Special Topics & IST 402

Course description: As information technologies increasingly expand the ability for organizations to store, process, and exploit personal data, privacy is at the center of discussion and controversy among multiple stakeholders including business leaders, privacy activists, and government regulators. Public opinion polls have repeatedly shown information privacy to be of utmost concern in diverse organizational and societal contexts and it is argued that information privacy continues to be eroded as a result of technology innovations. Read more...

Spring 2018

IST 402: Social Media in Organizations

Schedule Number: 14021
Section: 001
Meeting Days/Times: MW 2:30PM - 3:45PM
Instructor: Mahir Akgun
Location: E165 Westgate
Prerequisites: IST 210 & IST 220

Course description: Over the past few years, increased access to the internet and the growth of social computing has significantly reshaped the way organizations use these tools to support their daily practices. Social media is one of the areas of social computing that serve the purpose of creating a social interaction through computers, mobile devices, etc. The emergence of social media technologies is creating profound changes in human interaction and knowledge acquisition. Social media tools have been used to form and support communities of practices (CoPs) in organizations in order to provide organizations, workgroups, teams and individuals with new ways to work together, learn, and share knowledge in the workplace. This course focuses on possible uses of Web 2.0 technologies to support knowledge acquisition and sharing in CoPs within an organization. We have two objectives in the course. The first is to build foundation of knowledge regarding Web 2.0 technologies and their use in organizations to form and support CoP. Our second objective is to build connections among knowledge management, CoP and social media. We will focus on how knowledge management in an organization can be supported by forming and sustaining CoPs with the help of Web 2.0 technologies.

Book: NO assigned textbook in this course.

Target Audience: Junior or senior undergraduate students

Evaluation Method: The course will include a term project that involves the formation of communities of practice within an organization with the help of social media technologies. Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will read assigned texts, engage in small group discussions, publish reflective journals, and work in groups to complete the term project.

IST 402: Mobile User Experience and Design

Schedule Number: 14022
Section: 002
Meeting Days/Times: TR 3:05PM - 4:20PM
Instructor: Xiying Wang
Location: E202 Westgate
Prerequisites: IST 210 & IST 220

Course description: We work, learn, socialize, stay informed, play, get entertained, and keep track of personal agendas with and through mobile devices. Smartphones have become integral to our life. But what motivates people to download and use a mobile app? When and why do people stop using an app? What works well and what doesn’t? What is the process of designing the user experience on mobile devices? How do we make better decisions and how do we communicate our design ideas?

In this course, we will focus on the users' experience of mobile apps; we will design, prototype, and evaluate mobile apps from users' perspectives. We will discuss key aspects of the mobile design process including: understanding and analyzing user needs, transforming user needs into mobile design solutions, designing the user interfaces and experience of mobile apps, using trendy prototyping tools to create functional mock-ups, and conducting user research to evaluate the prototypes.

This is a hands-on project-based design course. Therefore, much of the class time will be dedicated to in-class design or prototyping activities. You will also be expected to conduct user research, e.g. recruiting and interacting with users. Always come and prepare to design, work, and discuss.

Objectives: This course will prepare you to be a user experience researcher in the mobile domain and design technologist who is familiar with modern mobile prototyping techniques. In this course, you will learn:

Ways of understanding users’ needs, such as observation, diary studies, interviews, etc.
Techniques of identifying and recruiting the right users
Interaction design process
Mobile prototyping techniques and tools
Ways of evaluating your mobile designs, e.g., user testing and evaluations

IST 402: Online Political Activism and Civic Engagement

Schedule Number: 28261
Section: 004
Meeting Days/Times: W 9:00AM – 12:00PM
Instructor: Andrea Tapia
Location: E206 Westgate
Prerequisites: IST 210 & IST 220

Course description: The growth of social media has dramatically changed how people communicate, collaborate and mobilize, thereby transforming political and social activism. This course examines the interplay between activism and social media through academic texts, online resources and videos.

Digital media is rewriting the playbook for social change. Older social change and civic organizations are searching for how to take advantage of the promise of digital media, while “digital native” movements showcase new possibilities to make change without a traditional civic or political organization. This course will explore the role of digital technology in contemporary U.S. civic engagement and social movement organizing. Course work includes both an examination of the theories behind technology and social change as well as practical examinations of tactics at work online and offline today. Students will leave the course understanding both the “how” and the “why” of digital activism. This is a practitioner-led course and has a focus on providing contemporary readings on how and why digital media is used for social change. The classroom work and assignments will bring practical examples of the use of digital media by organizations, campaigns, and movements and will train students to become informed users and effective practitioners of digital media for social change. This is a discussion-driven class.

IST 297/497 Special Topics

Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject that may be topical or of special interest. The College of Information Sciences and Technology's Special Topics are those that may be available for only one semester, examine special topics, or are new courses that have been added to our list of course offerings.

Spring 2018

SRA 297: Special Topics (Substitute for CYBER 100s for Spring 2018 Only) (3cr)

Schedule Number: 28930
Section: 001
Meeting Days/Times: MWF 1:25PM - 2:15PM
Instructor: Nicklaus Giacobe
Location: E202 Westgate
Enrollment Requirements: Students must be in the INFST_PMAJ or DUS_PMAJ majors with a semester classification 002-004.

This course is meant for true first year or sophomore students heading towards the CYAOP major only.

College of Information Sciences and Technology

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