daemon@ucbvax.UUCP (05/05/84)
From GSB@MIT-MC Fri May 4 20:17:32 1984
CORPS
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Graduate Education in
Computing, Organizations, Policy, and Society
at the University of California, Irvine
This interdisciplinary concentration at the University of
California, Irvine provides an opportunity for scholars and students
to investigate the social dimensions of computerization in a setting
which supports reflective and sustained inquiry.
The primary educational opportunities are PhD concentrations in
the Department of Information and Computer Science (ICS) and the
Graduate School of Management (GSM). Several students have already
recieved graduate degrees for studying topics in the CORPS
concentration. The faculty at Irvine have been active in this area,
with many interdisciplinary projects, since the early 1970's.
The CORPS concentration focuses upon five related areas of
inquiry:
1. Examining the social consequences of different kinds of
computerization on social life in organizations and in the larger
society.
2. Examining the social dimensions of the work and organizational
worlds in which computer technologies are developed, marketed,
disseminated, deployed, and sustained.
3. Evaluating the effectiveness of strategies for managing the
deployment and use of computer-based technologies.
4. Evaluating and proposing public policies which facilitate the
development and use of computing in pro-social ways.
5. Examining how the culture and management of computing
developments influence the goods and services produced.
As computerization becomes more widespread, these concerns become
more urgent. Our studies have focussed on complex information
systems, computer-based modelling, decision-support systems, the
myriad forms of office automation, electronic funds transfer systems,
expert systems, instructional computing, personal computers, automated
command and control systems, and computing at home. The questions
vary from study to study. They have included questions about the
effectiveness of these technologies, effective ways to manage them,
the social choices that they open or close off, the kind of social and
cultural life that develops around them, their political consequences,
and their social carrying costs.
CORPS studies at Irvine have a distinctive orientation -
(i) in focussing on both public and private sectors,
(ii) in examining computerization in public life as well as within
organizations,
(iii) by examining advanced and common computer-based technologies "in
vivo" in ordinary settings, and
(iv) by employing analytical methods drawn from the social sciences.
Organizational Arrangements and Admissions for CORPS
The CORPS concentration is a special track within the normal
graduate degree programs of ICS and GSM. Admission requirements for
this concentration are the same as for students who apply for a PhD in
ICS or GSM.
The seven primary faculty in the CORPS concentration hold
appointments in the Department of Information and Computer Science and
the Graduate School of Management. Additional faculty in the School
of Social Sciences, and the program on Social Ecology, have
collaborated in research or have taught key courses for CORPS
students. Research is administered through an interdisciplinary
research institute at UCI which is part of the Graduate Division, the
Public Policy Research Organization.
Irvine is located in Orange County, approximately 35 miles
Southeast of Los Angeles, adjacent to Newport Beach on the Pacific
Ocean. The Orange County area is a rapidly growing, economically
strong urban region. Twenty years ago, Orange County was primarily
rural and somewhat conservative. Today, the county has grown to a
population of over 2 million people, and is very cosmopolitan.
Students who wish additional information about the CORPS concentration
should write to:
Professor Rob Kling
Department of Information and Computer Science
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, Ca. 92717
(Kling.uci-20b@uci or ucbvax!ucivax!kling <from UUCP>)
or to:
Professor Kenneth Kraemer
Graduate School of Management
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, Ca. 92717
(Kraemer.uci-20b@uci or ucbvax!ucivax!kraemer <from UUCP>)