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Digital Libraries

Digital Libraries

Feb 12, 2015

Syllabus: https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/1131285/assignments/syllabus

The project provides an opportunity to gain practical, hands-on experience by applying the principles and concepts that we cover in the course. Students will work in teams of three(-ish) on a semester-long project. Projects may take several forms. To name a few:

  • DL design and development (School of Architecture Videos, Presentations for IJoDL)

  • enhance a collection with additional metadata

  • targeted design and development of a new DL user interface (mobile)

  • data extraction from a set of documents (CSH, CCD)

  • evaluation of a DL's services

  • survey of a particular topic of significance to DLs (paper)

The product is not the point

While the project will give you an opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned, and in turn, learn by doing. The quality of the final product is NOT the only thing that matters to me. To reflect my philosophy, your grade will not depend solely upon the result of your efforts but also on your ability to explain sub-optimal outcomes. Explain why you made the design decisions that you did. Consider several alternatives before you select the one to design your objectives and approaches.

I value your high-reaching attempts and explanations of why some things worked out and others did not. A great outcome is one way of demonstrating that you have learned something. It may also indicate that you could have learned more by attempting something riskier.

Key dates

  • 20 January     Form teams, begin topic selection

  • 10 February*     Turn in final project proposal

  •  24 February     In-class update

  •  10 March     In-class update

  •  31 March     Preliminary demo

  • 21 April*    Final presentations, peer review

  • 8 May    Optional - iSchool open house

*Grade associated with this component

A final written report may take on several forms, which reflect the form taken by your overall project. For example, a literature review will result in a significant paper, while a DL development project may be supported by a written design document that explains the decisions made. There is no specific format for such reports, nor is there a minimum word length. Your writing should be precise and concise. The length of your report will not reflect your grade.

 

Meeting February 12, 2015

Make sure students leave with following information:

  1. know the other stakeholders and their roles and responsibilities

  2. understand the nature of the collection and its intended use

  3. understand the expectations of the various stakeholders

  4. know who to contact for questions about specific issues

  5. understand what resources are available in the SOA to support the students

  6. (probably more important) understand which constraints the SOA staff face in making the video collection available.