COGR 201L
Qualitative Analysis
and 
Information Systems

Winter 2012
Tuesdays 2PM - 4:50PM
Office Hours: Tues 11-12:30
Office: MCC 241

  Brian Goldfarb
email:bgoldfarb @ ucsd.edu
Communication
UCSD

 

alexander Grahm Bells' shart of visual language

course website: http://communication.ucsd.edu/goldfarb/COGR201L/

Course Overview:

This graduate seminar will consider the range of approaches to qualitative research and the challenges posed by information and communication technologies both as objects of study and means of academic inquiry. While focusing attention on information technology as a site of research in the humanities and social sciences, the course is equally engaged with recent debates and critical reflection on what it means do qualitative research. Course work will combine research exercises with seminar discussion engaging critical, historical and ethnographic studies of information systems - we will look at the design and use of information and communication technologies in their social, ethical, political and organizational dimensions. Questions addressed include: How do digital media shift the relationships between researcher and subjects? What ethical challenges are presented by uses of networked media as research sites or research tools? What strategies can we use for dealing with multiple forms of media as data?

Requirements

Texts

Course Schedule:

Note: This is a preliminary schedule of readings that we will be discussing. Assigned readings will be adjusted to fit with the interests of participants and questions that arise in our seminar discussions. You will be notified as early as possible of any changes.

week: 1  |  2  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10

Week One (Jan 10):  Introduction

Week Two (Jan 17): Situating Qualitative Inquiry

Optional readings (we may read them later in the quarter):

Week Three (Jan 24): Situating Qualitative Inquiry

Week Four (Jan 31) Ethnography of Cybercultures and Information Systems

Optional readings:

Week Five (Feb 7): Technologies as Actors   

Week Six (Feb 14): Historical Research and Material Culture of Info Technology

Week Seven (Feb 21): Visual Data and Creative Research Methods

Optional readings:

Week Eight (Feb 28) Ethical Dimensions of Qualitative Research

Optional readings:

Week Nine (Mar 5) Social Networks

Week Ten (Mar 12): Presentations

 

Finals Week (Mar 19): FINAL PAPER due on March 19

 

 


Additional Reading: