New courses for Spring 2015
- For information on how these courses might fit within your course of study, please consult with your advisor.
- For information on how to register for these courses, please visit our page on planning your course of study.
Information Science and Technology
INFSCI 2955: ST: SYSTEMS: Cybersecurity & Privacy Regulation
Mondays from 3:00 - 5:50 pm with David Thaw
This course examines the legal frameworks in place to protect consumer privacy and maintain necessary information security protections for privately owned and operated infrastructure, with a strong focus on regulatory and compliance issues. Taught collaboratively with the Schools of Law and Information Sciences, students will collaborate on projects simulating the types of problems both legal and technical professionals confront in actual practice. Some individual writing will be required, and a written paper option may be available for students in lieu of group projects with the consent of the Instructor. Topics covered will include the privacy and information security regulatory activity of the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Health and Human Services, federal financial regulators, and other state and federal actors. A basic introduction to the concepts of cyberlaw, the Internet, and other information technologies will be provided, and other topics will include the data breach notification regime, the role of computer crime law in information security, and other exigent privacy and security policy topics.
INFSCI 2955: ST: SYSTEMS: Cloud Computing
Tuesdays 12:00 - 2:50 pm with Balaji Palanisamy
This course covers the fundamental concepts in Cloud Computing and provides an understanding of the design principles behind various existing cloud solutions. It first covers the concepts of large scale parallel data processing in the cloud including the MapReduce programming model and Hadoop and its related ecosystem. It then focuses on various existing virtualized commercial cloud models including the concepts of system virtualization, hypervisors and virtualized platforms. The next part of the course focuses on cloud storage systems including key-value stores and geographically distributed clouds. The last part of the course provides an introduction to security and privacy issues in cloud computing covering the issues of data and execution privacy and legal issues in modern commercial cloud services.
Library and Information Science
LIS 2630: Human Information Interaction
Thursdays from 9:00 - 11:50 am with Leanne Bowler
This course takes an ecological approach to explore the situational and individual factors that influence interaction between information, technology, and humans. Special emphasis will be on the role of information systems and services in mediating the complex relationships embedded in the processes of human information interaction.
LIS 2773: Corporate Knowledge Practices
Mondays from 12:00 - 2:50 pm with Brian Beaton
This course explores corporate culture, with a focus on how organizations in the private sector create and use information, seek and store information, and utilize information systems and technologies to carry out their activities. Topics to be addressed include infrastructure, expertise, compliance, planning, staffing, managing, budgeting, assessment, personnel concerns, marketing, technology, capitalism, bureaucracy, and group dynamics.
LIS 2970: Research Data Infrastructures
Thursdays from 9:00 - 11:50 am with Liz Lyon
This seminar program will build on LIS 2975 Seminars Special Topics Research Data Management, and will focus on the elements of research data infrastructure which facilitate and enable effective data management. The program will examine approaches to data storage, data repositories and preservation practice, selected standards, schema, protocols and formats for describing datasets, data registries and catalogs enabling data discovery and the data publication process. We will explore developments in data citation and metrics to track data provenance and attribution. In each of the listed areas, there will be case studies and exemplars to illustrate the challenges and experiences of pilot implementations and fully operational services. Finally we will also consider public engagement with data, including the landscape of citizen science initiatives and the emergence of data science concepts and practice.
"Research Data is now a major new development area in academic libraries, archives and data centers, with recruitment for new positions and roles appearing in the media on a frequent basis. This RDI course (and the related Research Data Management course), have a strong practitioner focus and both aim to provide the foundational knowledge and skills to enable graduates to make professional career moves into emerging data librarian, data curation and data stewardship roles, and to help to build capacity and capability within the broader domain of data science."
-- Liz Lyon
LIS 2975: Community Knowledge Practices
Tuesdays from 3:00 - 5:50 pm with Brian Beaton
Community Knowledge Practices Focuses on information needs and challenges in the nonprofit sector. Explores how nonprofits use information systems and services. Students will learn how to support nonprofits in a variety of activities, including entity registration, fundraising, technology acquisition and adoption, knowledge management, marketing, messaging, and reporting. Designed for students interested in working as information professionals in NGOs, community organizations, foundations, social service agencies, and government.
Telecommunications and Networking
TELCOM 2829: Advanced Cryptography
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 - 11:15 am with Prashant Krishnamurthy
In this course, we will explore some advanced topics related to cryptography building on the basics from INFSCI 2170/TELCOM 2820: Cryptography. One day a week will be devoted to lectures and the other day to paper presentations by students. Topics covered include sponge functions and SHA-3, quadratic residues and encryption, cryptanalysis (Pollard’s rho, index calculus method, side channel attacks), and cryptographic hardware. This class will count as a doctoral seminar for Telecom Ph.D. students.
