Legal and Social Aspects of Electronic Communication and Publishing
(Electronic Communication and Publishing, Module P019)
The module aims to develop students' understanding of the impact of information on society and of the relationship between information and the law. Key issues include: technological trends and social change; virtual communities; globalization; ethics, morality and information; copyright, intellectual property and freedom of information, the free software and hacktivism movements; data protection; defamation; policies developed by governments for the information society. Students will develop their critical and analytical skills through debate. There will be input from external speakers to present a variety of perspectives.
By the end of the course students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the impact of information on technological change; society; government and international relations, the place of the individual in virtual or actual communities; discuss how legislation and information affect each other; identify key issues involved in the development of the 'Information Society', articulate personal perspectives, and show a critical awareness of the positive and negative issues of the information society. They will also have an understanding of copyright legislation in a national and international context. They will be able to assess the requirements for data protection and defamation in relation to internet publishing.
Assessment is by coursework only.
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