Fall Courses in ISS!

This Fall we have some exciting courses coming up in Information Science + Studies and related topics from cross-lists. Check out the possibilities! 

ISS 89S-1/ENGLISH 89S-03/POLSCI 89S-01: Special Topics in ISS: One Person, One Vote 
Mon 8:30AM-11AM, Smith Bay 9, A290
​Astrid Giugni
​EI,W,CZ

What does it mean for a government to justly represent its people? What do we mean by “one person, one vote”? In the 2016 Evenwel v. Abbott case, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the long-standing principle that each person (including children, felons, non-citizens, and the mentally disabled) rather than each voter should be counted in apportioning political representation. In writing for the majority, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg appealed to “history, precedent, and practice” to argue that the appellants “have shown no reason for the Court to disturb this longstanding use of total population.” This course explores the “history, precedent, and practice” of political representation alongside its ethical, political, and mathematical contexts. The course will start by investigating the long (and surprising) history of conceptions of political representation in the West. We will explore how the meaning and importance of the term “representation” changed from the direct democracies of Greek city states to Medieval notions of corporate life to contemporary political theories in order to better understand the relationship between representation and consent. Alongside works of political theory, we will study imagined conceptions of political participation in plays, novels, and film. With this range of notions of political representation in mind, we will study two recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases qualitatively and quantitatively: Citizens United v. FEC (2010) and Evenwel v. Abbott (2016). While Citizens United presents itself as a case about free speech and campaign finance legislation, we will consider its implications for the ethical as well as legal definitions of “personhood.” We will then turn to Evenwel v. Abbott to consider the mathematical problems of fair representation. The course will culminate in a group research project completed in collaboration with students from Math 89S “Game Theory and Democracy” (Hubert Bray). N.B.: you do not need to be enrolled in Math 89S, but you will need to attend occasional workshops outside the regular class meetings.


ISS 110-1/PHIL 110-01/COMPSCI 110-01/PUBPOL 110-01: Information, Society and Culture
TTH 3:05-4:20 in Smith Bay 10, A266
Patrick Herron
STS,CZ


Information, Society, and Culture across disciplines. How all aspects of information theory and practice, including computational and mathematical and those from social sciences and the humanities are transforming research, reframing intellectual questions in research and its application, and having an impact on interactions within societies, cultures, ideologies, economics, politics. Modules presented by faculty from all areas and schools, contrasting and comparative perspectives in research-driven modules focused on interdisciplinary project questions and ideas. This is the Gateway course for the Information Science + Studies Certificate. Students interested in both the Certificate 1.0 and the Certificate 2.0 Bass Connections options should check it out.

ISS 240L-01/VMS 288:-001/AMI 325:-001: Web-Based Multimedia Communications
Lecture: M 1:25-2:40 in Physics 128
Sections: TU 10:15-11:20, Tu 1:25-2:40, W 8:30-9:45, W 4:40-5:55, Th 8:30-9:45, Th 4:40-5:55, F 10:05-11:20, F 1:25-2:40 
Victoria Szabo & Staff
R,ALP,QS

Multimedia information systems, including presentation media, hypermedia, graphics, animation, sound, video, and integrated authoring techniques; underlying technologies that make them possible. Practice in the design innovation, programming, and assessment of web-based digital multimedia information systems. Intended for students in non-technical disciplines. Engineering or Computer Science students should take Engineering 206 or Computer Science 408.

I&E 290/ISS 290: Open Source World
W 1:40-4:10 in TBA
Aria Chernik
​STS, SS

LIT 302S-0/AMES 302S-01/AMI 308S-01/GSF 320S-01/ISS 302S/VMS 349S-01: Hashtags, Memes, Digital Tribes
M 4:40PM-710 in Biddle 102
Negar Mottahedeh
CCI, EI, STS, ALP, CZ


Tracks digital life and creative expression of groups online in a close study of images, captions and hyperlinked tags. Examines rituals, symbols and cultural patterns that structure everyday life of digital tribes online and investigates impact of digital and social media (Twitter, Instagram Facebook, Periscope) on the constitution of communities online and offline. Studying varied array of digital tribes: tribes of the deaf, of oil rig workers, of Hindu worshipers, of prison wives and laptop entrepreneurs, students learn about underlying myths, rituals, and cultural symbols that connect groups of people online.

ARTHIST 305L-001/ARTSVIS 305L-001/VMS 332L-001/ISS 305L-001/CLST 240L-001: Virtual Museums
Tu 3:05-4:20 in Smith Bay 12, Room 228
Maurizio Forte
R, STS, ALP

The future of museums will be one of immateriality and interaction. Course focuses on how the "Internet of Things," augmented reality technologies, new data analyses of artifacts will transform missions, roles, and goals of museums and collections. Core of course will be digital lab sessions focused on virtual reconstruction of lost heritage--e.g., museums and sites destroyed and damaged by ISIS and other conflicts in Iraq and the Middle East (Hatra, Nineveh, Nimrud, Baghdad).

