Program Overview

Information Science & eSociety

Overview

Convert your social media savvy into a satisfying career with a degree that examines how humans interact with social networks and information technologies. Information science and eSociety is a burgeoning field of study that reflects on issues related to privacy, ethics, information manipulation and the impact of social media on daily life. Students in this Bachelor of Arts program dissect social network theories, learn to think critically about information technologies, and endeavor to understand the behaviors and biases that underlie digitally mediated communication. With a fluency in the online environments of today and even tomorrow, students are prepared for contemporary life and work in the 21st century.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will know and demonstrate the ability to apply current theories of new media to information services such as social/digital marketing campaigns, online content development, and marketing research.
• Students will know when and how to communicate using a variety of digital and social media tools such as digital storytelling, social networks, and other means, creating programs and solutions in online digital environments that are effective, inclusive, and respectful of diverse people and groups.
• Students will apply their acquired knowledge of Information and Communication Technologies to explain current theories of the human behaviors, interactions, and biases that underlie digitally mediated communication.
• Students will demonstrate proficiency in information-age literacies including but not limited to: evaluation of information, privacy and security, information ethics, and technological literacy.
• Students will be able to recognize and analyze ethical and policy concerns raised by new technologies and will be able to apply ethical thinking to real world cases and craft effective solutions.
• Students will be able to identify and apply professional ethics and standards relevant to their career to aspirations.
• Students will demonstrate understanding of the use of information and communication technologies and the implications of such use, for example: scientific and social uses of information, and social, cultural, and economic implications of digital life and culture.
• Students will demonstrate facility using basic research methods, for example: research design; statistics and analysis; organization, identification, and location of data and information including open- and closed-access sources; and/or presentation of findings in oral, written and multi-media form, including proper use of and citation of sources.
• Students will acquire the skills, knowledge and self-understanding to communicate with and effectively work and interact across cultures and with diverse people and groups.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of career and further education options and opportunities open to them relative to their plan of study and will set goals and make plans beyond their expected graduation.

Program Details

Sample Courses

• ESOC 212: Social Media Across Professions
• ESOC 300: Digital Storytelling and Culture
• ESOC 313: Digital Discourse and Identity

Career Fields

• Market research
• Advertising
• Digital media
• Programming
• Web administration

Level of Math

• General Knowledge

This strand involves the general understanding and appreciation of how mathematics is used to solve problems in everyday life. The G-strand does not prepare a student for any further work grounded in mathematics and assumes the student will not proceed beyond the basic Foundations level noted above. Thus only those students whose major requires the most general knowledge of mathematics should take this strand.

Level of Second Language

• 4th Semester Proficiency

Fourth-semester skill level in a second language is required. B.A. degree students may fulfill this requirement with one of the following options:

• Scoring the equivalent of fourth-semester skill level on an entrance or placement examination administered by The University of Arizona.
• Completion of a two-course sequence beyond the second semester of post-secondary language instruction.
• Completion with a C or higher of a 300- or 400-level language course at the post-secondary level.
• Completion of one course beyond the third semester in combination with an AP (Advanced Placement) score, IB (International Baccalaureate) score or a CLEP (College Level Entrance Program) score determined by the individual language department.
• An AP, IB, or CLEP language score determined by individual language departments
• A minimum of one semester study abroad in a language program approved by the appropriate language department as the equivalent of fourth-semester skill level.

Pre-major Required?

• No

This Major's College

• College of Information Science

Degree

• Bachelor of Arts

Sample Plans

4-Year Sample Plan

• First Year
  • 1st Semester
    • ENGL 101 First-Year Composition
    • Introduction to the General Education Experience (Entry Course)
    • GE Core: Exploring Perspectives or Building Connections
    • GE Foundation Mathematics
    • GE Foundation Second Language (First Semester)
  • 2nd Semester
    • ENGL 102 First-Year Composition
    • GE Core: Exploring Perspectives or Building Connections
    • GE Core: Exploring Perspectives or Building Connections
    • ISTA 100
    • GE Foundation Second Language (Second Semester)
• Second Year
  • 3rd Semester
    • GE Core: Exploring Perspectives or Building Connections
    • GE Core: Exploring Perspectives or Building Connections
    • Major Introductory Course
    • Major Introductory Course
    • GE Foundation Second Language (Third Semester)
  • 4th Semester
    • Major Introductory Course
    • Major Core Course
    • GE Core: Exploring Perspectives or Building Connections
    • Minor Course
    • GE Foundation Second Language (Fourth Semester)
• Third Year
  • 5th Semester
    • General Education Portfolio (Exit Course)
    • GE Core: Exploring Perspectives or Building Connections
    • Major Core Course
    • Major Core Course
    • Minor Course
    • Minor Course
  • 6th Semester
    • Major Core Course
    • Major Core Course
    • Research Methods and Data Analysis Course
    • Minor Course
    • Minor Course
• Fourth Year
  • 7th Semester
    • Research Methods and Data Analysis Course
    • Major Elective Course
    • Minor Course
    • Upper Division Elective
    • Upper Division Elective
  • 8th Semester
    • ESOC 480
    • Major Elective Course
    • General Elective
    • General Elective