Leveraging data, information, and technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of organizations while also providing a more ethical and humane environment for workers.
Data, information, and technology are revolutionizing how organizations work. Learn the skills you need to play a critical role in shaping information policies, enhance societal sustainability, and advocate for the public interest.
Social Informatics considers how social context works to shape and form technology alongside the ways technology influences society, maintains or breaks down power relationships, and structures social and organizational networks.
Core Competencies
Students in the Social Informatics major concentration will learn to:
- Understand the complex, mutually shaping relationship between information technology and society.
- Leverage data, information, and technology to further organizational missions in terms of efficiency, security, and other mission objectives.
- Anticipate the unintended consequences of technology choices and work to ensure that data, information, and technology are managed and distributed equitably.
Social Informatics Major Concentration
Informatics majors learn the skills and knowledge required to collect, manage, and analyze data and information, and prepare for the great ethical responsibility that comes with these societally transformative roles.
Students develop an understanding of the complex social, cultural, and ethical context related to communicating with digital and social media tools, and to apply this understanding to creating digital solutions and technologies that are effective, inclusive, and responsive to the needs, values, and perspectives of people with many different lived experiences.
Social Informatics major concentration requirements include:
I 301: Introduction to Informatics - 3 HRS
In this introductory course, students will explore the foundational theories, concepts, and challenges in Cultural Heritage Informatics, Health Informatics, Human-Centered Data Science, Social Informatics, Social Justice Informatics, and User Experience Design. View Course Listings
I 310S: Introduction to Social Informatics - 3 HRS
In Introduction to Social Informatics, students will consider how society and technology mutually influence each other in a wide array of contexts. View Course Listings
I 310X: Additional Introductory Concentration Course - 3 HRS
In addition to taking the introductory course for their selected Informatics major concentration, students must also complete an introductory course in another Informatics major concentration:
- I 310C - Cultural Heritage Informatics
- I 310M - Health Informatics
- I 310D - Human-Centered Data Science
- I 310J - Social Justice Informatics
- I 310U - User Experience Design
I 320S: Advanced Topics in Social Informatics - 9 HRS
Students must complete nine credit hours in Advanced Topics in Social Informatics. View Course Listings
I 379C: Capstone - 3 HRS
Students pursuing the School of Information Honors distinction may substitute I 679H: Honors Thesis (6 HRS). View Course Listings
I Elective - 3 HRS
Students must complete three credit hours of Informatics elective coursework at the School of Information. View Course Listings
iSchool General Education Requirements - 27 HRS
- Informatics 302 - Academic Success in the Digital University (3 hours)
- Informatics 372 - Career Success in the Digital Organization (3 hours)
- Informatics 303 - Ethical Foundations for Informatics or equivalent (3 hours)
- Informatics 304 - Programming for Informatics or equivalent (3 hours)
- Informatics 305 - Research Methods for Informatics or equivalent (3 hours)
- Informatics 306 - Statistics for Informatics​ or equivalent (3 hours)
- Foreign Language: Beginning-level proficiency coursework, or the equivalent, in a foreign language (3 hours)
- Additional liberal arts OR science, technology, engineering, and math coursework (6 hours)
Undergraduate Informatics Program
Leverage insights from data and information technology to solve problems.
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