The current focus of the work of Professor Palen is on the area of “Crisis Informatics.” Palen and her colleagues have investigated computer-mediated communications (from social media and other social computing platforms) in multiple mass emergency and mass disruption events since 2005. Research advancements are in the areas of massive data collection, quantitative and qualitative analysis, socio-behavioral studies, and information and communication technology innovation for emergency response. Palen's focus is on disasters arising from severe weather events or other natural hazards. She also examines information behaviors in relation to public health issues, particularly as they pertain to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, climate change, and enviro-racial injustice.
keywords
Human Computer Interaction, Social Computing, Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Emergency Management, Crisis Informatics, Social Informatics, Human-Centered Computing, Disasters, Organizing, Social Media, Information and Communication Technology
ATLS 4606 - Critical Technical Practice
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Surveys design theory and methods that can be used to question relationships between technology, culture, and the environment. Students will discuss readings and synthesize those readings through design exercises. The course will equip students with resources for thinking more critically and creatively about design and possible future human-technology relationships. Counts as Mastery in Information Science. Same as INFO 5606, INFO 4606, and ATLS 5606.
ATLS 5606 - Critical Technical Practice
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Surveys design theory and methods that can be used to question relationships between technology, culture, and the environment. Students will discuss readings and synthesize those readings through design exercises. The course will equip students with resources for thinking more critically and creatively about design and possible future human-technology relationships. Same as INFO 5606, ATLS 4606 and INFO 4606.
CMCI 3000 - Special Topics in CMCI
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2019
Investigates special topics in media, communication and information at the upper-division level. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours on different topics.
CSCI 5919 - HCC Survey and Synthesis: Foundations and Trajectories
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2021 / Spring 2024
Examines the interdisciplinary field of human-centered computing through a comprehensive content and historical survey. Considers new trajectories of inquiry and how the field merges with others. Social computing, is emphasized as a central topic. Students across disciplines will find the course foundational for understanding human-centered technology matters, including computer scientists, information scientists, social scientists, and business and media arts students. Same as INFO 5919.
INFO 1101 - Computation in Society
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Summer 2019
Introduces students to modern information and communication technology, the basic principles of software and programming, the fundamental role of algorithms in modern society, computational reasoning, the major organizations in the information sector and fundamental interactions between humans and information technology. Appropriate for students with limited prior experience with computing. Fulfills the CMCI computing requirement.
INFO 1111 - Introduction to Information Science: Understanding the World Through Data
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Provides a hands-on survey of key concepts and theories in Information Science, including the nature of information, everyday experience of data, technologies that generate data, and how data are conveyed and represented. Students will critically examine texts, systems, and interpretations of data from multidisciplinary perspectives. Through design explorations, activities, and group projects, students will develop facility representing and transforming information.
INFO 1121 - Designing Interactions
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Spring 2019
Provides an introduction to human-centered design and the universal requirements of interactions with data, information and technologies. Studio experiences challenge students to consider the impact that information and computing technology design choices have on a) enabling diverse audiences to access, manipulate and experience information, and b) how differences get encoded by data and technology, ultimately reflecting biases.
INFO 1201 - Computational Reasoning
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Summer 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Summer 2019
Introduces principles of computational thinking through the manipulation, transformation, and creation of media artifacts, such as images, sounds, and web pages. Students will be exposed to a high-level overview of algorithms, functions, data structures, recursion, and object-oriented computer programming through a series of assignments that emphasize the use of computation as a means of creative expression.
INFO 2001 - Information Science Portfolio and Professional Development
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Facilitates career development through the disciplined reflection about and presentation of one's work using a variety of modalities across a variety of media. Students will be introduced to individuals and organizations representing a diversity of career paths in information science.
INFO 2131 - Information Ecosystems
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2018 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Introduces students to techniques for working with communities, organizations, and institutions in the transformative use of information. Develops students' ability to listen for (and mediate among) diverse, discordant voices and values. Employs qualitative research, design explorations, activities, and small group projects as students examine, navigate, and design for complex interactions across ecosystems.
INFO 2201 - Programming for Information Science 2
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Spring 2019
Surveys techniques for accessing, exploring, and analyzing real-world data in various formats. Students will acquire, process, and visualize this data in order to communicate their findings to a general audience. Requires demonstrated proficiency with introductory computer programming.
