The B.A. Program in Community Information Systems as a Bridge between the Ultra-Orthodox Community...

THE B.A. PROGRAM IN COMMUNITY INFORMATION SYSTEMS

AS A BRIDGE BETWEENTHE ULTRA-ORTHODOX COMMUNITY

AND THE START-UP NATION

Dalit LevyZefat Academic College

ISRAEL

2015 HETL – SoTE Utah Conference, January 21, 2015

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About the College

Zefat Academic College brings life-changing benefits to residents of the city and to the surrounding area.

| January 21 | #HETL15 Utah Valley University | @dalitl |

http://www.youtube.com/watch?edit=vd&v=v0yLY8IM4w0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?edit=vd&v=v0yLY8IM4w0

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Zefat Academic College is a rapidly growing institution of higher education located within the historic city of Zefat.

About the College


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It offers greater accessibility to higher education in the Northern periphery,

including Ultra-Orthodox communities.

About the College


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It offers greater accessibility to higher education in the Northern periphery

where there are no universities.

About the College

The college's location in the heart of the city reinforces the impact that it has on

the local community.


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The widespread everyday use of information systems reflects a shift in conceptualizing the technology as more social than it was

perceived before.


About the CIS Program

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perceived before.

“the computer started as a totalitarian tool, but has

now also been embraced as a social tool”Kizza (2003), Ethical and Social Issues in the Information Age.



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perceived before.

“As technology becomes inextricably intertwined with

our lives, it seems timely that we consider the socio-

cultural impacts of this technologically-enabled life

that many of us willingly embrace... Designers and

implementers of information systems need to be more cognizant of these impacts” (ACIS 2013)

Social Information Systems emerge as an empowering force for both local and global communities, organizations, and businesses.



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“Community Informatics is by its very nature ”glocal”...

providing even in the most rural and remote settings

...powerful connections to the global and the opportunity to be present in the global ”

Guerstein (2012), Glocality: thinking about Community Informatics and the Local in the Global and the Global in the Local.



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“Community Informatics is by its very nature ”glocal”...

providing even in the most rural and remote settings

...powerful connections to the global and the opportunity to be present in the global ”

Guerstein (2012), Glocality: thinking about Community Informatics and the Local in the Global and the Global in the Local.

Community Information Systems

CIS



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CIS - an Interdisciplinary Field

"I think our major contribution to computing

was in bringing a liberal arts point of view to the use of computers.

… It was to bring beautiful fonts and typography to people... to help them communicate ...

Our goal was to bring a liberal arts audience to what had traditionally been a very geeky technology and a very geeky audience.“ (Steve Jobs, 1996)

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CIS Goals

The increasing interest in integrating human, communal and social considerations into traditional information systems

curricula has led to the development of new academic interdisciplinary programs around the globe, with 2 main goals:


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CIS Goals

I Develop analytical skills to identify and evaluate the

social consequences of ICT-based

systems




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CIS Goals

I Develop analytical skills to identify and evaluate the

social consequences of ICT-based

systems

II Gain experience in the socio-technical

process of designing IS in business, libraries,

health, government,

education and beyond.




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CIS in Zefat Academic College

Most undergraduate IS programs in Israel operate as part of the faculty of engineering or within the context of the business environment


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The new CIS program is sensitive to the increasing demand for higher education of the population in the northern part of the country, including the

ultra-orthodox community, and seeks to:



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Consider the multi-cultural

facets of businesses,

organizations, and communities





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Empower these developing

communities by using advanced

technologies and information

systems





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The new CIS program is sensitive to the increasing demand for higher education of the population in the northern part of the country, and seeks to:





Empower these developing

communities by using advanced

technologies and information

systems


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The notion of "community" in CIS is broad, including business communities as well as non-profit organizations, global or local organizations, public communities, cultural

communities, and rural communities.

CIS Program Structure


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CORE AREA OF STUDY – Foundations in 3 tracks

Information Technologies and Systems

ICT Information and Computer Technologies



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IS Information Systems



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CS Computer Science



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CS Computer Science

SUPPORTING AREAS OF STUDY

B Information in OrganizationsA The Knowledge Society



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The Computer Science Track

“Program…or Be Programmed”Rushkoff, 2010

Students in IS programs in general, and in an interdisciplinary program such as CIS in particular, should study fundamental CS

courses in order to acquire the needed broad foundation in computing and consider its breadth of application.


