Courses of Study 2011-2012 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
Courses of Study 2011-2012 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Information Science


Faculty


J. Birnholtz, L. Blume, C. Cardie, D. Cosley, D. Easley, S. Fussell, G. Gay,  T. Gillespie, P. Ginsparg, C. Gomes,   F. Guimbretiere, J. Hancock, T. Joachims, J. Kleinberg,  C. Lagoze, L. Lee, M. Macy, P. Sengers, E. Tardos,  D. Williamson

The Major:


Information Science (IS) is an interdisciplinary department that explores the design and use of information systems in a social context: the field studies the creation, representation, organization, application, and analysis of information in digital form. The focus of Information Science is on systems and their use rather than on the computing and communication technologies that underlie and sustain them. Moreover, Information Science examines the social, cultural, economic, historical, legal, and political contexts in which information systems are employed, both to inform the design of such systems and to understand their impact on individuals, social groups, and institutions.

Courses in the Information Science (IS) major are assigned to three area-based tracks:

Human-Centered Systems. This area examines the relationship between humans and information, drawing from human–computer interaction and cognitive science.

Information Systems. This area examines the computer science problems of representing, organizing, storing, manipulating, and accessing digital information.

Social Systems. This area studies the cultural, economic, historical, legal, political, and social contexts in which digital information is a major factor.

Students must complete a set of eleven core courses and choose two tracks for in-depth study that best represent their interests:

  • One introductory course
  • Four math and statistics courses
  • Two core courses in Human-Centered Systems
  • Two core courses in Information Systems
  • Two core courses in Social Systems
  • Four advanced courses in their selected Primary Track (Human-Centered Systems, Information Systems or Social Systems)
  • Three advanced courses from their selected Secondary Track (Human-Centered Systems, Information Systems or Social Systems)

All courses in the major must be taken for a letter grade. Students must earn a C- or better in all courses used for the major.

Requirements:


Core (11 courses)

Note:

*AP credit may be used to fulfill the calculus and statistics requirements.

3. Human-Centered Systems (two courses):


Note:

*CS 2110 is an intermediate programming course that requires prior knowledge of Java. Students who have not learned Java take CS 1130  after completing INFO 1300  and INFO 2300 . They may also take CS 1110  or INFO 1100 .

5. Social Systems (two courses):


Note:

Where options in the core courses exist, the choice will depend on the student’s interests and planned advanced courses for the selected primary and secondary tracks.

Tracks:


Students must complete four advanced courses in their primary track and three advanced courses in their secondary track, selected from those listed below.

Courses taken to satisfy the core course requirements may not be used to fulfill the track requirements.

Additional information on Information Science courses can be found below and in the “Computing and Information Science (CIS) ” section of Courses of Study. Course information for all other courses in the major can be found in the relevant departments (e.g., AEM, CS, STS).

Note:

*Students who take PSYCH 3420  may also count its prerequisite, PSYCH 2050 , toward the Human-Centered Systems primary or secondary track requirements. Similarly, students who take PSYCH 3800  may also count PSYCH 2800  toward the Human-Centered Systems primary or secondary track requirements. At most, one of PSYCH 2050 or PSYCH 2800 can be counted toward the primary or secondary track requirements.

INFO 4320  may count toward the major as Human-Centered Systems or Information Systems but not both.

Note:

*INFO 4320  may count toward the major as Human-Centered Systems or Information Systems but not both.

Note:

*Only one of ORIE 4350  and ECON 3680  may be taken for IS credit.

†Students who take ECON 3680 may also count its prerequisite, ECON 3130 , toward Social Systems.

The Minor:


A minor in Information Science is available to undergraduate students in all colleges. The minor has been designed to ensure that students have substantial grounding in all three tracks: Human-Centered Systems, Information Systems, and Social Systems. Detailed information about the minor can be found in the CIS section  of Courses of Study as well as at: www.infosci.cornell.edu/ugrad.

Honors:


To qualify for departmental honors, students must apply by the end of their seventh semester and meet the GPA requirement:

A cumulative GPA greater than or equal to 3.5

OR

A cumulative GPA greater than or equal to 3.0 in addition to contributions to the Information Science Program through research or other means, as detailed in their application.

Students intending to pursue honors must complete the following course work in addition to their IS major courses:

• Three additional credit hours of IS course work at or above the 5000-level; (graded courses only; no seminars or 2-credit project courses)
• Six credit hours of INFO 4900 - Independent Reading and Research  with one or more IS faculty members, spread over at least two semesters and with grades of A– or better; it is expected that the INFO 4900 research will result in a project report.

Latin designations (appended to the degree) are based on final cumulative GPA, as follows:

cum laude, 3.50 or above
magna cum laude, 3.75 or above
summa cum laude, 4.00 or above