INFO 498A

Readings, Class Assignments, Term Assignment and Grading

All work should be conveniently located (i.e., easy for me to find) on your personal website.

Assignments, Deliverables and Grade Contribution


• One     Contribution to course grade: 15%
  Read the documentation (i.e., the blue page) for each database. Determine what your search command will be (i.e., au=Sally Sue Smith) by checking the indexing for the fields of each database. Logon to Dialog and request your database (i.e., begin 56). Record your results by either copy/paste or creating a log file. After completing your searching, edit your results file by adding appropriate comments explaining the results you received. Also answer the various questions that are part of assignment one.



• Two    15%
  Write a poem in SMS. Utilize various SMS short forms or Smiley Face forms. Maximum acceptable length = 160 characters. Write an accompanying commentary that explains your poem.



• Three    20%
  Write an essay exploring the relationship between written language and art (e.g.: words as art, artful words, words in art, text as an art form, etc.) Minimum acceptable length = 1000 words. You may substitute an original work of art that explores the same issues.



• Four    10%
  Go to the Art and Architecture Thesaurus ( Art library: Z695.1 A7 A76 1990 ) and find the best descriptors for (1) this course and (2) the picture. In both cases, write a statement justifying your choices.



• Five    5%
  Build an XML data source about signs/symbols.



• Six    15%
  Style an output page of your XML source.



• Term Assignment    20%


Design Brief October 20,2001

 

Class Readings for Discussion


One     Writing is an art form: yes or no? What is the difference between writing creatively and creative writing? Lettering creatively and creative lettering?

Reading: Orthography as a Fundamental Impediment to Online Information Retrieval


• What is the relationship between the Internet and language? Is the Internet changing language? Argue yes or no and supply examples.
  Assigned to everyone whose last name begins A - M



• How the major information utility of our age (i.e., the Web) handle art information? Use the major browsers such as Google, Lycos, Northern Light and so on to search for arts information. Search for artists, art works, art periods and the like and generalize from your experience. How good or bad is it?
  Assigned to everyone whose last name begins N - Z


Two     Indexing the World Wide Web?


• How to index the Web...
  Reading: Using Dublin Core

Assigned to everyone whose last name begins A - F and T - Z


• Maybe we can't index the Web...

Reading: Where is Meaning When Form is Gone?
Assigned to everyone whose last name begins G - S


Grading Schedule

If you keep track of the grades you receive for each assignment, you can figure out exactly what grade you'll receive:

Total Points	Course Grade
95 - 100	4.0
90 - 94	3.9
85 - 89	3.8
80 - 84	3.7
75 - 79	3.6
70 - 74	3.5
65 - 69	3.4
60 - 64	3.3
55 - 59	3.2
50 - 54	3.1
45 - 49	3.0
40 - 44	2.9
35 - 39	2.8
30 - 34	2.7
25 - 29	2.6
20 - 24	2.5
15 - 19	2.4
10 - 14	2.3
etc.	etc.