CS104 - Information & Information Systems

Aims and Objectives

To help students gain a broader understanding of the human and social aspects of  today's information and data-driven world in the context of research and scholarship, government, business, health, education.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this class, a student should be able:

1. To understand what is meant by an information system.
2. To demonstrate a broad understanding of the technology underlying information systems, and in particular those information systems which have a deep impact on society.
3. To understand techniques for information and knowledge representation.
4. To understand key issues in information creation, sharing and dissemination.
5. To understand the user and social contexts of information systems.
6. To evaluate the success of an information system with respect to determined criteria for success for specific users and contexts.
7. To understand the design principles behind successful information systems in government, academia, business and  health.
8. To appreciate the activities for the organization and processing of information that take place behind the scene to make digital information accessible to the users.
9. To understand the concepts of misinformation and disinformation and their implications for people and society.
10. To understand the role of data and information for sustainable development in different contexts.

Syllabus

The class will take a “how it works” approach, with particular focus on user and societal context.

1. Information, Data, People and Society; Human and Social aspects of Information, Technology and Systems; Digital Skills/ Digital divide; 
2. Information and Knowledge – published, unpublished, peer reviewed, internet, web, social media: technology for access/use of information and data;  quality, value and  trust issues
3. Data, Information, Big data, Social media: Impact on people, society, government, business, education and research, culture, entertainment
4. Open data, open science: progress of science and society; Economics of information vs. information economy; open data management challenges; socio-cultural issues of data sharing/reuse
5. When human becomes data; datafied society;  misinformation, disinformation; cognitive impact of information and social media; social, personal, psychological issues
6. Information and data: ethics, trust, security, privacy; machine-generated data; ownership and value of data; information governance
7. Data in everyday life: data-driven government, business, education,  finance/banking, health, environment/climate change
8. Human-centred information; Impact of digital information and data on human and society; Human information behaviour Emotion & empathy vs. function; people behind data/communications
9. Information, data, sustainable development and global challenges: government, health, education, economy, employment, environment …
10. Key issues and challenges around information, technology/systems, people  and policies.

Recommended Reading

This list is indicative only – the class lecturer may recommend alternative reading material. Please do not purchase any of the reading material listed below until you have confirmed with the class lecturer that it will be used for this class.

Buckland, Michael (2017)

Information and Society.  (Available through the library). Full text : https://muse.jhu.edu/book/51614/

Wessels, Bridgette author. Finn, Rachel L., author.; Wadhwa, Kush, author.; Sveinsdottir, Thordis, author.; Bigagli, Lorenzo, author.; Nativi, Stefano, author.; Noorman, Merel, (2017). Open data and the knowledge society / [internet resource]. Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press 2017

Ford, Nigel (2015). Introduction to information behaviour. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/introduction-to-information-behaviour/D13ED5FE20520D13889996945F0C9A0E (Available through the library)

More readings will be provided relevant to the specific topics discussed in each week.

Last updated: 2023-01-26 09:16:51