Winter 2025

IMT 589 B: Product Strategy & Leadership

• Instructor: Nitin T. Bhat
• 4 credits; standard grading
• Prerequisite: IMT 587
• Add code request form

This course provides a deep dive of skills, practices, and frameworks foundational to a career in product management (with a focus on product strategy in diverse markets and organizations). Emphasizes strategic storytelling, leadership of teams and the development of proposals and roadmaps grounded in customer needs, business objectives, and technical possibilities.

IMT 589 C: Implementing and Managing Artificial Intelligence (AI) Systems

• Instructor: Richard Sturman 
• 4 credits; standard grading

This course explores the strategies and considerations needed for the effective deployment, governance, and management of AI systems within organizational settings. Students will examine the ethical implications of AI and the importance of ensuring that these systems serve the needs of diverse populations and organizational goals. Students will learn how to design and implement AI systems that align with organizational objectives while prioritizing human well-being, fairness and sustainability, through real-world applications, case studies, and hands-on projects.

IMT 589 D: Qualitative and Design Methods for Data Science

• Instructor: Jaime Snyder 
• 4 credits; standard grading
• Offered jointly with LIS 598 H

Data science students are introduced to qualitative and design methods to support human-centered perspectives, heighten awareness of discriminatory practices, and make connections between identity and data. Readings and hands-on activities provide students with novel tools for better understanding the ways in which people are defined and represented through data practices.

IMT 589 E: Reading Seminar

• Instructor: David Hendry
• 2 credits; credit/no credit grading

In this quarterly reading seminar, you will read about 40 pages per week and discuss a text at one weekly meeting. You will develop your thinking and leadership skills while helping to create a flourishing community of information management professionals. The Winter 2025 book: 

Kane, G. C., Phillips, A. N., Copulsky, J. R., and Andrus, G. R. (2019). The Technology Fallacy: How People are the Real Key to Digital Transformation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [ISBN-13: 978-0262039680] [About $20.00 at the usual places | UW Library]

The Technology Fallacy outlines how digital technologies are disrupting organizations of every size and kind. Based on four years of research, the book argues that the “best way to respond to digital disruption is by changing the company culture to be more agile, risk tolerant, and experimental.” In this reading seminar, we will examine this thesis and its consequences for information management. 

More about the MSIM Reading Seminar and Community Books.

IMT 598 A: Low-Code No-Code Development

• Instructor: Fawad Khan
• 3 credits; standard grading

According to Gartner, 65% of overall application development will be using No-code/Low-code in organizations by 2024. Start with understanding the basics of digital transformation, Cloud computing, and how they are evolving the development and business landscape. Learn about the next revolution in cloud computing development using the low-code and no-code development platforms. Using these platforms, both business and IT users can create business applications with minimal development experience. Discover and learn how you, as a regular IT or business user, can solve some of the common and complex business problems using these platforms. Understand the power of data and how to build business solutions quickly by integrating data from various sources, incorporating business flows, building internal/external Websites, and including virtual chatbots in your applications.

IMT 598 B: Epistemological Foundations of AI

• Instructor: Bill Howe
• 3 credits; standard grading

This course is focused on the intellectual foundations of critical engagement with AI. The course will draw on historical, philosophical, and cultural scholarship on information, science, and technology with particular attention paid to disciplinary and epistemological tensions between different modes of knowledge production. Example course topics will cover (but are not limited to): the rise of statistical reasoning and datafied ways of knowing, histories of social surveillance and risk management, and contemporary legacies of relevant prior scientific paradigms (e.g., eugenics, cybernetics, and beyond). Through intensive reading and discussion, students will learn to critically assess the aims and assumptions of various scientific rationalities and cultural logics underwriting AI, demonstrating their learning through 1) an original scholarly essay and 2) a focused study of a prominent AI system or initiative.

INFO 415 A: Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT)

• Instructor: Lindah Kotut
• 4 credits; Standard grading
• Writing credit

This course is geared at covering topics in cybersecurity that are not otherwise covered in the IAC curriculum. The course will center around the theme of Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) in the context of cybersecurity. Topics discussed in the class will include tools and technologies used to effect OSINT, privacy enhancing technologies (PETS), threat actors, and operational security (OPSEC). We will also discuss how emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence/ChatGPT etc., impact the offensive and defensive postures in Red and Blue teams.

INFO 492 A: Intensive Capstone - No/Low Code Technology Strategies and Solutions for Non-profits

• Instructor: Nam-ho Park
• 8 credits; Standard grading

Nonprofits frequently face constraints in budget and technical expertise, limiting their ability to implement and manage sophisticated technology solutions. These solutions could significantly enhance engagement with their beneficiaries, efficiently handle constituent management, and automate repetitive tasks. The class aims to identify high-value workflows that can be automated and utilize no/low-code solutions for designing, developing, and testing these workflows. Our goal is to deploy these solutions and transition their management to nonprofits, unburdening them from menial tasks and freeing up resources to focus on their missions and impact.

INFO 492 C: Intensive Capstone - Scaling Rural Healthcare with AI and Large Language Models 

• Instructor: Frank Martinez
• 8 credits; Standard grading

Students will research how AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) might be used to expand capacity for rural healthcare providers. Students will engage with different healthcare stakeholders throughout Washington state to inform their LLM research findings. They will also design and prototype LLM-based healthcare tools to inform their research experiments. Students should be familiar with and have experience building within popular LLM platforms, such as Hugging Face, Ollama, Cursor, Replit.

