Through a critical examination of documentary forms and information seeking behaviour, this unit explores fundamental concepts of information in the context of identifying stakeholder needs and expectations at individual, collective, organisational and societal levels. It introduces students to the way information is managed to meet user needs and the role of information and communications technologies (ICT) in IM.
Topics under the themes information concepts, contexts, tools and technologies, and information issues include:
What is information? What role does it play in society? Basics of information management How do we manage information? Identifying, analysing and responding to user needs Layers of information use Using ICTs to create, represent, store, access, retrieve and use information The organisational and social contexts in which information is managed and usedAt the completion of this unit students will have a theoretical and conceptual understanding of:
C1. fundamental concepts of information, and its use by individuals, organisations and societies
C2. information creation, representation, storage, access, retrieval, and use
C3. the impact of organisational and social contexts upon information needs and uses
C4. basic ICTs and IM tools developed to manage information and meet user needs
C5. the information-seeking behaviour of users
C6. the range of information sources
C7. the forms that information can take
C8. human computer interfaces to information
At the completion of this unit students will have developed attitudes that enable them to:
A1. Be aware of the role and responsibilities of information professionals
A2. Be aware of the role of ICTs and IM in human activity
At the completion of this unit students will have the skills to:
P1. Evaluate information and its sources critically
P2. Identify particular information needs
P3. Evaluate ICTs and IM tools in terms of meeting user needs
P4. Use basic ICTs and IM tools to create, represent, store, access, retrieve and use information
At the completion of this unit students will have developed the teamwork skills needed to:
S1. Be able to work as part of a team capable of managing information in a range of social environments
* two-hour lecture and
* two-hour laboratory/tutorial (requiring advance preparation)
* a minimum of 2-3 hours of personal study per one hour of contact time in order to satisfy the reading and assignment expectations.
*
You will need to allocate up to 5 hours per week in some weeks, for use of a computer, including time for newsgroups/discussion groups.
FIT1021 is a core unit in the Information Management major of the BITS, and an elective for other majors in that degree.
There are no prerequisites for this unit.
You may not study this unit and IMS1102, IMS1603 in your degree.
Monash is committed to ‘Excellence in education’ (Monash Directions 2025 - http://www.monash.edu.au/about/monash-directions/directions.html) and strives for the highest possible quality in teaching and learning.
To monitor how successful we are in providing quality teaching and learning Monash regularly seeks feedback from students, employers and staff. One of the key formal ways students have to provide feedback is through Unit Evaluation Surveys. The University’s Unit Evaluation policy (http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/quality/unit-evaluation-policy.html) requires that every unit offered is evaluated each year. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the surveys as they are an important avenue for students to “have their say”. The feedback is anonymous and provides the Faculty with evidence of aspects that students are satisfied and areas for improvement.
Faculties have the option of administering the Unit Evaluation survey online through the my.monash portal or in class. Lecturers will inform students of the method being used for this unit towards the end of the semester.
Emphasis in lectures will be given to providing examples of key concepts in the use and management of information, and discussing some of the debates that these ideas provoke.
Emphasis in laboratories/tutorials will be given to exploring how information is sought, organised and used.
Monash aims to provide a learning environment in which students receive a range of ongoing feedback throughout their studies. You will receive feedback on your work and progress in this unit. This may take the form of group feedback, individual feedback, peer feedback, self-comparison, verbal and written feedback, discussions (on line and in class) as well as more formal feedback related to assignment marks and grades. You are encouraged to draw on a variety of feedback to enhance your learning.
It is essential that you take action immediately if you realise that you have a problem that is affecting your study. Semesters are short, so we can help you best if you let us know as soon as problems arise. Regardless of whether the problem is related directly to your progress in the unit, if it is likely to interfere with your progress you should discuss it with your lecturer or a Community Service counsellor as soon as possible.
| Week | Topic | Key dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction and overview | |
| 2 | Why information management matters | |
| 3 | What are documents? | |
| 4 | The documentary web | |
| 5 | Documentary form and analysis | |
| 6 | Documentary form and ICT | Assignment 1 due |
| Mid semester break | ||
| 7 | User needs and behaviour | |
| 8 | Matching documents to user needs | |
| 9 | Promotional documents/Assignment 2 | |
| 10 | Classifying information | |
| 11 | Document management and records | |
| 12 | Information management issues | Assignment 2 due |
| 13 | Revision | |
None. No textbook is required for this unit.
