Social Informatics
Ph.D. Degree
Students pursue an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Informatics with a social informatics emphasis. Students take classes in several areas of informatics including specialized seminars and reading courses in social informatics. Electives and research methods courses can be drawn from the School of Informatics and Computing and other programs on campus that are relevant to students’ interests.
Graduate Courses in Social Informatics
I537/I590: Legal and Social Informatics of Security
3 cr. Social Informatics of Security is a course targeted at graduate students with no previous expertise in security. Social Informatics of Security is designed as a conversation about the interaction between the social, organizational and technical elements of security. The course is organized around a series of major topics.
I590: Globalizing Informatics
3 cr. Explores the processes that promote and impede movement of human action and informational activities to the most general levels, e.g., the level of the world as a whole. Surveys diverse theories of globalization to identify the best approaches for professional informatics career planning and making information globally accessible.
I605 Social Foundations of Informatics
3 cr. Topics include the economics of information businesses and information societies, legal and regulatory factors that shape information and information technology use, the relationship between organization cultures and their use of information and information technology, and ownership of intellectual property.
I609 Advanced Seminar I in Informatics
Topic: Social Informatics
3 cr. This seminar course will introduce Ph.D. students to the core literature and emerging scholarship in the field of social informatics. The seminars will provide the doctoral students with opportunities to examine and explore relevant and influential research literature, methods, and theoretical frameworks. Ideally, students will develop a profound intellectual understanding of leading research approaches and will design an independent research program in relation to their individual research fields and personal interests. I625 will concentrate on the social and cultural aspects of informatics as well as qualitative methods of research. This seminar will provide the foundation for future doctoral work in social informatics.
I651 The Ethnography of Information
3 cr. Introduces ethnography as a social science methodology and way of knowing with which to study information and its social contexts. Places ethnography in relation to other research methodologies relevant to the production of the Informatics knowledge base. Trains students in the use of a broad range of ethnographic techniques relevant to study of automated information technology in use. Designed to be open to students from other programs with sufficient methodological and substantive background.
I709 Advanced Seminar II in Informatics
Topic: Social Informatics
3 cr. This seminar will treat the theory and research of the field by focusing on some specific topics such as intellectual property, community informatics, e-government, and the role of informatics in building social capital. Students will produce a piece of original research appropriate for submitting to a conference or journal and will lead class discussions based on indepth readings on class topics. Meets once a week for two and a half hours.
