Information Science + Information Studies

ISIS CURRICULUM

ISIS CURRICULAR MODEL

At the core of the ISIS program is its innovative curricular model which focuses on extremely collaborative, interdisciplinary, student-driven courses. ISIS courses offer students the opportunity to fully engage with the creation and study of information technologies at macro and micro levels and within many different thematic areas. ISIS students not only acquire fluency and familiarity with current information technologies, they also develop a deep understanding of the meaning and utility of such technologies within the contemporary technological landscape.

The ISIS curricular model integrates the following skills into each of its course offerings:

Hands-on technology exploration combined with critical and analytical meta-analyses of the technologies
Collaborative, student-driven original projects and research experiences
Course assignments with real-world translational applications that require the development of professional project skills, such as long-term project management, effective communication strategies, and a familiarity of a variety of information solutions and best practices.

View full list of ISIS curricular offerings.

ISIS CERTIFICATE

The Information Science and Information Studies (ISIS) Certificate program offers undergraduate and graduate students an interdisciplinary approach to study the nature of information and its impact on art, culture, science, commerce, society, and the environment. ISIS helps students fill the gap between current academic training and the increasing demand in all professions for a broad understanding of the legal, social, philosophical, computational, and aesthetic issues concerning information technology and other related innovations. The program's integrated curriculum combines topics and practices including information management; photonics and visualization; multimedia design; issues of security, privacy, and property; and the history of science and technology. View full information on the ISIS Certificate Program.

ISIS DEEP LAGOON (IDL) MAC LAB

The ISIS Deep Lagoon (IDL) Macintosh computer lab is a recent addition located in room 036 John Hope Franklin Center. The IDL currently consists of 1 desktop Mac Pro and 14 laptop G4 Mac Powerbooks from the newly refurbished Mobile Multimedia Macintosh Cluster (M3C). A podcasting station is also available. The IDL is open to all ISIS course students and certificate students Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm. After-hours access is also available. Please email or see Cristin Paul in JHFC room 220 for access. View complete information on the IDL.

ISIS INDEPENDENT STUDY

Because Information Science + Information Studies is a program and not a department, we are not able to offer independent studies in ISIS. However, ISIS will honor independent studies taken through other departments as long as it is approved by your ISIS advisor. We suggest arranging your independent study through your major department. See Trinity College's independent study policy here. Feel free to contact ISIS with any questions.

Virtual Realities: Visualizations, Imagined Worlds, and Games FOCUS CLUSTER PROGRAM

Within the past half century, a powerful new paradigm has emerged in the ways in which men and women produce and consume information. The idea of an immersive “virtual reality” space for intellectual inquiry and exploration encompasses practices in education, engineering, industry, and the arts. While the idea of a virtual reality goes back to the earliest human storytelling and pictorial practices, technology has helped instantiate these alternate visions in increasingly flexible and immersive forms. Fueled by decades of exponential growth in computational processing power, these new modes of knowing are transforming the epistemological foundations of the arts, sciences, humanities, and engineering by providing new experimental, rhetorical, and experiential interfaces to information.

The purpose of the Virtual Realities Focus Cluster is to provide first-year students with a deep critical understanding of the social, cultural, political, scientific, and technological forces implicit in the rapid rise of computer gaming, simulation, visualization, and digital world-building. New media and visual culture have become pervasive, particularly in the context of massively popular social networks, and many other aspects of the modern digital lifestyle. Understanding the context, impact, and technology of these virtual realities will prepare students to contribute to, and benefit from these emerging paradigms. The program’s seminars, colloquia, and writing program explore the methodologies from many perspectives, including the historical roots of both the technologies and the narratives that shape them; how the perspectives on games by men and women differ; the political and economic contexts of the gaming and simulation industry; the significance of gaming, modeling, and simulation research in both the natural sciences and social sciences; differing sensory methodologies for representing data; and the visual narratives inherent in the representation of analog artifacts in digital form. In each of these areas, the program combines hands-on, laboratory investigations of various technologies with critical analyses of the larger contexts in which such media have been developed and deployed.

Student applicants will enroll in one of the two courses with a socio-cultural focus and one of the two courses on with a techno-scientific focus. Each of the courses in the cluster explores the underpinnings and the implications of the science and technology of virtual realities from multidisciplinary perspectives. Students develop a rich understanding of the complexities of representational technologies, become adept at handing the appropriate technology tools, and find the fun and the challenge of envisioning the future of gaming, simulation, visualization, and virtual world-building.

Detailed course information can be found here. View the Fall 2007 flyer.

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STHV VIDEOS

As part of its collaboration with Duke University's discontinued Program in Science, Technology, and Human Values (STHV), ISIS administers and distributes a series of professional ethics educational videos. View the list of available STHV videos with online video segments. View the STHV video order form.

MOBILE MULTIMEDIA MACINTOSH CLUSTER (M3C)

The M3C is a mobile multimedia computer cluster that can be configured to take advantage of wireless networking zones in the John Hope Franklin Center. Designed as an experimental facility, M3C enhances teaching and learning in courses that involve digital art and photography, electronic music, digital video, information architecture and design, along with other forms of multimedia development. View more information on the M3C.