INFO 494 A: Research Studio - Justice-Centered Programming Languages

• Instructor: Amy J. Ko
• 2 credits; credit/no credit grading

This recurring, quarterly research studio will engage you as a volunteer open source contributor that helps design, build, and maintain Wordplay, creative coding research platform for creating accessible, interactive typographic media. Our research goals are to create a global platform for creative expression with language that celebrates every individual's culture, identity, and values, while also enabling youth to learn about the power and limits of data and algorithms. Your contributions can include designing and redesigning the language and platform, implementing new user interface features, improving correctness and reliability of current features, localizing to one or more of the world's languages, writing automated tests, creating Wordplay examples, verifying accessibility, and teaching your peers. As a studio course, there will be no lectures, only community-based making, collaboration, coordination, and communication. Can be taken multiple times, and volunteer work can continue beyond the quarter.

INFO 498 A: AI, Robots, and Transcending Religion

• Instructor: Wes Eli King
• 4 credits; standard grading
• Online asynchronous

Can a Robot Be Divine? Will humans merge with technologies that enable them to transcend current reality? This course will engage with these questions and others as we survey philosophical concepts, ethical principles, and popular culture connecting AI and religion.

This course aims to:

• Introduce students to theories about the influence of religion on technological innovation.
• Explore development of religious robots.
• Develop students’ critical and analytical skills for examining ethical debates about AI.

By the end of the course, successful students will be able to:

• Recognize key religious concepts and theories of technology.
• Describe ways religions use robots and imagine technological futures.
• Engage with religious worldviews and ethical principles that influence the development, content, form, and use of AI.

INFO 498 C: Text Reuse, AI, & the Art of Stealing

• Instructor: Anna Preus and Melanie Walsh
• 5 credits; Standard grading
• Offered jointly with English (ENGL 413 A) and Textual Studies (TXTDS 403 A)

Examines artificial intelligence technologies in the context of literary and cultural histories of text reuse. Explores concepts including intellectual property, authorship, parody, and adaptation, drawing on approaches from literary studies and data science. Considers impacts of data and computation on textual production and analysis.

INFO 498 D: Fundamentals of Game Design for Social Good

• Instructor: Andy Cargile
• 5 credits; standard grading

The course will start with several weeks of game design basics, including mechanics, dynamics, “fun”, visual and UX design for games, narrative, user research for games, and an overview of game genres. We’ll then cover various aspects of games for social good, including game-based learning, social awareness games, social action games, and social engagement games in a variety of categories. We will also cover topics such as toxicity in multiplayer games, representation, and more. Assignments will focus on team creation more than theory and we will have a final team project where you create a game prototype.

INFO 498 E: Infomocracy: Sci-Fi, Democracy, and Information Systems

• Instructor: Katherine Alejandra Cross
• 4 credits; standard grading

Science fiction, famously, gives us a glimpse of where technology may be going. But, at its best, it can also show us where society, as a whole, is headed. What technologies underlie democracy, and what does sci-fi have to say about where all that might be headed? And what does science fiction's commentary on information technology suggest about our own time? We'll read Malka Older's novel Infomocracy and several short stories by some of the biggest names in contemporary sci-fi for answers (and to ask interesting questions). We'll also look at some nonfiction readings to contextualise it all. From cyberpunk, to spaceships and lasers, to robots and aliens, we'll dive into it all to think critically about the interplay between tech and democracy, with an eye towards seeing how information systems and democratic systems have a lot more overlap than you might expect.

INFO 498 F: Understanding and Navigating Cognitive and Behavioral Change in the AI Era

• Instructor: Chris Fu
• 4 credits; standard grading

Humans have been using tools that significantly shape our cognition and behavior. With AI's swift evolution, our working and thinking processes have been profoundly altered and enhanced in recent years. The influence of AI on our cognition and behavior remains an active area of research with diverse beliefs, theoretical frameworks, and empirical findings. This course encourages deep reflection on how AI tools might alter us in the coming decades and how we should adapt to these changes. Moreover, students will gain personal experience with these tools, observing firsthand the transformations they undergo throughout the course. To capture these shifts, the course will employ self-observation, evaluative surveys, and reflective exercises along with traditional reading reflections and class projects as learning tasks.

INSC 578 B: Research Seminar - Misinformation

• Instructor: Jevin West 
• 2 credits; credit/no credit grading

In this course, students will have the opportunity to engage, hands-on, in multiple aspects of the research process, including the development of research questions, review of the literature, data cleaning and analysis, and the writing of a scholarly paper. Research will focus on understanding how misinformation and disinformation flows through modern information systems and how this information translates into beliefs, actions and values. Students will work with data created at the Center for an Informed Public. The goal of the class is to produce a scholarly paper draft that can be shared broadly within this growing research community and on students’ resumes and recommendation letters.

LIS 598 A: Library Collaboration and Partnership

• Instructor: Lorcan Dempsey
• 4-credits; standard grading

No library is an island. Libraries are embedded in multiple collaborative and partner networks to get their work done. Participation in, and management of, these network relations is a central part of a library's work. Several sets of relations are especially important. 

1. Libraries work with other libraries in consortia - to negotiate, to share systems and collections, to learn and innovate, and to lobby and concentrate their influence. 

