Theory and Criticism of the Information Society

Recommended Prerequisites

NA

Teaching Methods

Teaching methodology:

- Expository lessons and practical lessons supported by multimedia resources and by bibliographic resources;

Independent lecture and summary of reference texts; Individual practical tasks and/or working together;

Seminars;

The teaching-learning process is supported by an e-learning platform.

Evaluation methodology:

 

According to the Regulamento de Avaliação de Conhecimentos da FLUC

(http://www.uc.pt/fluc/regulamentos/docspdf/reg_aval_conhecim_2_ciclo_.pdf), it is applied the system of continuous assessment.

Learning Outcomes

Goals: 1)To present and explore a collection of theoretical frames in the ambit of Information Society, in their interfaces with Information Science, giving to the student skills that allow him to contextualize his research object in its empirical part, when this exist; 2)To provide an reflexive and critical approach of emergent borderlines with the information society, bringing them to the Information Science context, in order to the student to develop his study object in a consistent way, to articulate him with the means wherein he fits; 3)To approach complex, evolutionary and relevant themes to the Information Science, very often conducive to new paradigms, in an integrated and transverse way, this way to provide to the student the opportunity of developing a large-scale awareness of his own study object, as critical mass that compete to the theoretical support of his investigation. After the teaching of this discipline, is expected that the student has obtained the following skills described in the document Euro-Referential, application of the information right; complementary knowledge.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Theory and critic of the information society concept

1.1 The concept of social system and the ideology role

1.2 Social differences and the social structure

1.3 Technological evolution and social change

1.4 The power of the information

2. Publicity and access to the information: the questions of information control

3. Cultural and social asymmetries of the information society: the Contribution of Information Science

3.1 Globalization and info-exclusion

3.2 The democratization of information and the informational "apartheid"

3.3 Transcultural versus cultural identity

Head Lecturer(s)

Hans-Richard Jahnke

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Applied the system of continuous assessment: 100.0%

Bibliography

BOUDON, R., (1990) - O lugar da desordem. Lisboa: Gradiva.

CASTELLS, Manuel (2007) – A Sociedade em Rede. Lisboa: Gulbenkian.

GARCIA-GUTIERREZ, Antonio (2011) – Pensar en la transcultura. Madrid : Plaza y Valdés Editores.

GIDDENS, S, A. (1992) - As consequências da modernidade. Oeiras: Celta Editora.

MERTON, R.K. (1951) - Social theory and social structure. Illinois: The Free Press of Glencoe.

PARSONS, T. (1991) - The social system, London: Routledge.

WEBSTER, F. (2006) – Theories of the information society. London : Routledge.