The collection and management of data plays an important role in today’s organisations. Increasingly, the importance of management of information and knowledge are also recognised. The understanding of mechanisms and ideas behind data and information management is an important skill in nearly all professions, as it helps to increase the personal as well as the organisational efficiency. This course aim is to furnish an in-depth understanding of the principles and key languages behind data and information collection, structuring, and retrieval, together with knowledge of their practical application.

In the course, we will address five topics related to data and information structuring:

• the design and management of relational databases and data retrieval with SQL
• the design of web pages with HTML and CSS
• the definition of data structures with XML, DTD, and XSD, as well as transformation of XML with XSLT
• the principles of information retrieval, esp. for unstructured information
• the idea and key principles of Semantic Web

After attending this course, you will be able to understand, describe and judge key approaches to data and information management.

Subject-related skills

• know the role of data, information, and knowledge in information
• understand relevant terms and principles from the area of information structuring
  
• create relational databases and write SQL-queries to retrieve data
• write HTML to create web pages and format them by defining CSS
• define structures of XML using DTD and XSD and create XML-files
• write XSLT to transform XML (esp. into HTML)
• understand key principles of information retrieval, such as Boolean logic in search expressions and Web Information Retrieval
• understand key principles and know key technologies related to Semantic Web
  

Soft-skills

• ability to autonomously collect, filter, and structure information on a previously unknown subject
• ability to assess own strength and weaknesses and adjust practices accordingly
• experience with designing own learning processes
• practice with decision making and planning
  

The aim of this course is not only to provide you with relevant theoretical knowledge, but also to enable you to put what you have learned into practical use. The design of the course reflects this, combining phases of knowledge acquisition with exercises and practical application. The instructor takes a part of a mentor, rather than a teacher; hence the course is driven by your active participation and learning needs.

The coursework can be divided into three areas: (1.) theoretical learning and preparation, (2.) practice in exercises, and (3.) project work. What does this mean in practice:

1. Theoretical learning and preparation. You will be provided with a selection of suitable (mostly online) learning materials that will help you acquire understanding of the area, such as key terms and concepts. You will be encouraged to work your way through this learning material, making notes and learning about the application of the concepts
   (e.g. what is a markup language or how theHTML works).
   
2. Practice in exercises. As it is impossible to acquire applied skills without practising, you will be provided with a lot of exercises on different levels to test and develop your abilities.
   (e.g. writing SQL queries, adapting HTML code)
   
3. Project work. To test the level of your skill, you will be required to work on a complex task. Unlike exercises that help you attain a particular skill, the project work will encourage you to use what you have learned creatively, to solve problems that you might encounter in practice.
   (e.g. designing HTML pages from scratch)

There are five presence units, better described as labs. In these units, you are free to ask the instructor to support your learning as required. While it is suggested that we focus each lab on a particular set of topics, this order is by no means binding and the content and activities will be decided by common vote. This means, that the participants will decide whether they want to place the theoretical learning, practice or even the project work into the presence hours. Part of the lab will be always devoted to the challenges that are a part of the assessment.

As the course covers a large number of topics within a very short period of time and with only 5 presence units, you will be expected to invest a considerable amount of time into autonomous learning. You can expect to invest up to 100 hours learning time (as adequate for 4 ECTS points), if you have no previous knowledge of the topics and wish to get a top grade. The workload can be roughly divided into following parts (the exact amount of time necessary will depend of your background and your learning style):

• approx. 25 hours presence learning (20% compulsory attendance, but full attendance is strongly advisable)
  
• up to 40 hours autonomous theoretical preparation and practice
  
• up to 35 hours (ideally spread out evenly throughout the term) for project work

Please note: this is a very demanding course and it is not advisable to attempt it parallel to other similarly demanding courses! The course format requires a high level of self-discipline and interest in learning. The course does not require previous knowledge of programming or any other technical skills - as long as you willing to learn and not afraid to invest time into learning, you will likely do well in the course: you will learn a lot and gain very useful practical skills.

As you may have noted from the description of the teaching method, this course is based on the idea that the participants are the decision makers in the course, who govern their learning according to their own needs. The assessment format takes it into account.The overall principle is that of performance-based assessment: you have to demonstrate certain abilities to gain points, but you are free to repeat your performance as often as you want and need.

The overall assessment consists of two main parts: challenge and mission. At the beginning of the course, all students will receive a unique challenge folder and a mission document.

Challenge (50%)

• There are certain areas that every participant that passes the course MUST know, understand and be able to apply. The purpose of the challenge is to ensure, that everyone who receives a pass grade actually has this bare-minimum knowledge and skills - all of them!  You must solve all the challenge tasks 100% correctly to pass the challenge and the course!
• However, you do not have to succeed the first time; in fact, you are free to try and retry as often as you want and need as long as the course runs. You will get feedback on your attempts which will allow you to improve. There is just one restriction: you are not allowed to take the challenge tasks home: you can only attempt them in class. Additional time to work on the challenges can be agreed on per appointment with the instructor. This way, the work remains your own.
• Once you pass the bare minimum, you automatically get 50% of all points and hence pass the course. If you do not pass, you fail, no matter what other points you collected. (Well, if you have the advanced skills, you will likely have no trouble with the challenge anyway).

Mission (50%)

The mission assess higher-level skills, such as creative design and evaluation. It can be further split into two parts:

• Mission prep (15%). These are clearly defined, though complex tasks. You will be asked to use your new-acquired skills to retrieve data and information that will allow you to fulfil the mission.
• Core mission (35%). The core mission is a very fuzzy task, such that you might meet in the real world. Essentially, you are confronted with a problem that you have to solve using the technologies you have learned in the course. How you solve the problem and how you employ the technologies is for you to decide - as long as in the end the problem gets solved. It is a very creative task that will require to make your own decisions. While all participants have individual tasks, some of them are related; if you wish, you can work in team with those of your colleagues that work in a similar context.
  

To sum it all up:

• There are basic things that you need to know and be able to do from all areas that we will cover in this course and you have to master these to pass the course. All of them - no compensation possible!
• Beyond these, there are more advanced skills that you can learn and the more you learn, the better grade you get.
  

Grades

The grading system is closely aligned to the assessment methods. The scale is non-linear, rather representing different levels of achievement:

• under 50%      5 (fail)
• under 60%      4
• under 75%      3
• under 90%      2
• 90% or more   1

• Courses: GK1 Grundzüge der IKT
• Administrative: Registration in the LPIS

• You should have a basic understanding of the role of information systems in organisations (in general).
• Having an understanding of relational databases would be helpful.
• You should be open to learning about technical issues and willing to try them out yourself (even if you think that you are not technical).

Lecturer:   Helena Lovasz-Bukvova

E-Mail:      helena.lovasz-bukvova@wu.ac.at

Room: D2.2.078 (Building D2, entrance C)

Schedule appointment: http://www.meetme.so/helenabukvova