This course has a pedagogical and experimental focus, exposing students to different forms and practices of creative work at the intersection of culture and technology. The course will be structured around a variety of materials/formats/processes that demonstrate the connection between thinking and making. Students will be exposed to an overview of creative-scholarly research processes including critical fabulation, speculative design, and research creation, with examples of work by scholar-makers and creative professionals serving as models throughout. Additionally, students will be given access to demonstrations and practice of different forms of making and material practice, to help resource them for their final project and Studio II. Such material experiences may include podcasting, filmmaking, data visualization, printmaking, repair and maintenance, using microcontrollers, and other hands-on forms of studio work. The final portion of the class will assist students in reflecting on different forms of value associated with the results of making and related processes. Through this course, students will be encouraged to consider their own creative aspirations and the tools, methods, and practices they will need to develop to realize them.

This project-based course will serve as the keystone experience for the C&T concentration. In this course, students will develop a detailed proposal and plan for an individual creative-scholarly project relating to the digital contemporary, then execute their plan. Students might produce work in a wide range of media including podcasts, art installations, digital stories, textile fabrications, physical computing projects, games, books and/or publications, creative non-fiction or essay writing, poetry, fiction, and inter-artistic or inter-disciplinary creations. Sessions will be devoted to mutually supportive co-working in a studio environment and to peer and instructor feedback. The students will work together (in consultation with the instructor) to curate and design in an exhibition and/or showcase of projects to complete the course.

The course will also address the demands of hands-on studio work by incorporating project management skills including prototyping, iteration, and process documentation.

The capstone KMD project gives students the opportunity to shape their own learning by planning and executing a major KMD project that contributes to KMDI, FI, the University or the wider community. In this year-long course students work in diverse ‘collaborative’ teams to execute a major KMD project.

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of User Experience (UX) and User Experience Research (UER). The course covers a series of methods and tools in three areas: research, design, and evaluation. Methods and tools to conduct and analyse research data may include interviews, observations, questionnaires, secondary research, affinity diagrams, thematic analysis, stakeholder maps, empathy maps, and personas. Method and tools to design may include requirements analysis, use cases, scenarios, sketching, prototyping toolkits, and sequential storyboards. Method and tools to evaluate designs may include heuristic inspections, walkthroughs, usability testing, analytics, predictive models, and lean validation. More practical topics may include design thinking, UX strategy, UX ethic, agile and Lean UX, building a UX portfolio, and institutionalization of UX.

A reading course in a special field to be carried out under the supervision of a member of the faculty (With the permission of the Graduate Coordinator).

A reading course in a special field to be carried out under the supervision of a member of the faculty (With the permission of the Graduate Coordinator). This course code is used for those students who have already done a Reading Course under INF2010H and wish to do a second reading course.

This elective course covers the nature of projects, project management tools, techniques and organizational and interpersonal issues in project management within the context of the different types of projects in the information profession. The course will cover project management principles in general, project scope, organizational, leadership, interpersonal and political aspects of project management, and tools and techniques to support planning, budgeting, resource allocation and other technical aspects of project management.

This course will examine issues and topics surrounding the management of map and geospatial data collections and services. Broadly, the course will cover the role of information professionals and librarians in the world of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Emphasis will be put on the academic and government setting, but GIS use in industry and other sectors will also be examined. Topics covered in the course will include the history of geographic information sources from paper to digital, GIS reference, critical cartography, geographic Information and map literacy; data acquisition and licensing; open data, open software, and open government; spatial data infrastructure, data archiving, web mapping, and spatial analysis.

This course builds on the body of theories, methods, and practices introduced in INF1330H and INF2175H. By drawing on the principles, concepts, and methods of diplomatics, an old archival discipline specialized in the form and function of documents created in business contexts, the first part of the course will uncover the physical and intellectual articulation of traditional records, both paper-based and electronic. Digital preservation issues, with particular regard to establishing and protecting the authenticity of electronic records, will be discussed at the end of this first part.

