This is a legacy page for Prof. Borgman’s courses through the 2017-18 Academic Year. In 2018, she transitioned from Distinguished Professor to Distinguished Research Professor and is no longer teaching courses at UCLA.
2017-2018 Graduate Courses
IS 289-2 Privacy and Information Technology
Privacy is a broad topic that covers many disciplines, stakeholders, and concerns. This course addresses the intersection of privacy and information technology, surveying a wide array of topics of concern for research and practice in the information fields. Among the topics covered are the history and changing contexts of privacy; privacy risks and harms; law, policies, and practices; privacy in searching for information, in reading, and in libraries; surveillance, networks, and privacy by design; information privacy of students; uses of learning analytics; privacy associated with government data, at all levels of government; information security, cyber risk; and how privacy and data are governed by universities. We will touch on relationships between privacy, security, and risk; on identification and re-identification of individuals; privacy-enhancing technologies; the Internet of Things; open access to data; drones; and other current issues in privacy and information technology.
2016-2017 Graduate Courses
IS 262A Data Management and Practice, Part I (4)
Information is the foundation of scholarship. Data is a particular class of information. Once considered primarily a part of the scholarly process, data are now viewed as products to be shared, mined, combined, managed, and sustained for reuse. Data scientists are information professionals who manage data, whether in science, social sciences, humanities, arts, medicine, law, government, or private institutions. As the practical and political roles of research data advance, so does scholarship on data practices, policies, and technologies.
These two courses prepare graduate students for professional positions in data management in all fields and for research on data practices. The job market is expanding rapidly for data science professionals at both the master’s and PhD research level, providing many employment opportunities. The Harvard Business Review named data scientist as “the sexiest job of the 21st century.” Course topics survey the landscape of data management, practices, services, and policy across fields and sectors, focusing primarily on scholarly applications. Themes include data management practices (e.g., metadata, provenance, technical standards); national and international data policy (e.g., intellectual property, release policies, open access, economics); management of data by research teams, data centers, libraries, and archives; and data curation, preservation, and stewardship.
Managing data is a complex process, involving expertise in knowledge organization, information policy, technology, and in the specific research domain. The courses are intended for graduate students in information studies and any other domain that requires the management of research data. By bringing together students from across campus, these seminar courses will engage students in practical, professional, and theoretical challenges in the use and reuse of research data. Assignments include hands-on analyses of data archives, data management plans, curating data for a research team, and domain-specific activities. Students will work in teams on real-world problems with UCLA researchers and will make class presentations.
Data management and practice (262A in winter 2017) provides a basic foundation for the data sciences. We focus on practical concerns, engaging with faculty research teams to address their data management requirements. At least two guest speakers will join us to discuss current issues in their domains. Data curation and policy (262B in spring 2017) builds upon this foundation to examine longer time issues of curation, stewardship, and knowledge infrastructure. We combine practical, policy, and research concerns with an advanced project to broker partnerships between faculty research teams and data repositories. Several guest speakers – national and international – will represent stakeholders in areas such as government data policy, publishing technologies, and ethics in data.
Data management and practice (262A) is a pre-requisite for 262B; students may choose to take only 262A or both courses. Thus, 262B in spring 2017 is open to students who completed 262A in 2016 or 2017.
IS 262A Winter 2017 Part I Syllabus
2015-2016 Graduate Courses
IS 262A Data Management and Practice, Part I (4)
Data are both process and products of the research enterprise. Increasingly, data are viewed as scholarly products to be managed, shared, and reused. Funding agencies are requiring data management plans as part of grant proposals, journals are requiring the release of data to reviewers and readers alike, and libraries and archives are adding data to their collections. Managing data is a complex process, involving expertise in technology, knowledge organization, information policy, and in the research domain.
These two courses (winter and spring) survey the landscape of data management, practices, services, and policy, including the uses of data in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities; data management practices (e.g., metadata, provenance, technical standards); national and international data policy (e.g., intellectual property, release policies, open access, economics); management of data by research teams, data centers, libraries, and archives; and data curation, preservation, and stewardship.
The courses are intended for graduate students in information studies and in any domain that requires the management of research data. By bringing together students from across campus, these seminar courses will engage students in practical, professional, and theoretical challenges in the use and reuse of research data. Assignments include analyses of data archives, data management plans, curating data for a research team, and domain-specific activities. Students will work in teams with UCLA researchers and will make class presentations. This is a two-term course. Students taking Part I (winter) are not required to take Part II (spring), but Part I is pre-requisite to Part II.
IS 262A Winter 2016 Part I Syllabus
IS 298a Doctoral Seminar: Research Methods and Design (4)
This is the core PhD seminar in research design for the Department of Information Studies, covering a range of social science research methods for studying human behavior. It follows, or is offered concurrently with, 291A, Theoretical Traditions In Information Studies. Graduate students in Information Studies or related fields (education, communication, public policy, management, psychology, etc.) who have not taken 291A but who have extensive background in epistemology or research methods may enroll with instructor’s permission. Also prerequisite is at least one course in descriptive and inferential statistics.
