This course is motivated in large part by the spirit of the open-source movement. Participatory culture, fans, gamers, bloggers and vloggers are challenging the dominant content of mainstream media and traditional notions of privacy and intellectual property. In this course we will complete projects that introduce and experiment with a variety of tools that enable collaboration and sharing. What is socially engaged citizenship in the context of open-source technology?
[Buzzwords: blogs, vlogs, wikis, online radio, podcasting, RSS feeds, del.icio.us, technorati, Indymedia, Wikipedia, open API, flickr, skype]
Pre-req Comm 225 or permission of instructor.
materials:
generosity and good will
required texts:
all required readings will be handed out in class or available online at: http://sodacity.net/courses
Participation: 10%
A large amount of class time will be dedicated to group critiques, team projects and class discussion. I encourage you to take an active role in contributing to make our class a fun and dynamic place to be.
Weekly Share: 5%
One week you will collaborate with a classmate to share or give something to the rest of the class. Each group will be given 10 minutes at the beginning of class. Each "share" will be posted to the class website for futher discussion. You could make something, juggle something, demonstrate something, sing something, etc, etc.
Qwik Writes 10%
Occasionally I will give "pop" in-class writing assignments, in which you will be asked to make critical reflections on the day's readings.
Citizen Journalism 20%
You will develop and maintain your own blog over the course of the semester. In writing your blog you will strive to develop a unique and personal voice about topics that are interesting and important to you. You will experiment with connecting and communicating with your readers.
Collective Intelligence 20%
As a class, we will engage in an experiment about massive authorship. Over the course of the semester, we will use a wiki, a form of collaborative software, to collectively research, write and visualize a specific topic. You will write a reflective essay comparing and contrasting your experience of writing an individual blog to co-authoring a wiki.
Your Public/Private Self 10%
Assignment details forthcoming.
Your Social Network 10%
Assignment details forthcoming.
Final Paper/Project: 15%
This project will be self-initiated and should integrate many of the skills/concepts you will learn this semester. When the time comes I will suggest possible topics and approaches. You will have the option of working individually or collaborating with other students.
Work in the lab with a friend - when learning new technology, 2 brains are usually better than one. You are welcome to work on your assignments at home but many students use the Digital Media Labs in room 556 or 559. Lab hours will be posted after the first week of classes. Students may not use the lab when another class is in session. If the lab is locked during regular lab hours you may get a key from the Security Desk.
Attendance will be taken in each class. You are allowed one unexcused (no questions asked) absence, after which your final grade will drop substantially with each absence. In the event that an extraordinary circumstance will require you to miss a class, please let me know ahead of time, by calling me, or by email.
Students with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations or academic adjustments for this course must either enroll in the Program for Academic Access or register with the Office of Student Support Services. For any accommodation, the instructor must be presented with either a letter from the Assistant Director of the Program for Academic Access or an Accommodations Card from the Office of Student Support Services during the first week of classes.
MMC fosters an academic community where students and faculty work together to create a learning experience that imparts knowledge and forms character. To achieve this, the College requires all members of the community to adhere to the policy of Academic Honesty that can be found in the Student Handbook, the College Catalogue and on the College website.
Week by week course schedule:
Workshop:
blog platforms:
http://www.civiblog.org
http://www.blogger.com
http://www.typepad.com
http://www.livejournal.com
http://www.movabletype.org
http://www.wordpress.org
DUE:
Register an account at http://sodacity.net/user.
Write a 1-page brainstorm for your blog project. It should include:
Readings:
We Media. Chapter 1: Introduction to participatory journalism Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis
A Definition of Sociable Media by Judith Donath [pdf]
Attachment | Size |
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Judith_Donath-Sociable_Media.pdf | 112.32 KB |
Willis_and_Bowman-We_Media_Ch1.pdf | 572.63 KB |
Workshop:
Extending your blog skills: commenting, link equity, search engine optimization (SEO)
Share:
Cassie + Bridget > http://mccd.udc.es/orihuela/epic/
DUE:
By Friday February 7, 2007:
By Tuesday February 13, 2007:
Readings:
Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents (read online) or download: PDF version
Besieged Lebanese turn to Internet by Zeina Karam
In the Midst of War, Bloggers Are Talking by Sarah Ellison
Notes:
Your Privately Public Self
Workshop:
Extending your digital self:
DUE:
Now that you've planted your blog, grow it:
Links:
http://technorati.com
http://www.gabcast.com
http://bloglines.com
How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
http://www.google.com/search?q=blogger+themes
http://www.blogger-templates.blogspot.com
http://blogger-themes.blogspot.com
http://blogfresh.blogspot.com/2005/08/blogger-hacks-series.html
Readings:
"Blogging Outloud: Shifts in Public Voice" by danah boyd
"Steal this bookmark!" by Katharine Mieszkowski
Thomas Vander Wal's definition of folksonomy.
