50482 Social Informatics

UTS: Communication: Creative Practice
Credit points: 8 cp
Result Type: Grade, no marks

Requisite(s): 50106 Media, Information and Society OR 50227 Media, Information and Society
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses. See access conditions.

Handbook description

This subject critically examines the interplay between society and technologies. Students develop an advanced understanding of the key social issues associated with the design, uses and consequences of information and communication technologies that takes into account human interaction with technology in a range of institutional and cultural contexts of development and deployment. The subject builds on understandings of the interpretation and representation of knowledge; how particular knowledges are privileged and translated; and the relationship between issues of access and power. Students develop critical analysis skills required to understand the dynamic nature of relationships affecting the transfer and use of knowledge and information in emerging social and technological contexts.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On completion of this subject, students are expected to be able to:

critically examine interplay between people and technologies (dynamic nature of the relationship)
have an advanced understanding of issues affecting transfer and use of information and knowledge in a variety of social and institutional contexts
demonstrate proficiency in analysing social aspects of ICTs, including benefits and drawbacks of technological implementation
demonstrate an awareness of unanticipated impacts of implementing ICTs on workflows and communities of practice.

Contribution to graduate profile

This subject contributes to the graduate profile by providing a theoretical knowledge in the multidisciplinary field of information studies and the wider context of the humanities and social sciences (Objectives 1, 2), and encourages critical and reflective capabilities (Objective 6). It contributes to the student's understanding and appreciation, while providing a firm basis for professional practice, of the issues, trends and innovations involved in creation, representation and communication of information and knowledge within a framework of ethical and equitable practices (Objectives 4, 5, 8).

Teaching and learning strategies

Teaching and learning strategies will focus on interactive, constructive learning. Each session will provide a range of learning activities that will integrate formal input, personal and professional experiences, discussion, reflection and action. Tutorials are designed to promote informed discussion of key social issues associated with the design, uses and consequences of information and communication technologies. Contribution to tutorial discussion is valued and expected.

Learning will be enhanced by having opportunities to develop a range of intellectual abilities, such as analysing, synthesising, evaluating, critiquing and reflecting on ideas and viewpoints. Students will also actively engage with the literature of the field, both in preparation for and reflection of each session, and as part of the assessment process. UTSOnline will be used as a tool for promoting collaboration and discussion of the issues associated with social informatics.

This subject employs innovative and engaging teaching & learning activities in order to demonstrate core themes of the subject (e.g.: Social Informatics in practice) as well as to foster core graduate attributes (e.g.: collaboration and communication). The learning experiences available in this subject include lectures, discussion, reflection, and practical computer laboratory sessions and may include guest lecturers. Active involvement in the subject and a satisfactory overall performance are required to pass the subject. In the assessed tasks, students will be expected to further develop their individual understanding of course content by examining literature in addition to references listed in this outline. Students are also expected to keep up-to-date on current debates surrounding course topics.

Collaboration and communication in physical and virtual worlds are integral to success in this subject. Work associated with online collaboratories is integral to individual and collective learning in this subject. During the entire semester, students need to be prepared to work in teams and be active in the online spaces associated with assignment and tutorial activities. Students are expected to demonstrate how they are developing their collaboration and communication skills. Assignments will offer students an opportunity to evaluate the development of these skills in relation to professional and theoretical literature.

Assignments will be individual, group, and written.

Content

Concepts and issues of social informatics (e.g. Kling, Brown, Duguid, Bowker, Nardi, Turkle) (Objectives a, b)
Interactions between people and information and communication technologies within institutional and cultural contexts, e.g. social shaping. Exploration of the 'isms' of the relationship between the social and technology (determinism, luddism, utopianism/dystopianism, globalism, etc.) (Objectives a, b)
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) and social change (Objectives b, d)
Social issues in decision-making for implementing information technologies (including design and usability). (Objectives b, c)
Ramifications of new technologies for work practices (e.g. workflows, invisible work, collaboratories, digital libraries) (Objective d)
The power, privilege and interpretation of knowledge vis à vis emerging technologies (Objectives c, d)
Reflective writing skill development, e.g. Brookfield (1995).