2. Libraries collaborate with community partners to co-create or deliver services. This might include the Teaching and Learning Center or Office of Research for the academic library, or Departments of Arts and Culture or Education, or a local Community College, for the public library. 

3. Libraries may work with groups of users to co-create services, to get feedback, to evolve.

It is important for libraries to recognize these relationships in their strategy, planning and management. To make decisions and allocate resources accordingly, and to decide when to collaborate and partner to get things done and when to do it themselves. 

This course will include opportunities to learn from library leaders, consortium leaders and others. The focus will be on both public and academic libraries, but the principles and practices are broadly applicable. There will be a special focus on inter-library collaboration, but the other forms of collaboration will also be covered. Some experience of working in a library will be helpful, but not essential. 

LIS 598 E: Search & Discovery

• Instructor: Ben Lee
• 4 credits; Standard grading
• Online Asynchronous 

Search is at the heart of library and information science, dictating what information is made discoverable and how it is navigated. This course will investigate search & discovery and its many facets, from the technical challenges of searching petabytes of web archives to fundamental questions of who dictates what is made searchable and who has access. Accordingly, this course will adopt an interdisciplinary approach to search & discovery, drawing from fields including computer science, data science, critical information studies, science & technology studies, and cataloging. A particular emphasis will be placed on studying existing search & discovery systems for digital collections held by libraries, archives, and museums, as well as emerging trends within these institutions.

Students with coding experience are welcome to enroll in this course, but there are no coding prerequisites. For assignments and projects, students will have the option to build, evaluate, investigate, or imagine new search systems for digital collections using their preferred methodologies, whether coding, writing, designing, or implementing.

LIS 598 H: Qualitative and Design Methods for Data Science

• Instructor: Jaime Snyder 
• 4 credits; standard grading
• Offered jointly with IMT 589 D

Data science students are introduced to qualitative and design methods to support human-centered perspectives, heighten awareness of discriminatory practices, and make connections between identity and data. Readings and hands-on activities provide students with novel tools for better understanding the ways in which people are defined and represented through data practices.

Autumn 2024

IMT 589 A: Foundations of Entrepreneurship

• Instructor: Mike Teodorescu
• 4 credits; standard grading

This course will create a welcoming environment for students of all degrees to learn about the fundamentals of starting a new business, venture capital, developing intellectual property, and writing a business plan. The theoretical foundations will draw from the management, economics of innovation, and entrepreneurial finance literature. The course will rapidly develop skills needed to think about building a business, such as defining a problem area, finding a market, feasibility analysis of proof of concept, IP considerations, and finally how to pitch for funding. The course will conclude with group projects where students develop a business idea proposal and will pitch it to a panel of judges for feedback, as in traditional startup accelerators. External judges such as angels, business faculty, or venture capitalists will be invited for the event by the instructor to provide diverse viewpoints and feedback for the business plan proposals.

IMT 589 B: Generative AI Ethics

• Instructor: Aylin Caliskan 
• 4 credits; Standard grading

This special topic course will delve into the opportunities and challenges associated with generative AI systems. Generative AI systems have been rapidly proliferating and are widely used by laypeople, students, researchers, and developers. While they offer practical human-AI interaction settings, their impact on society remains poorly understood. We will explore how to responsibly use, develop, and deploy generative AI systems while also raising awareness about the numerous open questions that are critically important to the sciences and society.

IMT 598 A: Digital Transformation

• Instructor: Fawad Khan
• 3 credits; standard grading

This course is going to introduce the concept of Digital Transformation and Cloud's key emerging technologies and how they are forcing companies to review and formulate a digital strategy which affects the bottom line of any company. We will review the key digital transformation strategy pillars and use Cloud's key emerging technologies, including Cognitive Computing, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and IoT to build solutions and applications to help the organizations along this digital journey.

INFO 415 A: Emerging Topics in Information Assurance and Cybersecurity - Risk Assessment

• Instructor: Lindah Kotut
• 4 credits, standard grading 
• Writing credit

This course is geared toward covering topics in cybersecurity that are not otherwise included in the information assurance and cybersecurity (IAC) curriculum. The Autumn 2024 course will center around the theme of Risk Assessment and the study of tools and technologies used to support Red and Blue teams alongside associated policy guidelines. Students will analyze the influence of ransomware, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies on the cybersecurity landscape. Discussions will encompass the examination of the resulting implications on people (individual users, groups, and countries), devices (from the internet of things to critical infrastructure), and domains (from healthcare to automotive security).

INFO 492 A: Intensive Capstone - Digital Remembrance Practices

• Instructor: Temi Odumosu
• 8 credits; standard grading
• Prerequisites: INFO 300 and INFO 360
• Recommended preparation: Completion of one INFO 35X course
• To enroll in INFO 492 A, fill out this form by September 24.

Students will develop qualitative research skills, whilst considering the issue of preservation in a dynamic way. The aim is to explore the role that information technologies have and continue to play in the preservation and production of personal and collective memories. In particular with GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums), on social media, as well as augmentation strategies in public space (e.g. AR tools such as "What was there", or, the 2012 "Tupac Hologram" at Coachella). Student projects would include studying existing strategies and case studies, considering their affects/effects and ethical challenges, and then making their own design propositions in a space or institution of their own choosing.

