Course Overview & Exploring the Internet Week 1 LBSC 690 Information Technology
Dec 31, 2015
Course Overview &Exploring the Internet
Week 1
LBSC 690
Information Technology
Agenda
• Why study information technology?
• Course description and syllabus
• Seven uses of the Internet
• Computing at UMCP
Why Study Information Technology• Doing a better job in your profession
Help clients
Develop new services
• Affecting the social impact of these technologieseducation and the web
digital libraries
ecommerce and the web
• Fun
Course Goals
• Learn to use common software tools
• Solve practical problems
• Evaluate the role of information technology
• Develop a personal plan for further study
• Understand computers and networks (building a better “mental model” of how information technology works).
(go browse course web pages)
Instructional Approach
• Readings– Provide background and detail
• Class sessions– Provide conceptual structure
• Electronic online provided in class
• Slides and videotapes available
• Homework, lab sessions, project– Provide hands-on experience
Course Organization
• Master the tools relatively early– Internet, word processors, spreadsheets, databases,
programming, multimedia– 2 readings and one homework each class session
• Apply the tools towards the end– Group work, library automation, educational
computing, social issues, digital libraries– 2 readings each week and the term project
Some Other Good Things to Do
• Consider aITs courses for background
• Work ahead
• Ask questions about readings
• Give us feedback
• Think about a project soon
• Ask for accelerated work if you can handle it (we’re looking to GRAs, web designers, researchers, etc.)
Course Materials
• Textbook– Oakman, The Computer Triangle 2nd edition
• Supplemental readings – Course packet available from IDSC
• Daily access to a networked computer!
• A few 3.5 inch floppy disks
Fall 96 LBSC 690 GradesFinal Score (Excess 75)
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Rank (higher better)
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Observations on Grading
• Exam scores are very important– The final is worth up to 10 homeworks– Moral: Use the homework to learn the material
• Little things can make a B into an A– less than 1 point typically separates B+ and A-
The Fine Print• Group work is encouraged on homework
– But you must personally write what you turn in
• Deadlines are firm and sharp– Allowances for individual circumstances are
included in the grading computation
• Academic integrity is a serious matter– No group work during the exams!– Don’t discuss exam until the completion deadline is
past
Breaks
• 10 minute break after the first hour
• 5 minute break after the second hour
• No sodas or food in class the teaching theater
Seven Uses of the Internet
• Telnet
• Finger
• Web (HTML/HTTP)
• File Transfer Program (FTP), downloading
• Newsgroups
• Talk, IRC
Describing Internet Applications
• Who participates?– Person-person, person-machine, machine-machine
• How many participants? (one other, many)
• Directionality? (one-way, two-way)
• Authentication? (authenticated, unauthenticated)
• When? (synchronous, asynchronous)
Networking Concepts• Understand the basic service as much as
possible
• Networked vs. Stand-alone
• Clients and servers
• UNIX versus PC/MAC
• (more in 2nd class session)
Telnet• Two way, computer-person, authenticated
• Gives you a login on another computer– Use telnet to read your email from wam.umd.edu
• Terminal emulation (VT-100) protocol allows only text– The pine email program is designed for VT-100– X Windows extension adds graphics
• WAM X-terminals available in CSS 4352
• Usage: from “run window”
Electronic Mail (email)
• Person-person, one-one, asynchronous
• Pine on WAM is easy to use– Eurdora is ok if you always use the same
computer
• Mailing lists provide one-many capability– 690 mailing list is [email protected]
• Anyone can send to that list
Email Addresses
• userid@machine+domain– (e.g., [email protected])
• Machine names are like postal addresses– Most general part is at the end (.edu, .com, …)– Most specific part is at the beginning (glue, …)
• Your userid (login name) is widely known. Protect your password
Finger (find user name and activity from user id)
• Find a name given an email address– finger [email protected]
• other “white pages” services
Web Pages• One way, computer-person, unauthenticated
• Uniform Resource Locator (URL)– Protocol http: (HyperText Transfer Protocol)– Machine/Domain //www.clis.umd.edu– Port (implicit) port 80– Path /academics/courses/fall99/690/– File (implicit) index.html
Finding Web Pages
• Bookmarks– Useful if you have been there before
• Access by category – (e.g., http://www.yahoo.com)
• Limited to things processed by hand
• Access by content - search engines– (e.g., http://www.altavista.com)
– Broad coverage, but lots more trash
– No really good search engines yet
File Transfer Program (FTP)• Two way, computer-computer, authenticated
• Used to move files between machines– Better than carrying a floppy disk around– Use FTP to send class notes from here to home
• ftp raven.umd.edu
• Unauthenticated version – Userid “anonymous” provides public access– Web browsers provide one-way anonymous FTP
• Usage: Command line
Net (USENET) News• Person-person, many-many, asynchronous
• Similar to a large set of mailing lists– Hierarchical organization
• Most general appears first (comp., soc., …)
• Most specific appears last (rec.aviation.military)
– Organized by site rather than by individual• No need to “sign up” for a newsgroup
• Reading news - – www.deja.com– pine (wam mail reader)
Talk/IRC
• Synchronous, authenticated
• Talk - connect to one other person
• IRC - connect to many other people
Computing at UCMP• Open Labs (IBM, Mac, Unix)
– HBK 2101 (open lab), HBK 2108 (CLIS only)– PG2 and HBK Basement: 24 hr WAM labs
• Need an aITs “pay for print” account
• Dial-in access (Unix only)– College Park (301)209-0700 (3hr)/864-2087(15min)– Baltimore (410)962-88865(3hr)/962-8867(15min)
• WAM userid and password required
Homework• Preliminaries (ungraded)
– WAM account, print account, email forwarding
• Email (use “pine” which is the wam mail interface)
• Listserve/Majordomo
• World-Wide Web
• USENET News
• FTP