Lingnan University

Department of Computing and Decision Sciences

Course Syllabus

Course Title : Web Technologies and Social Networks

Course Code : CDS4004
Recommended Study Year : 3 or 4
No. of Credits/Term : 3
Mode of Tuition : Sectional Approach
Class Contact Hours : 3 hours per week
Category in Major Prog. : Elective
Prerequisite(s) : CDS3004 Data Mining
Co-requisite : Nil
Exclusion : Nil
Exemption Requirement : Nil

Brief Course Description:

Social networking is a major Web 2.0 application. Web technologies, such as JavaScript, not only
enrich the user experience of social networking applications, but also handle the collection of
data for Web analytics and social network analysis. This course introduces the major Web
technologies for rich user experiences with an emphasis on how they also support data collection
in social networking applications. Students will learn about the ethical use of these technologies
in relevant applications, such as social media marketing.

Aims:

The course aims to provide students with a technical foundation as well as an ethical framework
for the application of data science in studies of online social networks.

Learning Outcomes (LOs):

On completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Identify and assemble key web technologies for social network mining.
2. Develop and install software components for collecting data from social networks.
3. Apply principles of social network analysis.
4. Propose applications of social network mining and analysis.
5. Respect ethical guidelines on social network mining.

Indicative Contents:

Web technologies
JavaScript, JSON, Cloud computing, Web services, AWS API, Google API

Analytics
Social network analysis, social network mining, social semantic web, graph theory

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Applications
Social media marketing, text mining, sentiment analysis, literary networks

Ethical issues
Data Science Ethical Framework

Teaching Method:

Web technologies, analytics and ethical issues are introduced and discussed in lectures through
examples. The applications of data science through social networks are examined through
selected case studies. Students learn to develop software for social networking mining through
hand-on exercises during laboratory sessions.

Assessment:

Quizzes 10%
Laboratory exercises 30%
Case studies 20%
Final examination 40%
Total 100%

Measurement of Learning Outcomes:

Quizzes Laboratory Case Final

exercises studies examination
1. Identify and assemble key x x
web technologies for social
network mining
2. Develop and install x
software components for
collecting data from social
networks
3. Apply principles of social x x x
network analysis
4. Propose applications of x
social network mining and
analysis
5. Respect ethical guidelines x
on social network mining

1. The final examination and quizzes will cover principles of web technologies (LO1) and social
network analysis (LO3).
2. Case studies will cover applications of social network analysis with an emphasis on ethical
considerations. (LO3, LO4, LO5)
3. Laboratory exercises address the development of software components for social network
mining. (LO2)

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Required/Essential Readings:

1. Liu, B., SpringerLink, & LINK. Web Data Mining Exploring Hyperlinks, Contents, and
Usage Data (Data-Centric Systems and Applications). Berlin, Heidelberg, 2005.

Recommended/Supplementary Readings:

1. Omitola, Ríos, Breslin, Ríos, Sebastián A., Breslin, John G., & Ebooks Corporation. Social
semantic web mining (Synthesis lectures on the semantic web, theory and technology. San
Rafael, California: Morgan & Claypool, 2015.
2. Liu, B. Sentiment analysis and opinion mining (Synthesis lectures on human language
technologies ; lecture #16). San Rafael, California: Morgan & Claypool, 2012.
3. UK Government. “Data Science Ethical Framework,” 19 May 2016,
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-science-ethical-framework

Important Notes:
(1) Students are expected to spend a total of 9 hours (i.e. 3 hours of class contact and 6 hours
of personal study) per week to achieve the course learning outcomes.
(2) Students shall be aware of the University regulations about dishonest practice in course
work, tests and examinations, and the possible consequences as stipulated in the
Regulations Governing University Examinations. In particular, plagiarism, being a kind of
dishonest practice, is “the presentation of another person’s work without proper
acknowledgement of the source, including exact phrases, or summarised ideas, or even
footnotes/citations, whether protected by copyright or not, as the student’s own work”.
Students are required to strictly follow university regulations governing academic integrity
and honesty.
(3) Students are required to submit writing assignment(s) using Turnitin.
(4) To enhance students’ understanding of plagiarism, a mini-course “Online Tutorial on
Plagiarism Awareness” is available on https://pla.ln.edu.hk/.

