HISTORY OF SCIENCE,
The History of Science and Technology has been taught and researched at Imperial College since 1963 and CHoSTM in its current form was established in 1992. In August 2007 the Centre united with the Humanities Programme to form a new Department of Humanities headed by ex-Head of Centre, Professor Andrew Warwick. The current Head of the Centre is Dr Andrew Mendelsohn. In the recent 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, CHoSTM was awarded the highest rating of all 83 UK history departments. 40% of its research was classed as world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigor, with another 40% judged internationally excellent
Program Overview
Information Science is an interdisciplinary program within the Faculty of Computing and Information Science. It brings together faculty, researchers and students who share an interest in studying digital information.
Information Science examines information systems in their social, cultural, economic, historical, legal, and political contexts. Computer science is an important part of the program, but the emphasis is on systems and their use, rather than on the technologies that underlie them.
The diagram symbolizes the three major areas of Information Science and some of the schools, departments and programs that contribute to each area.
Information Systems draws from Computer Science and Operations Research; Human Computer Interaction from Communication, Psychology, and Cognitive Studies; Social Studies of Computing from Science & Technology Studies, Law, and Economics, with many others.
For undergraduates, majors in Information Science are offered in Arts & Sciences (A&S) and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). In Engineering, Information Science is one of the specializations in the major in Information Science, Systems, and Technology (ISST). All undergraduate colleges offer minors or concentrations in Information Science.
The Ph.D. program offers opportunity for advanced study and research in all areas of Information Science.
The Information Science program is home to several large research groups, including the Human-Computer Interaction group, digital libraries research, and the ePrint arXiv.
Information Science is an interdisciplinary program within the Faculty of Computing and Information Science. It brings together faculty, researchers and students who share an interest in studying digital information.
Information Science examines information systems in their social, cultural, economic, historical, legal, and political contexts. Computer science is an important part of the program, but the emphasis is on systems and their use, rather than on the technologies that underlie them.
The diagram symbolizes the three major areas of Information Science and some of the schools, departments and programs that contribute to each area.
Information Systems draws from Computer Science and Operations Research; Human Computer Interaction from Communication, Psychology, and Cognitive Studies; Social Studies of Computing from Science & Technology Studies, Law, and Economics, with many others.
For undergraduates, majors in Information Science are offered in Arts & Sciences (A&S) and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). In Engineering, Information Science is one of the specializations in the major in Information Science, Systems, and Technology (ISST). All undergraduate colleges offer minors or concentrations in Information Science.
The Ph.D. program offers opportunity for advanced study and research in all areas of Information Science.
The Information Science program is home to several large research groups, including the Human-Computer Interaction group, digital libraries research, and the ePrint arXiv.
THEORY OF SCIENCE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:Although there is good reason to expect that the growth of information work and information technology will significantly affect the trade-offs inherent in different structures for organizing work, the theoretical basis for these changes remains poorly understood. This paper seeks to address this gap by analyzing the incentive effects of different ownership arrangement in the spirit of the Grossman-Hart-Moore (GHM) incomplete contracts theory of the firm. A key departure from earlier approaches is the inclusion of a role for an "information asset", analogous to the GHM treatment of property. This approach highlights the organizational significance of information ownership and information technology. For instance, using this framework, one can determine when 1) informed workers are more likely to be owners than employees of firms, 2) increased flexibility of assets will facilitate decentralization, and 3) the need for centralized coordination will lead to centralized ownership. The framework developed sheds light on some of the empirical findings regarding the relationship between information technology and firm size and clarifies the relationship between coordination mechanisms and the optimal distribution of asset ownership. While many implications are still unexplored and untested, building on the incomplete contracts approach appears to be a promising avenue for the careful, methodical analysis of human organizations and the impact of new technologies.