INFO 494 A: Research Studio - Justice-Centered Programming Languages

• Instructor: Amy J. Ko
• 2 credits; credit/no credit grading

This recurring, quarterly research studio will engage you as a volunteer open source contributor that helps design, build, and maintain Wordplay, creative coding research platform for creating accessible, interactive typographic media. Our research goals are to create a global platform for creative expression with language that celebrates every individual's culture, identity, and values, while also enabling youth to learn about the power and limits of data and algorithms. Your contributions can include designing and redesigning the language and platform, implementing new user interface features, improving correctness and reliability of current features, localizing to one or more of the world's languages, writing automated tests, creating Wordplay examples, verifying accessibility, and teaching your peers. As a studio course, there will be no lectures, only community-based making, collaboration, coordination, and communication. Can be taken multiple times, and volunteer work can continue beyond the quarter.

INFO 498 A: Entrepreneurship Fundamentals for Devs, Designers, and PMs

• Instructor: Jeremy Zaretzky
• 4 credits; Standard grading

Designed for INFO majors who are interested in startups and entrepreneurship, this course will cover how new companies are founded, managed, funded, and grown. Through readings, guest speakers, activities, and case studies, students will learn what life is like as a startup founder and how to navigate the inevitable challenges that arise, as well as the mechanics of raising money for a startup through both equity and non-dilutive funding options. While the course material is applicable to many different types of startups, there will be a particular emphasis on social impact startups, SaaS companies, and online marketplaces. Developers, designers, and product managers who are thinking about launching a startup at some point in their career, as well as those interested in joining an early-stage startup after graduation, are encouraged to enroll in the course.

INFO 498 B: Text Mining and Analytics

• Instructor: Lucy Lu Wang
• 4 credits; Standard grading

This course will cover techniques for analyzing and gaining insights from large amounts of textual data. We will cover foundational methods for search and retrieval, information extraction, text classification, and visualization, with an emphasis on statistical and unsupervised approaches. Text data can be found in many high-values domains such as social media, news, science, law, and medicine, and contains rich descriptions of human activity and productivity. You will learn how to collect and represent text data, discover patterns, and extract useful evidence to support decision making and resource allocation.

INFO 498 C: Public Interest Technology

• Instructor: Nicholas Weber 
• 4 credits; Standard grading

This course will provide an introduction to the field of Public Interest Technology. Through a survey of historical, contemporary, and prospective research problems that require public servants to deploy technologies in under-resourced environments, students will better understand how they can use their skills to work in the public sector. This course will be a mix of lecture and research / exploratory work. The research / explorations will have community-based-organizations as a sponsor.

INSC 578 B: Research Seminar - Misinformation

• Instructor: Jevin West 
• 2 credits; credit/no credit grading

In this course, students will have the opportunity to engage, hands-on, in multiple aspects of the research process, including the development of research questions, review of the literature, data cleaning and analysis, and the writing of a scholarly paper. Research will focus on understanding how misinformation and disinformation flows through modern information systems and how this information translates into beliefs, actions and values. Students will work with data created at the Center for an Informed Public. The goal of the class is to produce a scholarly paper draft that can be shared broadly within this growing research community and on students’ resumes and recommendation letters.

INSC 598 A: Child-Computer Interaction

• Instructor: Katie Davis
• 3 credits; Standard grading

Interactive technologies are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in children’s lives, with implications for the way children learn about and experience their world, other people, and themselves. Child-computer interaction researchers play a critical role in understanding how the design of these technologies impacts children and society, as well as envisioning future technologies that support children’s multi-faceted experiences, from birth through adulthood. 

This course will focus on research related to the design of interactive technologies for and with children; the various ways children use interactive technologies; and the impact of children’s technology-related experiences on their health, wellbeing, learning, and other key aspects of child development. Focal questions guiding the course include: How do children of different ages engage with and make sense of their experiences with interactive technologies? What role do developmental factors, family context, peers, school, and socio-cultural forces play in shaping these experiences? How should designers approach the design of interactive technologies for children? How should researchers approach the study of children’s use of new and emerging technologies?

This course is designed for current and aspiring PhD students who want to conduct research with, for, and related to children. Students will complete the course with a solid understanding of the field of child-computer interaction and its relationship to HCI, as well as how to scope and conduct research related to the design, evaluation, and implementation of interactive technologies for children.

INSC 598 B: Privacy, Surveillance and Trust

• Instructor: Lindah Kotut
• 4 credits; Standard grading

This graduate course draws on perspectives from computer and information sciences and covers key frameworks for understanding privacy, surveillance, and trust, and examines how these concepts shape, and are shaped by policies on data collection, retention, reuse, and/or deletion.  The topics will encompass privacy-enhancing and privacy-eroding technologies and the ways in which personal devices, internet of things, cloud computing and other emerging technologies affect privacy.  Through a combination of readings, case studies, and hands-on exercises, students will critically evaluate policies, and analyze the contextual expectations and understanding of privacy across different cultures and communities and emerge with the knowledge and tools to navigate the ethical, and technical challenges in the field of privacy.

LIS 598 A: Archival Arrangement, Description, and Metadata

• Instructor: Joseph T. Tennis
• 3 credits; Standard grading

This course will look specifically at the research and standard practice of describing archival records for catalogues and finding aids.  It will address the differences between archival description and descriptive work done in LIS, introduce students to descriptive standards and best practices, and the basic technological context of contemporary description.