Explores the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of information literacy courses and programs offered by librarians, archivists and other information professionals. Discusses the meaning of information literacy and its centrality to personal and societal development; critically appraises national and international standards and models for information literacy; explores teaching and learning theories and strategies; creates lessons plans and incorporates appropriate instructional technologies; explores theories and methods for assessment of learners, and evaluation of instructors, courses and programs.

The course will address topics in the acquisition, management and retrieval of numerical information, both aggregated (statistics) and disaggregated (data). Topics will include public, private and academic sector data gathering, statistical production and dissemination, data warehousing and management, data repositories and consortia, user needs and the reference interview, data extraction and manipulation, and privacy issues. While the focus will be on socio-economic data and statistics, business and scientific datasets and statistical products will be discussed as well. The course will take the form of lectures and tutorials. There will also be a significant lab component outside of the scheduled hours.

An introductory course in preservation issues covering both restoration of the artifact and preservation of content. Topics include composition and manufacture of paper, principles and ethics of restoration; restoration methods; archival conservation practices; rare book conservation practices; preservation microfilming, theory and practice; national and international preservation filming efforts; mass deacidification; organization, administration and funding of preservation efforts; new document substrates; and, emergency and disaster planning.

The application of theory in addressing the practical problems of developing archival programs and services in national and international archival systems. The focus is on how the essential functions of any archives are translated into practice in the context of national and international systems.

This course examines the creation, curation, conservation, and preservation of digital materials in both the public and private sectors and enables students to develop an appreciation of the principles of management of digital information in the context of digital longevity. Students gain an understanding of the organizational, technical, social, and economic challenges encountered when enabling the long-term availability of digital materials.

Following Foucault and others, we can think of surveillance as a discursive technique which produces knowledge and identities. Surveillance infrastructures infiltrate and mediate everyday life. For example, internet “cookies,” shopping loyalty cards, and mobile phone numbers all individuate and identify us. These identifiers are used to index databases recording our web surfing activities, our movements, and our purchases.

Examines discourses, practices, and understandings of ‘diversity’ (and related notions) past demographics or other visible characteristics. Emphasis will be on cultivating a values-based diversity mindset, along with a critical reflection on the choices and values embedded in the design and use of information, its institutions, and its technologies; how these might be translated across different sectors (e.g., libraries, archives, museums, networked organizations, professional associations and major international organizations active in this area), and across different cultural contexts. Examples of issues addressed include: diversity of professional roles, practices, communities served; diversity considerations in preservation and digitization; diversity in the workforce; diversity as intellectual freedom; diversity as engine of competitiveness.

The purpose of this course is to study the impact of cultural diversity on the development of the public library as an information and cultural resources institution. It covers issues affecting the planning, organization and delivery mechanisms of multicultural resources, services and programs, including demographics and their relation to multicultural policies and planning; approaches to service delivery; collection development practices; impact of technology on information and access; staff competencies and user education programs; and communicating with and engaging the multicultural community.

An overview of the theories and methods of collection development that situates public and academic libraries within the broad framework of the publishing industry. Covers issues relevant to the selection of print and electronic resources, with an emphasis on alternative literatures and independent presses. Discusses topics relevant to the management of collections, including policy formulation, the acquisitions process, vendor agreements, budgets, qualitative and quantitative evaluation techniques, liaison activities, withdrawal of materials, and collaborations.

A critical examination of the development and popularity of the comic book and graphic novel, the course will focus on the history, development, evolution, and interpretation of these “texts.” The relationship between the concepts “graphic novel” or “comic book” and “popular culture” will be interrogated.

This course is an introduction to the librarianship of ancient books and records in special collections, as well as to their custodianship in other GLAM institutions. It will look at the materiality of information from different cultures across the ancient world (c.3000 BCE – 500 CE) that are commonly encountered in special collections. The primary goal is to analyze the diverse modes of communication, physical features, types of content, uses, and actors involved to provide students the ability to create descriptive catalogue records and adequately preserve ancient information objects. This course also serves to address current issues with ancient items in special collections, as well as to redefine our understanding of ancient books through emic lenses, challenging Western notions and prejudice that have shaped historical discourse and modern practices for centuries.

