IRLS 588-791: Introduction to Information Technologies

(SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

Instructors

Dr. Xiaolong (Luke) Zhang

RM 6, SIRLS

(520)621-5219

xiaolong at u dot arizona dot edu

Office hours: Wednesday 11:30am-12:30pm or by appointment

 

Teaching Assistant

Trevor Smith

Office hours: 7pm-8pm, the Mustang Branch of the Scottsdale Public library (10101 North 90th Street, Scottsdale, AZ)

 

Introduction

Information technology has dramatically transformed the world. We rely more and more on computers and the Internet in many aspects of our life, from information retrieval, to interactions with others, to the delivery of services and products. The roles of information professionals have dramatically expanded, and they work more and more like consultants to provide guidance and services to people. This requires information professionals to have a basic understanding of information technology and its relationship with people, organization, and society. This course is designed to introduce the basic concepts and applications of Internet-related information technology and its impacts on individual users, groups, organizations, and society. The topics in this survey course include computing basics, network applications, human computer interactions, computer-support cooperative work, social aspects of information systems, and some economic and legal issues related to digital services and products.

 

Objectives

After this course, you should be able to:

  1. understand the principles of networked application software;
  2. identify potential technical problems you may encounter in the services;
  3. understand the role of information technology in facilitating human information processing, group collaboration, and organization business;
  4. understand the technical foundations and arguments related to some legal and economic issues in the digital society;

 

Textbook

Required:

Robert E. Molyneux: The Internet Under the Hood: An Introduction to Network Technologies for Information Professionals Greenwood Publishing, 2003

John R. Anderson: Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications, Worth Publishing. (This book just got its 6th edition out. For this class, any edition after the 3rd is fine.)

Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian: Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, 1998.

Redmond Kathleen Molz and Phyllis Dain: Civic Space/Cyberspace: The American Public Library in the Information Age, Publisher: MIT Press, 1999. (www.netlibrary.com has ONE copy of this book for checking-out, so you may not need to buy it. However, when someone checks it out, you will not be able to get it.)

John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, The Social Life of Information, Harvard Business School Press, 2002 (Paperback).

Optional:

David Messerschmitt, Understanding Networked Applications: A First Course. Morgan Kaufmann, 2000. (The topics of this book are much broader than the Molyneux’s. If you are interested in knowing more about the network computing, you may need a copy.)

All these books are in UofA bookstores right now. 

 

Readings

Additional readings are available in the course web site.

 

Class Format

This course will be delivered through course materials, required readings, and online discussions. On each Thursday, course materials, which may include essays, homework assignments, PowerPoint slides, etc., will be posted on the course web site. These materials, together with required readings will help you learn about weekly topics. Required readings should be done before you read those materials I send to you.  Occasionally, discussion questions will be posted on the course website. You will be expected to participate in asynchronous discussions. Since this is a course surveying information technologies and their interactions with social systems, you are also encouraged to read various resources, such as information technology trade press or technology section in newspaper, to know the current hot issues. It is also expected that you use weblogs, or blogs, to keep personal journals of your readings and share your journals with others.

 

Homework

Homework should be submitted online by the midnight of due day through the course web site. Solution sets will be available after. The purpose of homework is to help you to learn, rather than to help the instructor to assess.

You are strongly encouraged to form study groups. Learning from peer students is critical. (Please let the instructor know if you have problems to get one started.)  However, while you are encouraged to discuss homework questions and general approaches to solutions, but not specific answers, with other students, you must write down answers by your own. Also, please let the instructor know with whom you collaborated and the nature of your discussions in your homework. Occasionally, there may be some group homework. Then, different collaboration policies will be provided specifically. Standards of professional and academic ethics must be respected.

 

Project

The group project will involve analyzing existing information systems or software applications. The purpose behind the project is to help you understand the concepts of the course and apply them in real-life situations. Each group will have 3 to 4 members, and three progress reports are required. Each group will give a short presentation at the end of the semester and hand in the final report.

 

Exams

There will be a final exam. No midterm.