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Creation of a new knowledge artefact (individual)

Objective(s):	To demonstrate An understanding of the complexities of the social shaping of information and theoretical underpinnings of the interplay between people and technologies. An ability to critically examine the literature related to the discipline and to analyse, synthesise and manage it. An ability to scan the literature efficiently and effectively using manual and computerised tools to identify relevant books and articles. Ability to create a new knowledge artefact that is well organised and structured.
Weighting:	40%
Task:	You will create a new knowledge artefact, in the form of an annotated, digital scrapbook, which is a structured review of the material you collect as you construct your own view of emerging technologies and the implications for knowledge access and organisation.
Assessment criteria:	Knowledge artefact appropriately organised and structured around identified themes. The relevance of the texts collected to the identified themes. Evidence of wide reading and investigation. Evidence of reflective skills: depth of analysis and reflection. Good written expression. Correct acknowledgement of the texts.

Assessment item 2: Issues of emerging technologies – working in a 'collaboratory' (group and individual)

Objective(s):	To demonstrate An ability to identify emerging technologies and discuss their possible implications and ramifications within a range of social contexts. A capacity for lateral thinking and creative thought processes. An awareness of the processes involved in using a technology for the exchange of ideas and knowledge. An ability to work effectively in a team.
Weighting:	30%
Task:	This is an ongoing assignment, which begins in Week 3 and will be submitted in Week 13. Assessment involves group and individual activities
Assessment criteria:	Quality of teamwork and preparation for discussions in your designated collaboratory. Quality of participation in all collaboratories throughout the semester. Evidence of understanding of the social processes involved in the use of ICTs. Depth of understanding and quality of reflection of the collaborative process. Evidence of skills in analysis and synthesis. Quality of critical evaluation. Good written expression and correct acknowledgement of the texts.

Assessment item 3: Critical evaluation of an emerging technology (individual)

Objective(s):	To demonstrate An understanding of the theories underlying the use and evolution of technologies. An ability to analyse the role the interplay between people and a technology within various social contexts.
Weighting:	30%
Task:	This assignment builds on the work done in the collaboratories (Assignment 2), your annotated bibliography (Assignment 1) and your weekly reading preparation. You are to select an emerging technology (i.e.: one of those discussed in the collaboratories, but not the one moderated by you) and write a report of 2,500 words that discusses the origins and evolution of the technology, evaluates and reflects on its use in 3 or more contexts (situations or settings in which the technology is or could be used) and examines the implications of the technology for future work practices. It is expected that your discussion and evaluation will be informed by the theories of social informatics introduced in the lectures and analysed in your first and second assignments. Be sure that your analysis draws on at least three references published in 2006 or later.
Assessment criteria:	Depth of analysis of the implications of a technology within social contexts. Evidence of an understanding of the theories underpinning the acceptance or non-acceptance of ICTs and their evolution. Evidence of reflective skills. Quality of application of the literature associated with the emerging technology. Good written expression. Correct acknowledgement of the texts.

Minimum requirements

Students are expected to read the subject outline to ensure they are familiar with the subject requirements. Since class discussion and participation in activities form an integral part of this subject, you are expected to attend, arrive punctually and actively participate in classes. If you experience difficulties meeting this requirement, please contact your lecturer. Students who have a reason for extended absence (e.g., illness) may be required to complete additional work to ensure they achieve the subject objectives.

Attendance is particularly important in this subject because it is based on a collaborative approach which involves essential workshopping and interchange of ideas. Students who attend fewer than ten classes are advised that their final work will not be assessed and that they are likely to fail the subject.

Indicative references

Specific reading will be assigned on a week-by-week basis in class. The reference list below is indicative of the texts we will be using in the subject.

Atkins, D., 1996, Electronic Collaboratories and Digital Libraries, Neuroimage, vol. 4. Available via Ingenta.

Brown, B., Green, N. and Harper, R. (eds) 2001, Wireless World: Social and Interactional Aspects of the Mobile Age, Springer, London, UK.

Brown, J.S. and Duguid, P. 2000, The Social Life of Information, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass.

Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P., 1996, The social life of documents, First Monday (1) Available: http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue1/documents/index.html

Buckland, M. 1997, "What Is a Document?", Journal of the American Society for Information Science, vol. 48, no. 9, pp. 804-09.

