M.S. Interaction Design and Information Architecture
Program Description:
Increasingly, every business, nonprofit, school, and family counts on digital resources to grow and prosper. People who can deliver those resources go by many titles--Interaction Designer, User Experience Manager, Information Architect, Multimedia Developer, Webmaster... not to mention more exotic options like Ontology Analyst, Design Prophet, or Maverick-In-Chief.
Whatever their job titles, these people are essential to the way we live today and the ways we wish to live tomorrow. With an M.S. in Interaction Design and Information Architecture, you’ll find yourself in high demand for creative and rewarding positions here in Maryland or elsewhere.
What you will learn:
In the core sequence you'll study Information Architecture; Interaction and Interface Design; Research Methods for Interaction Design; Programming Principles for Information Architects; Sequential Visualization and Analysis; Humans, Computers, and Cognition; and Information Culture.
You may choose your five elective courses from among the more than 50 offerings in the curriculum, including approved courses at other institutions. You may concentrate your electives in one of four focus areas: Information Technologies, Digital Arts and Rhetoric, Cognition and Ethnography, or Management and Entrepreneurship. Or you can develop your own focus in consultation with your faculty advisor.
Working closely with your advisor, you will demonstrate your achievements by completing a Master's Thesis or Project. Among the options for this capstone experience are original research leading to a conference presentation or publication, development of software or other information resources, and significant cultural or creative work.
As a student in this program you will become proficient in specific applications of significant information technologies, well-versed in methods for understanding and structuring human interactions with those technologies, and critically aware of social and cultural implications arising from technological developments.
When you graduate you will be able to:
- develop structures of information directed to specific audiences (for example, a complex Web site)
- describe the content and interactive features of computer-mediated communications systems
- define the organization, navigation, labeling, and searching systems
- apply principles of user-centered and iterative design to the development process
- test aspects of the system for its usability and appropriateness to its intended audience
- plan for change and growth over time
- understand social and cultural effects of information systems and their implementations
- develop new media genres
Students who choose to complete the program by pursuing a Master's Project will be well prepared to become working Information Architects, User Experience Designers, or even Mavericks-In-Chief. Students who choose to complete the program by writing a more traditional M.S. Thesis will be prepared to pursue doctoral studies.
Research Opportunities
You'll encounter nationally prominent faculty with active projects in interface design, application development, organization of information services, new-media rhetoric, electronic publishing, and the digital arts. These projects closely inform our curriculum, assuring you of contemporary, challenging learning experiences. In addition, funded research creates opportunities for some students to work directly with faculty. You'll be encouraged to attend national conferences in order to present significant work and build your professional identity.
Facilities
Our labs offer excellent support for usability research, visual design, digital audio/video, and interactive development. You'll be able to work with major production tools across multiple platforms. We also maintain a complement of servers and other on-line resources to support coursework and research in World Wide Web publishing, Internet application development, interface design, and advanced media experiments.
Admission Information
The IDIA program is open to students from all disciplines, but it is especially appropriate for people with degrees in the humanities and social sciences who want to apply their liberal arts backgrounds to an emerging technology field.
Candidates for admissions to the M.S. in Interaction Design and Information Architecture must have received a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited institution with an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better.
You may:
Contact the UB Office of Admissions at gradadmissions@ubalt.edu or 410.837.4777 or 1.877.ApplyUB (1.877.277.5982) for more information, or visit http://www.ubalt.edu/admissions.
Registration Deadlines:
- April 1: Fall semester (to be considered for an assistantship)
- July 1: Fall semester
- December 1: Spring semester
- April 1: Summer session
Support
A small number of fellowships for full time students are available on a competitive basis. In order to compete for a fellowship for full time study, you must complete your application by March 1. Students may also apply for loans through the University of Baltimore's Office of Financial Aid at http://www.ubalt.edu/financialaid or 410.837.4763.
To apply you must supply the following to the University's Office of Graduate Admissions:
- the University's application for graduate admission or apply online at www.ubalt.edu/apply
- application fee
- Maryland in-state residency status form if you are applying as a Maryland resident
- a letter of intent explaining your educational and professional goals
- current resume or curriculum vitae
- three letters of recommendation using the University's recommendation forms, http://www.ubalt.edu/template.cfm?page=63
- two official copies of transcripts from all universities and colleges attended
- official GRE or Miller Analogies Test scores.
Please send all materials to:
- Office of Graduate Admissions
- University of Baltimore
- 1420 N. Charles St.
- Baltimore, MD 21201-5779
- Phone: 410.837.4777 or 410.877.ApplyUB
- Fax: 410.837.4793
- Email: gradadmissions@ubalt.edu
Principal Faculty:
Encounter nationally prominent faculty with active projects in interface design, application development, information services, new-media rhetoric, electronic publishing and the digital arts.
- Kathleen Harmeyer
- Nancy Kaplan
- Mohammed Ketel
- Stuart Moulthrop
- Aaron Oldenburg
- Kathryn Summers
- Charles Sykes
- Luay Wahsheh
See faculty bios for more info.
Contact Information: Program Director or Program Coordinator
- Professor Nancy Kaplan, Program Director
- School of Information Arts and Technologies
- University of Baltimore
- 1420 N. Charles St.
- Baltimore, Maryland 21201-5779
- Phone: 410.837.5319
- Fax: 410.837.6252
- E-mail: idia@ubalt.edu
- Website: http://iat.ubalt.edu/kaplan/
School of Information Arts and Technology ©2005