LIS636
Microcomputers in Libraries and Information Centers

Summer 2003

Time: M, W 4:30-7:30 PM. Room 355 Lucile Little Library
Office: 504 King Library, hours by appointment.
Instructor: Joseph Miller (jbmiller@uky.edu)
Telephone: 257-8854

[Objectives] [Exam Policy] [Grading] [Projects] [Schedule] [Supplemental Resources]

Objectives of the course:

To develop a conceptual and practical understanding of how microcomputers work and an appreciation of their importance in information systems.
To understand the function and role of microcomputer and workstation operating systems and how to utilize them. Command based and graphical systems are examined.
To develop an understanding of hardware and software selection issues.
To understand the configuration of a WINTEL microcomputer.
To understand computer file and directory structures and how computers physically store and retrieve files.
To develop script programming skills.
To introduce database design issues, modeling techniques, and relational database structures. Create and query a relational database.
To introduce markup language concepts and graphics techniques needed to create basic HTML web pages and upload them to a Unix based web server.
To develop an understanding of the microcomputer in a client/server based, networked (local and Internet) environment.
To develop higher order competencies in some widely used software applications: Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access.

Course Readings

The text is Peter Norton's Introduction to Computers Fifth Edition. (Note that this text is somewhat elementary and is used primarily for foundation material. It does not reflect the full depth in which we will explore some of these topics). Students will be assigned readings from this as well as a few other recommended sources; most of these other materials are on the web or will be made available in the SLIS Center for Applied Information Technology. The publisher of our text has a great web site with many links, study guides, and self-directed quizzes; the URL for this information is at http://www.glencoe.com/norton/online/. Readings should be done prior to the class meeting. Students are held responsible for material in the course readings. Another very useful resource for us is the University of Kentucky's web based training page at http://www.uky.edu/IS/Training/webbased.html where one can get online training with many of the applications we will use. Readings should be done prior to the class meeting. Students are held responsible for material in the course readings.

Class Listserv:

We have a listserv for this class that you must sign on for. You can do this from any email account. Students are held responsible for any announcements or other information posted to the listserv.

Exam Policy

It is the responsibility of every student to be present for exams. If a student misses an exam as a result of a documented illness or unforeseen emergency, the student will be given an opportunity to make up the test by appointment. If a student misses an exam for a non-medical or other non-excused reason, the instructor will make the decision on whether or not to allow for a make-up exam. Students wishing to schedule an alternate exam for a non-medical reason must seek advance approval from the instructor at least two weeks prior to the scheduled exam to be considered.

Grading

The grade for this course will be based on the following:
2 exams, 100 pts each = 200 pts
5 projects worth a total of 140 pts
Total: 340 pts.

Grading Scale:

100-90% (306-340 pts) = A
89 -80% (272-305 pts) = B
79 -70% (238-271 pts) = C

NOTE: Assignments are due at the beginning of the class period; late assignments will have 10% deducted for every class period they are late. The instructor reserves the right to modify (i.e. reduce) the number of projects assigned during the course based on schedule issues. Also note that two floppy disks (3.5”) should be purchased for use in this class. Since you will periodically turn in these disks to the instructor, you should not put other course work or email on them.

Plagiarism and Cheating

Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated. The University of Kentucky has established rules concerning these issues. You should have received a copy of this policy in your student handbook. Please note the penalties described for these activities.

Projects

Most of the projects are intended to be somewhat independent learning experiences and I encourage you to try to work ahead on these as you have time. However, we will discuss each project sometime in class before the due date.

Project #1: An introduction to the functions and use of operating systems. We will examine command line operating systems, Windows 9x, Windows 2000, and Unix. Tasks include navigating directory structures and basic file management commands. Use of the UAMS system will also be covered to create needed computing accounts (u-connect, SWEB). NOTE: You may need the specific files if you are working from home for project 1; they are available as links from the project section of our class web page. Note: get joe.txt and vampire.bat here.
20 pts

Project #2: Create your class web page in HTML
The class web page will be created and uploaded to the sweb server. This basic page will be updated periodically by adding links to completed future projects.25 pts.

Project #3: Office applications: (45 points)
Part 1: Word processing - Create a multicolumn newsletter from a given text file (assign3.txt can be downloaded)
Part 2: Excel - An Excel exercise in which a library budget will be prepared along with appropriate graphs and charts.
Part 3: PowerPoint - a short PowerPoint slide show will be created and made available on the web.

Project #4: An introduction to text based command scripts using batch files with replaceable parameters; applications to PHP will be examined. 25 pts

Project #5 (25 points): Part 1: Normalization theory. Part 2: Relational databases in Microsoft Access.

Schedule for LIS 636, Spring '03

Week 1:

6/16 Course introduction
Introduction to the microcomputer: The "Black Box"
Computing history and trends
Binary machines: binary numbers and Boolean logic

Readings -
Norton: Section 1A
Appendix A on history of computing.

