**DRAFT  VERSION  October  25,  2016**  

   

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IST681 Metadata Spring 2017

 Instructor:  Brian  Dobreski  Office:  337  Hinds  Phone:  (315)  443-­‐5509    Time:  Online  (Wednesday)  Place:  Online  Email:  bjdobres@syr.edu  Office  Hours:  TBA  

   

Overview    Metadata  has  broad  applications  in  many  domains  that  deal  with  digital  information  management  and  services.  This  course  introduces  concepts,  principles,  and  practices  of  metadata.  Topics  covered  in  this  course  include  the  design  of  metadata  element  sets  and  schemas,  data  binding  formats,  interoperability,  metadata  administration,  tools,  vocabulary  for  metadata  elements  and  values,  and  quality  control  and  evaluation.  Students  will  have  opportunities  to  examine  international  metadata  standards,  activities,  and  projects  through  case  studies.  The  course  will  discuss  metadata’s  role  in  information  search  and  display,  and  provide  extensive  opportunities  for  hands-­‐on  experience  with  metadata  management  systems.  Student  performance  will  be  assessed  by  a  series  of  exercises  as  well  as  a  final  group  project.    Objectives      At  the  end  of  this  course,  students  are  expected  to  be  able  to:    

• Demonstrate  a  good  understanding  of  metadata  concepts  and  standards    • Become  familiar  with  various  metadata  schemas  that  are  based  on  standards    • Design  and  implement  a  metadata  scheme  for  an  application  domain  by  using  standards  or  developing  

application  profiles    • Understand  metadata  interoperability  and  develop  mechanisms  for  metadata  transformation  and  

communication  between  systems    • Design  search  and  navigation  architecture  based  on  metadata  elements    

 Prerequisite    Students  are  strongly  recommended  to  have  taken  IST  616,  or  IST  558.  Equivalent  courses  and  experiences  in  database  design  and/or  information  organization  and  retrieval  will  also  be  considered  as  meeting  the  prerequisite.  Basic  skills  in  HTML  coding  are  expected.    

   Required  Text      Zeng,  M.  L.  &  Qin,  J.  (2016).  Metadata.  2nd  ed.  New  York:  Neal-­‐Schuman.  ISBN:  9781555709655    Additional  readings  will  be  available  in  Blackboard          Online  Resources    Metadata  etc.  (textbook’s  accompanying  website)  URL:  http://metadataetc.org/    

**DRAFT  VERSION  October  25,  2016**  

   

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 Assessment      

• Assignments  (5  x  10  points  =  50%)    • Final  Project  (35  points  =  35%)  • Participation  in  and  contribution  to  class  discussions  and  exercises  (15%)    

 Grading  Scale    The  chart  below  shows  how  letter  grades  will  be  assigned  for  the  final  course  grade  based  upon  points  earned  from  all  assessments.    Points  Earned   Letter  Grade  95-­‐100   A  90-­‐94.9   A-­‐  85-­‐89.9   B+  80-­‐84.9   B  75-­‐79.9   B-­‐  70-­‐74.9   C+  65-­‐69.9   C  60-­‐64.9   C-­‐  Below  60   F      Academic  Integrity    Syracuse  University  sets  high  standards  for  academic  integrity.  Those  standards  are  supported  and  enforced  by  students,  including  those  who  serve  as  academic  integrity  hearing  panel  members  and  hearing  officers.  The  presumptive  sanction  for  a  first  offense  is  course  failure,  accompanied  by  the  transcript  notation  “Violation  of  the  Academic  Integrity  Policy.”  The  standard  sanction  for  a  first  offense  by  graduate  students  is  suspension  or  expulsion.  Students  should  review  the  Office  of  Academic  Integrity  online  resource  “Twenty  Questions  and  Answers  About  the  Syracuse  University  Academic  Integrity  Policy”  and  confer  with  instructors  about  course-­‐specific  citation  methods,  permitted  collaboration  (if  any),  and  rules  for  examinations.  The  Policy  also  governs  the  veracity  of  signatures  on  attendance  sheets  and  other  verification  of  participation  in  class  activities.  Additional  guidance  for  students  can  be  found  in  the  Office  of  Academic  Integrity  resource:  What  does  academic  integrity  mean?      Faith-­‐Based  Observances    Syracuse  University  does  not  have  non-­‐instructional  days  for  any  religious  holiday  and  students  must  notify  instructors  by  the  end  of  the  second  week  of  class  when  they  will  be  observing  their  religious  holiday(s).    Students  have  access  to  an  online  notification  form  through  MySlice  for  two  weeks  beginning  from  the  first  day  of  class  that  they  can  use  to  notify  their  instructors.      Students  with  Disabilities  If  you  believe  that  you  need  accommodations  for  a  disability,  please  contact  the  Office  of  Disability  Services  (ODS),  http://disabilityservices.syr.edu,  located  at  804  University  Avenue,  room  309,  or  call  315-­‐443-­‐4498  for  an  appointment  to  discuss  your  needs  and  the  process  for  requesting  accommodations.  ODS  is  responsible  for  coordinating  disability-­‐related  accommodations  and  will  issue  students  with  documented  disabilities  “Accommodation  Authorization  Letters,”  as  appropriate.  Since  accommodations  may  require  early  planning  and  generally  are  not  provided  retroactively,  please  contact  ODS  as  soon  as  possible.    

**DRAFT  VERSION  October  25,  2016**  

   

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MSLIS:  School  Media  Assessment  (School  Media  students  only)    The  MSLIS:  School  Media  is  part  of  the  Syracuse  University  Unit  for  Preparing  School  Professionals,  which  is  accredited  by  the  Council  for  the  Accreditation  of  Educator  Preparation  (CAEP).  As  a  part  of  that  accreditation,  the  iSchool  must  assess  School  Media  student  performance  on  the  competencies  that  correlate  to  MSLIS:  School  Media  outcomes.    The  competencies  that  are  assessed  are  identical  to  the  items  on  your  Competency  Checklist.      As  a  part  of  MSLIS:  School  Media  planning,  course-­‐embedded  assessments  have  been  aligned  with  student  competencies.    For  CAEP  reporting,  each  faculty  member  with  competency-­‐based,  course-­‐embedded  assessments  is  asked  to  rate  (1=Ineffective,  2=Developing,  3=Effective  or  4=Highly  Effective)  candidates'  performance  on  the  respective  competencies.  This  is  the  same  rating  scale  that  students  use  when  completing  the  competency  checklist.  Scoring  is  conducted  for  key  assignments  and  not  all  assignments  for  a  course.      What  this  means  for  you:  Your  individual  score  is  NOT  a  grade  and  it  is  part  of  an  aggregate  report.  If  a  student  is  performing  at  an  Ineffective  or  Developing  level,  a  comment  is  submitted  with  the  score,  which  is  also  aggregated.  Individual  scores  and  comments  are  not  associated  with  specific  student  names.