M. Buckland (1991b) 'Information as Thing', Journal of the American Society of Information Science 42(5), June, http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~buckland/thing.html, accessed 8 March 2005.
E. Grassian (2000) 'Thinking Critically about World Wide Web Resources', http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/help/critical/, accessed 5 March 2005.
D. Blair (1984) The Management of Information: Basic Distinctions. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Business School. http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/ accessed 7 March 2005.
M. Castells (2000) 'Introduction to the information age', in H. McKay & T. Sullivan (eds.) Media reader: continuity and transformation. London: Sage, http://images.lib.monash.edu.au/com4421/04118199.pdf, accessed 22 March 2005.
R. Hartland, S. McKemmish & F. Upward (2005) 'Documents', in S. McKemmish et al. (eds.) Archives: Recordkeeping in Society. Wagga Wagga: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, http://images.lib.monash.edu.au/ims1603/04119312.pdf, accessed 12 April 2005.
M. McAdams (1994) 'Driving a Newspaper on the Data Highway', http://www.well.com/user/mmcadams/online.newspapers.html, accessed 25 March 2004.
D. Nichols & M. Twidale (2003) 'The Usability of Open Source Software', First Monday 8(1), http://www.firstmonday.dk/ issues/issue8_1/nichols/.
J. Nielsen (1997) 'How Users Read on the Web', http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html, accessed 24 December 2002.
S. Toub (2000) Evaluating Information Architecture, http://argus- acia.com/white_papers/evaluating_ia.html, accessed 23 April 2004.
E. Hunter (2000) 'Do we still need classification?', in R. Marcella & A. Maitby (eds.) The Future of Classification. Aldershot: Gower.
The Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia (EPIC) 'Online Survey of College Students: Executive Summary', http://www.epic.columbia.edu/eval/find09/find09.html, accessed 16 May 2005.
M. Taylor & E. Moynihan (2002). 'Analysing IT Ethics', Systems Research and Behavioral Science 19.
The following journals will be useful throughout the unit; other relevant online journals may be found at ‘Information Technology electronic journals’, Monash University Library, http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/ejournals/infotech/index.html
Access to electronic versions is available via the Monash Voyager catalogue http://library.monash.edu.au/ .Hard copies of most of these journals may also be found in the Caulfield library (CA).
Information, communication & society (CA)
Information Management Journal (CA)
Information Today
Library philosophy and practice
Records Management Quarterly (CA)
Students are also expected to familiarise themselves with the materialson information seeking available at the Monash Library ‘VirtualLibrarian’ web site http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/vl/
Lab work will utilise a range of installed software.
Home equipment requirements:
Study resources we will provide for your study are:
provided at the unit website, or through lab/tutorial sessions. These include lecture notes and tutorial/lab exercises.
To access the unit website, log into MUSO - http://muso.monash.edu.au
The Monash University Library site contains details about borrowing rights and catalogue searching. To learn more about the library and the various resources available, please go to http://www.lib.monash.edu.au.
The Educational Library and Media Resources (LMR) is also a very resourceful place to visit at http://www.education.monash.edu.au/library/
All unit and lecture materials are available through MUSO (Monash University Studies Online). Blackboard is the primary application used to deliver your unit resources. Some units will be piloted in Moodle. If your unit is piloted in Moodle, you will see a link from your Blackboard unit to Moodle (http://moodle.monash.edu.au) and can bookmark this link to access directly. In Moodle, from the Faculty of Information Technology category, click on the link for your unit.
You can access MUSO and Blackboard via the portal: http://my.monash.edu.au
Click on the Study and enrolment tab, then Blackboard under the MUSO learning systems.
In order for your Blackboard unit(s) to function correctly, your computer needs to be correctly configured.
For example:
For more information, please visit: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/downloadables-student.html
You can contact the MUSO Support by phone : (+61 3) 9903 1268
For further contact information including operational hours, please visit: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/contact.html
Further information can be obtained from the MUSO support site: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/index.html
Title : Assignment 1 - The documentary web
Description :
Weighting : 15%
Criteria for assessment :
Due date : beginning of week 6
Title : Assignment 2 - Matching documents to user needs
Description :
Weighting : 35%
Criteria for assessment :
Due date : beginning of week 11
Weighting : 50%
Length : 3 hours
Type ( open/closed book ) : Closed book
The due dates for the submission of assignments are given in the previous section. Please make every effort to submit work by the due dates. It is your responsibility to structure your study program around assignment deadlines, family, work and other commitments. Factors such as normal work pressures, vacations, etc. are seldom regarded as appropriate reasons for granting extensions. Students are advised to NOT assume that granting of an extension is a matter of course.