Supplementary –
http://whatis.com/ on processors and machine cycles
Alan Turing
Charles Babbage
Ada Byron
http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/Files/ada-bio.html

6/18 Data representation and data hierarchies (ASCII, etc.)
Computer hardware systems: CPU cycles, RAM addressing, ROM, data bus.
Input/output devices
Graphics and displays
Secondary storage concepts
Hands on lab exercise

Readings -
Norton: Sections 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 5A
http://www97.intel.com/scripts-tji/index.asp

Week 2
6/23 Introduction to operating systems: command line and GUI
Functions of operating systems
The kernel and the shell
PC Boot up cycle
Command language syntax
Disk organization and directories
File and disk management commands
Navigating directory and file structures in a command environment
File names and extensions
Windows 9x desktop and file management in Windows Explorer
Introduction to Unix, Win2000/XP

Readings -
Norton: Sections 6A and 6B.
Online:
http://www.easydos.com/dosindex.html DOS commands
http://www.computerhope.com/msdos.htm
Randall, Neil. "So What's an Operating System, Anyway?" PC Magazine, May 5, 1998 v17 n9 p299(1)

6/25 Project 1 due
Executable files, DLLs, and search paths
The virtual machine (JAVA example)
Multitasking, multithreading, and OLE
Device drivers and peripheral configuration, manual vs. plug and play
Configuring WINTEL systems and role of important configuration files (config.sys, system.ini, win95 registry, etc.)
System interrupts and I/O addresses

Readings -
Norton: 6A and 6B, p 464

Week 3
6/30 Internet and the web
Markup languages and HTML
Unix and uploading files

Readings:
Norton: 1B and 8A
Levine and Young: Unix for Dummies, 3rd Edition, 1997. pages 66-71
OR use the following online readings:
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/docs/permsnote.html
http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~jgramke/Help/Web/permissions.html
http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~jgramke/Help/unix/unix/data/chmod.html
http://unixhelp.ed.ac.uk/
http://www.uky.edu/ComputingCenter/HelpDesk/Docs/Unix/UNIXcmds.html
http://www.uky.edu/ComputingCenter/HelpDesk/Docs/Unix/help/Pages/index.html

HTML Readings:
http://www.w3schools.com
http://www.susx.ac.uk/USIS/www/htmlguides.shtml
NCSA Guide: http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimerP1.html
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40-971218/intro/intro.html
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/

7/2 Project 2 due
Word 2000/XP
Review

Readings:
Norton: 9A

Week 4
7/7 Midterm
PowerPoint
Readings:
Norton 10A

7/9
Exam discussion
Excel

Week 5
7/14 Project 3 due
Programming processes, Software types and trends: compiled, interpreted, object oriented.
Introduction to text based scripted command files.
Batch files, replaceable parameters, flow of control; bat files as NT login scripts
PHP and JavaScript examples

Readings-
Norton 13A and 13B
Schildt, Herbert. DOS Made Easy, Chapter 8 (in CAIT)
OR use the following online readings:
http://www.computerhope.com/batch.htm
http://www.robvanderwoude.com/

7/16
Introduction to Database Management Systems
Entity Relationship Modeling
Access

Readings -
Norton Chapter 10B, 12A, and 12B

Week 6
7/21
Project 4 due
Query languages (SQL)
Normalization

Online Readings:
http://www.farmingdale.edu/~porciem/bcs260/bcs260d10.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~billkent/Doc/simple5.htm
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/accessdata2/chapter/ch04.html

7/23
Secondary storage details: How files are physically stored; Physical formatting; allocation units, sectors and tracks; logical formatting; FAT, root directory and file retrieval

Readings -
Norton 5A and 5B

Supplemental Readings -
Rosch Winn. The Winn L. Rosch Hardware Bible. 5 Edition Chapter 10
OR online readings found at:
http://webopedia.internet.com/TERM/f/file_allocation_table_FAT.html

Week 7
7/28 Project 5 Due
PC Memory and memory management
Review

Readings -
Norton: 7A

7/30 Final exam

Supplemental Resources (available in the Information Center or on the web):

Primary Sources

There are two important online resources I expect us to make use of. They are:

The textbook web site at http://www.glencoe.com/norton/online/ or at http://www.glencoe.com/norton/norton4e/introduction/index.phtml for those with the 4th edition)
The University of Kentucky's web based training page at http://www.uky.edu/IS/Training/webbased.html is antoher resource you may want to use.

Books:

Levine and Young: Unix for Dummies, 3rd Edition, 1997.
Rosch Winn. The Winn L. Rosch Hardware Bible. 5 ed. New York, NY: Brady, 1999. (Selected readings)
Schilt, Herbert. DOS Made Easy. 4th ed. Berkley, CA: Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1993.

Online Resources:

General Reference

Webopedia http://www.webopedia.com/
PC Online Guide: http://www.pcguide.com/index.htm
What Is? Computer http://www.whatis.com
Inquiry.com -- Get answers to PC questions! http://www.inquiry.com/

Selecting Hardware & Software

C/Net: Computer/Software Site (Reviews, Current News, Sales)
http://www.cnet.com
Insite Online Computer Superstore
http://www.insight.com/cgi-bin/bp/web/gdirect.html
Computer Discount Warehouse
http://www.cdw.com/
PC Magazine
http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/

HTML / WWW

HTML for Beginners / Internet Basics
http://www.w3schools.com
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimerP1.html
http://www.cnet.com/Content/Builder/Authoring/Basics/index.html
W3C World Wide Web Consortium Introduction to HTML
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40-971218/intro/intro.html
Yale Site on Web Page Design
http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/contents.html

LIS636 Microcomputers in Libraries and Information Centers