Social
computing is an umbrella term for technologies and virtual spaces that allow
users to create, describe and share content, and for the communities that arise
around them. The goal of this
course is to survey theoretical and practical instances of social computing
such as blogs, social bookmarking, classification and recommendation systems,
compare them with traditional professional equivalents, and evaluate how these
diverse perspectives can inform one another.
Course
structure
This is an
online, asynchronous course. It is
designed for graduate students who have a high level of internal motivation to
extend their knowledge about social computing and related topics, and who will
take full advantage of the opportunity to work both independently and in
virtual groups. In keeping with
the social nature of the course, staying current and participating actively and
regularly in an online environment is critical.
Though no
specific technical background is required, you should be comfortable with
teaching yourself how to use Web 2.0 and related technologies, which may
involve downloading and installing software on your computer, registering with
various sites, and troubleshooting.
The course
blog (http://ics691s09.blogspot.com/)
will be the center for information exchange. You will create a blog, specific to this course (i.e. not
your existing blog), and use an RSS aggregator to follow the blogs of your
fellow students. We will use the
Resources section of laulima (http://laulima.hawaii.edu/)
to post readings not available online.
The course
will be conducted as a series of seven two-week sessions, loosely organized by
topic. Each session will adhere to
the following schedule:
First week: On Monday, I will post the sessionÕs readings--which may
change from those listed on the syllabus—on the course blog, with a
related assignment. The latter
will usually take the form of questions to address and/or sites to visit and
evaluate. Respond to the
assignments with a post on your blog.
Your response to the assignment must be posted by 11:59 pm Sunday, i.e.
in one week.
An acceptable blog post will be between 500-1000 words
(more is fine), will specifically and critically address a majority of the
sessionÕs readings, and will address all aspects of the associated
assignment. An outstanding blog
post will use the readings and assignments as starting points for further
exploration. You may use a formal
or informal tone, as long as the content is there.
Second week: Read as many of your fellow studentsÕ blog posts as you
like. Comment substantively on at
least five per session. Acceptable
blog comments will engage specifics of the blog authorÕs and/or paper authorÕs
points, possibly including illustrative links to content from other sessions
and elsewhere. Respond to other
studentsÕ comments on your own and other studentsÕ posts as appropriate. Not all blog posts will generate long
comment threads and lively conversation, but one of your goals in the second
week of each session (and in the course as a whole) is to take every
opportunity to move productive conversations forward, to both create and
benefit from a collaborative learning environment.
You will
propose a final project, which can be done individually or as a group. We will negotiate the details and
expectations as the course progresses.
Evaluation
Though I
cannot comment on every blog every week, throughout the course I will provide
both individual and group feedback on your contributions. This is a student-driven course, but
please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions or concerns.
á
50%:
Blog posts and assignments for the seven sessions (overall grade)
á
30%:
Final project
á
20%:
Participation (quality and quantity of blog comments, timeliness of
submissions)
99-100 A+
| 93-98 A | 90-92 A- | 88-89 B+ | 83-87 B | 80-82 B- | 78-79 C+ | 73-77 C
Schedule
and readings (subject to change)
**I
suggest you read these in the order listed.**
Unlinked
readings are available in the Resources section of the laulima course page
Session
1: Monday Jan 12-Sunday Jan 25
Introduction
and overview: Conceptions of social computing
boyd,
d.m., and N.B. Ellison (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and
Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
Dibbell,
Julian (1998; revised). A Rape in Cyberspace: How an Evil Clown, a Haitian
Trickster Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of Dozens Turned a Database Into a
Society. The Village Voice, 23 December 1993. http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.html
Beer,
David and Roger Burrows (2007).
Sociology and, of and in Web 2.0: Some Initial Considerations.
Sociological Research Online 12(5). http://www.socresonline.org.uk/12/5/17.html
Tenopir,
Carol (2007). Web 2.0: Our
Cultural Downfall? Library Journal, 12/15/2007. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6510681.html?industryid=47130
Nardi,
Bonnie A., Diane Schiano and Michelle Gumbrecht (2004). Blogging as Social Activity, or, Would
You Let 900 Million People Read Your Diary? CSCWÕ04, November 6–10, 2004,
Chicago, Illinois.
Herring,
Susan C., Lois Ann Scheidt, Sabrina Bonus and Elijah Wright (2004). Bridging
the Gap: A Genre Analysis of Weblogs. Proceedings of the 37th Hawai'i
International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-37).
