09945 - Legal Computer Science

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Employment and Business Relations Consultant (cod. 9230)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has knowledge of the fundamental principles governing information technology and how these apply in the legal domain for the construction of complex Information Systems. The student acquires the knowledge of the legal aspects that regulate the information technology and is able to analyze information systems and technology in the light of national, European and international level.

Course contents

The course is made up of three parts: Legal Informatics, ICT Law and a specific part relating to the use of Information Technology in the workplace.

Legal informatics

  • Law in the information society – introduction to the legal informatics: basic concept, evolution of the discipline, applications and perspectives;
  • Computer system and Information system: the evolution and the impact of informatics, its application to the legal information systems;
  • Computer and elaboration of information: hardware, digital era, from algorithm to software, software life cycle, and modelling formalisms (UML);
  • Text and data structuring and archiving: archives, databases and information retrieval, database management system and document management (HTML, XML);
  • Distributed knowledge society: telematics, information networks, the Internet, Web, Semantic Web, Web 2.0, online legal documents;
  • Dematerialization society: legal rules and Internet rules, the governance of the Internet, domain names, cryptography and digital signature;

IT law

  • Protection of technological goods between the patent and copyright: software, digital contents, databases and domain names;
  • New legal regimes for digital contents: open source and creative commons;
  • Protection of personal data:: privacy and individual rights, information and freedom, data security;
  • E-document and digital signature: cryptography, legal validity, evidentiary value.

ICT in the workplace

  • Data protection in the workplace
  • Technological and legal issues of the use of email in the workplace
  • Technological and legal issues of the use of Internet in the workplace
  • Computer security and the role of the system administrator
The programme is the same for all the students (attendees or not attendees), including also the ERASMUS students. The following sections provide methodological intructions for students who can not attend lessons.

Readings/Bibliography

(1) G. Sartor, L'informatica giuridica e le tecnologie dell'informazione (terza edizione), Corso di Informatica giuridica. Giappichelli, 2016 [Cap. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

(2) AA. VV. Temi di diritto dell'informatica (terza edizione), a cura di C. di Cocco e G. Sartor, Giappichelli, 2020 [Cap. 2, 4, 5]

The coursepack and material provided on the course webpage are meant to provide guidance for students investigating the course contents on their own (see the section "Teaching tools").

Teaching methods

Frontal Lectures

The course includes frontal and online lectures following one of the modality described in this Web page:https://dsg.unibo.it/en/teaching/projects-and-teaching-methodologies/teaching-modes-at-dsg-on-i-semester-a-y-2020-2021.

During the lectures the teacher uses slides, that are an outline of the main topics, including videos, practical sections. During the course the teacher may propose additional seminars about new emerging topics that are strongly connected with the discipline.

Attendance Rule

The attendance is not mandatory, but strongly reccomended for coping with the goals and the objectives of the course. Attending the lectures the student may acquire rapidaly the technical terminology, the fundationals, the basis, and so to make progresses in the autonomous study methodology.

The students that not are able to attend the course should in any case download all the material, including slides, that the teacher provides during the lectures (see the section "Teaching tools"),and in any case please contact the teachers for any problem that you may have.

Self-assessment tests

During the lessons the teacher gives to the students self-assessment tests to help in perfecting the method of preparation of the exam. The tests will be carried out individually or in small groups, with the support of texts and notes and the answers will be analyzed together with the class. Such tests do not provide for evaluation.

Assessment methods

The verification of learning takes place through the final examination, which ascertains the learning of the expected knowledge and skills.

The examination consists of a written test (compulsory) and an oral test (optional).

Written test: this consists of a multiple-choice quiz comprising 14 questions, each of which will be marked out of 14 and an open question marked out of 5. This test will be held either on the EOL - Online Exams platform with the help of the Zoom application for surveillance, or in the classroom. The test lasts 40 minutes. The results will be published within 1-2 days.

Oral test: students who have obtained a score of at least 18/30 in the written test can access the oral test to improve their results. The oral test can take place either in presence or on Teams, as needed.

The evaluation of the oral test, added to the result of the written test, helps to reach the final evaluation.

For technical indications on how to carry out the online exams see the website: https://www.unibo.it/it/servizi-e-opportunita/servizi-online/servizi-online-per-studenti-1/lezioni-ed-esami-online

The use of books or notes is not allowed and the sheets of paper are provided by the teacher.

Enrolment in the examination lists will be made through the Almaesami University computer system for both the written and oral tests.

The teacher is always available during reception hours to show the corrections made to the written assignment.

Test for attending students

Students participating in the lessons (online or in presence) will be offered at the end of each didactic module of the course exercises and quizzes with evaluation that can replace part of the final exam.

Verbalization

The result of the task will be visible within 1-2 days on AlmaEsami-

After 7 days from the publication of the result, the examination will be recorded automatically:

to refuse the grade give timely notice by email (raffaella.brighi@unibo.it ) indicating name, surname, degree course and grade you intend to refuse
to discuss the vote at the oral test subscribe to the oral test fixed on Almaesami or send an email. It is possible to take the oral test even if you have not passed the written test.


Foreign students or students who have certified writing disabilities will be assessed on the basis of an oral exam lasting at least 40 minutes.

Please use the information system of UNIBO "Almaesami" for subscribing to the written or oral exames.

Teaching tools

The section "teaching material" of this web site collects specific information on the course; questions of self-evaluation; slides projected in classroom and other supporting materials for the exam.

Teaching tools useful for the preparation of the exam are:
- the slides of lessons in the "Teaching Materials" section of this page, also available at http://campus.cib.unibo.it/
- papers and in-depth materials, mainly designed to address the most relevant topics in the current discipline (see Teaching Materials "on this page, accessible from http://campus.cib.unibo.it/)
- the "lessons register", which the teacher publishes, work in progress, at the end of each lesson (see 'Useful Content' section). It is advisable to organize the self-study by referring to the sequence of arguments as set in the lesson register.

Thesis

We offer thesis on the main emerging topics of the discipline. For a recent list of topics you can visit the section "Thesis" in this web page.

For requesting a thesis in Legal Informatics you must send an email with the following information: name, surname, degree name, year of enrolment, average of exams, number of exams missing, proposal of title and topic.



Office hours

See the website of Raffaella Brighi

SDGs

Quality education Industry, innovation and infrastructure Reduced inequalities Sustainable cities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.