LIS 598 C: Technology Fundamentals for Library and Information Professionals

• Instructor: Michele DeSilva
• 4 credits; standard grading

Introduction to core technology concepts and practices (computing hardware, networks, programming, databases, data management, etc.), with an emphasis on their context and practical use for the delivery of library services to diverse user populations. This survey course is ideal for both students with no technical experience and for those who want to develop their skills as they relate to librarianship. Students will gain a solid foundation for additional technical courses and future work in the profession.

Spring 2024

IMT 589 A: Cloud Computing

• Instructor: Fawad Khan
• 4 credits; standard grading

This course is going to introduce the concept of Cloud Computing and how it is transforming and evolving the IT industry and the developer ecosystem, as we move away from on-premises to Cloud-based infrastructure and app development scenarios. Discussion of Cloud services models including SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Review of Cloud services usage and migration scenarios considering business goals and objectives along with developing a Costs/Benefits Analysis model. Understand primary business consideration for migrating to cloud services including cost, security, compliance, fault tolerance, backup, disaster recovery and monitoring. Learn about the most popular and consumed services including deploying, managing and maintaining a VM network infrastructure, developing Cloud-based App solutions, Containers, Serverless and Identity & authentication. Discussion of on the horizon key Cloud services in the new digital transformation age including Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and IoT.

IMT 589 C: The Promises and Perils of Emerging Technology

• Instructor: Sarah Lohmann
• 4 credits; standard grading

Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data are changing the way critical infrastructure functions, is accessible, and becomes vulnerable. This class will introduce students to how the technologies operate, how they are being used as innovative tools to improve health, predict armed conflict, and make critical infrastructure such as gas pumps or energy grids more efficient. Through a series of case studies, students will also learn how to assess risks when those technologies are compromised through the cybersphere. Students will explore the impact this has on companies, countries, users and sectors (such as energy, telecommunications and aviation) both through hands-on exercises and understanding the policies and frameworks being created to regulate the technologies. In a second step, students will perform their own guided research to create a proposal for how an emerging technology of their choice can be changed in the creation or application process to be better aligned with human needs and values, and improve diversity, equity and inclusion. 

IMT 589 D & F: Building and Applying Large Language Models (LLMs)

• Instructor: Chirag Shah
• 4 credits; standard grading
• Online synchronous
• Prerequisites: IMT 574 or equivalent graduate level technical course in machine learning
• Proficiency in Python programming and a good command of linear algebra, probability theory, and neural networks is expected. 
• Add code required - To be considered for this special topics course, students must complete an add code request form due by the rolling add code distribution dates listed on the form.

Large language models (LLMs) are at the core of the generative AI revolution. There are plenty of applications from conversational systems to data analyses that LLMs have been used for, and just as importantly, criticized for. But to effectively apply or criticize LLMs, one needs to have enough understanding of how they are built, modified, and integrated in different contexts. This course introduces the building blocks of LLMs using theories and practice. The student will learn about these foundational models through hands-on exercises and problems. While most of the course will focus on the technical elements of LLMs, throughout the course we will also discuss the potential social impacts of particular technical decisions and approaches.

IMT 589 E: Problematic Information

• Instructor: Rachel Moran
• 4 credits; standard grading
• Offered jointly with INSC 598 D and LIS 598 L

Addressing the problem of misinformation is among the most pressing challenges of our time -- and times to come. Recent decades have seen a profound shift in the ways people, groups and organizations produce and consume information and participate in public discourse. This new paradigm for human interaction and information sharing creates space for diverse voices and enhances collective action in positive ways. Yet these information environments have also opened the door to misinformation, disinformation and other forms of networked manipulation, which function not only to mislead and create divisions, but also to diminish trust in democratic institutions such as science and journalism.

This course will introduce students to the lexicon of problematic information, tracing the historical roots and context of this phenomena and exploring the new realm of online information operations employed in today’s socio-technical infrastructure.

IMT 598 A: Epistemological Foundations of AI

• Instructor: Bill Howe
• 3 credits; standard grading

This course is focused on the intellectual foundations of critical engagement with AI. The course will draw on historical, philosophical, and cultural scholarship on information, science, and technology with particular attention paid to disciplinary and epistemological tensions between different modes of knowledge production. Example course topics will cover (but are not limited to): the rise of statistical reasoning and datafied ways of knowing, histories of social surveillance and risk management, and contemporary legacies of relevant prior scientific paradigms (e.g., eugenics, cybernetics, and beyond). Through intensive reading and discussion, students will learn to critically assess the aims and assumptions of various scientific rationalities and cultural logics underwriting AI, demonstrating their learning through 1) an original scholarly essay and 2) a focused study of a prominent AI system or initiative.

IMT 598 B & C: Advanced Leadership Development Seminar

• Instructor: Sean McGann
• 3 credits; credit/no credit grading
• Online synchronous 
• Prerequisites: IMT 580 and Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI).
• Application required - To be considered for this unique special topics course, students must complete an application form confirming they have completed the LPI and IMT 580 due by the rolling add code distribution dates listed on the form.

