HU Credits: 4

Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor)

Responsible Department: Political Science

Semester: Yearly

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Alon Peled

Coordinator Email: Alon.Peled@post.harvard.edu

Coordinator Office Hours: Mon. 0700-0800
Wed. 1200-1300

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Alon Peled

Course/Module description:
The course surveys the emergence of information as the most important organizational resource since the late 20th century. The course examines how public sector and private sector organizations collect, store, analyze, and use information. The course’s topics include: the information revolution as the 3rd industrial revolution; the role of information systems in re-designing the corporation and the public agency; the competitive advantage of knowledge-based organizations; the conversion of data to information and information to knowledge; The challenge of improving electronic information sharing among governmental organizations; the concept of erecting a Public Sector Information Exchange (PSIE) inside government.

Course/Module aims:
Provide the students with a deep understanding of the historical processes through which information as a resource grew to become the most important organizational resource today.
Examine through theoretical discussion and case study analysis how public, private, and not-for-profit organizations collect, analyze, and use information.
Understand the main challenges that organizations encounter while working with information. Specifically discuss the difficulty of electronic information sharing among different organizations.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Define the differences between data, information, and knowledge
Classify organizations into different categories based on "sociability" and "openess" scales
Demonstrate the rise of thew new knowledge based organization
Present the principles of data modeling and explain how they are used to build organizational informaiton systems
Discuss the challenge of electronic information sharing in the public sector

Attendance requirements(%):
100

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Class presentations based on a discussion of the reading materials

Course/Module Content:
Age
The Information Revolution: Past, Present, and Future

The Rise of the Knowledge Based Organization
-Organizations: Open vs. Closed, Rational vs. Social
The Competitive Advantage of Information
Reengineering the Corporation with Information Technology
Crazy Organizations

From Data to Information
On the Difference Between Data and Information
Data Modeling

The Display and Manipulation of Information
Visualizing Data
Manipulating Data
How to Lie with Power Point
How to Lie with Maps

The Public Sector Electronic Information Sharing Challenge
The "Open Data" Approach and its Critics
Electronic Babel: How to Nudge Public Sector Organizations to Improve Information Sharing

Required Reading:
Age
Information as the 3rd Industrial Revolution
-- Jeremy Rifkin, The End of Work, pp. 59-68

The Rise of the Knowledge Based Organization
-Organizations: Open vs. Closed, Rational vs. Social
---- Tom Peters, In Search of Excellence, pp. 89-118.

The Competitive Advantage of Information
Michael Porter, Competitive Advantage, pp. 164-197

Reengineering the Corporation with Information Technology
Hammer & Champy, Reengineering the Corporation, pp. 7-49

From Data to Information
On the Difference Between Data and Information

Data Modeling

The Display and Manipulation of Information
Data Visualizing
Edward Tufte, Envisioning Information, pp. 12-37

Manipulating Data

How to Lie with Power Point

How to Lie with Maps
pp. 87-122 Monmonier, How to Lie With Maps

The Public Sector Electronic Information Sharing Challenge
The "Open Data" Approach and its Critics
Noveck, "Wiki Government," pp. 146-190

The Information Sharing Problem in the Public Sector
Peled, "Traversing Digital Babel"
Radin, "Contested Commodities," pp. 1-45

Additional Reading Material:

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 70 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 10 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 20 %
Other 0 %

Additional information:
Course Requirements
Midterm Exam: 20% of final grade.
Final exam: 70% of final grade.
Participation: 10% (A student who will miss more than three classes without a satisfactory explanation will not get a grade for the course).