Instructor: Owen JAMES
Email: james
Office: ILC 275
Learning Landscape
1. Homepage: http://ojames.blogspot.com/index.html
2. D.I.Y. Social Computing Textbook: http://okoj.wetpaint.com/page/Home
3. Group Email
* Group name: SCICU
* Group home page: http://groups.google.com/group/scicu
* Group email address scicu@googlegroups.com
4. Research database: http://del.icio.us/tag/scicu
5. Classes: Period 5 Tuesdays, Room H-159 (10 classes) & Friday Period 3, Room I-131 (9 classes)
General Advice
Keep an open mind: Learning means changing so do expect differences, especially in a computer-mediated such as this. Always talk to me about your ideas or if you have concerns.
How to Succeed
Attend all classes on time. Do all activities on time. Everything you do counts towards your grade. Best grades are rewards for consistent effort.
Course Description
Social Computing offers you the opportunity to put your passion into action througn technology. This course is for students interested in learning new information and communication technologies. Students will learn to use blogs, wikis, distributed bookmarking systems, RSS, aggregators, and other new social technologies. Students will also critically examine relationships between technology, social networks, democracy, and change. As well, you will undertake an individual 'issue entrepreneurship', using social software to promote a social cause you feel passionate about. Social Computing gives you the skills and the opportunity to take your message to the world.
Course Requirements
This course suits students who are comfortable with technology, enjoy project-based learning, and at the same time can commit to significant online collaboration and engagement with your peers.
Course Objectives. Students will:
a) Develop an in-browser work environment to call to service selected zero-install, web-based social applications
b) Develop hands-on experience in setting up, integrating, and using social software, including blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, aggregators, and distributed bookmarking systems.
d) Undertake a theoretical review of the relationships between technology, social networks, democracy, and change.
c) Undertake an 'issue entrepreneurship' (Agre) to test affordances of social software for creating democratic community and affecting personal and social change.
Readings
1. Barabasi, A-L, Linked (2003)
* The First Link: Introduction, pp. 1-8
* The Third Link: Six Degrees of Separation, pp. 25-35
* The Twelfth Link: The Fragmented Web, pp.161-172
2. A. Feenberg & Barney, D. (eds) Community in the Digital Age (2004)
* R. Kahn and Kellner, D. Virtually Democratic: Online Communities and Internet Activism, pp. 183-198
* Agre, P. The Practical Republic: Social Skills and the Progress of Citizenship, 201-215
3. Feenberg, A. Questioning Technology (1999)
* The Limits of Technical Rationality, pp. 75-91
* The Problem of Agency, pp. 120-129
4. Dourish, P. Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction (2004)
* Space, Place, and Locales, pp. 87-97
* Moving Towards Design, pp. 167-187
Assignments & Grading
45% Course Readings posts. Entries to your blog to summarise the main ideas and give your reaction to the ideas/issues in the text (or to a classmate's summary).
35% Issue Entrepreneurship posts. An IE is your opportunity to promote a cause you are passionate about, using any kind(s) of social software to spread and encourage take up of your “sticky message.” Your message may relate a personal, social, or global issue. Your IE will not be graded on the amount of social change you achieve, but on the posts you make summarizing the work you do, as well as, critical examination of the value of social software in your work.
10% Posts to classmates' blogs. This assignment is intended to encourage you to frequently read class blogs and offer constructive comment on the work of your classmates.
10% Research Collection. You will post a minimum 20 resources to our shared, class research collection maintained at deli.cio.us. As you surf the web in search of information about social computing and your Issue Entrepreneurship, you will bookmark items using the tag scicu. You are also encouraged to bookmark resources that you think classmates may be interested in. You will refer to and link to items from this collection in your blog posts on Course Readings and your IE. You will be alerted to new items in the Collection in your RSS aggregator (Bloglines, Sage), alternatively on the SC homepage, click Class web box.
Evaluation of blog posts
Grading of blog posts is based critical thinking, clarity, and sufficient quantity.
Weekly Coursework
Week 1: September 11
Due Date: Tuesday, September 19.
