Disability Information and Informatics (INLS 690_230)
This course introduces students to a range of issues related to disability, information, data, technology, and information systems as social infrastructure. The course comprises four main components: an invited guest lecture series (30%), a service project (30%), the development of an open resource on disability informatics (30%), and a poster or panel presentation in the Symposium on Information for Social Good (10%). Students in the course will read, watch, and discuss a mix of personal accounts, empirical research, commentary, and theory related to information, technology, place, communities, and disability. The course is designed to allow students to gain broad exposure, while choosing an area of focus that aligns with your interests and/or career goals.
Human Information Interactions (INLS 500)
Students examine cognitive, affective, social, and organizational/institutional approaches to understanding interactions between people and information. Emphasis is placed on the role of information professionals and information systems as mediators. Students are encouraged to analyze current events and situations, and to apply concepts, models and theories to their own information practice.
Information Ethics (INLS 584)
The intention of this course is to introduce students to the variety of ethical issues they will need to address as information professionals. After a brief overview of moral theories and their application to ethical issues, as well as ethical codes of conduct for the information professions, the class will focus on particular issues that are most salient to information professionals, such as societal implications of information creation and use, information/data as intellectual property, privacy, access to information/censorship, access to information technology, effects of computerization on the work environment (job displacement, deskilling, ergonomic issues, electronic monitoring), effects of computer-mediated communication on understandings of identity and relationships, and effects of computerization on democracy and government.
Local Contexts and Information Behavior (INLS 690-230)
This course is designed to help students develop a better understanding of information needs, seeking, and sharing in local and community settings. Students in this course will become familiar with ILS literature focusing on face-to-face interactions in a variety of community settings, as they plan a project designed to support or improve information seeking or sharing in a local, place-based community. Students will leave the course with tools for the following:
- Identifying actors/stakeholders within a local community
- Understanding how information needs/behaviors occur in local contexts
- Exploring different practical and theoretical perspectives on information behaviors in local communities and contexts
- Reasoning through implications for programming and services in the chosen local setting/organization/population
Master's Paper Proposal Development (INLS 781)
During this course, each student will develop a proposal for the work to be completed during the following semester, in the master's paper/project (INLS 992). It is assumed that class members have taken the prerequisite course, INLS 581. This is a 1.5 credit course.
Research Methods (INLS 581)
An introduction to research methods used in information and library science, exploring the design, interpretation, analysis and application of published research.