Schedule for CS 6470: Design of Online Communities, Spring 2007

Readings and assignments are subject to change.

Week Date Topic Readings & Online Sites
1 1/9 Introduction  
  1/11 Community: Face to Face and Online

Reading:

Online Sites:

 

2 1/16 Third Places

Reading:

Online Site:

  1/18 Research Methods

Reading:

  • Interviewing as Qualitative Research, by IE Seidman.

Online Sites you should already know, but just in case:

  • MySpace
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

    Due:

     

    3 1/23 Research Ethics

    Reading:

    Recommended:

    Online Site:

    Due:

    • Obtain ethics certification via the online course, if you do not already have certification.

    Please do not miss this class. If you do miss this lecture, you must meet with the instructor.

      1/25 Midterm Projects

    Discuss midterm project ideas

    Due:

    4 1/30 Design Factors

    Reading:

    Online Site:

     

      2/1 Theory of Identity

    Reading:

    Online Sites:

    5 2/6 Identity Online

    Reading:

    Online Site:

      2/8 Gender Online

    Reading:

    • "The Strange Case of the Lectronic Lover," by Lindsey Van Gelder (electronic reserve)
    • "Boyz and Gurlz" in Cyberville by Stacy Horn
    • "TinySex and Gender Trouble", in Life on the Screen by Sherry Turkle (chapter 8)
    • Gender Swapping on the Internet by Amy Bruckman

    Online Site:

    6 2/13 Constructionism

    Reading:

    Online Site:

      2/15 Virtual Architecture

    Reading:

    Recommended:

    • "How did My Garden Grow" (Chapter 5) in "My Tiny Life" by Julian Dibbell

    Online Site:

    7 2/20 The Social, the Technical, the Political

    Reading:

    • Do Artifacts Have Politics? by Langdon Winner. (in The Whale and The Reactor)
    • Code v2.0 by Lawrence Lessig. Chapters one through eight. (Available free online, but you may wish to buy it anyway.)

    Recommended:

    Online Site:

      2/22 Deviant Behavior

    Reading:

    Recommended:

    • "The Purple Guest" (Chapter 3) in "My Tiny Life" by Julian Dibbell

    Online Sites:

    8 2/27 Governance

    Reading:

    Online Site:

      3/1 Social Roles, Leadership, and Hosting

    Reading:

    Recommended:

    Online Site:

    9 3/6 Student Presentations:
    Community Analysis Papers

    Due:

    3/8 Student Presentations:
    Community Analysis Papers (continued)

    Online Site:

    • Second Life
      Start using the site, in preparation for our class on it on 3/27.
    10 3/13 Student Presentations:
    Community Analysis Papers (continued)
      3/15 Participation and Lurking

    Reading:

    Online Site:

    11 3/20 Spring Break (no class)  
      3/22 Spring Break (no class)  
    12 3/27 Case Study: Second Life

    Reading:

    • Find an article about Second Life. Add it to the list on the coweb, making sure no one has picked it yet. Try to find a scholarly article rather than a popular press one if you can. Come to class prepared to summarize your article and discuss why it is interesting.

    Online Site:

    • Second Life
      Please spend at least 5 hours on the site. Make one simple object.
    3/29 Privacy and Community

    Reading:

    Online Site:

    • Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on Privacy (browse)
    • Read the privacy policies of two online sites you use. List your sites on the coweb, making sure no one else in the class has picked your sites. Come to class prepared to discuss those policies.
    13 4/3 Children Accessing Controversial Information

    Reading:

    Recommended:

    • W3C resource pages on PICS and RDF

    Online Sites:

    • From this list of Internet filters, pick two filters and see if you can use the developer's website to figure out how they work and what criteria they use for filtering.
    • Neopets
      4/5 Guest Lecture

    Guest Lecturer: Lynda Mitchell

    Reading and Listening:

    Online Site:

    14 4/10 Online Cooperation and the Open Source Movement

    Reading:

    Online Site:

      4/12 Kaneva
    Guest lecturer: Chris Klaus, Founder / CEO Kaneva
    15 4/17 Presentations:
    Community Designs

    Due:

      4/19 Presentations:
    Community Designs (continued)

     

    16 4/24 Presentations:
    Community Designs (continued)
    4/26 Final Exam The final exam will take place during class. It will be closed book.

    Readings and assignments are subject to change.