Time Schedule:
Terrence A Brooks
INFX 598
Seattle Campus
Introduces innovation and specialized topics relating to the study of information in any context.
Class description
Several intellectual assumptions of information architecture and web search invite examination. These assumptions include (1) words in text can be discovered by white-space parsing, (2) text can be indexed automatically, (3) high-frequency words are semantically significant, (4) authors make the best indexers, (5) hyperlink text is a concept symbol, (6) hypertext is a document, and so on. This seminar examines the intellectual premises of modern information by reading the work of host of eminent information scientists of the twentieth century such as Gerard Salton, Don Swanson, Eugene Garfield, Ted Codd, William Kent, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The intellectual premise of this seminar is that text is opaque, words slippery and meaning obscure. Students will be invited to challenge or support these assertions in a writing project and class presentation.
Student learning goals
Identify the intellectual premises of "information"
General method of instruction
Lecture and discussion
Recommended preparation
Living in the 21st Century is helpful, but not necessary.
Class assignments and grading
Writing and thinking.
The impressive quality of the your writing and thinking.
