Online courses directory (80)

This course gives students a background in theory and practice surrounding online interaction environments. For the purpose of this course, a community is defined as a group of people who sustain interaction over time. The group may be held together by a common identity, a collective purpose, or merely by the individual utility gained from the interactions. An online interaction environment is an electronic forum, accessed through computers or other electronic devices, in which community members can conduct some or all of their interactions. The term eCommunity is used as shorthand, both for communities that conduct all of their interactions online and for communities that use online interaction to supplement face-to-face interactions. Two main threads weave through the course, based on the two main texts. One thread is concerned with the practical issues of design and use of online tools to support communities, and how choices that must be made in design can impact the function and style of the resulting community. The second thread focuses on the sociological theory that provides a frame to better understand communities in general. These theoretical pieces provide a lens for better understanding the implications of choices made on the more practical level. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 529 - eCommunities: Analysis and Design of Online Interaction Environments, by Paul Resnick is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Course is the first in a two-part sequence exploring contemporary practices, challenges, and opportunities at the intersection of information technology and democratic governance. Whereas the second course focuses on challenges and innovations in democratic administration, this first course focuses on theories and practices of democratic politics and the shifting role of information technologies in supporting, transforming, and understanding these. The first half of the course seeks to ground contemporary discussion around IT and politics in various flavors of democratic and political theory. The second half builds on this foundation to explore ways in which information and information technologies have come to support, constrain, and otherwise inflect a range of contemporary democratic practices. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 532 / SI 732 - Digital Government 1: Information Technology and Democratic Politics, by Steven J. Jackson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

This seminar provides students an opportunity to do in-depth research into an information policy topic of their interest. Students will gain an understanding of current United States Government Policy in areas involved with information and information technology. Policies are forming and changing daily. In order to keep up with these changes the class includes guest lecturers who are studying or actually creating policies in the information area. The first part of the course consists of the student selecting and defining a topic. The second part of the course involves the presentation and discussion of the topic. As an advanced graduate course there is an expectation that the final paper will be, with suitable editing, publishable in a journal. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 550 - Seminar on Information Policy, by Victor Rosenberg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

This is a standard course in "game theory," designed with the School of Information MSI students as the primary audience. This course is the pre-requisite for several ICD courses. To be well-prepared for management, policy and analysis in the information professions you need to first have a solid grounding in game theory and its applications to problem solving. Thus, the primary objective is to teach you a set of useful theories and how to apply them to solve problems. The emphasis is on method and application. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 563 - Game Theory, by Yan Chen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.

This course brings together students and faculty who are engaged in diverse community and public interest work to hear from a wide range of fascinating guests and to engage in discussion around their expertise and experiences. Readings include those recommended by guests and a highly focused group of context-setting community informatics articles. Students learn the roots of community informatics

Provides an understanding of why societies, cultures, organizations, and individuals create and keep records. Presents cornerstone terminology, concepts, and practices used in records management and archival administration. Examines the evolution of methods and technologies used to create, store, organize, and preserve records and the ways in which organizations and individuals use archives and records for ongoing operations, accountability, research, litigation, and organizational memory. Participants become familiar with the legal, policy, and ethical issues surrounding records and archives administration and become conversant with the structure, organization, and literatures of the archival and records management professions. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 580 - Understanding Records and Archives: Principles and Practices, by Paul Conway is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Recommender systems guide people to interesting materials based on information from other people. A large design space of alternative ways to organize such systems exists. The information that other people provide may come from explicit ratings, tags, or reviews, or implicitly from how they spend their time or money. The information can be aggregated and used to select, filter, or sort items. The recommendations may be personalized to the preferences of different users. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 580 - Understanding Records and Archives: Principles and Practices, by Paul Conway is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

This Work, SI 615 - Seminar on Digital Libraries, by is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. This is a special topics seminar focusing on the current state of

This course provides an overview of the purposes and uses of outcome-based evaluation approaches and methods, and provides an opportunity to conduct a focused outcome evaluation of a user-focused service in a library, a nonprofit organization, an archive, a museum or other service-focused organization. Objectives are to: - Learn about approaches to outcome-based evaluation - Identify and use context-centered methods for evaluating public information services - Examine the role of evaluation in developing more effective information services - Gain skill in identifying appropriate data collection and analysis methods - Gain an understanding of recent developments in measurement and evaluation - Read assigned readings and appropriate focused readings - Plan and carry out a focused outcome-based evaluation project Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 623 - Outcome-Based Evaluation of Programs and Services, by Joan C. Durrance is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Information practice demands knowledge of all aspects of management and service delivery. This course introduces selected theories, principles and techniques of contemporary management science, and organizational behavior and their application to libraries and information services. Students develop skills in planning, organizing, personnel management, financial management, leading, marketing, stakeholder management, and coordinating functions in libraries and information services. Students also have the opportunity to think critically about, and reflect upon, contemporary management practice in information organizations. Information professionals find that no matter whether they choose a career as a single entrepreneur, solo librarian, archivist, or whether they join a large organization, they become managers -- of themselves, of clients or staff, and sometimes of substantial systems and services. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 626 - Management of Libraries and Information Services, by Tiffany Veinot is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

This course addresses a number of fundamental questions in European cultural history centered on the book as both material as well as cultural and social object. Touching on a variety of different physical formats, the course explores questions of authorship, production, manufacture, distribution, and reading of books, as well as their restriction and periodic prohibition. The course makes use of the University's large special collections holdings and students carry out extended individual projects using these holdings. The final unit of the course is devoted to the fundamental changes in print culture being fostered by the Internet and hypertext, with examination in particular of the University of Michigan's evolving role in the novel enterprise of electronic book circulation. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 633 - A Cultural and Material History of the Book from Pre-Gutenberg to Post-Google, by dmalicke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

