Dr Edgar Whitley, NAB3.32 and Dr Susan Scott, NAB 3.12

Compulsory for BSc Management Sciences. Optional for BSc Actuarial Science, BSc Business Mathematics and Statistics, BSc Human Resource Management and Employment Relations.. Available to General Course students and as an outside option.

There are no pre-requisites. However, students must be familiar with MS Office software.

The course explores concepts and themes concerning the relationships between technology and society, with a particular emphasis on computer-based information systems. These include:; Governments' use of information technology, the evolution of the Internet, the challenges posed to governments by data flowing freely across borders and their implications for individual privacy and national security, identity assurance, IT in developing countries, the Digital Divide, IT and Gender, communications security and surveillance. Students are exposed to the fundamentals of web design and the course includes a web development assignment.

30 lectures, IS143.A 20 classes in the MT and LT.

Whitley, E. A., & Hosein, I. R. (2009). Global challenges for identity policies. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan; Lessig, L. (1999). Code and other laws of cyberspace. New York: Basic Books. Goldsmith, J., & Wu, T. (2006). Who controls the internet? Illusions of a borderless world. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Lyon, D. (Ed.). (2006). Theorizing surveillance: The panopticon and beyond. Cullompton: Willan Publishing; van Dijk, J. A. G. M. (2005). The deepening digital divide: Inequality in the information society. London: Sage.

The course is examined on projects and exercises completed during the year worth 40% and a two-hour formal examination in the ST that counts for 60% of the final mark.