In this seminar, we seek to deepen the skill development started in IMT 580, through continuation of The Leadership Challenge and the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI). As a class, we will dive more deeply into each of the 5 practices, through discussion and reflection exercises. Through individual coaching sessions, the instructor will examine each student’s LPI, and discuss strengths and areas for improvement, working with them to better understand the results and coaching them on how to develop and implement strategies for long-term leadership development. Students will also leverage peer groups to share, reflect and advise each other on LPI results and leadership development lessons learned. 

INFO 198 A: Technology Policy and Ethics

• Instructor: Ryan Calo
• 5 credits; standard grading

Drawing from law, ethics, and science and technology studies, this course introduces students to the ways contemporary society seeks to mitigate the harms of emerging technology and promote human flourishing.

INFO 492 A: Intensive Capstone - Data Science & Analytics

• Instructor: Tanu Mitra
• 8 credits; standard grading
• Prerequisites: INFO 300 and INFO 360
• To enroll in INFO 492 A, fill out this form by Feb. 20.
• Priority given to juniors and seniors who have completed a majority of the core courses and submit the form by the deadline. 

Team-based capstone data projects will work on real-world challenges that surface on online social platforms and the data and algorithms powering these online platforms. Hence, the focus will be on data generated on online platforms, such as, Facebook, X, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, Spotify, news platforms and the corresponding real-world trust and safety challenges that emerge on these platforms (examples include, misinformation, hate speech, toxicity, polarization, radicalization, bias, social inequalities, etc.) and how those could be exacerbated with the modern advances of AI, such as large language models. The first few weeks of this course will comprise multiple readings, in-class discussions, and in-class practicum sessions to introduce you to basic concepts of analyzing data left behind in social media platforms and the risks posed by modern-day AI capabilities . During this time, students will have the opportunity to read technical papers, write their reflections where they will not just summarize the paper but think about what additional questions the paper enables. This is their chance to come up with a cool project idea based on what they just read. I will also provide students with a list of high level topics and suggestions. Students will blog about their ideas, which will ultimately lead to team pitches and project proposals. We will also have mid-term check points for their final projects and multiple practicum sessions and weekly milestone checks during the course of the quarter.

INFO 498 C: Afrofuturism and Information Technology

• Instructor: Temi Odumosu 
• 3 credits; standard grading 

This course provides an introduction to the evolution of Afrofuturism as a global multidisciplinary movement, with mainstream visibility in the arts and culture. In particular it explores how Afrofuturist ideas, images, and methodologies contribute to an expanded understanding of information technology. The course centralizes Afro-Diasporic epistemologies as critical for thinking through issues in the informatics field.

INFO 498 D: Game Development for Social Good

• Instructor: Andy Cargile
• 5 credits; standard grading 
• Prerequisite: Completion of INFO 498 B: Fundamentals of Game Design for Social Good in Winter 2024 or permission from the instructor. 

This course follows Game Design for Social Good in Winter 2024. In this course you will design and create a video game for social good. “Social good” games include game-based learning, social awareness games, social action games, and social engagement games in a variety of categories. Over the course of 10 weeks, you will work in teams to come up with a strong idea for a game with your team and then design the game, the aesthetics, the story, the game mechanics and create a working one-level working version of the game. You will research your audience and subject area, ideate and test ideas, create prototypes, playtest your game and get feedback. There will be some readings along the way as well as some refresher content from Winter quarter.  

INFO 498 E: Accessibility 

• Instructor: Judy Kong
• 4 credits; standard grading 

Making the world and its information accessible can be crucial for supporting independent living and providing equal access to the information-rich world for millions of people. This class will cover concepts related to inclusive design, why accessibility is important, what access technologies already exist, and how to make interfaces and technologies accessible. Through a combination of readings, hands-on exercises, and an open-ended project, students will learn about the history and existing state of accessibility, where its future might be, and how to apply its principles and guidelines in practice. 

INFO 498 H: Inventing the Internet(s)

• Instructor: Richard Lewei Huang
• 4 credits; standard grading 

How did the Internet come to be? Covering the period from the 1960s to today, this course investigates the social, cultural, political, and technological forces that together created and shaped the internet(s) as we know today. Topics that this class will cover include technological determinism, military and countercultural origins of the Internet, rise of personal computing, alternative forms of online sociality, commercialization of the Web, Web 2.0 and the platform economy, and geopolitical tensions that may shape the future of the Internet. Students will learn how current practices, beliefs, and institutions taken for granted in online computing have much longer histories than they are usually being portrayed in popular media. Students will also learn to critically analyze common narratives and myths about Internet technologies and the tech industry in popular discourse.

INFO 498 I: Algorithms and Society

• Instructor: Tanu Mitra
• 4 credits; standard grading

New algorithmic systems and the AI technologies powering them have become increasingly prevalent, wielding unprecedented influence across various facets of human life. Thus, understanding their societal and moral implications is paramount. Through a multidisciplinary lens, this course will prepare students to engage in critical discussions, interrogations, design, and analyses of algorithmic systems that can impact human lives and society in profound ways. Students will adopt an interdisciplinary approach to empirically interrogate contexts in which algorithmic systems may fall short or worse, when they pose risk or cause harms. Example topics include (but are not limited to) issues of human rights, bias, misinformation, wellbeing, surveillance, privacy, etc. There will also be an emphasis on practical recommendations for designing and implementing alternative socio-technical systems to mitigate some of these risks. The course will be structured around discussions, readings, mini projects, algorithm audits and other critical and technical engagement with related topics.