Introduction to legal bibliography and the methods of legal research, emphasizing Canadian legal resources. Coverage will also include British, American and international legal materials. Teaching will cover primary and secondary legal resources, both in print and electronic formats.

Critical survey of the literature of business and finance with emphasis on bibliographies, reference materials, statistical materials and business services. New developments in the business information field and problems in business and financial libraries.

Students in this course will study how librarians support evidence-based healthcare: the integration of the best evidence into healthcare decision making. This course will provide an overview of the healthcare information ecosystem and systematic review methods. Topics covered include: the history of evidence-based healthcare; a critical understanding of the evidence pyramid; an in-depth investigation of bibliographic health science databases; and the roles of medical librarians in academic institutions, hospitals, and in under-resourced contexts. The course takes a practice-based approach to learning exhaustive, reproducible, and transparent search techniques; to the use of international reporting guidelines and conduct standards; and to software required to organize, screen, and document search results.

Publishing and distribution policies and practices of Canadian governments at all levels, and secondarily of the governments of the United States and Great Britain, and of intergovernmental agencies. Bibliographical control and use of government publications and their organization in libraries.

Examines the nature and characteristics of documents, publications and electronic information produced by the United Nations system and other international governmental organizations. Discusses theoretical work, and assesses pertinent selection and reference tools.

This course will provide students with a forum for engaging in historically grounded explorations of the centrality of cultural texts and artifacts within contemporary childhood.

This course focuses on program and policy issues in information services for children and young adults. The objectives are to ensure students’ understanding of current issues and their contexts and to prepare them for professional leadership in service and facility design and management. The course draws upon guest experts in its exploration of issues. It combines in-person and online delivery. It is complementary to INF2139H (Young People: Collection Development) and INF2140H (Young People: Current and Emerging Information Practices).

This course adopts a technical historical perspective as a means to better understand the emergence of the online platform as the increasingly standard fulcrum of digital media dissemination, and, in cases, production. Modern online media platforms connect vast data repositories with web application frameworks that stream both content and interface to end users across a variety of digital devices. We will examine the historical foundations of these myriad technologies, paying attention both to standard-defining innovations, as well as those ideas that got lost along the way. We will look at code in all its forms: character codes, encoding formats, markup languages, and programming languages. We will look at how media software evolved from command-line service to “desktop” studio to cloud-based Web application. We will then creatively engage with this knowledge and design our own platforms. These platform prototypes will be presented and discussed in class.

Computer scientist Alan Kay declared the computer to be “the first metamedium” in 1984, the same year as the release of the first Apple Macintosh computer. Since that time, digital computing devices have seemingly confirmed Kay’s observation by consuming all manner of media production and reception practices. Yet there is nothing fundamental about the “stored program” computer, first realized in the form of the EDVAC in 1949, that would suggest such a versatile role. Instead, such uses had to be invented by human actors, building on the binary logic of digital machines through the “shaping of the invisible”, a phrase Kay borrowed from Leonardo Da Vinci. The essential medium upon which such fictions are shaped is code: code is the mechanism by which bits of transistorized memory are elaborated into the sights and sounds of digital multimedia, as well as the algorithmic constructs that control its production and projection. Code is at once theoretical and pragmatic, reflecting computer science theory but also conforming to best fit configurations in emerging contexts.

Problems in creating and organizing bibliographic records for monographs, serials, government documents, audio-visual materials and other information sources, in both manual and automated environments. Analysis and evaluation of solutions from various cataloguing codes and other international standards.

Trusting records: concepts, methods, perspectives aims to deepen students’ understanding of the concepts associated with record trustworthiness and the methods that have been developed for ensuring it within the archival discipline and to raise their awareness of other disciplinary perspectives on record trustworthiness.