Bush, V. 1945, 'As we may think', The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 176, no. 1, pp. 101-108. Available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/194507/bush

Covi, L. and Kling, R. 1996, "Organizational Dimensions of Effective Digital Library Use: Closed Rational and Open Natural Systems Models", Journal of the American Society for Information Science, vol. 47, no. 9, pp. 672-90.

Heap, N. (ed.) 1995, Information Technology and Society: A Reader, Sage Publications in association with the Open University, London.

Hill, M.W. 1999, The Impact of Information on Society: An Examination of Its Nature, Value and Usage, Bowker-Saur, London.

Katz, J.E. and Rice, R.E. 2002, Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement and Interaction, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Kling, R. 2001, "Social Informatics", in Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, eds A. Kent and H. Lancour, M. Dekker, New York.

Lyons, K., 2002, How to write an annotated bibliography, prepared by University of California Santa

Cruz Library Reference Services, last updated 18th July 2002. Available at: http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/annotated.html

MacKenzie, D. and Wajcman, J. 1999, The Social Shaping of Technology, 2nd edn, Open University Press, Philadelphia, Pa.

Mumford, E. 1999, Dangerous Decisions : Problem Solving in Tomorrow's World, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.

Nardi, B.A. and O'Day, V.L. 1999, Information Ecologies : Using Technology with Heart, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Nardi, B., Whittaker, S. and Schwarz, H. (2000) 'It's Not What You Know, It's Who You Know: Work in the Information Age' First Monday volume 5, number 5 (May 2000) available at: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_5/nardi/index.html

Salmon, G. (2000) E-Moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online. http://www.emoderators.com/moderators.shtml

Sawyer, S. and Rosenbaum, H. 2000, Social Informatics in the Information Sciences: Current Activities and Emerging Directions, Informing Science, vol. 3, no. 2. http://inform.nu/Articles/Vol3/v3n2p89-96r.pdf

Schrage, Michael. 2000, The new economics of innovation (Chapter 1), in Serious play : how the world's best companies simulate to innovate, Cambridge,MA: Harvard Business School, pp.11-36.

Star, S.L. and Ruhleder, K. 1996, "Steps toward an Ecology of Infrastructure: Design and Access for Large Information Spaces", Information Systems Research, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 111-34.

Suchman, L. 1987, Plans and Situated Actions : The Problem of Human-Machine Communication, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Tenner, E. 1997, Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences, Knopf, New York.

Watson-Verran, H. and Turnbull, D. 1995, "Knowledge Systems as Assemblages of Local Knowledge" (Chapter 6, p115 –139), in Jasanoff, Sheila et al (eds.), Handbook of Science and Technology Studies Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Weingarten, F.W. and Overbey, P. 1996, Culture, Society and Advanced Information Technology :Proceedings of a Workshop of the AAA and the CRA, June 1-2, 1995. Available: http://www.cra.org/Policy/reports/aspects/aspects.pdf

Other resources

In this subject UTSOnline is used at Level 3 for communicating information and for facilitating moderated as well as un-moderated discussions. Keep in mind that UTSOnline is a dynamic tool and that you should keep an eye on the Announcements page and key areas of the site at least twice a week.

UTSOnline will be used to support your studies as follows:

forums, blogs and wiki spaces set up for assessment tasks, group work and class-wide activities
announcements about this subject will be posted by the subject coordinator or tutor
providing electronic copies of the subject outline, selected subject documents including reading lists on themes addressed throughout the semester
providing links to other digital resources, learning tools and websites, as required
sending and receiving emails between tutors, lecturers and students
moderated discussion forums answering questions about assessments and subject requirements within two working days of posting
unmoderated forums for you to talk with other students about your studies and share resources or ideas (un-moderated by instructor).

Your tutorial leader and lecturer will respond to questions on the discussion boards specifically set up for questions about assignments. However they will not necessarily respond to comments and discussion on other discussion boards, including self-help discussion boards set up so you can discuss your assignments with other students. You are encouraged to use the discussion board facility to talk with other students as you wish.

You will need to update your email address in UTSOnline so the lecturers or tutors can contact you and so you will receive the messages. There is a web link in Subject Documents that will show you how you can do this.

Information about UTSOnline is available at: http://online.uts.edu.au:8020/flt/students/

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