INSC 508 A: Reading Seminar - Beyond Automation: Exploring the Possibilities of Human-AI Collaboration

• Instructor: Jin Ha Lee
• 2 credits; Credit/No-credit grading 

As AI technologies and tools continue to evolve and become increasingly sophisticated and prevalent, it is important to consider how such developments will impact the identity and practices of human creators, as well as the very concept of creation. This seminar will engage in theoretical discourse and examination of various cases of human-AI collaboration across visual art, music, gaming, literature and other creative domains. Through this exploration, we aim to better understand the opportunities and challenges in human-AI collaboration, and ethical and societal implications of such partnerships. Furthermore, students will utilize one or more AI tools for their own creative processes and reflect on their experiences to envision how productive, responsible, and joyful human-AI collaboration can be achieved. Based on these insights, they will aim to derive design implications for AI tools.

INSC 578 A: Research Seminar - Neurodiversity 

• Instructor: Hala Annabi
• 2 credits; Credit/No-credit grading

Neurodiversity has attracted much attention in the information workplace over the last few years. Information technology workplaces continue to explore how best to include neurodivergent employees in their workplaces, as well as how to design information technologies accessible to the neurodivergent community. This DRG will explore issues around employment and technology design to serve neurodivergent people.

INSC 578 B: Research Seminar - AI Bias Feedback Cycle

• Instructor: Aylin Caliskan
• 2 credits; Credit/No-credit grading

This is a directed research group (DRG) on the artificial intelligence (AI) bias cycle to study the implicit social cognition of machines and human-AI interaction (HAI). We have open research questions on how implicit AI associations and biases propagate from society to models and their decisions. How do biased AI outputs affect humans-in-the-loop in critical decision-making processes as humans interact with AI? How does implicit AI bias impact individuals, society, and equity at scale? What are the ethical implications? How do the compounding effects of these mechanisms shape society and the future generations of AI models? Finally, how do we develop strategies to mitigate bias?

Social cognition of machines: We will research why AI automatically learns implicit bias from sociocultural data by developing statistical methods and algorithms, collecting data, training models in controlled experimental settings, and analyzing machine learning models. We will focus on unsupervised and self-supervised AI models such as static word embeddings and dynamic word embeddings of language models (English or multilingual), multi-modal language-vision models, or speech models. Biases of interest are on age, all representations of gender, body-weight, disability, immigration, religion, intersectionality, language, nationality, race or ethnicity, political orientation, sexual orientation, and social class. I’d love to hear about any other concept or social group associations you might be interested in studying.

Human-AI interaction: The DRG aims to advance our understanding of the processes underpinning AI’s biased information acquisition, propagation and evolution of bias and associations, and AI’s impact on individuals, society, and AI. Approaches to HAI research might involve domain-based bias analyses, human subjects, humans-in-the-loop, and the replication of real-world AI applications.

INSC 578 C: Research Seminar - Responsible AI

• Instructor: Chirag Shah
• 2 credits; Credit/No-credit grading

Responsible AI as a broad area, with a specific focus on information access systems. We will do problem formulation and literature review (Autumn); data collection, data cleaning, and developing metrics (Winter); and experimentation, writing, and presenting (Spring). Students will pick different projects or applications for their data collection and experimentation. Examples include bias in search, fairness in ranking, and explainability in recommendation systems.

INSC 578 D: Research Seminar - Misinformation and Disinformation Narratives Online

• Instructor: Emma Spiro
• 2 credits; Credit/No-credit grading

In this course, students will have the opportunity to engage, hands-on, in multiple aspects of the research process, including the development of research questions, review of the literature, data cleaning and analysis, and the writing of a scholarly paper. Research will focus on understanding how misinformation and disinformation flows through modern information systems and how this information translates into beliefs, actions and values. Students will work with data created at the Center for an Informed Public. The goal of the class is to produce a scholarly paper draft that can be shared broadly within this growing research community and on students’ resumes and recommendation letters.

INSC 578 E: Research Seminar - Research Symposium 

• Instructor: Alexis Hiniker
• 1 credits; Credit/No-credit grading

Receive course credit for attending the iSchool’s spring quarter research symposium. Symposia feature internal and external speakers from across the Information field. Join each Monday and listen to these inspiring presentations.

INSC 598 A: Indigenous Research Methods

• Instructor: Clarita Lefthand-Begay
• 3 credits; standard grading

Historically research conducted on Indigenous peoples in North America and around the globe was done using biased, dehumanizing and unethical approaches. In the 21st Century, it is now our responsibility to reject those egregious approaches in order to repair research relationships with Sovereign Tribal Nations and their citizens. When done with respect, reciprocity, relationality and rigor, research outcomes have the potential to inform decision-making and policy among tribal leaders and their counterparts in federal agencies and tribal organizations. In this advanced graduate class, students will engage with foundational reading at the intersection of Indigenous studies, information sciences, environmental and wellbeing. Students will lead class discussions, present published works by prominent scholars, and engage with tribal leaders and citizens to gain a broader understanding about the implications of research within these societies.

INSC 598 B: Career Preparation for PhD Students

• Instructor: Alexis Hiniker
• 2 credits; Credit/No-credit grading

This class is intended for late-stage PhD students who are beginning to apply for jobs and put together job materials. Students will craft research, teaching, and diversity statements, prepare job talks showcasing their work, and connect with industry and academic professionals to grow their network and learn about hiring processes. As students will be required to prepare application materials as part of the class, they should be in a stage of their career where they are actively preparing for the job market.

