Social media platforms and services such as
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, FourSquare, Flickr, WordPress, and Tumblr
are shifting the social and communication infrastructure of our society,
with direct impact on various aspects of libraries and information--from how we find information online, to the ways libraries and other
organizations reach out and are involved with their users. The social
media specialization will help students understand the social,
technical, and human forces driving social media services, and
underlying the use (and success) of these new communication and
information systems. Upon graduation, students will be better equipped
to manage the social media outreach of their organization and help
design new services based on social media elements.
Students
pursuing the social media specialization must complete five courses (15
credits) as follows:
Required Courses:
512 Interface
Design
581 Social Informatics
587 Understanding,
Designing and Building Social Media
558 Social Media
Research Seminar
Elective (select at
least one of the following courses):
524 Metadata for Information Professionals
551 Information Retrieval
554 Information Visualization and Presentation
555 Multimedia Production
Special topics courses such as Language and Information, or others
approved
by the social media coordinator
Field Experience, independent studies, and WISE courses can also qualify
as the
elective course, subject to approval by the social media coordinator
Because
550 Information Technology for Libraries and Information Agencies is a
prerequisite
for several courses in this specialization, students should take 550
early in
their program.
