Information Science/Humanities Computing

 Dutch prospective students we recommend to visit: www.infokunde.nl

Profile of the program
No machine is as flexible as the computer. Some of its areas of application have developed into independent academic disciplines. Information Science studies the communication and information processes in organizations and individuals, and the role that information and communication technology (IT) may play in them. At the University of Groningen, Information Science is an Arts subject, with an emphasis on the role of information in linguistics, history and art history. Information Science thus straddles the borderline between traditional Arts studies (languages, culture, history and art history) and information technology. This distinguishes the programme from similar courses organized elsewhere in the Netherlands.
The programme focuses on practical applications. Students learn to work with several programming languages, which helps them to develop the necessary tools for tackling informational problems within the Arts. This degree programme will be particularly attractive to students interested in both the arts and computers, who want to use their analytical skills, creativity and inventiveness to solve practical problems.

Programme structure
In the introductory phase of the BA degree, attention is paid to Information science as a subject, logic and programming, the processing and analyzing of electronic texts, Web technology and statistics. In the rest of the program, computational linguistics - the automatic processing of natural language - plays an important role. Much attention is also paid to information analysis and storing, retrieving and accessing of data, which includes not only texts but also images and sounds.
Most modules in Information Science consist of a combination of lectures and practicals.
The BA degree programme in Information Science has no options or specializations; every student follows the same program. Students are free to choose Optional Modules in subjects outside the main field. They also have freedom of choice in their minor, although we are very willing to advise them.
Research themes will be presented in the last courses of the third year. A theme will be investigated in a project group and worked out partly individually into a short thesis.