[Asis-l] Introducing New Community Analytics & Policy Specialization from Maryland’s iSchool

[Mary E. Carroll-Mason]

Introducing New Community Analytics & Policy Specialization from Maryland's iSchool

The University of Maryland's College of Information Studies, Maryland's iSchool, is launching a new specialization in Community Analytics & Policy (CAP) beginning in Fall 2015. This new specialization, open to all students in the Master of Library Science (MLS) and Master of Information Management (MIM) programs, focuses on the intersection of analytics, policy and data.

Libraries and other information organizations play an important role at the intersections of government, civic organizations, neighborhoods, and the public – thus making them critical elements of community information and data ecosystems. This specialization focuses on the nature of developing local data infrastructures designed to promote civic engagement at the community level, and the roles that libraries and other information organizations can play in supporting that engagement. Graduates of the specialization will have the skills, tools, and processes that librarians and information professionals need to serve as community-based data stewards, hackers, navigators, and facilitators.

Students in the CAP specialization will acquire knowledge in the following subject areas:

• the nature of open data and information; 
• the ability of the public to be informed about local issues through open government and data; 
• the ways in which information professionals can serve as key community-based intermediaries between governments, the public, and local issues; 
• the curation and management of digital assets, particularly datasets; 
• the ability to create and foster data-driven communities of practice; and 
• the role of the political process and information policy in shaping the development of community data.

More information about the CAP specialization is available at http://ter.ps/cap, or contact the CAP Specialization Director John Bertot at jbertot at umd.edu.