691 – Content Management Systems
DRAFT Based on Summer 2015
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES
691 – Special Topics in Information Science:
Content Management Systems
Syllabus
2015 Summer Online – 12 Weeks
Instructor:
E-mail:
Office Hours:
Wooseob Jeong
wjj8612@uwm.edu
By Appointment
Office:
Fax:
Phone:
NWQ 3410
414-229-6699
414-229-6167
DESCRIPTION:
Provides advanced skills to create powerful and highly functional websites with various tools without
using web development languages and coding scripts, but with open source web-based content
management systems.
3 credits
PREREQUISITES:
Junior Standing, Basic HTML knowledge preferred.
OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
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METHOD:
Understand the role of content management technologies to acquire, organize and
present web content.
Understand the basic features of the various types of content management systems
(CMS).
Understand and explore methods, tools and applications for content management.
Develop proficiency installing and configuring various CMS.
Extend CMS functionality using components, modules and plug-ins.
Understand the knowledge cycle: acquisition, storing, application and maintenance
Deploy advanced CMS functionality, including community building, image
galleries, and forums.
Lecture/Discussion/Hands-on Exercises
Students with special needs should contact the instructor as early as possible for
accommodations.
ACADEMIC POLICIES:
Academic policies may be found on the UWM Web site at:
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Acad_Aff/policy/uniformsyllabus.html. Additional policies may be found at the end
of the syllabus.
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691 – Content Management Systems
TEXTBOOKS:
Beck, J.N. and Beck, M. (2013). WordPress: Visual Quickstart Guide. 3rd ed. Peachpit Press. [ISBN:
032195761X] Required.
Derr, M. and Symes, T. (2011). Joomla!: Visual Quickstart Guide. 2nd ed. Peachpit Press. [ISBN: 0321772989]
Required.
Geller, T. (2010). Drupal 7: Visual Quickstart Guide. Peachpit Press. [ISBN: 0321619218] Required.
WEB RESOURCES:
Student Web Spaces: http://www4.uwm.edu/sois/resources/it/webspace/ [how to set up your web space]
Online Tutorials at Lynda.com: http://www4.uwm.edu/sois/resources/it/lynda/ [how to login]
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http://www.lynda.com/WordPress-tutorials/WordPress-Essential-Training/154417-2.html
http://www.lynda.com/Joomla-tutorials/Joomla-3-Essential-Training/110275-2.html
http://www.lynda.com/Drupal-7-tutorials/essential-training/73655-2.html
There are many other tutorials available at Lynda.com regarding WordPress, Joomla and Drupal and
please feel free to explore those tutorials once you finish these core ones.
CHAT SESSIONS:
Every Thursday night, we have a chat session at 9 in Milwaukee time. The chat sessions are optional, which
means absence in chat sessions does not affect your final grade, but still they are quite helpful for your
understanding of class contents. Chat session participation is strongly encouraged.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Weekly Assignments (60%)
Every week, there is a hands-on assignment. The assignments should be posted by the due time, usually
following Sunday night at 11:59 on your SOIS LAMP Server account. The details will be available as the course
goes along. Late submissions are accepted with significant penalties.
Final Project (40%: undergraduate students; 20%: graduate students)
At the end of the semester, you are asked to set up a community site with an approved theme on a Drupal
platform, where users can register by themselves and share their ideas and contents with other authenticated
members. Your final project will be evaluated by the combination of criteria: required functionality 60%,
usability aspect 20%, and aesthetic aspect 20%.
Term Paper (20%: Graduate Students Only)
At the end of the semester, graduate students are asked to write a paper on “CMS in libraries” with minimum
2000 words (excluding references, tables, figures, and etc.), 20 references of which at least 10 should be
academic journal articles or books (each must have an ISBN or ISSN). Please use a commonly used style
manual for your term paper (e.g. Turabian, Chicago, APA, MLA).
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691 – Content Management Systems
GRADING:
95-100
91-94
87-90
84-86
A
AB+
B
80-83
77-79
BC+
superior work
satisfactory, but
undistinguished work
74-76
70-73
67-69
64-66
60-63
below 60
C work is below standard
CD+
D unsatisfactory work
DF
COURSE SCHEDULE AND READINGS:
Week
Dates
Topic
Reading
1
5/26-5/30
2
5/31-6/6
3
6/7-6/13
4
6/14-6/20
5
6/21-6/27
6
6/28-7/4
7
7/5-7/11
8
7/12-7/18
9
7/19-7/25
10
7/26-8/1
11
8/2-8/8
WordPress
Installation, Managing
accounts
WordPress
Theme, Widgets and plug-ins
Adding content, Menus,
Managing comments
WordPress
Advanced theme
development, Best practices
Joomla!
Installation, Adding contents
Joomla!
Menus, Modules
Joomla!
Extension, Global settings
Joomla!