The course is conducted as a workshop, drawing upon students’ research projects as cases. We will survey quantitative and qualitative research designs and address research ethics and the protection of human subjects. The first week of the course will provide a brief review of epistemological issues, basic concepts of research design, and a refresher in statistical concepts. The course is intended to prepare students for further study on specific methods and to assist in preparation for the PhD qualifying exams.
Students will begin to build their personal libraries on research methods via the course readings. Materials include popular textbooks on social science research methods and the primary publication manual for social science research.
Students will develop a research project and will present an analysis of research reported in a journal article in class.
2014-2015 Graduate Courses
IS 262A Data Management and Practice, Part I (4)
Data are both process and products of the research enterprise. Increasingly, data are viewed as scholarly products to be managed, shared, and reused. Funding agencies are requiring data management plans as part of grant proposals, journals are requiring the release of data to reviewers and readers alike, and libraries and archives are adding data to their collections. Managing data is a complex process, involving expertise in technology, knowledge organization, information policy, and in the research domain.
These two courses (winter and spring) survey the landscape of data management, practices, services, and policy, including the uses of data in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities; data management practices (e.g., metadata, provenance, technical standards); national and international data policy (e.g., intellectual property, release policies, open access, economics); management of data by research teams, data centers, libraries, and archives; and data curation, preservation, and stewardship.
The courses are intended for graduate students in information studies and in any domain that requires the management of research data. By bringing together students from across campus, these seminar courses will engage students in practical, professional, and theoretical challenges in the use and reuse of research data. Assignments include analyses of data archives, data management plans, curating data for a research team, and domain-specific activities. Students will work in teams with UCLA researchers and will make class presentations. This is a two-term course. Students taking Part I (winter) are not required to take Part II (spring), but Part I is pre-requisite to Part II.
IS 262A Winter 2015 Part I Syllabus
IS 262B Data Curation and Policy, Part II (4)
Data are both process and products of the research enterprise. Increasingly, data are viewed as scholarly products to be managed, shared, and reused. Funding agencies are requiring data management plans as part of grant proposals, journals are requiring the release of data to reviewers and readers alike, and libraries and archives are adding data to their collections. Managing data is a complex process, involving expertise in technology, knowledge organization, information policy, and in the research domain.
These two courses (winter and spring) survey the landscape of data management, practices, services, and policy, including the uses of data in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities; data management practices (e.g., metadata, provenance, technical standards); national and international data policy (e.g., intellectual property, release policies, open access, economics); management of data by research teams, data centers, libraries, and archives; and data curation, preservation, and stewardship. The courses are intended for graduate students in information studies and in any domain that requires the management of research data. By bringing together students from across campus, these seminar courses will engage students in practical, professional, and theoretical challenges in the use and reuse of research data. Assignments include analyses of data archives, data management plans, curating data for a research team, and domain-specific activities. Students will work in teams with UCLA researchers and will make class presentations. This is a two-term course. Students taking Part I (winter) are not required to take Part II (spring), but Part I is pre-requisite to Part II.
IS 262B Spring 2015 Part II Syllabus
2013-2014 Graduate Courses
IS 289 Data, Data Practices, and Data Curation (4)
Seminar, two to four hours. These two courses (winter and spring) will survey the rich landscape of data practices and services, including data as evidence and their role in research; data-intensive research methods; social studies of data practices; national and international data policy (e.g., intellectual property, release policies, open access, economics); comparisons between disciplines; management of data by research teams, data centers, libraries, and archives; technical standards for data and metadata; and data curation. Part I (winter) lays the foundation for data practices and services across the disciplines. Part II (spring) builds upon this background to provide practical experience in data curation.
One large project will be undertaken across the two terms plus several smaller assignments. The courses will be graded separately. Part I is a pre-requisite for Part II. However, by taking Part I, you are not obligated to take Part II. Letter grading.
IS 289 Winter 2014 Part I Syllabus
IS 289 Spring 2014 Part II Syllabus
IS 291b Doctoral Seminar: Research Methods and Design (4)
This is the core course in social science research methods and research design for PhD students in information studies. It follows 291A, Theoretical Traditions In Information Studies. Graduate students in Information Studies or related fields (education, communication, public policy, management, psychology, etc.) who have not taken 291A but who have extensive background in epistemology or research methods may enroll with instructor’s permission. Also prerequisite is at least one course in descriptive and inferential statistics.
The course is conducted as a workshop, drawing upon students’ research projects as cases. We will survey quantitative and qualitative research designs and address research ethics and the protection of human subjects. The first week of the course will provide a brief review of epistemological issues, basic concepts of research design, and a refresher in statistical concepts.
The course is intended to prepare students for further study on specific methods and to assist in preparation for the PhD qualifying exams. Students will begin to build their personal libraries on research methods via the course readings. Materials include popular textbooks on social science research methods and the primary publication manual for social science research. Students will develop a research project and will present an analysis of research reported in a journal article in class. Letter grading.