CS73N Meeting 03 Notes
Meeting 11 April 2008.
Entered by Gio Wiederhold, updated 11 Jan 2002, 1 Feb 2002, 5, 8 Feb2004, 21Feb2004, 25Apr 2005, 16, 19 April 2006. Additional notes on Organization entered by Shirley Tessler, 16 April 2006 Comments and releveant pointers added by Sgt 14 April 2007. Updated to reflect 2007/2008 class 13, 18 April 2008 by Gio.
Topics
Your Research
Shirley discussed approaches to research and described some useful technologies for organizing your research. The notes for that discussion can be found here: Research Resources.
Scoping: There will probably be many on line resources for your topic, maybe too many, so narrow topic and references down to a manageable size. Out of hundreds (or even thousands!) of hits, only a few dozen will be worth citing, and only a few will be really excellent. Look at
1. Google (Be a "power user" to create very efficient searches. See: Google Basics of Search and Advanced Operators. Many search engines offer advanced search features just like Google, so do investigate these features for whatever search engines you use regularly.)
2. Wikipedia (Follow the links in the reference section and try to validate. Do cite if you use it.)
3. A good dictionary for unusual terms (Stanford Libraries subscribe to the Oxford English Dictionary and many specialized dictionaries)
4. Specialized search engines (again see Research Resources)
5. Specialized library resources (Stanford Libraries)
6. Live librarians, i.e., people
7. Professional organizations
8. Experts you find. many will respond to emails from Stanford Students.
Recall the collegial atmosphere of the course. If you have a question, ask someone who seems knowledgeable or all of the class. If you look at another project, and find you could help, make suggestions. If you find errors, omissions, or lack of clarity in the notes we post let us know.
Additional comments on working with this class wiki from Sgt:
- All page edits, as well as all comments, are dated automatically at the bottom of the page.
- A registered user can get an email notice of all page edits or comments or by subscribing to the wiki's RSS feed; alternatively, users can see these changes in batch by going to Site/Changes under the right side menu.
- Edits can be undone by either editing the page again or by reverting to an earlier version of the page. See Page/Versions option on right side menu for instructions.
- Any registered user can mark a page for deletion with Page Edit/Page Properties, but only administrators can delete the page permanently.
- Follow the link called "Wiki On-line Help" on the left side menu for an overview of how to use the wiki more effectively.
Standards
We also briefly mentioned standards in the context of our documents. Open or proprietary standards. We would Computer scientists in Norway take to the streets? We will likely spend more time on this topic because of its economic import.
HTML
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language:
- Hyper for
encompassing more than a single document, remote documents on the same
or on remote computers can be included, and placed into an near
arbitrary structure.
- Text to indicate the underlying representation is a string of characters.
- Markups
are embedded character tokens, not read by the normal reader, that
control the presentation, as <B>to indicate a sequence of
boldface</B> characters. It is a
- Language because it has rules how the text should be formed.
Basic HTML was fairly simple and adequate, and we cover it a brief HTML (not yet on the CS73N wiki, but on the CS99 Site as HTML note.
Browsers interpret the markups and perform the indicated formatting.
The friendly rule is that if a browser does not recognize a markup, it
ignores it. That will affect only the prettiness of the output, but not
its content.
The success of the web placed many more demands on
HTML and a great number of extensions were added to solve narrow and
sometimes poorly thought out purposes. Since unknown markups are
ignored writers of browsers could decide which ones to recognize. The
rest would be ignored.
Projects
We expect every student to have a project defined now. We received most first writing assignments.
Look at the class list to make sure your project is in and to be inspired by what other participants are doing.
Suggestions for projects from the class included:
General comments for the first assignment
Headings
It is easy for paper to get lost. It is even easier to get lost on the web. Always identify your work so the reader can judge its relevance, veracity, and worth. That means any unit on the web must include your name, a pointer to the class if it is class work - that sets the context, the date, and a searchable and meaningful title, using terms that a searcher is likely to use.
Say what you mean
Write forcefully. Reread what you wrote the way you expect a reader on the web to read your pages. Be suspicious of wimpy terms: could, may, would, might, alledged, ... . You can become a lawyer later. Don't say "some drivers cause accidents", then the reader has to guess what drivers you mean. Better "irresponsible drivers ...".
Watch your antecedents.
When material is read non-sequentially vague antecedents invite misinterpretation. When you edit subsequently references to antecedents move ever farther away, straining the reader even if they are correct. It is better to repeat terms.
Say if you talk about your project "African mammals", just repeat "African mammals" at least say "those mammals", but do not just say "they".
So again, when rereading, be on the lookout for "my", "his", "her", "their", "he", "she", the atrocious "he/she", "it", "they", "those", "these", etc. Always try to help the reader, don't strain the reader's memory.
Difficult for many was the future section: Nothing is harder to predict than the future [Yogi Berra].
More later.
Next Writing Assignment (Assignment #2) -- A Project Outline
Prepare
a layout of your project presentation. Since you will have only about
5 minutes in class, it must be very focused. Identify the intent of
your project -- what motivates you, what you will include to support
that intent, and what will be the benefit for the reader or user of
your project. The layout of your presentation will also provide
guidance to the layout of the prime web page of your project, but that
is secondary this week, and feedback from the presentation layout you
hand in will help you. The presentation layout should be handed in,
preferably as a pointer to a web page, otherwise as an email attachment
in HTML. For the actual presentation you can use powerpoint slides or
similar means - as your web pages - to help you. We will have a
projector in class when projects are presented. But being able to talk
without relying on such crutches is even better.
Any feedback
you get from us regarding your prior assignment, directly, indirectly
through the class discussions, or from the CS73 Note on the Future
attached to the project discussion, can also be incorporated in your
web pages. Remember, content on the web is dynamic.
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