Concentration Details

Critical Information Policy Studies

Note: This concentration is under curricular review and not accepting applications for Fall 2025

The Critical Information Policy Studies (CIPS) concentration educates a new type of professional specifically trained in critical approaches to the study of information in all its manifestations. In a world of increasingly ubiquitous and perpetually innovating information and communications technologies where no aspect of our lives as citizens, workers and consumers is untouched by their influence, governments and businesses alike demand professionals who can make sense of fundamental social change in the transition from the old analog world to the new digital one.

CIPS professionals identify, critically describe and interpret all aspects of the information life-cycle and within the full range of social contexts. They work within the public and private sectors to ensure the creation of beneficial policies, programs, and strategies. They grapple with issues that include the digital divide, open data, open government, data protection, privacy, intellectual property, surveillance, cyber security, telecommunication policy, copyright, and consumer rights. Similarly, they critically investigate the use of body scanners, cloud computing, Facebook, Google Street View, social networking, and emerging technologies on which the globalizing information society increasingly relies.

CIPS Concentration Coordinator: Nadia Caidi

CIPS Concentration Features

  • Provides an understanding of the relationships between information and social transformation or entrenchment
  • Develops an understanding of the mutual relationships between information systems and their political, economic, historical, and cultural contexts
  • Develops an ability to evaluate how choices about information systems affect the growth and development of institutions, and vice versa
  • Provides an understanding of the critical perspectives and methods used to acknowledge and encompass cultural and social differences
  • Provides an understanding about how information processes are useful in the constitution of social subjectivities

CIPS Graduates: Where are they now?

Lee Doucet (MI, Class of 2021)

Lee specialized in CIPS and HCDS. He works with an infectious disease surveillance database in the public health section of the City of Toronto’s Data Assessment and Processing Department. He was an active participant in the city’s COVID-19 response.

Lee Doucet headshot image

Academic Concentration Requirements

MI students enrolled in 2024 and later

MI students enrolled in 2023 and earlier

Year 1 required courses

While it is not obligatory to complete all Year 1 required courses in Year 1, it is recommended because these courses provide foundational knowledge. For students considering the Co-op option, all Year 1 required courses should be completed in Year 1.

INF1001H Knowledge and Information in Society 0.5 Credits

INF2240H Political Economy and Cultural Studies of Information 0.5 Credits

INF1005H Information Workshops I 0.25 Credits

INF1006H Information Workshops II 0.25 Credits

INF2181H Information Policy, Regulation and Law 0.5 Credits

INF2242H Studying Information and Knowledge Practices 0.5 Credits

INF2243H Histories of Information Technologies 0.5 Credits

Year 2 required courses

If all required courses are completed in Year 1, students may complete their remaining credit requirements by taking a combination of:

Elective courses

Co-op option

Thesis option

Collaborative Specialization

INF2124H Surveillance and Identity 0.5 Credits

INF2125H Developing a Diversity Mindset in the Information Professions 0.5 Credits

INF2155H The Public Library in the Community: Developing a Critical Practice 0.5 Credits

INF2221H Digital Divides and Information Professionals: Developing a Critical Practice 0.5 Credits

INF2241H Critical Making: Information Studies, Social Values, and Physical Computing 0.5 Credits

INF2305H Special Topics in Information Studies: The Joy of Information 0.5 Credits

INF2320H Remix Culture 0.5 Credits

INF2331H The Future of the Book 0.5 Credits

Work Integrated Learning for CIPS Students

The Faculty of Information offers a variety of work-integrated learning including the MI Co-op option and practicum courses. The Careers Services team helps students find suitable placements.

MI Co-op option

MI practicum

Who hires CIPS graduates?

CIPS alumni work in a wide range of organizations and industries within the public and private sectors to ensure the creation of beneficial policies, programs, and strategies. They grapple with issues that include the digital divide, open data, open government, data protection, privacy, intellectual property, surveillance, cyber security, telecommunication policy, copyright, and consumer rights.

Professional Networks

Many students, alumni and faculty are members of key CIPS professional associations. Our strong ties with these organizations, forged over many years, keep the Faculty of Information abreast of the latest CIPS trends. In addition, many instructors are active CIPS professionals. CIPS professional associations include: