Are we in the midst of an Information Revolution? Is the Information Age essentially different from other periods in history and if so, how? What role does Information, and the myriad systems for processing and disseminating Information, play in individual lives, or in society as a whole? How can we build effective Information Systems to accomplish important goals such as facilitating commerce, fostering civic participation, and supporting human relationships? This course will provide the foundational knowledge necessary to begin to address the key issues associated with Information and its impact on human lives. Issues will range from the theoretical (what is Information, and how do humans construct it?), to the cultural (is life on the screen a qualitatively different phenomenon from experiences with earlier distance-shrinking and knowledge-building technologies such as telephones?), to the practical (what are the basic architectures of computing and networks?). Successful completion of this "gateway" course will give you the conceptual tools necessary to understand the politics, economics, and culture of the Information Age, providing a foundation for later study in Information or a valuable complement to studies in other disciplines.