INFO 2301 - Quantitative Reasoning for Information Science
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Spring 2019
Introduces methods for quantifying and analyzing different types of data, covering foundational concepts in discrete mathematics, probability, and predictive modeling, along with complementary computational skills to apply these concepts to real problems. Covers counting and combinatorics, logic, set theory, introductory probability, common probability distributions, regression, and model validation. Requires demonstrated proficiency with introductory computer programming.
INFO 3401 - Information Exploration
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Teaches students how to use information to identify interesting real world problems and to generate insight. Students will learn to find, collect, assemble and organize data to inspire new questions, make predictions, generate deliverables, and work towards solutions. They will learn to appropriately apply different methods (including computational, statistical and qualitative) for exploratory data analysis in a variety of domains.
INFO 3402 - Information Exposition
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Spring 2019
Teaches students to communicate information to a wider audience and construct stories with data across a variety of domains. Students will learn to use data for rhetorical purposes, applying visual, statistical and interpretative methods. Students will learn to think critically about ethical and social implications of using data in expository media, including identification of bias.
INFO 3501 - Investigations in Information Science: Open Collaboration
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Analyzes the mechanisms of peer production and crowdsourcing systems like Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap. Students will investigate how these crowdsourced platforms work socially and technically, develop skills using tools for their analysis and critically evaluate platform and community limitations. Counts as Investigations in Information Science. Same as INFO 5501.
INFO 3504 - Digital Identity
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018
Explores and analyzes identity in a digital era. Through applied research, students investigate both social and technical aspects of how identity is captured, represented and experienced through technology using theoretical, empirical and design-based inquiry. Methods and platforms studied vary by semester. Degree credit not granted for this course and INFO 5504.
INFO 3505 - Designing for Creative Learning
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Analyzes learning technologies, discusses learning theories and develops prototypes to investigate strategies for engaging people in creative and inclusive learning experiences. Students explore design, learning and technology by examining sociotechnical systems like construction kits, online communities and makerspaces with a critical lens on equity and inclusion. Studio format enables students to apply constructionist ideas into the design of technology-enabled environments. Degree credit not granted for this course and INFO 5505.
INFO 3506 - Investigations in Information Science: Online Fandom
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Explores and analyzes fan communities in a digital context. Through applied research, students will investigate online spaces devoted to participatory and remix culture, media fandom, and fan creation. This class will draw concepts and methods from fan studies, social computing, ethnography, data science, and sociology to drive project-based inquiry. Counts as Investigations in Information Science. Same as INFO 5506.
INFO 4001 - Information Science Portfolio and Professional Development
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Facilitates career development through the disciplined reflection about and presentation of one's work using a variety of modalities across a variety of media. Students will be introduced to individuals and organizations representing a diversity of career paths in information science.
INFO 4601 - Ethical and Policy Dimensions of Information and Technology
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Spring 2019
Explores ethical and legal complexities of information and communication technology. By combining real-world inquiry with creative speculation, students will probe everyday ethical dilemmas they face as digital consumers, creators and coders, as well as relevant policy. Explores themes such as privacy, intellectual property, social justice, free speech, artificial intelligence, social media and ethical lessons from science fiction. Same as INFO 5601.
INFO 4602 - Information Visualization
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018
Explores the design, development and evaluation of information visualizations. Covers visual representations of data and provides hands-on experience with using and building exploratory tools and data narratives. Students create visualizations for a variety of domains and applications, working with stakeholders and their data. Covers interactive systems, user-centered and graphic design, perception, data storytelling and analysis, and insight generation. Programming knowledge is strongly encouraged. Same as INFO 5602.
INFO 4604 - Applied Machine Learning
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Introduces algorithms and tools for building intelligent computational systems. Methods will be surveyed for classification, regression and clustering in the context of applications such as document filtering and image recognition. Students will learn the theoretical underpinnings of common algorithms (drawing from mathematical disciplines including statistics and optimization) as well as the skills to apply machine learning in practice. Same as INFO 5604.
