University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Graduate School of Library and Information Science

Introduction to Biological Informatics Problems and Resources
LIS590BI

Course Description
Explores the current landscape of biological informatics from the LIS perspective, including: types of problems studied by biological scientists, methods and instruments used, and which problems have informatics components; the range of data that exist; the uses of metadata, ontologies, and controlled vocabularies; data manipulation tools; application software; specific tasks and workflows; and data-driven science. Lecture, discussion, and hands-on components. 4 credit hours. [official GSLIS catalog description]
Learning Objectives

·  Understand the types of research problems in which biological scientists are engaged that involve data, information, and information tools and resources.

·  Understand the types and varieties of data commonly collected and used in biology, and how they are stored, organized, and used by different people for different purposes.

·  Understand what data manipulation tools and software applications exist, and how to determine which are appropriate for which types of problems.

·  Understand specific tasks and workflows used in data manipulation, question-answering tasks, and experiments.

·  Apply this knowledge in hands-on exercises using real data from real problems and a substantive original research project.

Evaluation
1. 20% Class participation
2. 10% Resource profile assignment (Due: 9/07)
2. 20% Information seeking case study (Due: 10/16)
2. 20% Term-length data management assignment (Due: 11/30)
4. 30% Term project (Due: 12/10)
Participation Expectations
Attendance: Due to the small class size, individual students' attendance and contributions to each class session are extremely important. Please contact the instructor if you are unable to attend a session.
Reading: Readings assigned for a particular class session are intended to be read before class meets for that week, and students should come to class prepared to discuss them, and provide substantive critiques.
Discussion: Especially in a seminar-style class, participation in discussions demonstrates active engagement in the course rather than passive attendance. Participation on the course web site’s forums outside of class time is required, and affords opportunities for students to engage in substantive discussions of the material, as well as to give the instructor feedback on the assigned readings and the materials covered in class.
Collaboration and Honor Code: The University of Illinois has a code of academic integrity that encourages and promotes students’ adherence to the ethics of academia. With regard to coursework, the code essentially means that you certify that the work that you submit is your own (or your group's in the case of group work), and that information taken from the work of others must always be attributed. In this course, unless specified otherwise, collaboration, discussion, and the use of assistance from other class members is encouraged and is not inconsistent with the honor code.
UIUC Student Code - Academic Integrity:
http://www.admin.uiuc.edu/policy/code/article_1/a1_1-401.html
UIUC Library - Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
http://www.library.illinois.edu/learn/research/academicintegrity.html