ISS 315-1/VMS 304-01/ARTHIST 315-01: Historical GIS
TTH 3:05-4:20 in Smith Bay 11, A233
​Edward Triplett
STS

This is a beginner/intermediate Geographic Information System (GIS) course designed to help students develop GIS skills. The class emphasizes perspectives, procedures and tools that are relevant to applications of GIS in Art History and Humanistic disciplines. This course is designed as a hybrid lecture/lab format in which direct instruction is supplemented by hands on learning labs using ArcGIS software and real-world spatial data. The main skills students will gain are: Integration of spatial and tabular data, Geoprocessing, Data visualization, Creating features, Editing Features, Vector and Raster Integration, Spatial Analysis, Georeferencing.

ISS 320S-01/VMS 326S-01: Unity 3D Programming and Interaction Design
Tu 4:55-7:25PM in Smith Bay 12, Room 228
David Zielinski
STS

Practical concepts and exercises with the C# programming language. Basic concepts of algorithms and data structures. Discussion of basic computer graphics concepts. Introduction to the Unity3D game engine. Importing various model formats into Unity3D. User interface design in Unity3D. Advanced scripting using C# for Unity3D. Unity3D common pitfalls and tips for optimizations. Usage of the MiddleVR virtual reality library. Weekly homework and final project. No prior coding experience is assumed.

ISS 395T-01: Syrian Refugee Crisis, Photojournalism, and Social Media
TTH 4:40PM-6:15PM
Astrid Giugni
ALP, QS

This is a research-project-centered tutorial that will build on a Summer 2017 Data+ project (http://bigdata.duke.edu/projects/visualizing-suffering-tracking-photojo…). Constructing their own research questions, students will analyze the AP database photographic images of the Syrian Refugee Crisis and how they are distributed via media outlets. This tutorial will help students think through questions surrounding the links between visual and textual interpretation, copyrights problems, and ethics. The data analysis component of the project will ask students to learn how to use image search software and to apply statistical analysis tools. Instructor consent required.

ISS 555S-001/VMS 564S-001/ARTSVIS 564S-001: Physical Computing
TH 10:05-11:40AM in Smith Bay 9, A290; Lab ISS 555SL-01L TTH 11:45-1PM i
Mark Olson
STS, QS

Seminar in physical computing, creative coding, and the emerging artistic possibilities of the Internet of Things. Emphasis on the medial physicality of computation, and exploration of interfaces to the computational that depart from the keyboard, mouse, and screen. Discussion of the social implications of “smart” objects. Hands-on development of individual and group projects using Arduino, an extension of C/C++, internet-enabled microprocessors, and an array of analog and digital sensors and actuators. Topics also include networking, communication protocols, circuit design, and physical prototyping.

ISS 565S-01/VMS 565S-01: New Media, Memory and Archive
M 1:25-3:55PM in Smith Bay 9, A290
Mark Olson
STS, ALP


Explores impact of new media on the nature of archives as technologies of cultural memory and knowledge production. Sustained engagement with major theorists of the archive through the optics of "media specificity" and the analytical resources of visual studies. Themes include: storage capacity of media; database as cultural form; body as archive; new media and the documentation of "everyday life;" memory, counter-memory, and the politics of the archive; archival materiality and digital ephemerality. Primary focus on visual artifacts (image, moving image) with consideration of the role of other sensory modalities in the construction of individual, institutional and collective memory.

ISS 580S-01/HCVIS 580S-01/VMS 580S-01/ARTHIST 580S-01: Proseminar 1: Historical and Cultural Visualization: Interdisciplinary Digital Humanities
Th 8:45-11:15 in Smith Bay 11, A233 (Wired Lab)
​Victoria Szabo
​STS, ALP

Focus on interactive digital media technologies and their underlying information architectures and data. Issues in interdisciplinary digital humanities, in theory and in pracice.  Example projects, guest speakers,  and data sets will come from both existing research projects at Duke and elsewhere, and from the class members themselves, if applicable. Weekly class sessions will include presentation/discussion of readings and examples as well as hands-on work with technology. Specific topics will include web basics, content management systems, archives and exhibitions, digital mapping, digital storyteling, virtual and augmented reality, text analysis, and data visualization. The goal is an overview of concepts with enough hands-on activities to get class members started in various directions, and to introduce them to other resources on campus. We will also point to topics like virtual reality, simulations, augmented reality, and games in anticipation of second-semester and ongoing work.Final projects will consist of a digitally mediated presentation of your own work, along with a written explication of your media choices and their effects. Students are expected to blog weekly on the readings and to post their tutorial projects, and to bring to class examples of relevant work they have found to share and discuss.

 

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There are also a number of other interesting cross-lists that count towards the ISS Certificate elective requirements. See our full Fall 2017 Course Listings for details.