INFO 4605 - Ethnographic Research in Applied Settings
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2021 / Spring 2023
Demonstrates the power of ethnography as an investigative approach that is useful in design, evaluation and question formation for information scientists across all workforce sectors. Teaches students how to be keen observers of the unusual as well as the everyday to reveal meaningful insights that elaborate information science projects. Same as INFO 5605.
INFO 4606 - Critical Technical Practice
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Surveys design theory and methods that can be used to question relationships between technology, culture, and the environment. Students will discuss readings and synthesize those readings through design exercises. The course will equip students with resources for thinking more critically and creatively about design and possible future human-technology relationships. Same as INFO 5606, ATLS 4606, and ATLS 5606.
INFO 4608 - Community-Based Design
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2019
Surveys techniques in cooperative design with community members as collaborators rather than subjects. Students will explore approaches such as participatory design and co-design. Students will work in teams in partnership with community stakeholders to create tools, experiences, or systems that meet the needs of communities, contribute to social change, and/or lead to advancing academic knowledge. Same as INFO 5608.
INFO 4611 - Ubiquitous Computing Experience Design
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2019
Introduces the field of ubiquitous computing, including sensors, ambient displays, tangibles, mobility, location awareness and context awareness. These topics are explored from a user-centered design perspectives, focusing on how a situated models of computing affect requirements gathering, interaction design, prototyping and evaluation. Students gain mastery with contemporary "UbiComp" technologies and learn to incorporate them into a user-centered design process. Same as INFO 5611.
INFO 4700 - Senior Capstone
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Spring 2019
Provides senior level INFO students an opportunity to demonstrate the culmination of their learning in the major by designing and implementing a significant information system or developing a research question, typically in response to a problem of personal interest related to or informed by their secondary area of specialization. Reinforces project planning, public presentation and ethic skills.
INFO 5504 - Digital Identity
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018
Explores and analyzes identity in a digital era. Through applied research, students investigate both social and technical aspects of how identity is captured, represented and experienced through technology using theoretical, empirical and design-based inquiry. Methods and platforms studied vary by semester. Degree credit not granted for this course and INFO 3504.
INFO 5505 - Designing for Creative Learning
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Analyzes learning technologies, discusses learning theories and develops prototypes to investigate strategies for engaging people in creative and inclusive learning experiences. Students explore design, learning and technology by examining sociotechnical systems like construction kits, online communities and makerspaces with a critical lens on equity and inclusion. Studio format enables students to apply constructionist ideas into the design of technology-enabled environments. Degree credit not granted for this course and INFO 3505.
INFO 5506 - Investigations in Information Science: Online Fandom
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Explores and analyzes fan communities in a digital context. Through applied research, students will investigate online spaces devoted to participatory and remix culture, media fandom, and fan creation. This class will draw concepts and methods from fan studies, social computing, ethnography, data science, and sociology to drive project-based inquiry. Counts as Investigations in Information Science. Same as INFO 3506.
INFO 5601 - Ethical and Policy Dimensions of Information and Technology
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Spring 2019
Explores ethical and legal complexities of information and communication technology. By combining real-world inquiry with creative speculation, students will probe everyday ethical dilemmas they face as digital consumers, creators and coders, as well as relevant policy. Explores themes such as privacy, intellectual property, social justice, free speech, artificial intelligence, social media and ethical lessons from science fiction. Same as INFO 4601.
INFO 5602 - Information Visualization
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2018
Explores the design, development and evaluation of information visualizations. Covers visual representations of data and provides hands-on experience with using and building exploratory tools and data narratives. Students create visualizations for a variety of domains and applications, working with stakeholders and their data. Covers interactive systems, user-centered and graphic design, perception, data storytelling and analysis, and insight generation. Programming knowledge is strongly encouraged. Same as INFO 4602.
INFO 5604 - Applied Machine Learning
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Introduces algorithms and tools for building intelligent computational systems. Methods will be surveyed for classification, regression and clustering in the context of applications such as document filtering and image recognition. Students will learn the theoretical underpinnings of common algorithms (drawing from mathematical disciplines including statistics and optimization) as well as the skills to apply machine learning in practice. Same as INFO 4604.