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 Rubric for Case Studies of CDS4004 – Web Technologies and Social Networks

Criteria Very good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory

Adequacy of data The student collects adequate The student collects a Amount of primary and/or
collection amount of primary and/or reasonable amount of primary secondary data collected is
secondary data relevant to the and/or secondary data with insufficient for the case
case study some omissions necessary for study
the case study
Rigour of analysis The student performs systematic The student performs some The student performs little
and methodical analysis of the appropriate analysis of the case logical analysis of the case
case with sufficient rigour and with a reasonable amount of or demonstrates a lack of
detail rigour and detail rigour in the analysis
Application of The student demonstrates an The student demonstrates a The student demonstrates
subject knowledge overall understanding of subject reasonable understanding of little understanding of
knowledge in applying all subject knowledge in applying subject knowledge in
relevant concepts and methods to the most important concepts applying very few/irrelevant
the case and methods to the case concepts and methods to the
case
Presentation Content of submission/ Content of submission/ Content of submission/
presentation is well formatted presentation is properly presentation is not properly
with a clearly readable layout and formatted with a reasonable formatted and/or there are
very few grammaticalmistakes layout and no more than a few more than a few
grammatical mistakes grammatical mistakes
Observation/ Well documented observation/ Some relevant observation/ Little or no relevant
Reflection reflection of the process or results reflection of the process or observation/ reflection of
of work results of work the process or results of
work

Rubric for Examination(s) of CDS4004 – Web Technologies and Social Networks

Criteria Very good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory

Extent of knowledge The student demonstrates a The student demonstrates a The student demonstrates
acquired clear understanding of the reasonable understanding of limited understanding of
subject knowledge broadly major parts of the subject only certain parts of the
knowledge subject knowledge
Skilfulness/ The student demonstrates a The student demonstrates a The student does not
Competence/ high level of skilfulness/ reasonable level of skilfulness/ demonstrate a reasonable
Correctness competence in his/her work competence in his/her work with level of skilfulness/
with mostly correct results reasonably correct results competence in his/her work
with questionable results
Presentation Content of submission/ Content of submission/ Content of submission/
presentation is well formatted presentation is properly presentation is not properly
with a clearly readable layout formatted with a reasonable formatted and/or there are
and very few grammatical layout and no more than a few more than a few
mistakes grammatical mistakes grammatical mistakes

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 Rubric for Lab Exercise(s) of CDS4004 – Web Technologies and Social Networks

Criteria Very good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory

Completeness Over 80% of the requirements At least half of the requirements Less than half the
are genuinely fulfilled. are fulfilled. requirements are fulfilled.
Rigour/ Leve of The student clearly follows a The student executes a proper No clear procedure is
detail rigorous procedure and produces procedure with reasonable rigour followed and/or the
a high level of detail and produces sufficient detail amount of detail produced
is insufficient
Skilfulness/ The student demonstrates a high The student demonstrates a The student does not
Competence/ level of skilfulness/ competence reasonable level of skilfulness/ demonstrate a reasonable
Correctness in his/her work with mostly competence in his/her work with level of skilfulness/
correct results reasonably correct results competence in his/her
work with questionable
results
Presentation Content of submission is well Content of submission is Content of submission is
formatted with a clearly readable properly formatted with a not properly formatted
layout and very few grammatical reasonable layout and no more and/or there are more than
mistakes than a few grammatical mistakes a few grammatical
mistakes
Observation/ Well documented observation/ Some relevant observation/ Little or no relevant
Reflection reflection of the process or reflection of the process or observation/ reflection of
results of work results of work the process or results of
work

Rubric for Quiz(s) of CDS4004 – Web Technologies and Social Networks

Criteria Very good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory

Extent of The student demonstrates a clear The student demonstrates a The student demonstrates
knowledge understanding of the subject reasonable understanding of limited understanding of
acquired knowledge broadly major parts of the subject only certain parts of the
knowledge subject knowledge