Analyze, evaluate, design, and manage information technologies to support effective organizational activities, work practice, and human usability. Investigate the preservation, organization, and access to records and documents in all physical and digital formats. Consider the user and circulation of records and documents, and the social and cultural institutions, that house them.
See faculty in information and library scienceHow we store, retrieve, and share knowledge
Subareas
Archives and records management
Study theories, methods, and significant problems in archives and records management. Learn how to respond to the challenge of managing and preserving electronic records.
Digital humanities
Study digital and computational humanities, text markup, and the digital preservation of, organization of, and access to cultural texts.
Computer mediated communication and media studies
Study the role of computers in mediating human communication, conjoining information, media, and communication tools and technologies.
Documentation
Study the collection, organization, distribution, and use of recorded knowledge in any form, including issues such as trust, strategic intelligence, and knowledge organization.
Cultural informatics
Research specific cultural forms, such as music and natural science entities, and their institutional and knowledge organization infrastructures.
Information ethics
Examine ethical choice and policy making by professionals and users in collecting, organizing, and making available information. Research the role of intellectual freedom in expressing and accessing information.
Data science
Research information retrieval, knowledge portals, algorithms, and machine learning, from practical and critical perspectives.
Social informatics
Study the interrelationships between people and information technologies, including the technical mediation and shaping of personal, social, and organizational forms and agencies.
Associated centers, groups, and labs
- Center for Computer-Mediated Communication
- Data to Insight Center
- Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities
- HathiTrust Research Center
- Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics