CMNS 353 (Ellen Balka) : Topics in Technology & Society

Contact info


If you need help, please contact Sylvia Roberts, Liaison Librarian for Communication & Contemporary Arts at 778.782.3681 or sroberts@sfu.ca or Ask a librarian

This guide is designed to help you find sources of information needed for your CMNS 353 assignments.  If you want to consult an expert about search strategies for your specific research question,  Ask a Librarian OR contact Sylvia Roberts, Liaison Librarian for Communication (contact details at right).

ppt slides (May 29)

Course objectives:

 
To think critically about computing infrastructures; explore the relationship between large scale computing infrastructures, the data they produce and public policy; to strengthen knowledge of theoretical developments in the area of science, technology and society, including:
  • the emergence of large scale computer systems
  • varied definitions of cyberinfrastructure
  • interaction of technical and social aspects of computing infrastructures
  • politics & economics of cyberinfrastructure
  • where data come from and how they are used in varied contexts, including decision making

The focus will be cyberinfrastructures in:

  • libraries
  • health data
  • genomic data
  • environmental data
  • national statistics and indicators

Your research will include reviewing statistical information, searching bibliographic data sources (i.e. resources containing descriptions of published literature) and possibly online data sources.

Prospectus due June 11; Final papers due August 10 (see syllabus for details)

Literature Review

Search both for literature that discusses issues common to most cyberinfrastructures  (security, energy use, metadata, bit rot, economics) and those which focuses on specific applications, such as privacy of medical data or changes in government approach to data, whether collecting, sharing or storing.

"Cyberinfrastructure" may not be the only term used to described large systems of computing infrastructure.  Consider other search terms to use:  "computer networks", "distributed computing", "high performance computing", etc.

To find articles that discuss technical aspects of cyberinfrastructure, include financial and social costs, try searching Computing Science literature, using the following indexes:

Discussions of the social and ethical aspects of cyberinfrastructure can often be found in social sciences literature, for example:

Policy aspects of cyberinfrastructure can often be found in government and public policy literature, both published and represented in primary government documents, such as legislation, committee reports, Hansard or ministry reports. Find these by searching:

If you're investigating issues that related to cyberstructure in a specific field, check their professional literature for relevant research, for example, databases in:

You may also find it useful to search across disciplines, using sources such as Web of Science or Google Scholar.

Finding data

As well as finding references in the research literature to data sets requiring significant cyberinfrastructures, consider which organizations may have amassed significant data relating to library practice, health or genomic data, and various kinds of environmental data (air or water quality, resource and land use, etc.). 

The following links are examples of the variety of publicly available data sources and projects. 

Libraries

Health data

Genomic data

Environmental data

Most national governments have a statistical agency that gathers data to support decision making. As well as searching for the web sites of specific governments (and looking for the UK flag to link to English language content), you can find government data or agencies gathering, organizing and collecting data via the following links: