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MM3412: The New Publishing

Winter 2002 Group Projects

Syllabus
Schedule
Instructors
Bibliography

Syllabus
1. Overview
MM3412 is a project-based course which examines approaches to publishing texts and images for the WWW. Central issues include project analysis and design, imaging for the web and for archival purposes, text encoding, the use of structured data for search and retrieval, and web presentation.

Primarily a course which fits into the technical component of the Multimedia program, MM3412 will also engage students on creative and critical levels, placing attention on both the processes and issues of electronic publishing and data structuring. Classes will be held in the Information Technology Learning Centre and will be a combination of lecture, instruction, lab work and the development of an overall project which will be created and accomplished in total by students either working in groups or individually. Final grades will be based on regular class attendance and participation, and on the demonstration of working knowledge of the material covered as exemplified by a series of short assignments, reflection papers, and the result of a final project which will be worked on throughout the term.

2. Specifics
As stated above, classes will consist of combinations of lecture and practical applications, the ratio of these two being dependent upon what is being covered that week. As a whole, the term will be broken down into three general sections: imaging, mark-up/ text encoding, and metadata. The intention behind dividing the term into these three sections is to demonstrate how an electronic publishing project is developed and how various and diverse components work together. Throughout the term, papers and assignments will be given to ensure that students are gaining the understanding necessary for us to continue moving forward, and we will be continually working on and reviewing students' progress on the final project for the same reason.

Intent:
Generally speaking, the intention of this course is to impart a working knowledge of the processes and issues of scholarly and academic electronic publishing and data structuring. Specifically, this course will be based in granting to to students a detailed introduction to standard practices of textual and image-based document mark-up and encoding. Using a combination of theory and issue based lectures and practical hands-on experience, students will gain an understanding of the intricacies of the ‘new publishing' and an appreciation of the ways in which their own interests in multimedia may be tied to these practices.

Classes:
Classes will be held on Wednesdays, between 2:00 and 5:00 pm, in the Information Technology Learning Centre, located on the main floor of the Harriet Irving Library. In this time, students will engage in discussions concerning the work and issues at hand, and will have an opportunity to participate in hands-on work with a larger project. For many of our classes we will have various individuals from the Electronic Text Centre and the University community in general who will conduct specific classes that pertain directly to what each specializes in. Their knowledge and areas of expertise will not only be useful in the classroom, but will also help students in the completion of the central project.

Project:
Given the nature and intention of this class, the main thrust can only be legitimately fleshed out in the actual production of an electronic publishing project. Although certain parameters will be dictated in this regard, the content of this project will be up to the students themselves. Breaking into groups of either one, two or three, students will organize, create and complete an entire website using all of the tools presented in the classes. As such, the form of the project will follow very specific lines and the content will more or less be determined by the participants of the class, constrained mostly by the fact that it must be both image and text based, and that it involve material which can be utilized in a search and retrieval environment and be compliant with the standards of TEI text encoding.
View sample project

Grades:
20% – attendance and participation: although attendance will not count for much in terms of a student's final grade, it is very important to note that in accordance with UNB regulations (B.11) a failing overall grade for the course will be given to students who miss more than four (4) classes without excuse. Participation in this class will also be included in this mark and, as such, students should be aware that because of the dynamic nature of our topic, and the general organization of the class and the material being presented, they will be expected to come to class fully prepared to speak their minds, ask questions, take risks, and make mistakes.

40% – papers: throughout the term, four short papers will be assigned, each worth 10% of a student's final. Not handing papers in on the specified date will incur an automatic failure (the Golden ‘F') for that assignment. Due dates are not flexible.

40% – final project and associated in-class work: of this 40%, half of it will be based upon the final product of the chosen project, and the other half on the process of creating it and on the associated in-class work. Students will need to keep in mind that if they are working in a group, any work that is done in class will be marked on an individual basis, whereas in the case of the final product each student working within the group they have chosen will receive THE SAME GRADE.

III. Schedule & outline of classes
January 9
Introduction – A. Titus
This introductory class will focus on two general areas: introducing the students and instructors to one another, and ensuring that the students have a clear understanding of how both the class as a whole will work and how the final project will develop and be accomplished. As such, this class will also be concerned with acquainting students with the basic parameters of the project. Class will conclude with breaking into designated groups for the project, and giving initial consideration of content. Students will be expected, for the following class, to bring their ideas in for further analysis.