Session
2: Monday Jan 26-Sun Feb 8
Social
aspects of social computing
Galston,
William A. (1999). Does the
Internet Strengthen Community? In Elaine Ciulla Kamarck and Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
(eds.), Democracy.com? Governance in a Networked World. Hollis, NH: Hollis Publishing Co.
http://www.puaf.umd.edu/IPPP/fall1999/internet_community.htm
Weeks,
Linton (2009). Social
Responsibility and the Web: A Drama Unfolds. 8 January 2009. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99094257
LaRose,
R., M.S. Eastin and J. Gregg (2001). Reformulating the Internet Paradox: Social
Cognitive Explanations of Internet Use and Depression. Journal of Online
Behavior 1(2). http://www.behavior.net/JOB/v1n2/paradox.html
Hague,
Umair (2006). Usefulness and The Banality of Business. (Bubblegeneration
Strategy Lab blog post). http://www.bubblegeneration.com/2006/03/usefulness-and-banality-of-business.cfm
Albrechtslund,
Anders (2008). Online Social
Networking as Participatory Surveillance. First Monday 13(3). http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2142/1949
Rosen,
Christine (2007). Virtual
Friendship and the New Narcissism.
The New Atlantis 17, 15-31. http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/virtual-friendship-and-the-new-narcissism
Bigge,
Ryan (2006). The Cost of (Anti-)
Social Networks: Identity, Agency and Neo-Luddites" First Monday 11(12). http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1421/1339
Session
3: Mon Feb 9-Sun Feb 22
Motivation
for participation
Ridings,
Catherine and David Gefen (2004).
Virtual Community Attraction: Why People Hang Out Online. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication 10(1).
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue1/ridings_gefen.html
Ling, K.,
G. Beenen, P. Ludford, X. Wang, K. Chang, X. Li, D. Cosley, D. Frankowski, L.
Terveen, A.M. Rashid, P. Resnick and R. Kraut (2005). Using Social Psychology
to Motivate Contributions to Online Communities. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication, 10(4), article 10. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/ling.html
Tedjamulia,
Steven J.J., David R. Olsen, Douglas L. Dean, Conan C. Albrecht (2005). Motivating Content Contributions to
Online Communities: Toward a More Comprehensive Theory. Proceedings of the 38th
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
Schrock,
Andrew (2009). Examining Social
Media Usage: Technology Clusters and Social Network Site Membership. First
Monday 14(1). http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2242/2066
Java,
Akshay, Xiaodan Song, Tim Finin and Belle Tseng (2007). Why We Twitter:
Understanding the Microblogging Effect in User Intentions and Communities.
Joint 9th WEBKDD and 1st SNA-KDD Workshop, 12 August 2007, San Jose,
California.
http://workshops.socialnetworkanalysis.info/websnakdd2007/papers/submission_21.pdf
Session
4: Mon Feb 23-Sun Mar 8
Social
role, capital and trust
Gleave,
Eric, Howard T. Welser, Thomas M. Lento and Marc A. Smith (2009). A Conceptual and Operational Definition
of ÔSocial RoleÕ in Online
Community. Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System
Sciences, Waikoloa, HI, 5-8 January 2009.
Williams,
D. (2006). On and Off the 'Net:
Scales for Social Capital in an Online Era. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication, 11(2), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue2/williams.html
Massa,
Paolo (2006). A Survey of Trust
Use and Modeling in Current Real Systems. Trust in E-services: Technologies,
Practices and Challenges. Idea Group.
Allen,
Stuart M., Gualtiero Colombo, Roger M. Whitaker (2009). Forming Social Networks of Trust to
Incentivize Cooperation. Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii International
Conference on System Sciences, Waikoloa, HI, 5-8 January 2009.
Eryilmaz,
Evren, Mitch Cochran and Sumonta Kasemvilas (2009). Establishing Trust Management in an Open Source
Collaborative Information Repository: An Emergency Response Information System
Case Study. Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System
Sciences, Waikoloa, HI, 5-8 January 2009.
Ellison,
N.B., C. Steinfield and C. Lampe (2007).
The Benefits of Facebook "Friends:" Social Capital and College
Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication, 12(4). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html
Session
5: Mon Mar 9-Sun Mar 22
Social
knowledge production and services
Duguid,
Paul (2006). Limits of Self-Organization: Peer Production and "Laws of
QualityÓ. First Monday 11(10). http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1405/1323
Haythornthwaite,
Caroline (2009). Crowds and
Communities: Light and Heavyweight Models of Peer Production. Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii
International Conference on System Sciences, Waikoloa, HI, 5-8 January 2009.