This course focuses on the current state of "digital libraries" from a multidisciplinary perspective. Its point of departure is the possibilities and prospects for convergence of professions and cultures around the notion of digital media and content. The course covers the history of the idea of the digital library and the digital archive, especially its manifestation as projects and programs in academic, nonprofit, and research settings, and the suite of policy issues that influence the development and growth of digital libraries and archives. A foundation of core archival principles as applied in digital library and archives settings serves as an intellectual construct supporting the exploration of the related concepts of scholarly communication, digital preservation, cyberinfrastructure, representation, and standards/best practices. Students are expected to master a diverse literature, to participate actively in the discussion of issues, and to take steps, collectively and individually, to advance our understanding of future directions of digital libraries and archives. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 640 - Digital Libraries and Archives, by Paul Conway is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

This course builds on the conceptual framework of information needs and the use of information provided in SI 501. In that course the focus is on techniques that information professionals use to understand the needs of people who employ a wide variety of information systems. Emphasis is on professional practice. Professional practice occurs both in institutional settings (including public, academic, special, and school libraries and information centers) and directly between information professionals and clients (such as information brokers). Prepares students for need-based, client-centered professional practice in a variety of information environments (including public, academic, special libraries and school media centers) in a period of major change. Professional practice consists of a variety of functions and practices which increase client access to information and knowledge. It is based both on an understanding of user information constructs and on knowledge of information systems and services. Course addresses concepts related to public libraries, academic libraries, special libraries, medical libraries, school libraries, and information centers, strategy and strategies, competency, and competencies. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 643 - Professional Practice in Libraries and Information Centers, by Joan C. Durrance is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

This course provides an opportunity for students to examine information seeking and use in geographic communities. The course takes an interdisciplinary approach to explore: 1) selected community information needs & use situations (everyday life problem solving, community problem solving, citizenship, civic engagement and participation); 2) factors that influence community information use including the roles of community information organizations & institutions; 3) models of community information provision. The course starts with a brief historical introduction. Students will have opportunities to examine in more detail topics of especial interest to them. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 645 / SI 745 - Information Use in Communities, by Joan C. Durrance is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.

This course provides a strong grounding in the economics of information goods and services. Students analyze strategic issues faced by for-profit and not-for-profit organizations: pricing, bundling, versioning, product differentiation and variety, network externalities, and rights management. This course precedes SI 680. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 646 - Information Economics, by Mark McCabe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Records are the corporate and cultural memory that provide proof of actions and decisions, build a knowledge-base for reflection and learning, and form a perspective on today's society that we will pass on to future generations. As organizations create and maintain more of their records electronically, they are struggling to develop effective policies, systems, and practices to capture, maintain, and preserve electronic records. This course examines the ways in which new information technologies challenge organizations' capacities to define, identify, control, manage, and preserve electronic records. Students learn how different organizational, technological, regulatory, and cultural factors affect the strategies, practices, and tools that organizations can employ to manage electronic records. Problems of long-term preservation and continuing access to electronic records are analyzed and addressed. Addresses electronic records management issues in a wide variety of settings, including archives and manuscript repositories. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 655 - Management of Electronic Records, by David A. Wallace, Margaret Hedstrom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

This course will provide an intensive introduction to the field of information technology and global development, in its historical, policy, and design dimensions. Part One offers a comprehensive overview of key historical and contemporary debates, problems, and issues in international development. Part Two explores crucial information policy issues in developing country contexts, ranging from technology transfer, research and innovation systems, and intellectual property to telecommunications, wireless, and other critical infrastructure development. Part Three explores the growing ICT4D project literature, with special reference to programs and applications in the health, education, finance, governance, agriculture, and rural development sectors. Through readings, discussions, and course assignments, students will gain critical research and professional skills in the analysis and design of information policies, programs, and projects in a range of developing country settings. Through geographically focused project and discussion groups, students will also develop specific regional or country-level knowledge and experience. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 657 / 757 - Information Technology and Global Development, by Steven J. Jackson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

Digital imaging technologies are replacing the microfilm camera and photocopier as the primary mechanisms for reproducing print and graphic resources. Digitization practices do not necessarily accomplish preservation goals; only a portion of digitization programs in cultural heritage institutions produce preservation-quality results. In 2004, the Association of Research Libraries issued a position paper that supported the creation of preservation-quality digital images, citing the abundance of available standards and best practices. This course concentrates on the state-of-the-art of standards, techniques, metadata, and project requirements for the production of preservation-quality digital images. The course will consider such standards and practices within the larger context of the representation of information through technological remediation. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 675 - Digitization for Preservation, by Paul Conway is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

This course examines and evaluates the archival field's current preservation standards for storage and duplication. Critical preservation problems

Course prepares you to advise clients or your own organization on the design of contracts and screening policies when one of the parties has an information advantage over the other. For example, students study the design of patent licenses (the licensor knows more about the market), the design of social systems to reduce spam (the spam sender knows more about the content before the recipient decides whether to read), and the design of performance contracts for professional services (e.g., consultants, contract programmers, etc., when the contractor knows more than the employer about her level of effort). This course follows SI 646. Prerequisite(s): SI 562 & 563 or equivalent course in intermediate microeconomics. Course Level: Graduate This Work, SI 680 - Contracting and Signaling, by Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.