time: Tuesday and Thursday, 11:00-12:15 PM
location: Peabody Hall, Room 217
instructor: Diane Kelly, Ph.D., Associate Professor
teaching assistant: Laura Sheble, Ph.D. Student
email: dianek [at] email [.] unc [.] edu ; sheble [at] email [.] unc [.] edu
telephone: 919.962.8065
office: Manning Hall, Room 204
office hours: Tuesday 12:30-2:00; Wednesday, 11:00-1:00; and by appointment
home page: http://ils.unc.edu/~dianek/
Description
INLS 101: Foundations of Information Science (3). Examines the evolution of information science; information representation, organization and management; information in social organizations; search and retrieval; human information seeking and interaction; policy, ethics and scholarly communications.
Information science is the study of cognitive, social, technological, and organizational roles of information in all its forms. Information science focuses on the properties and behaviors of information, systems and people; and the technology for managing information for optimum accessibility and usability.
Information science is an interdisciplinary field derived from a number of disciplines including mathematics, computer science, psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, communications and management. Information science has existed for over 75 years and is becoming increasingly more important in the current information age.
Objectives
Students will gain a basic understanding of the history, concepts, techniques and terminology used in information science. Students will also develop an understanding of the various problem areas of information science, as well as the various career opportunities.
Textbook
There is no textbook for this course. Required readings are available through our password protected course directory (http://ils.unc.edu/courses/2010_spring/inls101_001/readings) or the open Web (in which case a URL will be provided).
Professional Conduct
In addition to the UNC Honor Code and Campus Code, we expect that you will demonstrate integrity and maturity in your participation in this course, and in the fulfillment of all of your course assignments. This includes completing the assigned readings on the dates they are due, dedicating adequate time for your participation (both in-class and out-of-class), and putting forth effort, care and thought in preparing your written assignments. We also expect you to show respect for all members of this course. Respect yourself by being prepared. For group work, you can show integrity by being a reliable and conscientious member of your group. Remember, the ways you conduct yourself in class and interact with others are reflections of your character. This is a great opportunity for you to develop and practice integrity.
Here are some of our additional expectations about class conduct:
- Plan to attend class and arrive on time. While you will not be penalized for missing class or arriving late, please note that if you are not in class you cannot participate, and thus, your participation grade is likely to suffer.
- Be courteous to your classmates and course instructor by not conversing with others during class lectures.
- Turn off cell phones, pagers, and other devices that might disrupt class.
- It is certainly fine to bring your laptop to class, but we expect that you will use it for class-related activities only: no general surfing, emailing, instant messaging, Facebook checking, etc. Do not engage in text messaging.
Participation is based on our perception of your participation in and out of class. Class participation consists of doing one or more of the following: being prepared for class, making observations about the readings and exercises, asking questions, taking notes, actively working on in-class exercises, and actively listening.
If an unexpected problem arises for you during the course of the semester (serious illness, etc.), please let me know so that we can discuss an appropriate schedule for you. If you need to miss class because of a religious holiday, then we can make alternative arrangements for this as well.
Email Expectations
Email is a good way to communicate with us outside the course. It is particularly well suited for short-answer and clarification questions. However, if you need assistance understanding a concept or an assignment, or have another potentially complicated question, then we ask that you visit us during office hours or email to schedule an in-person meeting. If you ask a question via email that we believe is better suited for in-person discussion, then we will ask you to come in and speak with us. If you have questions about how your assignment was evaluated, then you must visit us in-person to have this discussion. *We will not discuss your grades and our evaluation of your work via email.
It is also important to understand what you can expect with respect to how quickly we respond to your email. We will try our best to respond to your email within a 24-hour period, but in some cases it may take 2-3 days. Please keep this in mind when you are scheduling your own activities, especially those related to assignments. If you wait until the day before the assignment is due to ask us a clarification question about an assignment, then there is a good chance that you will not receive a response before the assignment is due. Also keep in mind that we are available during set office hours, so stopping by during these hours will likely get your question resolved faster.