INFO 5605 - Ethnographic Research in Applied Settings
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2021 / Spring 2023
Demonstrates the power of ethnography as an investigative approach that is useful in design, evaluation and question formation for information scientists across all workforce sectors. Teaches students how to be keen observers of the unusual as well as the everyday to reveal meaningful insights that elaborate information science projects. Same as INFO 4605.
INFO 5606 - Critical Technical Practice
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Surveys design theory and methods that can be used to question relationships between technology, culture, and the environment. Students will discuss readings and synthesize those readings through design exercises. The course will equip students with resources for thinking more critically and creatively about design and possible future human-technology relationships. Same as ATLS 5606, ATLS 4606 and INFO 4606.
INFO 5608 - Community-Based Design
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2019
Surveys techniques in cooperative design with community members as collaborators rather than subjects. Students will explore approaches such as participatory design and co-design. Students will work in teams in partnership with community stakeholders to create tools, experiences, or systems that meet the needs of communities, contribute to social change, and/or lead to advancing academic knowledge. Counts as Mastery in Information Science. Same as INFO 4608.
INFO 5611 - Ubiquitous Computing Experience Design
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2019
Introduces the field of ubiquitous computing, including sensors, ambient displays, tangibles, mobility, location awareness and context awareness. These topics are explored from a user-centered design perspectives, focusing on how a situated models of computing affect requirements gathering, interaction design, prototyping and evaluation. Students gain mastery with contemporary "UbiComp" technologies and learn to incorporate them into a user-centered design process. Degree credit not granted for this course and INFO 4611.
INFO 5919 - HCC Survey and Synthesis: Foundations and Trajectories
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2024
Examines the interdisciplinary field of human-centered computing through a comprehensive content and historical survey. Considers new trajectories of inquiry and how the field merges with others. Social computing, is emphasized as a central topic. Students across disciplines will find the course foundational for understanding human-centered technology matters, including computer scientists, information scientists, social scientists, and business and media arts students. Same as CSCI 5919.
INFO 6101 - Theories and Concepts in Information Science
Secondary Instructor
-
Spring 2019
Surveys foundational theories and concepts in information science. Students will learn to read and reflect critically about seminal texts, tracing their intellectual genealogies from a variety of originating disciplines to their appropriation by information science. Students will apply these theories to contemporary issues and problems.
INFO 6201 - Interdisciplinary Ways of Knowing
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2020 / Fall 2024
Introduces principles of research design and surveys the breadth of research methods appropriated by the field of information science. Students will explore the diversity of epistemological orientations that make up the field, that influence the types of often mixed research methods applied and that shape the kinds of questions that are and are not explored.
INFO 6301 - Computation for Research in Information Science
Secondary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Examines the diversity of roles that computation can play in information science research, ranging from an overview of some data-driven practices to prototyping and infrastructure development to computation-as-research-support. Provides students with a level of computational literacy to engage with the multiplicity of roles that computation serves in the different kinds of research work that is happening across the domain, including exemplars of different kinds of technical contributions and approaches.
INFO 6500 - Information Science Seminar
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021
Enculturates graduate students in the discipline of Information Science through weekly seminar series that hosts guest speakers, internal faculty and graduate speakers and other community building and professional development activities. May be repeated up to 8 credit hours.
INFO 6940 - Supervised Master's Research Project
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024
Students enrolling in this course will conduct supervised research in Information Science under the supervision of one or more faculty advisors, to include preparation of academic literature reviews, laboratory or field experiments, surveys or interviews with technology stakeholders, interface or system design and development, system evaluation, or other examples of rigorous scholarship in the discipline of Information Science. Some research projects may be carried out in collaboration with other graduate students and faculty members. Although contribution to publishable scholarship (e.g., posters, demonstrations, conference papers, or journal articles) is one possible outcome of this educational experience, the student and his/her advisor(s) may agree to determine alternate mechanisms for assessing mastery of the academic research process, depending on the scope of work carried out as part of this experience, the publishability of the research, and the specific needs and career goals of the student.
INFO 7000 - Introduction to Doctoral Studies in Information Science
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2018
Introduces students to practices associated with successful advancement in a doctoral program, rigorous scholarship in information science and more expert and early participation in their scholarly community of practice.
