Readings

Week 1: Jan. 7, 2022

Introduction

No readings for this week.

Week 2: Jan. 14, 2022

NOTE: NO HOMEWORK IS DUE THIS WEEK.

Networks

How the $%^*^ does the internet work?

Read, view, and listen

• HTTP & HTML (video, 7 min)
• A Brief History of the Internet (article, 41 min.)
• TCP/IP (podcast, 34 min.)
• Building the People’s Network (article, 16 min.)

Install

Wireshark

If you use a Windows machine, you’ll probably want to download and install the 64-bit version. Wireshark comes packaged with several other items to install. Go ahead and do this; you can always uninstall the whole thing in a week or two.

If you’re on a Mac, you’ll probably want to use the Intel version. Please also install CHmodBPF.pkg (when you click on the download link, it will be packaged in the same folder as the Wireshark application.)

My Mac won’t let me run this application! I get a popup citing security reasons.

Week 3: Jan. 21, 2022

Homework due this week

Due by classtime on Jan. 21: Homework 1.

Web-Building & UX

You’ll learn enough HTML and CSS to hand-code your own website, and we’ll take a peek at the fields of UX and UI.

Read, view, and listen

• A Nostalgic Journey through the History of Web Design (article, 4 min.)
• “What is the UX Design Process?” (article, 44 min.)
• “Dark Patterns” (explore the website and list of dark patterns)
• “Sasha Costanza-Chock on Design Justice” (video, 76 min.)

Install

Atom

(If you already have a code editor you like, you can skip this. If you don’t know what a code editor is, download Atom!)

Create an account

Github

This is so that you’ll be able to publish your website via Github Pages. If you prefer not to sign up for Github, you can skip this; just know we may not be able to publish your site during classtime. If you already have a Github account, you can use that.

Week 4: Jan. 28, 2022

Homework due this week

Due by classtime on Jan. 28: Homework 2.

Data Analysis & Visualization

It’s spreadsheet time! You’ll learn to do some data manipulation in Excel (or similar) and how a simple spreadsheet can become many different visualizations.

Read, view, and listen

• Gregory, Ben. “Data Formats 101.” Astronomer, n.d. https://www.astronomer.io/blog/data-formats-101 (article, 5 min.)
• “Data Cleaning” (article, 5 min.)
• “Data Cleaning IS Analysis, Not Grunt Work” (article, 23 min.)
• “Data Visualization” (podcast, 54 min., but you can skip the music unless, you know, you’re into it)
• Johanna Drucker, “Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display” (article, 44 min.).
• “8 Examples of Powerful Data Storytelling” (just click around and investigate the examples)

Week 6: Feb. 11, 2022

Homework due this week

Due by classtime on Feb. 11: Homework 4

APIs and Linked Data

You’ll learn about how data is made accessible via APIs and what people mean when they talk about “linked data.”

Read, view, and listen

• 2015-02-05. Dorothea Salo. MARC, Linked Data, and Human-Computer Asymmetry (7min)
• 2015-02-19. Matthew Hughes. What Is An API & What Are They Good For? (6 min)
• Current. White House. WhiteHouse api-standards
• 2012-06-16. Manu Sporny. What is Linked Data? (video, 12 minutes)

Week 7: Feb. 18, 2022

Homework due this week

Due by classtime on Feb. 18: Homework 5

Ethics and Justice

We’ll consider just a few of the myriad issues raised by the latest technological developments.

Read, view, and listen

• “Crime Prediction Software Claims to Be Free of Biases. New Data Shows it Perpetuates Them” (article, 26 min.)
• “Westlaw, Lexis, Elsevier, and SSRN Belong to Data Brokers. What Does That Mean for Professional Responsibility and Ethics?” (video, 98 min.)
• “Productive Myopia: Racialized Organizations and Edtech” (article, 42 min.)
• “Library as Infrastructure” (article, 32 min.)

Week 8: Feb. 25, 2022

Homework due this week

Due by classtime on Feb. 25: homework 7.

Structured Data & the Command Line

You’ll learn what structured data is and how to interact with your computer from the terminal.

Read, view, and listen

• “Structured vs. Unstructured Data” (article, 10 min.)
• “A Gentle Introduction to XML” (article, 60 min.)
• “JSON Basics: What You Need to Know” (article, 18 min.)
• “Unix Commands and Batch Processing for the Reluctant Librarian or Archivist” (article, 18 min.)

Install

ONLY IF YOU USE A WINDOWS MACHINE: Git for Windows

Please follow these instructions for installing Git for Windows. (Basically, leave all the default options as they are except for one!)

(If you use a Mac, you can skip this.)

Week 9: Mar. 4, 2022

Machine Learning & AI

Homework due this week

Due by classtime: homework 7

You’ll learn how ubiquitous machine learning is right now and consider just a few of the issues it raises for the information professions.

Read, view, and listen

• People’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence (pamphlet, 67 min.)
• “Responsible Operations: Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI in Libraries” (32 min.)
• “Automating Inequality” (video, 29 min.)