Semester 1 - 15 July, 2002 - 9 Nov, 2002

The focus of this foundation course is on the basic concepts, policies and technologies related to the development of the information society. The course traverses a wide range of social, legal, moral and economic issues facing society at large and the information professional in particulars. The course covers areas such as the information explosion and its implications for society; the relationship between information and communication; information infrastructure and key IT policies in Singapore such as IT2000 and Library 2000 reports; digital libraries, electronic publishing and intellectual property.

• Understand the concepts, policies and technologies related to the development of the information society.
• Understand the social context in which information is created, disseminated and used.
• Understand key documents on information policies such as IT200, Library 2000, Internet and E-commerce.
• Understand social, legal, moral and economic issues, which affect the work of the information professionals.
• Understand the value of information to society and its effect on productivity and creativity.
• Understand the effect of communication technology on information transfer.
• Understand the role of information in the knowledge-based economy

• Introduction and Course Overview
• National Information Infrastructure (NII): Key policies in Singapore such as IT2000, Library2000, Internet and E-Commerce
• Communication and information in the Knowledge Society
• Electronic Publishing in the Knowledge Society
• Digital Libraries: Content Management and Access Control
• Knowledge Based Society and Economy
• Intellectual Property and the Economy of Ideas
• Copyright and Trade Mark in the Digital Era
• Education and Training in the Information Society
• Privacy in the Information A& Knowledge Society
• Information Standards and Standardization activities in the information & Knowledge Society
• Information Security and Ethics in the Knowledge Society
• Review

• Al-Hawamdeh, S. and Hart, T. (2002) Information and Knowledge Society. McGraw-Hill
• Baase, S. (1997) A gift of fire: social, legal, and ethical issues in computing. Prentice-Hall, Inc. New Jersey. Chapter 5.
• Choo C. W. (1987) "The National Computer Board's Roles and Activities in Standardization and Computerization of Information", Proceedings of the Asian Forum for Standardization of Information Technology. September 14, Tokyo, Japan. http://www.cicc.or.jp/homepage/english/library/af1/1-10.html
• Chaudhry, A. S. and Al_Hawamdeh, S. ( 1998) "National Information Infrastructure development and Internet applications in Singapore." Proceeding of the Conference on Achieving Excellence in Information Organization and Delivery: Strategies for the 2tst Century, 25-27 November 1998, Bahrain, Arabian Gulf Chapter of the Special Libraries Association. pp: 41-50.
• Collection of papers on IT Standardization in Asian Countries, http://tyo-cc-server.cicc.or.jp/homepage/english/library/in_af.htm
• Creating a user-friendly information society, http://www.cordis.lu/esprit/src/istwork.htm
• Digital Libraries and the Practices of Scholarly Communication, http://www.slis.indiana.edu/CSI/wp97-03.html
• Duggan, M. K. (1991) "Copyright of electronic information: issues and questions." Online, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp: 20-26.
• E-Commerce in Singapore, Electronic Transactions Act 1998, http://www.cca.gov.sg/eta/index.html
• Information Research: an Electronic Journal, http://www.shef.ac.uk/~is/publications/infres/ircont.html
• Information Society Forum theme paper, http://www.ispo.cec.be/infoforum/pub/themepap.html
• IT2000 - A Vision of an Intelligent Island , http://www.ncb.gov.sg/ncb/it2000.asp
• Johnson, D. G. and Nissenbaum, H. (1995) Computers, ethics & social values. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey. Chapter 4.
• Kling, R. and Lisa C. (1995) "Electronic journals and legitimate media in the system of scholarly communication." The Information Society, Vol. 11, No. 4.
• Library 2000: investing in a learning nation: Report of the Library 2000 Review Committee. Ministry of Information and Arts, Singapore, 1994.
• Marchionini, G. Educating Responsible Citizens in the Information Society. http://ils.unc.edu/~march/edtech/ercis.html
• Martin, W. J. (1995) The Global information society. Aslib, London. Chapter 1 and 2.
• Organizational Aspects of the Virtual/Digital Library: A Survey of Academic Libraries, http://www.slis.indiana.edu/CSI/wp97-05.html
• Program for Advanced Information Infrastructure, http://www.glocom.ac.jp/NEWS/MITI-doc.html
• Petrella, R. (1996) Information Society, Future prospects. http://www.bcs.org.uk/unisys.htm.
• Schauder, D. (1994) Electronic publishing of professional articles: attitudes of academics and implications for the scholarly communication industry." Journal of the American Society for Information Science. Vol. 45, No. 2, pp: 73-100.
• Spinello, R. A. (1995) Ethical aspects of information technology. Prentice Hall, Englewood, New Jersey. Chapter 5, 6, and 7.
• A Vision of the intelligent island: the IT2000 Report, National Computer Board, Singapore, 1992.