January 16
Copyright & Project management – D. Foord & A. Titus
In addition to D. Foord's session, this class will be concerned with ensuring that students have chosen a topic and content for their projects. Time will, therefore, be given to discuss the appropriateness of each group's choices and to evaluate the direction that we will be taking in the following few weeks. It is crucial to recognize that the nature and substance of each group's project must be established at this point

January 23
Web Design I & Project development preliminaries – M. Bragdon & A. Titus
Examines Web design issues in terms of integrating content architecture with layout and graphic design. Students will be exposed to the processes involved in coordinating a Web publishing initiative with reference to the term project. Instructors will describe term project parameters, including content requirements, procedures, and possible divisions of labour among team members. Special emphasis will be placed on how each element of the course applies to the product student teams will deliver at the end of term.
Reading: Welcome to the HTML Hell Page

January 30
Project analysis – A. Titus
Given the fact that the intial stages of project evaluation have, by this date, been completed, this class will be mostly concerned with a more general review of project analysis issues and how they relate to what we will be doing in the following weeks.

February 6
Imaging I – M. Bragdon
An introduction to the production of digital images for print and the Web. Topics will include colour management, hardware/software requirements, file formats, and output specifications.

February 13
Imaging II – M. Bragdon
This session will cover the components of successful digital imaging projects, beginning with project planning through to final output. Emphasis will be placed on the integration of imaged content into mixed-media Web publishing initiatives. Students will spend the latter part of class imaging material for their term project.

February 20
Text encoding I – L. Charlong
The three text encoging classes will be an introduction to XML (extensible Markup Language) and to various XML text encoding markup languages including XHTML, TEI and OEB. In the first class students will explore the basic terminology and principles of text encoding and markup languages. Students will describe their own text documents and write Document Type Definitions (DTDs), a core feature of XML applications.

February 27
Text encoding II – L. Charlong
Public DTDs, such as XHTML, are available for many XML projects and applications. In week two students will examine one public DTD, the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) developed for the creation and interchange of scholarly texts. In the last of the three text encoding classes students will explore two additional DTDs - XHTML and OEB, a DTD designed for eBooks.

March 13
Text encoding III – L. Charlong

March 20
Metadata I – M. Bragdon
An introduction to metadata in the context of Web content management. Topics will include determining resource and user-specific requirements and the development and application of appropriate resource description frameworks. Students will index Websites using ETC Web metadata templates that conform to international resource discovery standards.

March 27
Metadata II – M. Bragdon
An examination of project-specific metadata issues, particularly those related to extending standards to suit local requirements and providing for cross-domain resource discovery. Other topics will include the choice and configuration of search engines, the delivery of dynamic content, and collaborative database development. Students will develop indexing and searching parameters for their term project's content.

April 3
Metadata III & Web Design II – M. Bragdon
An examination of opportunities for broader applications of metadata, current and future trends. Centre projects will be discussed in the context of conducting collaborative Web publishing projects. Students will refine the indexing/searching component of their sites and work with instructors to integrate this component with other site design ideas. Students will also have the opportunity to discuss other concerns/issues related to the term project.

April 10
Conclusion – M. Bragdon & A. Titus
This class will be spent mostly in a final evaluation of the large term projects. In addition, we will have a discussion regarding and career possibilities for Multimedia graduates and how the material covered in this course may help them in their future attempts to find employment.

IV. Instructors
Marc Bragdon
Electronic Services Librarian
ETC

Lisa Charlong
Assistant Director
ETC

David Foord
Manager of Intellectual Property
Centre for Research and Development Services
UNB

Sue Fisher
Electronic Services Librarian
ETC

Andrew Titus
Lab manager/ Coordinator MM3412
ETC

V. Bibliography

I. Texts (This reading material, although not required, is recommended for both students' interest and to facilitate research regarding term projects. All of these can be found in the Harriet Irving Library)

