Advanced System Architecture, Spring 2006

Abstract:: This course provides a deep understanding of engineering systems at a level intended for research on complex engineering systems. It provides a review and extension of what is known about system architecture and complexity from a theoretical point of view while examining the origins of and recent developments in the field. The class considers how and where the theory has been applied, and uses key analytical methods proposed. Students examine the level of observational (qualitative and quantitative) understanding necessary for successful use of the theoretical framework for a specific engineering system. Case studies apply the theory and principles to engineering systems.

No Strings Attached

Digital Government 2: Information Technology and Democratic Administration, Winter 2009

Abstract:: Course is the second of a two-part sequence exploring contemporary practices, challenges, and opportunities at the intersection of information technology and democratic governance. Whereas the first course (SI 532) focuses on tensions and innovations in democratic politics, this course takes on emerging directions in democratic administration and the shifting role of information technologies in supporting, transforming, and understanding these. The first part of the course sets contemporary discussions of digital or "E-government" against a richer backdrop of administrative, bureaucratic, and organizational theory. The second part of the course explores a range of cases in which emergent informational forms and practices have entered -- and in some cases, begun to alter -- the traditional art and practice of government Drawing on examples from local, state, federal, and international experience, students are encouraged to adopt a practical and appropriately critical take on the practice, problems, and possibilities for democratic administration in an increasingly IT-saturated age.

No Strings Attached

Abstract:: This seven-week course is the second in a two-part sequence exploring contemporary practices, challenges, and opportunities at the intersection of information technology and democratic governance. This second half of the course takes on emerging directions in democratic administration – and the shifting role of information technologies in supporting, transforming, and understanding these. The course locates recent and emerging digital or e-government initiatives in historical, institutional, and comparative context. Throughout, we will explore a range of local, national, and international cases in which new informational forms and practices have met with – and in some cases, begun to alter – the traditional art and practice of democratic administration.