INFO 246-14
Information Technology Tools and Applications Advanced Topic: XML
Fall 2018 Syllabus

Lori A Lindberg
E-mail
Office location: virtual
Office Hours: by appointment. Please e-mail me.


Syllabus Links
Textbooks
CLOs
Competencies
Prerequisites
Resources
Canvas Login and Tutorials
iSchool eBookstore
 

Canvas Information: Courses will be available beginning August 21st, 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 will introduce the markup language XML and related technologies. Students will learn how to read and write XML, validate XML, and manipulate for reuse, data disseminated via XML. By the end of the course, students should feel comfortable with XML and related technologies. This course teaches the fundamental components of XML and lays the groundwork for further self-study or in-depth application.

A basic familiarity with the concept of text markup and the use of HTML is strongly recommended for success in this course.

Course Requirements

Software
Students are required to use the XML authoring software Oxygen XML Editor (currently version 20.1) for this course. You may purchase this software for $99, directly from the company, here: Oxygen XML Editor - https://www.oxygenxml.com

Assignments
This course is a hands-on, applied course. You will code a lot.

Assignments are:

  •  Exercises and quizlets learning about and creating XML - requirements available on Canvas, submitted via Canvas, due most weeks.

  •  Final exam - administered via Canvas

Course Calendar 

This course is structured overall as a series of Monday-Sunday weeks. Week 1 begins on August 21, Tuesday, so it is a little short. There will be no class activity during Thanksgiving week, Nov 19 - 25.

A reading schedule will be distributed via Canvas.

This schedule is subject to change with fair notice. The date in parentheses is the FIRST day of the week.

  • Week 1 (8/21): Setting it up: XML syntax, vocabulary, rules, validation
  • Week 2 (8/27): DTDs, namespaces
  • Week 3 (9/3): XMLSchema
  • Week 4 (9/10): More on XMLSchema
  • Week 5 (9/17): XPATH
  • Week 6 (9/24): Transforming for publishing - XSLT Part 1
  • Week 7 (10/1): XSLT Part 2
  • Week 8 (10/8): XML in action - TEI, The Text Encoding Initiative
  • Week 9 (10/15): Adding data presentation styling - XSL: FO
  • Week 10 (10/22): More XML in action - EAD
  • Week 11 (10/29): XQuery
  • Week 12 (11/5): Even more XML in action - RDF
  • Week 13 (11/12): The Semantic Web and Topic Maps
  • (11/19 - 25): Thanksgiving Week - Enjoy your break!
  • Week 14 (11/26): XML you've used without knowing: Ajax, RSS, SOAP
  • Week 15 (12/3): More XML you've used without knowing: MARC-XML

Grading

Your course grade will be an accumulation of 100 points distributed as follows:

Coding Exercises/Quizlets 90% Learning Outcomes supported: CLO#1, CLO#2, CLO#3, CLO#4
Comp Exam 10% Learning Outcomes supported: CLO#5

Deadlines and Due Dates

All Course lecture is delivered via recorded lectures. All other course content is delivered/accessed via Canvas and through your course text.

The course week will run from Monday - Sunday, with the exception of Week 1, which begins on a Tuesday. 

Lecture commentary/questions and discussion prompts (if any) from the instructor are due via their assigned Week's Discussion Board by Saturday of their Week at 11:59 pm PST so the instructor may comment and create any follow-up to accompany the following Week's lecture. Discussion is NOT required in this course.

All Coding Exercises are due on Sunday of their Week by 11:59 p.m. PST. Student questions about specific exercises must be submitted by the Saturday prior to their due dates at 5:00 pm PST in order to receive instructor guidance. See the Assignments and Course Calendar sections above for due dates.

All assignments are to be submitted complete on the due dates as specified. Students submitting assignments late will be penalized no credit for exercises in the assessment of the final grade. If a student cannot submit an assignment by the due date, it is his/her responsibility to discuss the situation with the instructor prior to the due date.

All dates will be posted on the course site calendar tool on Canvas. However, if there is a discrepancy between Canvas and this Syllabus, the Syllabus prevails.

Quality of Work
This is a Graduate course. Therefore, students are expected to produce mature written work of a scholarly level, free of spelling and major grammatical errors. For programming, attention to detail is essential.

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 246 has no prequisite requirements.

Course Learning Outcomes

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

  1. Identify the components of an XML document and be able to determine if such a document is well formed and/or valid.
  2. Describe the architecture of an XML document using Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and W3C XML schemas.
  3. Isolate and extract information from an XML document using tools such as XPath and XSLT.
  4. Use XSLT to transform XML into other formats.
  5. Describe how XML is used in libraries and other information environments.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

INFO 246 supports the following core competencies:

  1. E Design, query, and evaluate information retrieval systems.
  2. 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.
  3. H Demonstrate proficiency in identifying, using, and evaluating current and emerging information and communication technologies.

Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

  • Goldberg, K.H. (2008). XML (2nd ed.). Peachpit Press. Available through Amazon: 0321559673. arrow 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 or undergraduate (for BS-ISDA);
    For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA, Informatics, BS-ISDA) — 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 if you wish to stay in the program. 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.

Graduate Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA). Undergraduates must maintain a 2.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

University Policies

Per University Policy S16-9, university-wide policy information relevant to all courses, such as academic integrity, accommodations, etc. will be available on Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs' Syllabus Information web page at: https://www.sjsu.edu/curriculum/courses/syllabus-info.php. Make sure to visit this page, review and be familiar with these university policies and resources.

In order to request an accommodation in a class please contact the Accessible Education Center and register via the MyAEC portal.

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