Group 1 – Scholarly electronic publishing & standards

1. Adler, Sharon; The Birth of a Standard (SGML), in ‘Journal of the American Society for Information Science' 43/8 (Sept. 1992) Z1007.A51
2. Alschuler, Liora; ABCD — SGML: a user's guide to structured information, QA76.73.S44 A47
3. Derose, Steven J.; Markup Systems in the Present, in Digital Word: Text-Based Computing in the Humanities (edited by George P. Landow & Paul Delaney) PN98.E4 D54
4. Flynn, Peter; Understanding SGML and XML Tools: practical programs for handling structured text, QA76.76.H94 F59
5. Henderson, Albert; Electronic Databases and Publishing, Z699.E62
6. Hockey, Susan; A Guide to Computer Applications in the Humanities, AZ105.H63
7. Huitfeldt, Claus; Multi-Dimensional Texts in a One-Dimensional Medium in ‘Computers and the Humanities [=Special Issue, Humanities Computing in Norway]' 28/4-5 (pp. 235 - 241), Z669.5.H8 C65
8. Ide, Nancy & Jean Veronis (ed.'s); Text Encoding Initiative: background and context, QA76.9.T48 T47
9. Newby, Gregory & Robin Peek (ed.'s); Scholarly Publishing: the electronic frontier, Z479.S366
10. O'Donnell, James J. & Ann Okerson (ed.'s); Scholarly Journals at the Crossroads: a subversive proposal for electronic publishing, Z286.E43 S39
11. Okerson, Ann; Filling the Pipeline and Paying the Piper, Z286.S37 F55
12. --- ; Gateways, Gatekeeper, and Roles in the Information Omniverse, Z286.E34G38
13. --- ; Scholarly Publishing on the Electronic Networks: the new generation, visions and opportunities in not-for-profit publishing, Z286.S37 S332
14. Sommer, Peter & Fran Spigai; Guide to Electronic Publishing, Z249.3.S67
15. Spring, Michael; Electronic Printing and Publishing: the document processing revolution, Z286.E43 S67
16. Van Herwijnen, Eric; Practical SGML, QA76.73.S44 V36

Group 2 – Humanities related works

1. Burrows, Roger and Mike Featherstone (ed.'s); Cyberspace, cyberbodies, cyberpunk : cultures of technological embodiment, GN298 .C93 1995x
2. Cherny, Lynn and Elizabeth Reba Weise (ed.'s); Wired women : gender and new realities in cyberspace, HQ1180 .W57 1996
3. Fountain, Jane E.; Building the virtual state : information technology and institutional change, JK2445 .A8 F68 2001
4.Groothuis, Douglas; The soul in cyberspace, BR115 .C65 G76 1997
5. Hakken, David; Cyborgs@cyberspace? : an ethnographer looks to the future, QA76.9 .C66 H34 1999
6. Holtzman, Steven; Digital mosaics : the aesthetics of cyberspace, NX260 .H65 1997
7. Jones, Steven G.(ed.); Doing Internet research : critical issues and methods for examining the Net, TK5105.875 .I57 D66 1999
8. Kearsley, Greg; Online education : learning and teaching in cyberspace, LB1028.5 .K35 2000
9. Kollock, Peter and Marc A. Smith (ed.'s); Communities in cyberspace, HQ1178 .C65 1999
10. Ludlow, Peter; High noon on the electronic frontier : conceptual issues in cyberspace, QA76.9 .C66 L84 1996
11. O'Donnell, James J.;Avatars of the word : from papyrus to cyberspace, P96 .T42 O36 1998
12.Sondheim, Alan; Being on line, net subjectivity = Saib*omaindu, Net‘u Chuch‘es*ong, TK5105.875 .I57 B44 1996

II. Websites (As with the texts, these are not necessarily required reading, but students will definately find these materials helpful and informative as research resources and as demonstrations of various kinds of multimedia applications)

Group1 — research

1. Electronic Text Centre at the University of Virginia: explanations, tutorials, help sheets, etc. regarding most aspects of textual encoding and markup
2. Dublin Core homepage: contains much of what there is to be had regarding both theoretical issues and concrete practices of Dublin Core.
3. Textual Encoding Initiative homepage
4. World Wide Consortium homepage
5. Scholarly electronic publishing bibliography: contains many links to articles on various subjects concerning textual encoding, metadata and markup languages
6. SGML/ XML Homepage
7. TEI Text Encoding in Libraries: Guidelines for Best Practices
8. Virginia's 'Tools for building websites'
9. University of Georgia general introduction to SGML
10. Microsoft XML tutorial
11. Tutorial on XML vocabulary and applications
12. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh guide concerning central issues of web authoring
13. WC3 Reference specification for HTML 3.2
14. Displays a wide variety of web-based Dublin Core templates
15. Arbortext tutorial concerning getting started with SGML
16. Growing up digital homepage, focusing on cultural issues surrounding the digital generation

Group 2 — applications

1.SCL homepage -- An excellent example of an e-journal ‘under construction' where a print-based journal is being transferred onto the WWW
2. Qwerte -- fully equipped interactive e-journal, independent of print
3. Morpo -- literary e-journal, five years in operation, fully archived index
4. Marston diaries electronic version of the diaries of 18th century Loyalist adventurer Benjamin Marston. Includes images, text, search base and description of project
5. Project Muse, created by Johns Hopkins University Press and the Milton S. Eisenhower Library — access to the full text of over forty electronic journals in the humanities, social sciences and mathematics
6. Cornell library, journal and museum on-line