Course Syllabus

HONR 2851: Interdisciplinary Studies in Science

Information In Our Lives and In the Universe

Fall 2015     MWF 10:30-11:20     HU 173A

Instructor: Larry Smith        SCNCE 111       larry.smith@snow.edu     http://www.snow.edu/larrys

Goals and Outcomes: The theme of information will allow us to branch into many areas of history, science, math, art, and philosophy.  Students will also read, retrieve, evaluate, interpret, and deliver information using a variety of traditional and electronic media.  Students will also integrate knowledge and methodologies of multiple disciplines.  Students will achieve the "information literacy" learning outcome.

Text: The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood by James Gleick.  ISBN: 978-1-4000-9623-7. Available as an e-book or iBook.

 

Prerequisites: None, except an intense motivation to learn

Expectations: Honors students are motivated learners.  We will use a discussion-oriented seminar format.  Participation in the discussions is crucial.  Students are expected to studiously do the reading assignments before class discussions.  Reading and writing are key activities.  Ask questions--especially to the guest lecturers.  Thinking is also an important expectation: don't just read, think!

How to get  help: You are encouraged to see me in my office hours (MWF 9:30-10:20, TR 11:30-12:30) or by appointment.  E-mail is good too.

Assignments: There will be a graded discussion in Canvas for each chapter.  First write a three-paragraph reaction to the chapter, and then respond to at least two other posts.  This is a minimum; honors students almost always exceed the minimum.

A number of guest lecturers will come.  They may give reading assignments before they come to class; please read them.  You will also write a one-page response paper after their presentation/discussion.  This is done in Canvas.  Show that you have listened carefully and digested the information.  Also ask questions you didn't get a chance to ask in class.

There is also a term paper and presentation.  Pick a topic related to information and write a term paper and prepare a presentation for the class.

We will also do a class project to document the new Snow Museum of Information Technology History.

Discussions: Please participate in the online (Canvas) discussion that is set up for each chapter.  You should first post  your own original thoughts sparked by the reading of the chapter, and then post at least a couple of replies to other people's posts.  

The purpose of the posts you make to the discussion boards each chapter are to a) prove you read the chapter, and b) provoke some cool discussion.  This generally can't be done in a couple of sentences.  So, while length is not the ultimate goal, your posts should not be super short--I think at least a couple of paragraphs.  (On the other hand, don't make them so long that we don't want to read them.)

I will often pose a question or two in the starting post of the chapter discussions to get your juices flowing.  However, it is not enough to simply give short declarative answers to those questions.  Don't feel bound or constricted by the couple of questions I pose.  Range widely beyond those questions and ask and answer other questions about the chapter yourself.  Point out what really intrigued you about the chapter.

Schedule: We meet MWF at 10:30 in HU 173A (the Honors room).  The final exam period for our class is scheduled for Thursday, December 10 from 9:30 to 11:30.

Grading: The final project (paper and presentation) will be worth 30% of the grade.  Participation in class will be important.

 

Topics:

I. Introduction

        A.  We live in The Information Age, as opposed to Industrial Age or Atomic Age or Space Age

   

II.  What is Information?

        A.  Shannon's Law -- bits and bytes, compression (Hamming code)

        B.  Acquisition, storage, processing, retrieval; sending messages

        C.  Secret information: cryptography (hidden writing)

   

III.  Information vs. Knowledge vs. Belief

        A.  Philosophy (epistemology; is information “true”?)

        B.  Knowledge in Math (proofs)

        C.  Scientific knowledge vs. Religious Knowledge

   

IV.  How is Information acquired?

        A.  How do humans learn?  (psychology of learning)

        B.  How do other species learn?

        C.  How do machines learn? (artificial intelligence)

   

V.  How is Information represented and stored?

        A.  In genes

        B.  In brains

              1.  Psychology (including concept maps)

              2.  Physiology

              3.  Non-human brains: animal and extra-terrestrial

        C.  In books

        D.  Information efficiency in different languages

        E.  In machines

              1.  Compression algorithms: mp3, jpeg

              2.  Long-term storage, changing formats

   

VI.  How much Information?

        A.  In genes

        B.  In brains

        C.  In books

        D.  In machines/on the web

              1.  Is a machine with enough information intelligent?

        E.  Information overload; how much is too much?

              1.  Prioritizing and ranking information

   

VII.  How is Information processed?

        A.  A computer is an information processor

        B.  Humans as computers (historical computation and astronomy)

        C.  Machines as computers

              1.  Analog computers

              2.  Digital computers (logic gates)

   

VIII.  How is Information Accessed?

        A.  From genes

        B.  From brains  (memory, pathologies; dementia, Alzheimer's)

        C.  From books

        D.  From machines/the WWW

 

IX.  How is Information used?

        A.  Gene information is used to make cells, etc.

        B.  Brain information is used to live full lives

        C.  Book information allows generations to communicate with each other

        D.  Machine information: artificial intelligence, new life forms?

   

X.  Physics: Is information lost in black holes?  The holographic principle

 

XI.  Societal Implications of the Information Age

        A.  Employment opportunities

        B.  Social structure, information "haves" and "have-nots"

        C.  Power = access to information

        D.  Ethical implications

        E.  Education in an information-rich environment

        F.  Oral traditions convey information like the internet, not as books do