 

Grades

Homework                  55%

Project                         25%

Final                            15%

Class participation       5%

 

A=85-100

B=65-85

C=65 and below

 

Schedules

 

Week

Topic

Readings

Homework

Due

1
Introduction to the course; Computing basics

·        Molyneux: Chapter 1, Lab 1(pp. 55- 60), and Chapter 17

 

 

2
Operating systems, programming languages, networks;

 

·        Howstuffworks.com: How Operating Systems Work

·        Molyneux: Chapter 2, 14-16,

·        Joel Spolsky: Biculturalism

·        Evolution of High-Level Languages

·        Internet Structure

·        Internet History

HW 1

 

3
Architecture: infrastructure, hierarchy, modularity, and layering

·        Molyneux: Chapter 3;

·        Messerschmitt: Chapter 5, 6.2

 

HW 1

4
Communication links and protocols

 

·        Molyneux: Chapter 7-11

HW 2

 

 

5
Information retrieval and presentation on the Internet, database, security

 

·        Molyneux: Chapter 18,19;  

·        XML basics (Skip the Sections from XML Validation to Displaying XML with CSS as well as the section of Microsoft XML Parser)

·        Database basics

·        Computer Viruses

 

HW 2

 

6
User interface technologies and human perception

·        Anderson: Chapter 2,3

HW 3

Group project proposal

 

 

7
User interface technologies and knowledge representation

·        Anderson: Chapter 4-7

 

HW 3

8
Information retrieval and online services

 

·        Furnas, G.W., et al. (1987) The vocabulary problem in human-system communication. Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery, 30 (11), Nov 1987: 964-971.

·        Bates, Marcia J. (1989) The Design of Browsing and Berrypicking Techniques for the Online Search Interface. Online Review 13 (5):409-424

·        Pirolli, Peter, and Card, Stuart, (1995) Information foraging in information access environments. Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI'95.

·        Robertson, G. G., et al. (1993) Information visualization using 3D interactive animation. Communications of the ACM.

·        Mackinlay, J. D., et al. (1995) An organic user interface for searching citation links Human Factors in Computing Systems. Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI'95.

HW4

 

9
Computer-supported cooperation work (CSCW)

 

·        Bush, V. As We May Think. Atlantic Monthy, July 1945

·        Engelbart’s demo

·        Olson, G., and Olson, J. Groupware and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work.

·        Ackerman, M. The Intellectual Challenge of CSCW: The Gap Between Social Requirements and Technical Feasibility. Human-Computer Interaction, 15 (2-3). 181-205.

 

HW 4, Progress report I

10
CSCW applications and its implication for information services

·        Kiesler, S., et al. (1984) Social psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication. American Psychologist, 39, 1123-1134.

·        Herbsleb, J.D., et al. Introducing Instant Messaging and Chat in the Workplace. CHI’ 02.

·        Paul Dourish, John Lamping and Tom Rodden. "Building Bridges: Customisation and Mutual Intelligibility in Shared Category Management." In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Supporting Group Work, GROUP '99

·        Olson, G.M., & Olson, J.S. (2000) Distance matters. Human-Computer Interaction, 15, 139-179.

·        Benford, S., et al. VR-VIBE: A Virtual Environment for Co-operative Information Retrieval, Eurographics'95.

 

 

11
Information systems in organizations: Conceptual foundations

 

·        Kling, R., "What is Social Informatics and Why Does it Matter?," D-Lib Magazine

·        Eason, K. (1997) Understanding the organizational ramifications of implementing information technology systems. In M. Helander, T.K. Landauer & P. Prabhu (Eds.), Handbook of HCI. Elsevier. Pp. 1475-1495

HW 5

 

 

Progress report II

12

 
Information systems in organizations: co-evolution

·        Orlikowskim W. J.:  Evolving with Notes: Organizational Change around Groupware Technology, Internet.

·        Molz & Dain: Chapter 4-5

 

 

13

 
Information goods, privacy and security

·        Shapiro & Varian: Chapter 1-5, 7

·        How Internet Cookies Work

 

 

14

 
Information society: privacy, security, and digital divide
 
Conclusion
 

Libraries and Patriotic Act

·        The USA Patriot Act in the Library

·        The USA PATRIOT Act

·        Intellectual Freedom Principles for Academic Libraries: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights

·        Make Sure You Are Privacy Literate

·        Privacy: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights

·        Resolution on the USA Patriot Act and Related Measures That Infringe on the Rights of Library Users

·        In Defense of Freedom at a Time of Crisis

·        New Encroachments Recall Old Ones

·        The ideological librarians

 

·        Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide (Executive Summary)

 

·        Furnas, G. W.:  Design in MoRAS

·        Brown & Duguid:

Preface, Introduction, Chapter 1, 7, 8.

 

HW5

 

 

15

 
Project presentation and final exam  

 

 

Project presentation

Final project report