Prospectus

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Digital Media Technology

Course
2013-2014

Admission requirements

Only accessible for MA students Book & Digtal Media. Others may contact the course coordinator.

Description

In the world of publishing, scholarship, academic libraries and the cultural heritage sector the Internet offers more than an alternative for printed communication. The digital medium has brought a wealth of entirely new opportunities and technological possibilities. This course gives a theoretical background and practical introduction to some of the most widely used technologies in these fields for creating, enriching, storing and disseminating textual information in digital form. Topics that will be addressed include the medium-independent markup of text through XML, the organisation of digital content in relational databases and in content management systems, and methods of web presentation and publication. The course will provide hands-on experience with programming languages and metadata vocabularies.

Course objectives

Students:

  • Acquire an insight into the lifecycle of digital objects;

  • Learn to analyse the use of the digital medium in the world of publishing, scholarship, academic libraries and the cultural heritage sector;

  • Are familiarised with the way in which XML and related technologies can enhance the access to publications, both physically and intellectually.

  • Learn how digital content can be presented on-line;

  • Gain insight in designing, implementing and searching a database;

  • Are familiarised with a number of international metadata formats.

Timetable

The timetable will be available by June 1st on the website.

Mode of instruction

One-hour lecture followed by two-hour seminar per week.

Course Load

The course load of this course is 140 hours.

  • hours spent on attending lectures and seminars: 39

  • time for studying the compulsory literature and homework exercises: 61

  • time to prepare for the exam and/or write a paper (including reading / research): 40

Participation in all sessions of this course is compulsory. Upon prior consultation, the lecturer can permit absence at one session for compelling reasons. Students who are absent twice in a half-semester course (7 weeks) will be excluded from further participation and will have to re-take the course. Students who are absent twice in a semester course (13 weeks) will be given an complementary assignment by the lecturer. Absence on three sessions in such a course will lead to exclusion from it.

Assessment method

Four assignments (each 25%).

Blackboard

This course is supported by Blackboard.

Reading list

To be announced.

Registration

Students should register through uSis. If you have any questions, please contact the departmental office, tel. 071 5272144 or mail: ma-mediastudies@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

Not available.

Contact

MA Media Studies departmental office, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 102C. Tel. 071 5272144; mail: ma-mediastudies@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

Remarks

“Participation in all sessions of this course is compulsory. Upon prior consultation, the lecturer can permit absence at one session for compelling reasons. Students who are absent twice in a half-semester course (7 weeks) will be excluded from further participation and will have to re-take the course. Students who are absent twice in a semester course (13 weeks) will be given an complementary assignment by the lecturer. Absence on three sessions in such a course will lead to exclusion from it.”