INFSCI 2000: Introduction to Information Science

(CRN 02740)

Instructor: Paul Munro
Time: Monday 6PM-8:50PM
Place: SIS Building 406
Textbooks

Course Description
The goal of IS2000 is explore the scope of the field of information science.  The course is thematically divided into three parts that reflect the three components of the department's curriculum: Foundations, Cognition, and Systems & Technology.  Each week will consist of a lecture on a topic in information science and a discussion session that will focus around an issue or issues drawn from the press.

In the first half of the course, we will explore theoretical principles and concepts that underly information processing, including information theory, models of information storage and retrieval, and human cognition. The rest of the course will concern itself with application of the theory to the design of information systems, from database applications to telecommunications to GIS systems.

Assignments
0.  One page essay (What is Information Science?)
1.  Probability Homework
2.  Create a web page
3.  News Synopsis
4.  Final Paper

Schedule (subject to change)
 
Area 
Date
Speaker
Topics
Readings
Assignments
News Presentation
Foundations January 5 Paul Munro Welcome
The UNIX operating system
UNIX tutorial
In-class essay
Read As we may Think
January 12 Paul Munro Math Foundations: Probability, Logic
Making a web page
Probability Handout Postscript Word
HTML tutorial
Read HMC Chapter 1 (Quiz)
Paul Arezina
January 19
NO CLASS  --  Martin Luther King Day
January 26 Paul Munro Information Theory
Coding
Probability Handout
Information Theory Handout
Read HMC Chapter 2 (Quiz)
Eriko Iwatai
Riad Mahmood
February 2 Paul Munro Classification of Information
Information Retrieval
Powerpoint Handout
Web Page Due
Read HMC Chapter 3 (Quiz)
Kim Buccigrossi
Guoliang Xiang
Cognitive February 9 Paul Munro Language Probability Homework Due
Read HMC Chapter 4 (Quiz)
Susan Fineman
Julie McLean
February 16 TBA Spatial Information Processing Read HMC Chapter 5 (Quiz) Tim Grady
Dana King
February 23 TBA Decisions and Decision Support Encoding Homework Due
Read HMC Chapter 6 (Quiz)
Sarah Garno
Mita Lovalekar
March 1 Paul Munro Neural Network Models
Genetic Algorithms
Handout
Read HMC Chapter 7 (Quiz)
March 8
NO CLASS  --  Spring Break!
March 15 Paul Munro Human Computer Interaction Handout
Read HMC Chapter 8 (Quiz)
Systems &
Technology
March 22 TBA Telecommunications Read HMC Chapter 9 (Quiz) Eric Garcia
Unnamalai Narayanan
March 29 TBA WWW Read HMC Chapter 10 (Quiz) Partha Ghosh
Kristin Bailey
Wendy Hoch
April 5 TBA more WWW
April 12 Paul Munro Computer Security & Information Privacy Cuckoo's Egg
PKA Handout
April 19 TBA Integrated System Design