PREREQUISITES:
MAS students: Completion of the MAS Core courses, plus permission of the instructor.
MLIS and Dual students: Some electives can be taken in conjunction with the MLIS Core courses; consult with the MLIS Program Chair for recommendations.
GOAL: The goal of this course is to develop within students a user-centred design perspective that can be used to optimally frame the logical and physical design of information systems in a variety of information environments. An additional goal of the course is to ground students in “Design Thinking,” providing them with a methodology that can be applied to a wide variety of contexts in which ‘design’ is an important component.
OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this course students will be able to:
- Knowledgeably apply a user-centred analysis and design perspective throughout the entire information design lifecycle
- Collect and analyse data on user needs
- Assess usability of design artifacts
- Think critically about the role of both analysis and design and its place in a variety of information system contexts
- Apply the components and practices of Information Architecture
- Design a Website, or similar system, at the macro (prototype) level
- Effectively report the outcomes of their design practice and artifacts
- Effectively work in both individual and team settings
- Employ “design thinking” and the methods associated with it to a variety of other design problems and environments
CONTENT:
The course will cover the following topics:
- The information system design lifecycle
- Research practices in information design
- Design Thinking and other problem solving perspectives in information analysis and design
- Contextual design
- Missions, goals, objectives and design within constraints
- Identifying and assessing stakeholder requirements and user needs
- Analysis of tasks
- User modeling including development of personas and scenarios
- Information architecture
- Information representation
- Usability evaluation and assessment