Digital Age

The Digital Age course was designed primarily for students studying INFT 1018: Exploring the Digital Age at the University of South Australia, but the materials are being developed here under a free content license and thus are open to anyone. The course is an overview of a number of loosely related technology issues, ranging from subjects such as ePublishing through to Artificial Intelligence and definitions of knowledge. Thus it represents a diverse and ever-changing subject area.

Instructor

The primary instructor here is Adam Jenkins, or Bilby as he is known here, from the University of South Australia's School of Computer and Information Science.

Materials

Materials generally consist of provided text and recommended readings, with some research questions to be considered at the end of each part. It is hoped that the text will be developed over time by those involved in both teaching and learning the material.

Answering the research question, whether openly through the discussion pages, or privately, should help further your understanding of the material. Enrolled students will also have assessment questions based on the subject area.

Course plan

• Moore's Law: Discusses Moore's Law and some of the issues such a rate of technological development may raise.
• Technology Acceptance Model: Introduces the Technology Acceptance Model (or TAM) as a possible framework to investigate the potential uptake and impact of new technologies.
• Web 2.0: is it nothing more than a marketing term, or is there something significant in the concept?
• Massively Multiplayer Game: We have to do games at some point, just for the fun if nothing else, and here we look at the history of the multiplayer variety.
• Knowledge Management and Wikis: What is Knowledge Management, and how do Wikis fit into our understanding of knowledge?