GRA 6149 Compliance, Cybersecurity and Accountability

GRA 6149 Compliance, Cybersecurity and Accountability

Course code: 
GRA 6149
Department: 
Communication and Culture
Credits: 
6
Course coordinator: 
Samson Yoseph Esayas
Christian Fieseler
Course name in Norwegian: 
Compliance, Cybersecurity and Accountability
Product category: 
Master
Portfolio: 
MSc in Digital Communication Management
Semester: 
2025 Spring
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

This course offers an application-oriented introduction to real-world engagement with policymakers, discussing modes of operation and analytical tools through a stylized lifecycle of policy advisory. To this end, the course will examine legal, policy, and ethical issues that arise throughout the full information technology lifecycle from collection, to storage, processing, analysis and use, including, privacy, surveillance, security, classification, discrimination, decisional-autonomy, and duties to warn or act.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge
  • What are the foundational paradigms of information ethics, and how do they relate to different ways of framing and resolving ethical issues in a number of disciplinary ways?
  • What are ethical implications of Data, AI and Algorithms as either tools or agents in modern work and living environments?
  • Which trajectory will Data Collection and Usage, AI and Algorithmic development take?
  • Which are the best-case and which are the worst-case scenarios?
  • How can we ethically manage Data, AI and Algorithms in the context of business analytics?
  • How may these challenges be managed in light of key legislations such as the GDPR?
Learning outcomes - Skills
  • Getting acquainted with the foundations of translational research and policy advising 
  • Understanding core elements of engagement with policymakers, including scope of work, iterative collaboration, co-design processes and dealing with the unexpected 
  • Understanding through exemplary cases how to inform and shape policy work
  • Students will describe techniques for protecting privacy, sharing data ethically, and minimizing both collective and individual harm associated with data-driven organizational processes
General Competence
  • Critical Reflection on ethical and policy issues, and to perceive the various facets and viewpoints surrounding complex data ethics questions
  • Reflection of the ethical and social implications that the application of advanced data analytics may bring to business and society, and the impact biased or incomplete data sets may have on stakeholders
  • Be able to apply your understanding to problematize specific technologies, analyze and reflect critically on their impacts, think through various interventions and argue for how to develop technologies in more thoughtful ways
Course content

Foundations

  • Introduction to (Translational) Research 
  • Lifecycle Policy Advisory Model 
  • Core Concepts, Methods, Values, and Skills
  • Elements and Functions of Regulation

Issues

  • Reputation and Human Rights
  • Privacy and Surveillance
  • Compliance
  • Cybersecurity

Solutions

  • Data Protection Law and the Ethical Use of Analytics
  • Anonymization and Informed Consent
  • AI Fairness, Accountability and Transparency
  • Design Fiction, Resistance and Futures
Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Additional information

Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.

Mandatory coursework must be approved before taking the exam.

Qualifications

All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.

Disclaimer

Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.

Mandatory courseworkCourseworks givenCourseworks requiredComment coursework
Mandatory11Creation and presentation of a poster that outlines the core ideas of the later paper submission
Mandatory coursework:
Mandatory coursework:Mandatory
Courseworks given:1
Courseworks required:1
Comment coursework:Creation and presentation of a poster that outlines the core ideas of the later paper submission
Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Submission PDF
Exam/hand-in semester: 
First Semester
Weight: 
100
Grouping: 
Group/Individual (1 - 3)
Duration: 
1 Semester(s)
Comment: 
Paper on an information technology dilemma, its implications, and possible policy actions.
Exam code: 
GRA 61491
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Resit: 
Examination when next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Ordinary examination
Total weight: 
100
Student workload
ActivityDurationComment
Teaching
14 Hour(s)
Webinar
22 Hour(s)
Group work / Assignments
44
Collaborative learning and co-development of a “toolbox” for translational technology policy research/advisory
Digital resources
  • Interactive work book
100 Hour(s)
Course material (including additional material and resouces) will be provided on a learning platform.
Sum workload: 
180

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.