Academia

  • Graduate (M.S.)
    • Information Economics for Management
    • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Undergraduate (B.A.)
    • Economics
    • Chinese Studies
    • Applied Statistics

Graduate Program Overview

Starting Fall Semester of 2017, the University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI) will implement a new curriculum for its Master of Science in Information program. Under this new curriculum, however, one of my specializations, Information Economics for Management (IEM), is no longer offered. Instead, the field has been integrated into UMSI's Data Science/Data Analytics/Computational Social Science. Since there is no legacy of the previous curriculum left on UMSI's website, below are the excerpts retrieved from Internet Archive listing the relevant coursework for IEM students as well as a brief overview of the specialization.

IEM

Highlights:

  • SI 563: Game Theory (F16)
  • SI 646: Information Economics (W17)
  • SI 686: User-Generated Content (W17)
  • SI 534: Theories of Social Influence (F17)
  • SI 617: Choice Architecture (W18)

Information Economics for Management (IEM)

"Focuses on the art of designing systems or institutions to align participants' (individual) incentives with overall system (social) goals, analyzing information for planning and decision-making and strategizing optimal improvements in system and organizational effectiveness.

IEM is a fundamental building block within the field of information because a mismatch between individual interests and system goals is pervasive in the problems information professionals face. Careful attention to individual incentives can lead to improvements in information systems and institutions.

Inherently interdisciplinary, IEM takes a broad view of individual motivations for strategic behavior, drawing on economic, psychological, and sociological theories. Game-theory models are used for analyzing strategic interactions. Students draw on computer science for the engineering of systems, and benefit from faculty experts in areas such as reputation systems, recommender systems, prediction markets, and user generated content."

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

"Emphasizes the design of interfaces and user experiences and the social consequences of technology innovation. HCI addresses not just visual/auditory display and interaction dialogs, but a situation in its entirety, the group in which a task takes place, and the attendant organizational goals and resources.

The Human Computer Interaction (HCI) specialization prepares students to address human needs with technology by determining useful system functionality and by designing usable interfaces, considering the context of the individual and/or organization.

The principles of HCI apply to people who design technologies for work, education, entertainment, and social interaction. SI coursework combines the theories of cognitive and social psychology, computer science, and design with practical experience."

HCI

Highlights:

  • SI 501: Contextual Inquiry & Consulting Foundations (F16)
  • SI 582: Introduction to Interaction Design (F16)
  • SI 588: Fundamentals of Human Behavior (F16)
  • SI 622: Usability Evaluation & Needs Assessment (W17)
  • SI 618: Data Manipulation & Analysis (F17)
  • SI 649: Information Visualization (F17)
  • SI 650: Information Retrieval (F17)

More to Come