General Information:

Instructor: Don Turnbull
Email:
Phone: (512) 232-3508
Office: SZB 562C
Office Hours: by appointment

Class Meeting Times: 12:00 - 3:00 pm, Tuesdays
Classroom: SZB 446
Course Website: http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~i385t-sw
TA: Larry Archer
Email:

Description:[Top]

This course surveys the technologies that support the Semantic Web. This course will approach understanding Semantic Web technologies from three perspectives:

Top-down, theoretical approaches to organizing semantic information including ontologies, taxonomies, knowledge representation and software agents.
Bottom-up approaches, sometimes called "emergent semantics" or "the lower case 'S' semantic web", for understanding and creating networked information including XML-based solutions including RDF, XPath and RSS. Also included are smaller, informal systems for organizing Web information including tagging (social bookmarking), microformats and other specific markup and distribution systems.
Application approaches focusing on Web Services or "Web 2.0" functionality including distributed (client and server) application design, syndication, Application Programming Interfaces, remote databases and "mash-ups".

Class work will include reviews of working semantic systems including discussion of their construction, interfaces and functionality.

Objectives: [Top]

Participate generously in discussions, attend class regularly, and complete assignments according to the course schedule.
Understand the history, state-of-the-art and future of Semantic Web methods and applications.
Use and evaluate Semantic Web Systems to facilitate individual and group work.
Develop a thorough review of Semantic Web application, both historical and speculative.
Originate and distribute research on a Semantic Web System topic.
Develop lightweight Semantic Web, Web Services or "Web 2.0" applications or alternatively research and write a scholarly research paper suitable for publication about topics related to Semantic Web techonologies.

Textbooks: [Top]

Required

Daconta, Michael C., et al.(2003). The Semantic Web : A Guide to the Future of XML, Web Services, and Knowledge Management. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Passin, Thomas B. (2004). Explorer's Guide to the Semantic Web. Manning Publications.
Flanagan, David. (2001). Javascript, the Definitive Guide. O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Estrella, Steven A. (2001). Web Wizard's Guide to Javascript. Prentice Hall.
Hughes, Cheryl. (2004). Web Wizard's Guide to XHMTL. Prentice Hall.
Estrella, Steven A. (2002). Web Wizard's Guide to DHTML and CSS. Prentice Hall.
Hemenway, Kevin and Calishain, Tara. (2003).Spidering Hacks. O'Reilly Media, Inc.
McFarlane, Nigel. (2005). Firefox Hacks. O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Bausch, Paul. (2005).Yahoo Hacks. O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Dornfest, Rael and Calishain, Tara. (2004).Google Hacks. O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Ducharme, Bob. (2001). XSLT Quickly. Manning Publications.
Boswell, David, et al, (2002). Creating Applications with Mozilla. O'Reilly Media, Inc.
McFarlane, Nigel. (2003). Rapid Application Development with Mozilla. Prentice Hall PTR.
Haynes, David. 2004. Metadata for Information Management and Retrieval. Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Mailing List: [Top]

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Please email presentations to the class TA.