Community building,
Templates
Drupal
Installation, Drupal site setup
Creating and managing
content
Drupal
Customizing content
Interactive content
Improving content access
Drupal
Managing user accounts,
Building user community
Theme customization
Drupal
Extending with Modules
12
8/9-8/15
Beck and Beck
Chapter 1-4
Beck and Beck
Chapter 5-10
User control
Beck and Beck
Chapter 11-16
Theme
enhancement
Derr and Symes
Chapter 1-4
Derr and Symes
Chapter 5-8
Derr and Symes
Chapter 9-11
Derr and Symes
Chapter 12-14
Setup Joomla! Site
Geller
Chapter 1-3
Setup Drupal Site,
Images
Geller
Chapter 4-6
Rich-text editor,
Menu, Search,
Block
Geller
Chapter 7-8
User profile,
Theme
enhancement
Geller
Chapter 9
Webform,
CAPCHA,
Advanced search,
RSS, Forum, Poll
FINAL Project – Building Community Site with Drupal
Term Paper (Graduate Student Only)
Due on August 15, Saturday, 11:59 PM
3
Weekly
Assignment
Setup WordPress
Site
Menu, Template,
Module
Components, User
management,
Social media,
Creating template
691 – Content Management Systems
UWM ACADEMIC POLICIES
The following links contain university policies affecting all SOIS students. Many of the links below may be
accessed through a PDF-document maintained by the Secretary of the University:
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf. For graduate students, there are additional guidelines from
the Graduate School (http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Grad_Sch/StudentInfo/), including those found in the Graduate
Student and Faculty Handbook: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Grad_Sch/Publications/Handbook/.
Students with disabilities. If you will need accommodations in order to meet any of the requirements of a
course, please contact the instructor as soon as possible. Students with disabilities are responsible to
communicate directly with the instructor to ensure special accommodation in a timely manner. There is
comprehensive coverage of issues related to disabilities at the Student Accessibility Center
(http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/DSAD/SAC/MainOffice.html ), important components of which are expressed here:
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/DSAD/SAC/SACltr.pdf.
Religious observances. Students’ sincerely held religious beliefs must be reasonably accommodated with
respect to all examinations and other academic requirements, according to the following policy:
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/acad%2Badmin_policies/S1.5.htm. Please notify your instructor within the first
three weeks of the Fall or Spring Term (first week of shorter-term or Summer courses) of any specific days or
dates on which you request relief from an examination or academic requirement for religious observances.
Students called to active military duty. UWM has several policies that accommodate students who must
temporarily lay aside their educational pursuits when called to active duty in the military (see
http://www3.uwm.edu/des/web/registration/militarycallup.cfm), including provisions for refunds, readmission,
grading, and other situations.
Incompletes. A notation of “incomplete” may be given in lieu of a final grade to a student who has carried a
subject successfully until the end of a semester but who, because of illness or other unusual and substantial
cause beyond the student’s control, has been unable to take or complete the final examination or some limited
amount of other term work. An incomplete is not given unless the student proves to the instructor that s/he was
prevented from completing course requirements for just cause as indicated above
(http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/acad%2Badmin_policies/S31.pdf).
Discriminatory conduct (such as sexual harassment). UWM and SOIS are committed to building and
maintaining a campus environment that recognizes the inherent worth and dignity of every person, fosters
tolerance, sensitivity, understanding, and mutual respect, and encourages the members of its community to
strive to reach their full potential. The UWM policy statement
(http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/acad%2Badmin_policies/S47.pdf) summarizes and defines situations that
constitute discriminatory conduct. If you have questions, please contact an appropriate SOIS administrator.
Academic misconduct. Cheating on exams and plagiarism are violations of the academic honor code and
carry severe sanctions, ranging from a failing grade for a course or assignment to expulsion from the University.
See the following document (http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/OSL/DOS/conduct.html) or contact the SOIS
Investigating Officer (currently the Associate Dean) for more information.
Complaints. Students may direct complaints to the SOIS Dean or Associate Dean. If the complaint allegedly
violates a specific university policy, it may be directed to the appropriate university office responsible for
enforcing the policy.
Grade appeal procedures. A student may appeal a grade on the grounds that it is based on a capricious or
arbitrary decision of the course instructor. Such an appeal shall follow SOIS appeals procedures
(http://www4.uwm.edu/sois/academics/MLIS/mlisappeals.htm). Step 3 appeals for graduate students are
handled through the Graduate School. These procedures are available in writing from the respective department
chairperson or the Academic Dean of the College/School
(http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/acad%2Badmin_policies/S28.htm).
Examinations, Finals. The Secretary of the University is authorized to prepare the final examination schedule.
The time of the final examination for an individual or a class may be changed only with the prior approval of the
dean or director of the respective college/school. The change will involve a postponement to a later date. For
individuals with exam conflicts, a separate week at the very end of the exam week will be reserved to take one
of the conflicting exams (http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/acad+admin_policies/S22.htm).
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