SILS, U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

INLS-110 (40) – Spring 2004
Strategic Information

Bob Losee

Manning 302
962-7150 (voice and voicemail)

962-8071 (fax)

losee@ils.unc.edu

http://StrategicInformation.US
Spring 2004

Brief Description:

An introduction to Strategic Information, emphasizing a broad, basic knowledge of Strategic Information for those who will be in leadership positions in the information professions, both profit and non-profit. The focus is on strategies and how information is used in choosing actions when there are opponents, competitors, or cooperation.

Prerequisites:

Students need to be able to read material in the business, economics, and information theory literature that uses some math. Students are not expected to be able to fully digest all mathematical arguments in the readings, but students are expected to try to understand much of the less mathematical material. Math-phobes will hate this course. This is an information science course, not an information technology course.

Undergraduates, Masters, and Doctoral Students:

The course is meant primarily for master’s students; however, advanced undergraduates who emphasize information over technology may find this course useful. In the long run, doctoral students benefit most from courses taught by faculty with whom their advisor regularly collaborates on research.

Course web page: http://StrategicInformation.US

Texts:

Eric Rasmusen, Games and Information, Third Edition, Blackwell, 2001.

Eric Rasmusen, Readings in Games and Information, Blackwell, 2001.

Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff, Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life, Norton paperback, 1991.

Grading:

Quality of class participation (includes discussion of readings) and homework 60%
Final paper 40% (Oral and Written presentations) (Written paper due Noon, Friday April 23) Late papers will be penalized.

Projects:

Each student is expected to conduct a small research project or propose in detail how one could be conducted and write up the project or proposal in a paper of 6 to 10 pages of text, single spaced, to be handed in on paper. You may use any widely accepted style (e.g., Chicago, APA, MLA). The project should begin with a question whose answer would be of value to the strategic information community. You are free to consider all the topics covered in the course outline as relevant to this community. Papers that are rehashed material from another course’s paper usually receive weak grades in this and other courses; teachers aren’t stupid and do know that this goes on. There should be a brief discussion of the literature addressing areas around the question, possibly citing 3 to 8 related articles. The question should be clearly stated in the paper and the paper should focus on answering this question by drawing conclusions based primarily on the data collected and analyzed. The research should involve the analysis of data to be gathered by the student (not from the literature), and it may be either quantitative or qualitative. The focus of the question and the paper should be on knowledge and techniques applicable to a wide range of systems, applications, or users. Do not base your data analysis primarily on published data. The paper should describe and analyze the results, with an emphasis on interpretation (“why”) leading to an understanding of the results. Insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the different techniques or situations is more important than raw performance improvement. The last paragraph of the paper should contain specific recommendations for professional practice, as well as summaries of the reasons for these recommendations.Criteria for Paper (and Class Participation) Evaluation

This is an optional course for students in the School of Information and Library Science. You are here to learn and grow, not to worry. Anyone who puts in a reasonable effort should expect to pass the course.

An H paper includes a question whose answer will improve the operation of more than one information retrieval system. The paper should include strong reasons for considering the problem important to ILS professionals; a brief literature review, and a methods section, as well as a clear explanation or argument about why these results occurred. The question to be answered should be topically similar to those questions addressed in journals such as JASIS and IP&M. An H indicates clear excellence.

A P paper is a good solid piece of work, at the normal graduate level, that may be less effective in explaining why the question’s answer would be useful or in connecting it to central issues in the field; or it may lack references to relevant literature; or it may lack an obvious connection between the question and the methods to be used; or it may not describe the question or the methodology precisely; or it may overlook some minor methodological problems or fail to discuss or resolve them satisfactorily. There may be little explanation about why these particular results occurred. P is the most commonly awarded grade in graduate level courses such as this.

An L paper may fail to explain the utility of the research or it may fail to connect the question to the methods to be used or the different aspects of methods to each other. Major methodological problems may have been overlooked. There may be little or no understanding provided as to the cause of the results.

An F paper is lacking a required element (the question, relevant literature, research site and/or sources and/or subjects, data collection and analysis). Any plagiarism or other violation of the Honor Code will also result in an F and the likelihood of further action.

Honor Code:

Students should familiarize themselves with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Honor Code that is described in University publications. It should be noted that in this course, and in most others, students are expected to receive (and provide) some assistance regarding the use of hardware and software in the laboratories and general problem solving techniques for homework assignments. Students should NOT receive (or provide) major creative assistance or continuing minor support for projects.

Classroom Behavior:

Separate from the Honor Code but related to respect for classmates is classroom behavior, which will be a factor in your class participation grade. Students are expected to behave in a professional manner in class. Students in class are expected to focus on classroom materials. Students are expected to avoid extensive student-to-student conversations during class. Use of laptop computers should be limited to taking notes for class. Similarly, materials being read should be limited to those appropriate for the classroom lecture or discussion. Cellular telephones and computers should have ringers and speakers muted before class begins so as to not disturb others.