Introductory description

The aim is to combine perspectives and methods of enquiry drawn from disciplines such as Psychology and Sociology with the tools, techniques and technologies of Computer Science to create an approach to of digital systems' design and innovation that is both relevant and practical.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

• Background: development and scope of social informatics; practical goals.
• Understanding individual behaviour: perception, memory and action.
• Modelling human interactions with digital systems.
• Design methodologies and notations.
• Techniques and technologies: dialogue styles, information visualisation.
• Designer-user relations: iteration, prototyping.
• Evaluation: formative and summative; performance and learnability.
• Mobile computing and devices: novel interfaces; ubiquitous computing.
• Organisational factors: understanding the workplace; resistance; security; dependability.
• Innovation processes at scale: social shaping of IT, actor-network theory, co-production.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• 1. Demonstrate, in writing, knowledge of issues and problems in social informatics.
• 2. Demonstrate understanding of issues impacting on uptake of digital systems and innovations by diagnosing problems in relations between technologies and use in a range of application domains.
• 3. Apply appropriate principles and methodologies to address challenges in the design and deployment of novel digital systems.
• 4. Demonstrate understanding of different disciplinary perspectives on social informatics and ability to apply them to solve design and deployment challenges.
• 5. Devise, plan and execute requirements investigations and system evaluation studies from a social informatics perspective, and present findings in a clear and effective manner.
• 6. Demonstrate awareness of current areas of research in social informatics by locating and summarising examples of recent controversies and progress.

Indicative reading list

Please see Talis Aspire link for most up to date list.

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Research element

Awareness of current research in the field

Interdisciplinary

Using insights from Psychology and Sociology to understand usability issues, human behaviour, requirements gathering and innovation processes

Subject specific skills

• knowledge of issues and problems in social informatics.
• understanding of issues impacting on uptake of digital technologies in a range of application domains.
• understanding of different disciplinary perspectives and ability to apply them to solve design and deployment challenges.
• devise, plan and execute requirements investigations and system evaluation, and present findings in a clear and effective manner.
• awareness of current areas of research by locating and summarising examples of recent controversies and progress.

Transferable skills

• Identify literature relevant to a solving problem and critically review it.
• Understanding of basic statistical tests.
  -Familiarity with a range of methodologies for IT project management and how to match them to project-specific factors.
  -Understanding of non-technical factors that influence success of IT projects
• Competence in multi-disciplinary research