MG492      Half Unit
Data Governance: Privacy, Openness and Transparency

This information is for the 2023/24 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Edgar Whitley MAR 4.32

Availability

This course is available on the CEMS Exchange, Global MSc in Management, Global MSc in Management (CEMS MIM), Global MSc in Management (MBA Exchange), MBA Exchange, MSc in Management (1 Year Programme), MSc in Management of Information Systems and Digital Innovation and MSc in Media and Communications (Data and Society). This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Course content

The course provides a detailed consideration of the key elements of the concept of informational privacy, the open data movement and transparency. These topics lie at the intersection of diverse contemporary issues including, public sector reform, human rights, digital ecosystems and social networking, and the global and national regulation of business. The course content is international in focus, and reviews contemporary issues arising from new technologies, new policies of governments, new practices and business models in the private sector. Topics include personal privacy and identity systems; motivations for information sharing and transparency and its potential for driving beneficial change; transformations in the management of government information and processing practices; the technological and regulatory challenges faced by public sector and business; the protection of sensitive personal data including medical and financial information; data-mining in the context of national security and anti-terrorism policies; communications surveillance policies; behavioural studies of privacy attitudes and the evolution of trust and consent in online environments. The course enables students to develop their understanding of the challenges presented by new informational regimes, their regulatory development and emerging governance structures.

Teaching

20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the WT.

A reading week will take place during Week 6. There will be no teaching during this week.

Formative coursework

Classes are based around reading and discussing selected journal articles. Formative feedback is provided on class participation. In addition, students will complete a formative essay plan on which feedback will be provided.

Indicative reading

• Elliot, M., Mackey, E., O’Hara, K., and Tudor, C. (2020). The anonymization decision-making framework (Second edition.), UKAN Manchester (available at https://ukanon.net/framework/).

• ENISA (2015). Privacy and Data Protection by Design, (available at http://www.enisa.europa.eu/activities/identity-and-trust/library/deliverables/privacy-and-data-protection-by-design).

• van Maanen, G. (2023). Studying open government data: Acknowledging practices and politics, Data & Policy 5.

• Kaye, J., Whitley, E. A., Lund, D., Morrison, M., Teare, H., and Melham, K. (2014). Dynamic Consent – A Patient Interface for 21st Century Research Networks, European Journal of Human Genetics 23(2), 141–146.

• Murray, A. (2010). Chapter 18: Data protection, in Information technology law: the law and society , Oxford University Press Oxford

• Solove, D. J. (2008). Privacy: A concept in disarray, in Understanding privacy , Harvard University Press Cambridge, Mass., 1–11

• Whitley, E. A., Gal, U., and Kjaergaard, A. (2014). Who do you think you are? A review of the complex interplay between information systems, identification and identity, European Journal of Information Systems 23(1), 17–35.

Assessment

Coursework (20%, 800 words) and essay (70%, 5000 words).
Class participation (10%) in the WT.

10% class participation.

20% 800 word “blog” article that summarises the key argument of the research essay.

70% 5000 word research essay on an approved topic 

Key facts

Department: Management

Total students 2022/23: 48

Average class size 2022/23: 13

Controlled access 2022/23: Yes

Lecture capture used 2022/23: Yes (LT)

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Course selection videos

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.

Personal development skills

  • Self-management
  • Team working
  • Application of information skills
  • Communication
  • Commercial awareness
  • Specialist skills