INSC 598 C: Feminist STS Studio

• Instructor; Nassim Parvin
• 3 credits; standard grading

What might feminist theory have to do with information technology or vice versa? Are there strategies, methods, and techniques that distinguish feminist praxis from other modes of knowledge making and world building? This special topic course integrates theoretical readings with studio and interventionist practice. In doing so, students learn the foundations for critically engaging the historical, political, and philosophical grounding of emerging technologies while drawing on design-based practices and methods of inquiry to question their dominant logic and imagine alternate possibilities. We will actively think through a range of existing and emerging technologies alongside the oft techno-utopic discourses that animate their designs. Examples include existing technologies such as digital maps, smart cities, smart homes, or self-tracking devices as well as emerging technologies such as smart dust or smart forests. Readings are selected from an interdisciplinary array of sources including feminist science and technologies (feminist STS), design studies, critical information studies, feminist theory, and postcolonial theory. No prior studio or design experience is required.

INSC 598 D: Problematic Information

• Instructor: Rachel Moran
• 4 credits; standard grading
• Offered jointly with IMT 589 E and LIS 598 L

Addressing the problem of misinformation is among the most pressing challenges of our time -- and times to come. Recent decades have seen a profound shift in the ways people, groups and organizations produce and consume information and participate in public discourse. This new paradigm for human interaction and information sharing creates space for diverse voices and enhances collective action in positive ways. Yet these information environments have also opened the door to misinformation, disinformation and other forms of networked manipulation, which function not only to mislead and create divisions, but also to diminish trust in democratic institutions such as science and journalism.

This course will introduce students to the lexicon of problematic information, tracing the historical roots and context of this phenomena and exploring the new realm of online information operations employed in today’s socio-technical infrastructure.

LIS 598 A: Indigenous Art is Indigenous Knowledge

• Instructor: Miranda Belarde-Lewis
• 4 credits; standard grading 

This course examines the relationship between Indigenous art and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) with an emphasis on tribal groups in North America. How have Native artists documented oral history, cosmologies, maps and plant knowledge through art? How are the customary forms of art evolving to keep up with the needs of contemporary Native peoples? This course draws on theory from Indigenous Studies, Information Science, Art History and, visual and museum studies to unpack the intention, purpose and interpretation of Indigenous art and artifacts. 

In this course, students will be asked to explore: the concept of Indigenous Knowledge; the role of the arts in Native communities in ancient times and in the present-day; the complicated colonial legacy between museums and Indigenous peoples; and, the push by Native peoples to be consulted with and their views respected about objects from their home communities that reside in museum collections. In addition to engaging with research, theory and the practices related to the study of Native art, Native history and IK, students will be asked to complete an in-depth research project about a particular group of art works, a community-based effort to maintain the transfer of IK through Indigenous art, or, the presentation and incorporation of IK through a museum exhibit.

LIS 598 H: Legal Informatics 

• Instructor: Ben Carlson
• 3 credits; standard grading
• Online synchronous
• Offered jointly with Law E 517

LIS 598 I: Low Bono Legal Research 

• Instructor: Maya Swanes
• 3 credits; standard grading
• Offered jointly with Law E 586

Hands-on research teaches students the methods and skills for performing ethical, thorough, and low-cost legal research in a small firm or solo practitioner setting. Through readings, weekly reflections, in-class experiential exercises, and multiple substantive research projects, students develop essential research skills for successful practice in a broad range of legal fields and settings.

LIS 598 J: Low Bono Legal Research 

• Instructor: Maya Swanes
• 3 credits; standard grading
• Online synchronous
• Offered jointly with Law E 586

Hands-on research teaches students the methods and skills for performing ethical, thorough, and low-cost legal research in a small firm or solo practitioner setting. Through readings, weekly reflections, in-class experiential exercises, and multiple substantive research projects, students develop essential research skills for successful practice in a broad range of legal fields and settings.

LIS 598 K: Information Architecture

• Instructor: Mike Doane
• 5 credits; standard grading
• Online asynchronous

This course Introduces concepts and methods of front- and back-end information architecture. Includes hands-on teamwork using the latest software tools for data and content modeling, taxonomy development, controlled vocabulary creation and SEO considerations. The course also covers traditional user experience design topics such as inclusive design processes, design patterns, navigation, workflow, labeling, diverse user research and user flow diagrams. Teams produce a series of project deliverables suitable for building a professional portfolio.

LIS 598 L: Problematic Information

• Instructor: Rachel Moran
• 4 credits; standard grading
• Offered jointly with IMT 589 E and INSC 598 D

Addressing the problem of misinformation is among the most pressing challenges of our time -- and times to come. Recent decades have seen a profound shift in the ways people, groups and organizations produce and consume information and participate in public discourse. This new paradigm for human interaction and information sharing creates space for diverse voices and enhances collective action in positive ways. Yet these information environments have also opened the door to misinformation, disinformation and other forms of networked manipulation, which function not only to mislead and create divisions, but also to diminish trust in democratic institutions such as science and journalism.

This course will introduce students to the lexicon of problematic information, tracing the historical roots and context of this phenomena and exploring the new realm of online information operations employed in today’s socio-technical infrastructure.