Information in Society
Overview
This book is a work-in-progress intended to support core courses in the Master of Information and Master of Information Management programs offered at the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University. These courses provide an introduction to the information field and to the role that information plays in society and in the personal, professional and social lives of people.
The course can be accessed directly from your browser (without going through Brightspace) using the following URL https://pmongeon.github.io/information-in-society/
Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the financial support, through an OER grant, of the Dalhousie Center for Learning and Teaching and the Dalhousie Libraries. It also would not have been possible without the help and support of Samantha Taylor, senior instructor and co-lead on the project, who orchestrated the writing of the case studies included throughout the book. It also would not have been possible without the hard work of Janine McGregor, Maddie Hare, Poppy Riddle, and Tessa Biesterfeld, students and alumni from the Dalhousie’s Master of Information program, who helped draft some of the chapters or case studies. Special thanks to Janine McGregor, who played a leading role in the planning and writing of the book.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Explain the general significance of information in contemporary society.
- Provide an informed and critical perspective on information phenomena and processes.
- Understand the nature and social roles of the information professions.
- Identify contemporary issues and their relationship with information and the information field.
Schedule
| Week | Theme |
|---|---|
| 1 | The field of information management |
| 2 | What is information? |
| 3 | Informational issues in contemporary society |
| 4 | Humans in an information society |
| 5 | Work in the information society |
| 6 | Information in organizations |
| 7 | Information economy |
| 8 | Attention economy |
| 9 | Misinformation, disinformation, and fake news |
| 10 | The public sphere and democracy |
| 11 | Information and equity, diversity, and inclusion |
| 12 | Big challenges for the information field: a panel |
Assignments
Use the course’s BrightSpace to:
Access the detailed instructions and due dates for the assignments.
Submit your assignments.
Other information and resources
The course syllabus.
A Zotero library will all the references in the course website, organized by chapter.
If you are seeking inspiration for your essay topic, you might find the titles of past essays useful.
You can use this Word template to write your assignments (not mandatory). Whether you use this template or not, I strongly recommend using Word styles to format and structure your document.
Use APA style for your references in all assignments.
Use Zotero (or another reference manager of your choice) to store your references and cite them in your work. (not mandatory, but highly recommended).
Have fun.