University of Arizona

School of Information Resources & Library Science

IRLS 695E: Controlled Vocabularies

Spring 2003 - Course Outline (draft)

Instructor: Anita S. Coleman
Office Hours: By email
WebCT Technical Support:
GAT: Scott Denlinger
Mode of Instruction: Virtual via WebCT
First day of classes: 15 January 2003; First day for IRLS 695E: 17 January 2003
Course Listserv: IRLS695e

Course Texts

Required Texts:

1. ANSI/NISO Z39.19 - 1993 (R1998) Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Thesauri. 84 pp. ISBN: 1-880124-04-1 Price: $55. URL: http://www.niso.org/standards/index.html.
Note: The full-text of this standard can be downloaded from NISO site for free as an Adobe file or purchased from NISO.

2. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition By Peter Morville, Louis Rosenfeld 2nd Edition 2002 0-596-00035-9, 486 pages, $39.95 US. URL: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/infotecture2/toc.html

Catalog Description

IRLS 695: This course provides an introduction to knowledge organization systems that use controlled vocabularies. Principles, standards, design and maintenance of thesauri using computer software are studied. The use of controlled vocabularies in electronic information environments such as the WWW is explored.

Course Description

This course introduces the emerging field of Information Architecture and focuses on the need and use of controlled vocabularies in websites. Includes the study of the ANSI NISO standard Z39.19, Guidelines for the construction, format, and management of monolingual thesauri.

Course History

This course has its genesis in Knowledge Structures II, but it is significantly different from KS 2 as taught in the past. You can find descriptions of how KS 2 was taught by Prof. Fallis in Spring 2000 , Spring 2001 , and by myself in Spring 2002 . We have now separated knowledge organization processes into several courses as follows: Organization of Information (IRLS 401/501, previously called Knowledge Structures I), Cataloging and Metadata Management (to be offered this summer), Indexing and Abstracting (offered last fall), Classification (to be offered Spring 2004), Controlled Vocabularies (now), and Knowledge Structures (TBA). You can read about this in an article titled, Interdisciplinarity: The Road Ahead for Education in Digital Libraries.

Goals and Objectives

Broad and intended learning outcomes include:

Knowledge of the standard guidelines for constructing monolingual thesauri
Understanding of information architecture, specifically, the role of controlled vocabularies
Ability to analyse the usability of websites
Familiarity with new tools and technologies for electronic information organization, creation, navigation, display and use

Course Requirements

Requirements and specific assignments/activities include:

Assignment 1: Internet Discovery Exercise
Assignment 2: Usability Study
Assignment 3: Facets Exercise
Assignment 4: Thesaurus

Details will be given within WebCT.

Methods of Instruction

The classroom environment for this virtual course is WebCT . Here are guidelines to help schedule learning:

Do not expect to do too much within WebCT itself until after Feb. 1. Read your text, this syllabus, etc.

Complete weekly readings by the end of the day they are scheduled.

Adhere to the UA codes of student conduct and academic integrity.

Use the opportunity to work with plenty of practical tools from the KS Toolbox . Discussions, exercise, and final project will require you to be familiar with many of these tools. Get a head start by browsing, reading, and interacting with the resources assembled here.

Schedule of Readings

Important Note: The NISO standard is referred to as Z39.19 and the Information Architecture text is referred to as Rosenfeld & Morville.

Week 1, Jan. 17 - Defining Information Architecture
Read Rosenfeld & Morville, Chapter 1, Defining Information Architecture
Read Rosenfeld & Morville, Chapter 2, Practising Information Architecture

Week 2, Jan. 24 - Defining Controlled Vocabularies
Read Z39.19, Section 1, Introduction
Read Z39.19, Section 2, Scope of the Standard
Read Rosenfeld & Morville, Chapter 9: Thesauri, Controlled Vocabularies, and Metadata, p. 176 - 197.

Week 3, Jan. 31 - Fundamentals of Information Architecture
Read Rosenfeld & Morville, Chapter 3: User Needs and Behaviors
Read Rosenfeld & Morvile, Chapter 4: The Anatomy of An Information Architecture

Week 4, Feb. 7 - Distinguishing IA Components
Read Rosenfeld & Morville, Chapter 5, Organization Systems
Read Rosenfeld & Morville, Chapter 8, Search Systems

Week 5, Feb. 14 - Information Presentation
Read Rosenfeld & Morville, Chapter 6, Labeling Systems
Read Rosenfeld & Morville, Chapter 7, Navigation Systems

Week 6, Feb. 21 - Evaluating WebSites
Read Rosenfeld & Morville, Chapter 10, Research

Week 7, Feb. 28 - Fundamentals of Controlled Vocabularies
Read Rosenfeld & Morville, Chapter 9, Thesauri, Controlled Vocabularies, and Metadata, p. 198 - 208
Read Z39.19, Section 3 and 4

Week 8, Mar. 7 - Fundamentals of Controlled Vocabularies
Read Rosenfeld & Morville, Chapter 9, Thesauri, Controlled Vocabularies, and Metadata, p. 198 - 208
Read Z39.19, Section 3 and 4

Week 9, Mar. 14 - Relationships
Read Z39.19, Section 5

Week 10, Mar. 21 - Spring Break!
Happy Spring Break!

Week 11, Mar. 28 - Thesaurus Construction

Week 12, April 4 - Thesaurus Maintenance

Week 13, April 11 - Review

Week 14, April 18 - Information Presentation (continued)
Read Z39.19, Section 6
Read Z39.19, Section 7

Week 15, April 25 - Submit Major Project

Week 16, May 2 - Finals week (Last day of class)

Milestones/Important Dates

May 7 - Final papers due
Due Dates for other assignments will be given within WebCT.

Evaluation

All work must be turned in on the dates due by 5:00 pm Arizona time (unless other times are allowed by the WebCT submission facility). WebCT will NOT allow submissions past the DUE Date/Time if I have set it up to be so. Therefore, read your Assignments page and instructions carefully. Availability times are very clearly marked under the Assignments link in WebCT and in case of doubt, email the GAT for the course.
All work must be turned in using the submit/email facility within WebCT.
HTML format must be used for all work turned in for grading.

Grade Breakdown:
Assignment 1: 10%
Assignment 2: 30%
Assignemnt 3: 20 %
Assignment 3: 40%
Total: 100%

Grade Assignment:
All work must be done and turned in on time to get a passing grade in this course. Course grades will be assigned as follows:
A=90+ (Superior work)
B=80-89 (Very Good)
C=70-79 (Marginally satisfactory)
F=0-69 (Failed)

WebCT will contain the final, definitive syllabus and record of all work to be done for this course.

Coleman Home | Syllabus
Created By: Anita S. Coleman