Requests for extensions must be made to the unit lecturer at your campus at least two days before the due date. You will be asked to forward original medical certificates in cases of illness, and may be asked to provide other forms of documentation where necessary. A copy of the email or other written communication of an extension must be attached to the assignment submission.Late assignments submitted without an approved extension may be accepted (up to one week late) at the discretion of your lecturer, but will be penalised at the rate of 5% of total assignment marks per day (including weekends). Example:
Total marks available for the assignment = 100 marks
Marks received for the assignment = 70 marks
Marks deducted for 2 days late submission (10% of 100) = 10 marks
Final mark received for assignment = 60 marks
Students can expect assignments to be returned within two weeks of the submission date or after receipt, whichever is later.
Assessment for the unit as a whole is in accordance with the provisions of the Monash University Education Policy at http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/assessment/
We will aim to have assignment results made available to you within two weeks after assignment receipt.Plagiarism and cheating are regarded as very serious offences. In cases where cheating has been confirmed, students have been severely penalised, from losing all marks for an assignment, to facing disciplinary action at the Faculty level. While we would wish that all our students adhere to sound ethical conduct and honesty, I will ask you to acquaint yourself with the University Plagiarism policy and procedure (http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/conduct/plagiarism-procedures.html) which applies to students detected plagiarising.
In this University, cheating means seeking to obtain an unfair advantage in any examination or any other written or practical work to be submitted or completed by a student for assessment. It includes the use, or attempted use, of any means to gain an unfair advantage for any assessable work in the unit, where the means is contrary to the instructions for such work.
When you submit an individual assessment item, such as a program, a report, an essay, assignment or other piece of work, under your name you are understood to be stating that this is your own work. If a submission is identical with, or similar to, someone else's work, an assumption of cheating may arise. If you are planning on working with another student, it is acceptable to undertake research together, and discuss problems, but it is not acceptable to jointly develop or share solutions unless this is specified by your lecturer.
Intentionally providing students with your solutions to assignments is classified as "assisting to cheat" and students who do this may be subject to disciplinary action. You should take reasonable care that your solution is not accidentally or deliberately obtained by other students. For example, do not leave copies of your work in progress on the hard drives of shared computers, and do not show your work to other students. If you believe this may have happened, please be sure to contact your lecturer as soon as possible.
Cheating also includes taking into an examination any material contrary to the regulations, including any bilingual dictionary, whether or not with the intention of using it to obtain an advantage.
Plagiarism involves the false representation of another person's ideas, or findings, as your own by either copying material or paraphrasing without citing sources. It is both professional and ethical to reference clearly the ideas and information that you have used from another writer. If the source is not identified, then you have plagiarised work of the other author. Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty that is insulting to the reader and grossly unfair to your student colleagues.
The university requires faculties to keep a simple and confidential register to record counselling to students about plagiarism (e.g. warnings). The register is accessible to Associate Deans Teaching (or nominees) and, where requested, students concerned have access to their own details in the register. The register is to serve as a record of counselling about the nature of plagiarism, not as a record of allegations; and no provision of appeals in relation to the register is necessary or applicable.
The Faculty of Information Technology is committed to the use of non-discriminatory language in all forms of communication. Discriminatory language is that which refers in abusive terms to gender, race, age, sexual orientation, citizenship or nationality, ethnic or language background, physical or mental ability, or political or religious views, or which stereotypes groups in an adverse manner. This is not meant to preclude or inhibit legitimate academic debate on any issue; however, the language used in such debate should be non-discriminatory and sensitive to these matters. It is important to avoid the use of discriminatory language in your communications and written work. The most common form of discriminatory language in academic work tends to be in the area of gender inclusiveness. You are, therefore, requested to check for this and to ensure your work and communications are non-discriminatory in all respects.
Students with disabilities that may disadvantage them in assessment should seek advice from one of the following before completing assessment tasks and examinations:
Deferred assessment (not to be confused with an extension for submission of an assignment) may be granted in cases of extenuating personal circumstances such as serious personal illness or bereavement. Information and forms for Special Consideration and deferred assessment applications are available at http://www.monash.edu.au/exams/special-consideration.html. Contact the Faculty's Student Services staff at your campus for further information and advice.