1. Get a blog at Blogger www.blogger.com
2. Get an RSS aggregator at Bloglines www.bloglines.com
3. Get a Del.icio.us account www.delicious.com
4. Accept Wetpaint invitation (D.I.Y. Textbook)
5. Post your blog URL & RSS feed and deli.cio.us username to the D.I.Y Textbook
6. Blog post: My (Techno-) Biography
7. Subscribe to all blogs at Bloglines
8. Subscribe to 'scicu' feed at http://del.icio.us/tag/scicu
9. Read Barabasi, A.L, Linked (2003) The First Link: Introduction, pp. 1-8
10. Blog post: Post a brief summary & personal reaction to Barabasi.
11. Blog post: Post a reply to a classmates' post on your own blog. Use 'reply to' and 'classmate's name' in title of your post.
12. Buy a USB drive (128MB is ok, but you can never have enough storage, so buy as big a drive as you can afford).
You must have this for class on 9/15.
Week 2: September 19
Due Date: Friday, September 22.
Here is the homework assignments that follow on from the work we did in class today:
1. Answer Barabasi questions. Contribute to class answers on Barabasi, pp. 1-8. Add your answer and/or delete, modify existing information or the structure of the group's answer. The goal is to create one best answer for each question. Go to DIY Textbook->Course readings-> Barabasi: The First Link pp. 1-8 and click Edit the content to add your contribution. Be sure to save when you have finished.
2. Read Barabasi, A.L., Linked (2003) The Third Link: Six Degrees of Separation, pp. 25-35. Students absent from class today should pick up a copy tomorrow from outside my office, ILC 275.
3. Blog post: Post a brief summary & personal reaction to Barabasi. (150-180 words)
4. Blog post: Issue Entrepreneurship.
To assist you in understanding, planning, and implementing your work to use social software to contribute to change on a social issue you personally feel passionate about, make an early attempt to address these questions in your blog. You may choose to focus on an issue at either a personal, social, or global level. You have an open opportunity to address these questions through your blog as your understanding develops over the course of the semester.
Your message.
1. What is your sticky message? (Barabasi 3) What is the idea you wish to promote or issue/problem you want to try to 'solve'?
Knowledge of social network.
2. Who is your strategic social group? Can you identify and define the organisational base you will need to develop and/ortap into?
Strategy for network building.
3. How will work to create your organisational base? How will you spread and encourage others to take up your message?
Due Date: Tuesday, September 26.
1. Blog post: Read classmates' posts on Barabasi, Six Degrees of Separation, pp. 25-35. Post a question for class discussion on Tuesday.
2. Read classmates' Issue Entrepreneurship posts. Post a constructive reply to one of our class members.
Week 3: September 26
Due: Tuesday, October 3
No new homework this week! However, homework has become very inconsistent overall and as a group we need to really improve this aspect of our course.
A part answer is to give everyone the chance to finish three pieces of core homework so that we are all on the same page, then we can make a fresh, new start next week. Please do not waste this opportunity to take an important step towards successfully completing Social Computing. Lastly, students who fail to complete this core work will need to earnestly discuss arrangements with me for their continued participation in this course.
Here is the core homework:
Blog post 1: Read Barabasi pp. 1-8 and post your summary and reaction (min. 150-180 words).
Blog post 2: Read Barabasi pp. 25-35 and post your summary and reaction (min. 150-180 words).
Blog post 3: Respond to these questions on Barabasi: The Sixth Link pp. 25-35 in full answers on your blog.
Blog post 4: Respond to these questions on your Issue Entrepreneurship on your blog (min. 150-180 words).
Assessment: Critical thinking, clarity, sufficient quantity.
Please note: Students who have already done this core homework do not need to do it again , however, you may like to return to the work you did, and edit it to make any improvements.
Week 4: October 2
Due: Friday, October 6
1. Blog post: Read Kahn and Kellner pp.183-185, pp.190-198. Post a summary of the main points (a classmate will respond to you for homework for Friday). If you were absent from today's class, please pick up a copy from outside my room, ILC-275.
Due: Tuesday, October 10
Homework will now be posted as new messages to the SC course blog, rather than extending this document further.
Week 5: October
See most recent blog posts for homework updates.
