CS2373 Introduction to Web Technologies for Digital Media

Part I

Course Duration: One Semester

Credit Units: 3

Level: B2

Medium of Instruction: English

Pre-requisites: Nil

Pre-cursors: Nil

Equivalent Courses: Nil

Exclusive Courses: Nil

Part II

Course Aims:

Life and work in the 21^st century is significantly different with modern ICT (information and communications technology), such as highly interactive mobile devices and Web 2.0 technologies. This has strong impact on how digital media is created, distributed, published, shared and “mixed.” Consequently, future professionals in digital broadcast will need to have some background on Web-based technologies so that they can leverage upon them to get their work done. This course provides an introductory overview of some of the key Web-based software technologies supporting the new digital media and digital broadcast. The course is designed for non-Computer Science students and is suitable for students studying digital media, digital broadcasting or other related disciplines. The objective is to provide these students with a better understanding of a wide range of Web-based technologies behind modern digital media so that they can leverage upon the current convergence of the media to support their future professional work.

Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs):
(state what the student is expected to be able to do at the end of the course according to a given standard of performance)

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

No.	CILOs	Weighting(if applicable)
1.	List key Web-based technologies and applications related to digital media and explain how they work;
2.	Explain what are some of the industry Web-based standards related to digital media;
3.	Use tools and applications to create and publish simple multi-media content;
4.	Explain current trends in Web-based technologies for the digital media.

Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs):
(Indicative of likely activities and tasks designed to facilitate students’ achievement of the CILOs. Final details will be provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course)

Teaching pattern:
Suggested lecture/tutorial/laboratory mix: 3 hrs. lecture/tutorial.
 

CILO No.	TLAs	Hours/week(if applicable)
CILO 1	A selection of current and popular Web-based technologies and applications related to digital media will be highlighted in lectures.  Students will need to study and get familiar with using these technologies through reading and hands-on exercises.
CILO 2	Various de facto or industry standards will be highlighted in lectures. Students will need to explore the rationale behind these standards and they affect the way we perform digital broadcasting through readings and possibly essays.
CILO 3	Easy-to-use tools and applications will be demonstrated in lecture/tutorial to illustrate how different forms of media can be created, published and possibly mixed for presentation.  Students will then be asked to use these tools and applications to create a multi-media website, possibly mimicking an online digital media publication.
CILO 4	Current trends will be covered through topics in lectures.  Students are also required to do weekly out-of-class readings to explore current trends and directions in digital media broadcasting.

Assessment Tasks/Activities:
(Indicative of likely activities and tasks designed to assess how well the students achieve the CILOs. Final details will be provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course)
 

CILO No.	Type of Assessment Tasks/Activities	Weighting(if applicable)	Remarks
CILO 1	Besides the final exam, this CILO is assessed partly through a semester-long mini-project to create an online magazine that combines multi-media content, distributed through various Web-based channels and made available on different devices include phones.
CILO 2	Besides the final exam, this CILO is assessed partly through a combination of how well standards are used in the mini-project as well as student essays/blogs.
CILO 3	This CILO is assessed mainly through how well students used tools and applications to create their mini-project.
CILO 4	Besides the final exam, this CILO is assessed partly through student essays/blogs.

Grading of Student Achievement: Refer to Grading of Courses in the Academic Regulations (Attachment) and to the Explanatory Notes.

Examination duration:  2 hours
Percentage of coursework, examination, etc.:  70% CW; 30% Exam
Grading pattern: Standard (A+AA-…F)
For a student to pass the course, at least 30% of the maximum mark for the examination must be obtained.

Part III

Keyword Syllabus:

History/timeline of digital broadcast developments; overview of basic format, standards and technologies related to different media types (text, audio, photos, graphics, video/animation); overview of different publishing platforms and tools supporting different media types (such as podcasts, Flickr, YouTube); overview of related Web 2.0 applications and technologies related to digital media and digital broadcast (such as blogs, wikis, social networks, mashups, virtual worlds, RSS, tags, etc.); Concepts of peer production, participatory journalism, and related technologies; Web-based interactivity for digital broadcasting (such as online polls, chat rooms, forums, etc.); content personalization, digital media convergence; case studies of organizations, companies or projects related to digital media broadcasting.