VIKBB60 Information Society, Information and Society or Information without Society?

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2015
Extent and Intensity
0/60. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Günther Krumpak (lecturer)
Mgr. Alžběta Šašinková, Ph.D. (assistant)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Petr Škyřík, Ph.D.
Division of Information and Library Studies – Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Alžběta Šašinková, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Division of Information and Library Studies – Department of Czech Literature – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Syllabus
  • 2/11/2015 Information and its relationship to communication: In a wider sense, information is anything we perceive via our senses. In a narrower meaning, information are elements of a certain content which we do not know yet about. We get this information from somewhere, actively or passively. We can process information in different ways: a) On our own: We hear, see, read, study and make the brain work on it, (one way, unidirectional) or b) With one or more other receivers/perceivers: Asking, discussing, forwarding, elaborate new findings in a group etc. The hierarchy (Parent-child, teacher-student etc.) plays no role in this (two or more ways, bi- or multidirectional). In b) we communicate. Nowadys, we don't have to be physically present to communicate. We can work on/exchange information virtually. We have almost innumerable sources of information and a wide range of digital communication infrastructure including support such as online dictionaries, online support etc. Thus, information cumulates ad infinitum. The question is, if we are able to profit from this and if and/or how communication plays a role to make information profitable. Key words: • Education vs. Literacy (vzdělání) • What is communication? • Profitability of information 3/11/2015 Information design and responsibility The relationship between information (content) and information design (framework, bed, container) has never been closer than today. The Sumerians carved pictograms and ideograms into stone plates. The medium was stone, heavy, progress was slow, literacy was limited. Modern Age has had and still has paper. Easy to distribute, design already plays a role. Books like the Vyšehradský Kodex should honour both God as well as the king and demonstrate power. The Nazi regime in Germany accelerated information design enormously to communicate its content within an ideological framework (TV, movies, newspapers) The Communist regimes worked mainly on content, using the infrastructure they had. Capitalism has new monopoles, massively supported by information design. Blesk signals via content and design its role, its target group and its mission. Here we have already technical aspects of information design: Colour, format (in the 2nd half of the 20th century quality newspapers were as large as possible, whereas the Yellow Press had and still has much smaller formats (Where and how did people read what?) With digital media information design became „three-or-more dimensional“, as technology plays a major role in the transportation of content. Thus, the information designer is in a large part as responsible for what is being transported/communicated as the author/transmitter of the content. A blog author is information designer and author in one person. Facebook has basically little content but an enormous range of functionality. The lecture will also take a short look on Human Centered Design (HCD) and its mission. How far is creating, transporting and designing information connected to responsibility? What is actually information, how do we evaluate it and which role does information design play? Key words: • The nature of information • The role of information design • The link to responsibility 4/11/2015 Information Society / Knowledge Society: Illusion vs. reality. Experts call the post industrial and post modern societies the information society or knowledge society. We all agree on the multiplication of information, yet schools and the economy in the Western hemisphere complain about lack of qualification, a dicrease in basic skills like reading, and highly developed countries like Finland with a school system that is considered to be exemplary show youth unemployment rates of 20 percent. It seems there is a gap between information and its receivers, a discrepancy between the availability of knowledge and its acceptance. What would be necessary to change these contradictions? Key words: • Information • Knowledge • Learning
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught only once.
The course is taught: in blocks.
General note: Předmět je určen studentům Bc. i NMgr. studia a výuka probíhá blokově2.-4. listopadu vždy od 9 do 12 hodin.
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  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2015/VIKBB60