CS 502 Architecture of Web Information Systems and Digital Libraries Spring 2002 Logistics

Basic Information

Lectures and Discussions:	Tuesday and Thursday 2:55-4:10, Thurston 205
Instructor:	Carl Lagoze, lagoze@cs.cornell.edu, Rhodes 424, 255-6046
Instructor's Office Hours:	Wednesdays, Thursdays 1:00-2:00, or by appointment
Instructor's Assistant:	Rosemary Adessa, rosemary@cs.cornell.edu, Upson 5147, 255-9555
Teaching Assistant:	Serge Kreiker, sk332@cornell.edu, Monday 4-5:30, Upson 326

Course Structure

• This course examines the tools and techniques for building and managing distributed information systems.  Two examples of such systems are the World Wide Web and the digital library projects funded by the National Science Foundation and other organizations.  Many of the topics examined through the semester are areas of active research in the computer science, Web, and information science communities.   The course will make extensive use of readings from those research projects.

• The course consists of:
      2 lectures per week
      2 discussion periods per week (following lecture)
      4 homework assignments
      mid-term examination (take home)   

• Readings will be assigned to prepare for the discussion periods.  Contribution to the discussion periods is one of the factors that will be used to determine the final grade.

Assumed Background

• This course requires a moderate level of maturity in understanding computer systems, architecture, algorithms, and data structures.  Ability to program in Java is assumed in the assignments.  

Assignments and Grading

The course grade will be based on course assignments, participation in the discussion classes, and the examinations (mid-term and final).  All assignments are group assignments (unless otherwise noted). All exams are, of course, expected to reflect individual effort.  The weightings given to these components are expected to be as follows, but these weightings may be changed:

Assignments	70%
Class participation	10%
Mid-term exam	20%

Readings and Discussions

As noted above, class participation plays an important role in student evaluation.  Readings will be assigned to prepare for almost all lectures.  Students are expected to participate in post-lecture discussion sections based and participation should reflect understanding of the assigned readings.

Feedback Responsibility

Like any Cornell course, the goal of CS502 is to provide the context for students to learn about a subject area that the instructor finds relevant and interesting. Students should expect that the course meets their expectations, is stimulating, and worthy of their time.  Students are responsible for alerting the instructor of any failure to meet these expectations - your feedback is necessary to making this semester successful.  

Email

A course mail list has been set up at CS502-SPR2002-L@cornell.edu.  Students are expected to subscribe to this list and monitor messages and announcements sent on it.  Instructions for using mail lists are at http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/email/using-lists/. NOTE: students can post messages on this list.  Please confine list postings to matters relevant to the entire class and help keep the traffic down to what is necessary.  

IMPORTANT: email for the instructor or TA should be sent to their personal email addresses (lagoze@cs.cornell.edu or sk332@cornell.edu) and must include the token "CS502" (e.g. "CS502 I need some help") at the beginning of the subject line to ensure prompt attention.