The main aim of the course is to critically reflect on concepts central to Information Studies in terms of assumptions, limitations, and social and ethical implications. As information is the central notion of Information Studies we start with information. We approach information by using hermeneutics; this perspective highlights the characteristics of human understanding and is compared with an engineering perspective on information. Secondly we highlight current critique related to the use of data and algorithms in society; from this critical perspective we explore opportunities to improve the design of algorithms and information systems. Thirdly we explore the fundamentals of management and relate these to digitalization of society. We identify challenges for management and control from a traditional scientific management approach and from the perspective of Complex Adaptive Systems. The last topic is power. We identify characteristics of power both from a static and dynamic perspective and explore related challenges for IS-topics.
The course is divided in two parts. The focus during the first part is on understanding the different perspectives described above. In the second part, students are challenged to apply, explore and discuss the different perspectives in relation to specific IS-topics like design, implementation and living with numbers in a digital society. A variety of articles -incl. practical cases- is used to support this exploration.
If applicable, students are explicitly invited to share their work experience during the course, esp. students with jobs in the IS-field. These real-life situations can then be explored and assessed from the perspectives under discussion.