New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
College of Computing Sciences (CCS)
CIS485-451
& CIS 786-851: World Wide Web Standards, Fall 2001
Professor: Michael
Bieber
Class Quick Links: [Home] [Schedule] [WebBoard] [Standards] [Definitions/Links] [Homeworks]
None.
Class members come to our course with a myriad of backgrounds, experiences and opinions. Some of you will have little Web and no development experience at all! Everyone will benefit from everyone else's knowledge and life experience.
The World Wide Web is constantly evolving. Standards are emerging for formatting, accessing, displaying, transmitting and structuring information. We shall learn about many of the Web standards and protocols existing and under development today. We also shall learn about the process of developing, using and planning for standards in projects and how to think about these strategically.
Our course will not involve any programming. Rather it will survey the standards, the standards process and the standards industry. This does not mean the course will be easy; it will be fairly intense with weekly responsibilities.
The course will have three major aspects: learning about standards in general, learning specific standards, and through developing our own standard.
For learning about standards in general, we will have a series of readings and discussions about standards related topics, lead by the graduate student members of the class.
For learning specific standards, teams of class members will present a certain number of standards each week and lead the discussion around them. We hope to find outside guests with experience in each standard who can "lurk" and assist in these discussions. Given the class size, each student team will present 2-3 times each semester.
During the second half of the semester, we will actually develop our own standard collectively.
Our course will include a lot of discussion to enable us to master the standards materials and learn from each other effectively. We are conducting our course in a distance learning format. This means that we shall be meeting on-line using WebBoard instead of in the classroom. This has several advantages. First, you can choose the days and times to be on-line. Everyone should plan to be discussing on-line 2-3 hours each week (this is in addition to the on-line reading materials). Second, unlike classroom discussion, it gives everyone time to think about their questions and responses before entering them. Third, there is a written log of all discussions on-line that we can look over later. Fourth, it will allow outside experts worldwide to join us occasionally.
All readings are on the Web, and will be linked to the course schedule.
We shall be using the WebBoard Computer Conferencing system. You can access WebBoard from your computer and modem at home, from the labs at NJIT (and Rutgers), or from any computer with access to the Internet network. Our class will have several "conferences" or discussion areas, once you log on. You will be responsible for the contents of all conferences.
In addition, any project or mentoring team in the class can ask the professor to create a private WebBoard conference for that team.
Class members must make four commitments to our course. First, we expect you to read all the assigned readings. Second, your classmates and we will rely on you to be a good team member on the various team projects. Third, we expect you to participate in classroom discussions. Fourth, you will be responsible for the materials discussed in all classes and readings, even if you need to be out-of-town, or are busy with work or other classes.
If you are having trouble keeping up, please let me know.
There will be several major activities/assignments over the semester. Each will be described in a separate Web page. All presentations will be done through WebBoard discussions.
There will be a midterm and a final exam. More details will follow.
Unfortunately, we must address plagiarism or copying work that other people have written in homework, reports, articles or on the Web. If you are going to use more than a few words from someone or somewhere else you must put it in quotation marks and you must cite it (say where you found it). If you paraphrase information from someone or somewhere else, you do not need to put it in quotation marks, but again you must cite it. Generally there is nothing wrong with incorporating other people's ideas to a limited degree, but you must make it clear when you are using and building upon other people's ideas. Plagiarism can result in failing the course and being put on probation. This unfortunately has happened to several students in the past in my classes.
I shall grade according the following scheme (which, like every other aspect of the course, is subject to change based on the good judgment of your professor):