Geisler,
Gary and Sam Burns (2008). Tagging
Video: Conventions and Strategies of the YouTube Community. TCDL Bulletin 4(1). http://www.ieee-tcdl.org/Bulletin/v4n1/geisler/geisler.html
Lerman,
Kristina (2007). Social Networks and Social Information Filtering on Digg.
Proceedings of Int. Conf. on Weblogs and Social Media, Boulder, CO. http://arxiv.org/pdf/cs/0612046v1
Leibenluft,
Jacob (2007). A Librarian's Worst
Nightmare: Yahoo! Answers, where 120 million users can be wrong. Slate, 7
December 2007. http://www.slate.com/id/2179393/fr/rss/
Gazan,
Rich (2008). Social Annotations in
Digital Library Collections. D-Lib
14(11/12). http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november08/gazan/11gazan.html
Dempsey,
Lorcan (2009). Always On:
Libraries in a World of Permanent Connectivity. First Monday 14(1). http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2291/2070
Spring
Break: Mon Mar 23-Sun Mar 29
Session
6: Mon Mar 30-Sun Apr 12
Online
identity and interaction
Steve
Whittaker, Loren Terveen, Will Hill and Lynn Cherny (1998). The Dynamics of
Mass Interaction. Proceedings of the 1998 ACM Conference on Computer Supported
Cooperative Work (CSCW98), Seattle, Washington, 257-264.
Wellman,
Barry, Anabel Quan-Haase, Jeffrey Boase, Wenhong Chen, Keith Hampton, Isabel
Isla de Diaz and Kakuko Miyata (2003).
The Social Affordances of the Internet for Networked Individualism.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 8(3).
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol8/issue3/wellman.html
Donath,
Judith. (2007). Signals in Social Supernets. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication 13(1). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/donath.html
Liu, H.
(2007). Social Network Profiles as Taste Performances. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 13. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/liu.html
Ploderer,
B., S. Howard & P. Thomas (2008). Being Online, Living Offline: The
Influence of Social Ties Over the Appropriation of Social Network Sites.
Proceedings of CSCW 2008.
http://disweb.dis.unimelb.edu.au/student/rhd/berndp/research/CSCW2008Ploderer.pdf
Hodkinson,
Paul (2006). Subcultural Blogging?
Online Journals and Group Involvement Among UK Goths'. In: A. Bruns and J. Jacobs, Uses of
Blogs. New York: Peter Lang, 187-199.
http://www.paulhodkinson.co.uk/publications/hodkinsonsubculturalblogging.pdf
Huberman,
Bernardo, Daniel Romero and Fang Wu (2009). Social Networks That Matter: Twitter Under the
Microscope" First Monday 14(1).
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2317/2063
Honeycutt,
Courtenay and Susan C. Herring (2009).
Beyond Microblogging: Conversation and Collaboration via Twitter. Proceedings
of the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Waikoloa, HI,
5-8 January 2009.
Session
7: Mon Apr 13-Sun Apr 26
Management
and conflict
Madison,
Michael J. (2006). Social
Software, Groups, and Governance. Michigan State Law Review, Vol. 2006, p. 153.
Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=786404
Cosley,
Dan, Dan Frankowski, Sara Kiesler, Loren Terveen, John Riedl (2005). How Oversight Improves
Member-Maintained Communities. CHI
2005, April 2–7, 2005, Portland, Oregon.
Kollock,
Peter and Marc Smith (1996). Managing the Virtual Commons: Cooperation and
Conflict in Computer Communities.
In: Susan Herring (ed.), Computer-Mediated Communication: Linguistic,
Social, and Cross-Cultural Perspectives.
Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 109-128. http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/vcommons.htm
Grimes,
Justin, Paul Jaeger and Kenneth Fleischmann (2008). Obfuscatocracy: A stakeholder analysis of governing documents
for virtual worlds. First Monday 13(9). http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2153/2029
Gazan,
Rich (2009). When Online
Communities Become Self-Aware. Proceedings of the 42nd Hawaii International
Conference on System Sciences, Waikoloa, HI, 5-8 January 2009.
Gazan,
Rich (2007). Understanding the
Rogue User. In: Diane
Nahl and Dania Bilal, eds.
Information & Emotion: The Emergent Affective Paradigm in
Information Behavior Research and Theory. Medford, New Jersey: Information
Today, 177-185.
Dibbell,
Julian (2008). Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers,
the Sociopaths of the Virtual World.
Wired 16.02. http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/16-02/mf_goons?currentPage=all
Reed, Mike
(no date). Flame Warriors. http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/index.htm
**Final
projects due: Sunday May 10**