CS 502
Computing Methods for Digital Libraries
Spring 2000

Assignments

Submission of Assignments
[Extra option added on February 6, 2000]

All assignments are to be submitted online. There are two options for submission.  

Nomad1

There is a shared directory on nomad1.nomad.cornell.edu called "CS502_homework" for submission of
homework. Students can submit to this directory, but not read it.  To mount the shared directory, use the following for the sharename and Connect As:

Path:    \\nomad1.nomad.cornell.edu
Connect As:   nomad\<your NetID>

You will be prompted for your password.  If you have not set one, launch sidecar and go to the URL:

        http://www.nomad.cornell.edu/password

Goose

[Please do not use Goose for home work submission after Assignment 1.]

Web sites
[Corrected February 6, 2000]

Some of the assignments require you to create or modify web sites.  Every member of the course has an account on:

nomad1.nomad.cornell.edu

Create a directory in your account called "MyWeb" and store your web pages in this directory.  To address a web page within your directory, use a "~" and your NetID.  Thus, if your NetID is "abc123", to address a file "file1.html", use the URL:

http://www.nomad.cornell.edu/~abc123/file1.html

[Note:  The name of the directory that you should create was originally expected to be different.]

Assignment 1: Identifiers
Due: February 8 at 12:20

This assignment is about Uniform Resource Names (URNs).  You will be using the CNRI Handle System which is described at http://www.handle.net/. 

To create handles, you need to be an administrator of a naming authority.  A naming authority is being established for each member of the class.   It is derived from your NetID, and is of the following form:

cornell.temp.<NetID>

If, for example, your NetID were "abc123", your naming authority would be "cornell.temp.abc123".

Practical

Choose a web sit, or part of a web site, with a dozen or so files.  (You might choose the site for this course, for example, or the January issue of D-Lib Magazine.)  Make a copy of the site.  Go through the web site and replace every URL with a handle.  Register the handles in the Handle System, with the links to which they resolve.  Make any other adjustments to the web site that you consider desirable.

For grading, submit: (a) the URL of the original web site, (b) the handle of the revised web site, (c) the URL of the revised web site. 

Report

Write a brief report (not more than 2 pages) that contrasts the maintenance of a web site using handles with using URLs.  What did you find awkward?   What was easy?

Assignment 2: Styles sheets and XML
Due:  February 22 at 12:20

This assignment has two parts, style sheets for HTML and a simple XML DTD.

D-Lib Magazine uses simple HTML markup without style sheets. You can inspect the markup using "View Source" on your browser.   For this assignment consider the first three stories published in the January 2000 issue.

(a)  The aim of this part is to use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to format D-Lib Magazine.  Go through the three stories and identify all the tags that describe the appearance of text.  Replace them with structural tags.  Create a style sheet using CSS that reflects the styles used by D-Lib Magazine in these stories.   Build a demonstration web site with the three stories and the style sheet.   Submit the URL of your web site.

(b)  The aim of this part is to represent stories in D-Lib Magazine with XML markup.  Create an XML DTD that identifies the structural components used in these three stories.  Markup the stories using this DTD.  Run software tools to confirm that the markup of these stories is well-formed and valid.  Submit your DTD, the marked up stories and the output from the software that you use to check for well-formed and valid markup.

To complete this assignment, you may need to use features of CSS and XML that were not discussed in class.  Documentation can be found online.  You will also need to find programs to check for well-formed and valid markup.

Assignment 3: The web
Due:  April 4 at 10 p.m.

The object of this assignment is to gather information about the World Wide Web.  There is no correct answer to any of these questions, but reasonably estimates can be found to all of them.  If a question cannot be answered in the form that it is given, explain why and answer as closely as you can.

  1. How large is the web?
  2. What formats are used in the web?
  3. What is the distribution of the material on the web?
  4. Who uses the web?
  5. Links?

In answering these questions you will find sources of information that range from carefully researched through guesswork.  You will find that many people repeat the same information (which may be wrong) without knowing the original source of the data.  For each questions, state the authority for the data.  How was it gathered?  Was the methodology well described?  What exactly does the data measure?  DATA WITHOUT A RELIABLE SOURCE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Assignment 4: Multimedia
Due: April 25 at 10 p.m.

Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL, pronounced "smile") is an XML format for synchronized multimedia.  The formal specification is maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium at: http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/.   Internet Explorer version 5 has good support for SMIL.  A good tutorial is available from Helio at: http://www.helio.org/products/smil/tutorial/index.html

Your task is to develop a simple web site using SMIL. 

  1. Select, from any source, 15 to 20 images and 3 to 5 clips of music.  (One possible source is the Library of Congress.)
  2. Associate with each image a short musical phrase that lasts a few seconds.
  3. Divide the images into about 4 groups each containing a set of images with their musical accompaniment.
  4. Create a web site that offers the user the choice to:
  5. Submit the URL of the home page

Check your web site to ensure that it is publicly accessible.

[CS 502 Home Page]

 

William Y. Arms

(wya@cs.cornell.edu)
Last changed: April 18, 2000