Information Society
Code: 102142 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2501232 Business and Information Technology | OB | 3 | 1 |
| 2501233 Aeronautical Management | OT | 4 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Francesc Xavier Rambla Marigot
- Email:
- xavier.rambla@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Teachers
- Marc Dalmau Torva
Prerequisites
Students must meet the necessary requirements to enroll in a third year subject. If you are not fluent in Catalan or Spanish, please contact the professor for specific support.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Information technologies were not invented by an isolated mind but by several nuclei of engineers, mathematicians, software developers and other specialists who worked on cryptography, population censuses and management. Later on, these technologies have evolved into personal computers, internet, web sites and finally Web 2.0
At the same time as these tools were designed, other transformations incentivated their use and inspired further developments. The economic structure no longer was based on industry but on services. The geography of nation states changed into a geography of nodes, fluxes, scales and new territorial matrixes. Nation states had created networks of cities and transportation that were centralised around a capital city. This geography has not disappeared but new phenomena have complicated the pattern, namely: nodes (e.g. global cities, technological hubs), fluxes (e.g. air and land traffic), global scales of decision-making (e.g. growth of financial capital, multiplication of international organisations, displacement of national sovereignity by several forms of authority) and new territorial matrixes (e.g. social movements, migrations and transnational religions). Information technologies have contributed to all these processes, and have experimented the consequences so much so that their very potential inevitably intermingles with these social changes.
This course is an introduction to sociology and social sciences that delivers conceptual instruments to understand the interface between business and technology in this context. For this reason, the course focuses on globalisation, the knowledge economy, the labour market, organisation and social inequalities (between classes, between genders, between ethnic majorities and minorities). These conceptual instruments help to (learn how to) interptet an array of official, political and professional discourses such as the European Framework for Quality Management, regional systems of research and innovation, ideas about smart cities, the OCDE Skills Strategy, the European Semester, the Sustainable Development Goals or the United Nations Human Development Development Program.
Competences
- Business and Information Technology
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Capacity for working in teams.
- Demonstrating a comprehension of the fundamental aspects of the social environment and its main transformations in what we know as information society, and the main tendencies related to the social relations in this context.
- Demonstrating a concern for quality in the objectives and development of the work.
- Make changes to methods and processes in the area of knowledge in order to provide innovative responses to society's needs and demands.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Take account of social, economic and environmental impacts when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
- Aeronautical Management
- Communication.
- Personal work habits.
- Work in teams.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse the indicators of sustainability of academic and professional activities in the areas of knowledge, integrating social, economic and environmental dimensions.
- Communicate knowledge and findings efficiently, both orally and in writing, both in professional situations and with a non-expert audience.
- Communicating with experts of other fields and non-experts.
- Demonstrating a comprehension of the fundamental aspects of the social environment and its main transformations in what we know as information society, and the main tendencies related to the social relations in this context.
- Demonstrating a comprehension of the individual and collective human behaviour in professional environments.
- Demonstrating a concern for quality in the objectives and development of the work.
- Develop critical thinking and reasoning.
- Identify situations in which a change or improvement is needed.
- Make efficient use of ICT in communicating ideas and results.
- Manage time and available resources. Work in an organised manner.
- Propose projects and actions in accordance with the principles of ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights, diversity and democratic values.
- Propose viable projects and actions to boost social, economic and environmental benefits.
- Students must be capable of searching and analysing information of different sources.
- Weigh up the impact of any long- or short-term difficulty, harm or discrimination that could be caused to certain persons or groups by the actions or projects.
- Weigh up the risks and opportunities of suggestions for improvement: one's own and those of others.
- Work cooperatively.
- Work independently.
Content
1. Sustainability and innovation
2. Organisation
3. Employment
4. Global governance
5. Inequalities (class and gender)
Methodology
The course draws on lectures, work seminars, problem-based learning and the elaboration of students’ portfolios
Both lectures and seminars will present and discuss the main concepts as well as make sense of a selection of compulsory readings in Catalan, English and Spanish. If students do not feel fluent enough in any of these languages, special support classes will be scheduled in order to help them with the texts.
Problem-based learning will consist of doing exercises and elaborating a portfolio. The exercises will focus on case studies on the connections between globalisation, the knowledge economy, labour markets and social inequalities. Case studies will be presented in portfolios so that students can also learn by solving concrete problems.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 32.5 | 1.3 | 4 |
| Work seminars | 17 | 0.68 | 1, 3, 6, 4, 5, 7, 8, 15, 11, 12, 13, 14 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorials | 5 | 0.2 | 6, 17 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Student's individual work | 44 | 1.76 | 1, 6, 4, 5, 9, 8, 15, 17 |
| Team work | 48 | 1.92 | 6, 4, 9, 10, 16 |
Assessment
Activities
Exam(s) on several conceptual issues (40%)
Collective analysis of a social digital innovation (30%).
Writing a personal learning journal on the social digital innovation (30%).
Assessment criteria:
You will pass this subject if your final grade is 5 or above.
If your grade is below 3,5, you must repeat the course next year.
If your grade scores between 3,5 and 4,9, you can take a resit examination according to the below mentioned procedure.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collective analysis of a digital social innvoation | 30 | 0.5 | 0.02 | 1, 3, 2, 6, 4, 7, 9, 10, 8, 15, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 14 |
| Elaborating a personal learning journal | 30 | 1 | 0.04 | 1, 6, 4, 5, 7, 9, 8, 15, 13, 17 |
| Exam | 40 | 2 | 0.08 | 6, 4 |
Bibliography
Reading list
Collier, J. (2018) Cyber Security Assemblages: A Framework for Understanding the Dynamic and Contested Nature of Security Provision. Politics and Governance, 6(2): 13–21.
Gereffi, G. (2001) Las cadenas productivas como marco analítico para la globalización. Problemas del Desarrollo, 32(125): 9-37.
Software
No specific software is used