs, conduct user research, and design an information retrieval system to meet those needs.
- Explain and apply basic design principles for usability, focused on the content and organization of information for retrieval.
- Use Boolean logic and other methods to query the databases created as class assignments with effective searches in both natural language and controlled vocabulary fields; navigate hierarchies efficiently.
- Evaluate a database information retrieval system, including its vocabularies, using standard measures such as recall and precision; evaluate interfaces for information retrieval using basic principles of interface design.
Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)
INFO 202 supports the following core competencies:
- E Design, query, and evaluate information retrieval systems.
- G Demonstrate understanding of basic principles and standards involved in organizing information such as classification and controlled vocabulary systems, cataloging systems, metadata schemas or other systems for making information accessible to a particular clientele.
Textbooks
Required Textbooks:
- Tucker, V.M. (Ed.). (2018). Information retrieval system design: Principles & practice (edition 5.1). AcademicPub/XanEdu. Available as eBook, softcover, or spiralbound; see ordering instructions.
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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