Information Sciences and Information Studies (ISIS)
The purpose of the ISIS Graduate Certificate is to offer an interdisciplinary program at the graduate level that focuses on the study and creation of new information technologies and the analysis of their impact on art, culture, science, medicine, commerce, society, and the environment. The program is designed for doctoral students wishing to complement their primary disciplinary focus with an interdisciplinary certificate in Information Science and Information Studies. The goal of the certificate is to broaden the scope of the typical disciplinary PhD program and to engage the student in ISIS-related research. The ISIS Graduate Certificate is not intended to provide a disciplinary canon in information science and information studies but rather to develop a structured set of transdisciplinary skills and resources for exploring new areas of academic research. As such, the ISIS Graduate Certificate is not to lead students down an existing path of traditional academic research but rather to provide them with the means for expanding the scope of their main disciplinary focus by creating new paths of their own.
For more information contact the Director of Information Science and Information Studies at Duke University, Box 90400, 2204 Erwin Road, Durham, NC 27708-0400. Phone: (919) 668-1934. E-mail: isis-info@duke.edu
225S. Chinese Media and Pop Culture. 3 units. C-L: see Asian and African Languages and Literature 250S
240S. Technology and New Media in the University. How new information technology and media transform knowledge production in higher education and beyond. Critique of emergent digital culture as it impacts higher education and assessment of the impact of integrating such tools into scholarly work and pedagogical practice. Theoretical readings; hands-on collaboration; work with new technologies. Knowledge of basic web development, personal computer access recommended. Instructor: Szabo. 3 units. C-L: Art History 240S, Visual Studies 250BS
250S. Critical Studies in New Media. New media technologies examined from a transdisciplinary perspective; how they compare with, transform, and remediate previous media practices. Instructor: Lenoir. 3 units. C-L: Literature 261S, Art History 250S, Visual Studies 250AS
260S. Information Archeology: Studies in the Nature of Information and Artifact in the Digital Environment. Interdisciplinary exploration of the nature of artifact and evidence, information and knowledge embedded in structured and unstructured digital data. Critical analysis, research and technology labs focus on societal and technological implications of data warehousing, Internet archives, analog to digital conversion, data recovery, and identity theft and management. Instructor: Staff. 3 units. C-L: Art History 285S
270. Body Works: Medicine, Technology, and the Body in Early Twenty-first Century America. Influence of new medical technologies (organ transplantation, VR surgery, genetic engineering, nano-medicine, medical imaging, DNA computing, neuro-silicon interfaces) on the American imagination from WWII to the current decade. Examines the thesis that these dramatic new ways of configuring bodies have participated in a complete reshaping of the notion of the body in the cultural imaginary and a transformation of our experience of actual human bodies. Instructor: Lenoir. 3 units. C-L: Literature 262, Philosophy 270
291. Special Topics in Information Science + Information Studies. Topics vary per semester. Information science and studies areas as understood historically, thematically, and in contemporary cultures. Theoretical readings coupled with hands-on work with technology and new media applications. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.
294. Theories of the Image. 3 units. C-L: see Literature 294
391. Special Topics in Information Science & Information Studies. Topics vary per semester. Information science and studies areas as understood historically, thematically, and in contemporary cultures. Theoretical readings coupled with hands-on work with technology and new media applications. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.