“TEL AVIV—Amid Israel's tech boom, the government and

many of the country's biggest tech employers are scrambling

to bridge a gap between those who write JavaScript and those who read scripture”

Wall Street Journal, June 9, 2014 Israel aims to draw ultra orthodox jews into the tech boom

http://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-aims-to-draw-ultra-orthodox-jews-into-tech-boom-1402352311

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CS Computer Science


B Information in Organizations

A The Knowledge Society

As a result of such integrated curriculum, we vision graduates

who are both information-technology-oriented and social-oriented, and thus can empower the communities within they live

and work.


CIS Program Graduates

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CS Computer Science


B Information in Organizations

A The Knowledge Society

As a result of such integrated curriculum, we vision graduates

who are both information-technology-oriented and social-oriented, and thus can empower the communities within they live

and work.


CIS Program Graduates

Nissim Hazan pitches Clean City the winner of the 1st haredi-startup competition,

Jerusalem Venture Partners, May 2013

CleanCity

a company providing high-tech systems for monitoring urban waste removal, saving municipal funds and improving service for local residents.

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The B.A. program in Community Information System (CIS) was

launched in the fall semester of 2011.

******

Fifteen ultra-orthodox Jewish male students began their course of study in the CIS program during the spring

semester of 2014.

CIS Program for the Ultra-orthodox


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• The ultra-orthodox community is one segment of the culturally diverse population surrounding the city of Zefat.

• It is further subdivided into various streams with various degrees of toleration towards attending secular institutes of higher education.

• Most of the students in the ultra-orthodox cohort are first generation of higher education (12 out of 15).

CIS Program for the Ultra-orthodox

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“Israel’s ultra-Orthodox, who for decades have cut

themselves off from larger society, are jumping in”

Forbes, July 24, 2013

CIS as a Bridge between the Ultra-Orthodox and the Start Up Nation

• Historical exemption from Israel’s compulsory military service, which has served as an entrepreneurial springboard and as a technological greenhouse for start up ideas

• Stressing large families and Torah study over conventional work

• High poverty rate (from 44% to 57% over the last decade)


31CIS as a Bridge between the Ultra-Orthodox and the Start Up Nation


2014: 65% of haredi women age 25 to 62 were employed(73% of non-haredi women)

45% of haredi men age 25 to 64 were employed(81% of non-haredi men)



High-Tech Companies provide the haredi women with a same-sex work environment, a censored Internet connection that blocks access to websites seen as ethically unsound according to rabbinical law, and a relatively short—by tech-industry standards—8-hour workday to help with child care.


CIS Goal: to enable the graduates' participation in the professional discourse used among programmers, software designers, and

software development teams.


“A large and fast-growing swath of Israel's population is

missing. Until a couple of years ago the ultraorthodox had no part in ‘Startup Nation’”

(Yitzik Crombie, founder of iSale Global, June 9, 2014)



CIS Goal: to enable the graduates' participation in the professional discourse used among programmers, software designers, and

software development teams.


“Hi-tech innovation in Israel is well known, but it needs

to be refreshed and new ideas need to be brought in. The

current wave of haredi start-ups are going to fill that need for a new wave of innovation”

(The Jerusalem Post, May 13, 2014)

“A large and fast-growing swath of Israel's population is

missing out. Until a couple of years ago the ultra-orthodox had no part in 'Startup Nation‘”

(Yitzik Crombie, founder of iSale Global, June 9, 2014)

http://www.jpost.com/National-News/The-coming-thing-Haredi-startups-352185


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Within the B.A. program in Community Information System:

• Four cohorts, one includes ultra-orthodox students only

• All students follow the same program combining social, cultural, computer science, and information systems courses

• The college offers accommodations as needed (content, teachers, rooms, class times, technology)

• Financial support



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First accounts of the data gathered in the Ultra-Orthodox cohort indeed reveal signs

of narrowing the educational, communicational, and digital gap

Thanks for [email protected]

dalitl

mailto:[email protected]

Date post:	15-Jul-2015
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The B.A. Program in Community Information Systems as a Bridge between the Ultra-Orthodox Community...

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