Clay Shirky discusses folksonomy
Attachment | Size |
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danah_boyd-Blogging_Outloud_Shifts_in_Public_Voice.pdf | 129.94 KB |
Katharine_Mieszkowski-Steal_this_bookmark.pdf | 377.85 KB |
Workshop:
DUE:
Your private public self - part one:
Register at http://secondlife.com.
Choose a name.
Get Dressed (create your avatar).
Learn how to fly.
Register at http://del.icio.us
Choose a name.
Start bookmarking socially.
Readings:
Mary Douglas' foreward to The Gift by Marcel Mauss [PDF]
Pekka Himanen, “The Academy and the Monastery” [PDF]
Attachment | Size |
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Marcel_Mauss-The_Gift_foreward.pdf | 949.77 KB |
Pekka_Himanen_The_Hacker_Ethic_Ch4.pdf | 1.57 MB |
Discussion:
Social networks have been the focus of much recent research and entrepreneurship. This discourse views social relationships as nodes and links (or ties). Nodes are individual entities (often people) and the links are the relationships between them (parent-child, student-teacher, friend-friend). The people you know are your social network. Social relationships can be characterized on a spectrum from shallow to deep. Some theorists claim that social networks with many weak ties are more valuable than ones with fewer and deeper ties. The premise is that the more connections you have, the more likely that new ideas and opportunities will be introduced to you. This seems to be the guiding principle of many of these new social networking websites. Deeper connections have greater costs in terms of time commitments, etc and tend to have redundant ties. Of particular value in these systems are nodes (people, entities) that can bridge two networks thereby brokering relationships between networks that otherwise are not directly linked.
In 1967, Stanley Milgram made the famous "small world experiment" which claimed to prove that people in the world are separated by at most 6 links. While the experiment is considered to have many flaws, the notion of six degrees of separation has persisted in popular culture.
some links:
http://oracleofbacon.org/index.html
http://www.albany.edu/museum/wwwmuseum/work/lombardi/
http://www.theyrule.net/
http://smg.media.mit.edu/projects/SocialNetworkFragments/implementation/layout/6-2.mov
http://www.buddygraph.com
http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue7_4/krebs/
DUE: 4-5 page essay
1. Take a snapshot of your SL avatar and attach it to this assignment.
2. Describe the appearance of your avatar in Second Life in depth.
Readings:
Get up, stand up, social network by Paul Lamb
The Rhythms of Salience: A Conversation Map by Judith Donath
Attachment | Size |
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Judith_Donath-Conversation_Map.pdf | 64.5 KB |
I will be out of town attending the 2007 SXSW Interactive Festival.
Workshop:
Introducing the wiki.
Wiki 101
MediaWiki Handbook
DUE: write and draw
+ Think about how you can draw connecting lines: they can be thicker, thinner, longer, shorted. They can be solid or dashed, dark or light, wavy, curved, straight or angular. Consider the challenge of showing people who are physically distant but personally close.
+ Think about the groups/relationships in which people participate in your network. They might range from tight knit groups like families, to loosely focused groups like a college dorm. How can you use color, shape, size to represent these different types of groupings?
+ The final result can be turned in as a digital file (photoshop, illustrator, flash) or on a physical sheet of paper. You might consider including a legend or codex for your diagram.
Readings:
"The Wealth of Networks: Chapter 3. Peer Production and Sharing" by Yochai Benkler
"Silence is a Commons" by Ivan Illich
Optional:
"The Tragedy of the Commons" by Garrett Hardin
Attachment | Size |
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Yochai_Benkler-Wealth_of_Networks_Ch03.pdf | 766.16 KB |
Ivan_Illich-Silence_is_a_Commons.pdf | 62.23 KB |
DUE: play in the sandbox
Links:
http://www.learningtoloveyoumore.com
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu
http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/top
http://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome
Readings:
Discourse Architecture and Very Large-scale Conversation by Warren Sack [PDF]
Introducing the wiki.
Wiki 101
MediaWiki Handbook
Attachment | Size |
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Warren-Sack_Very-Large-scale-Conversation.pdf | 2.85 MB |
DUE: FunkyEDU updates
Wiki location: http://media.mmm.edu/wiki
minimum:
2 substantive original entries [150-200 words each]
3 substantive edits of existing entries
Email me the 5 links to your entries by Monday night.
note, in place of a text-based entry, you can upload a layout/image/design of your own creation. Uploading images you find online does not count here.
suggestions - the faculty page is starting to develop. Think about what other sections are needing attention or creation.
Links:
the Evolution of Cooperation
The Prisoner's Dilemma
Readings:
The Wealth of Networks: Chapter 7. Political Freedom Part 2: Emergence of the Networked Public Sphere by Yochai Benkler
Attachment | Size |
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Yochai_Benkler-Wealth_of_Networks_Ch07.pdf | 1.48 MB |
DUE: FunkyEDU updates
Wiki location: http://media.mmm.edu/wiki
minimum:
2 substantive original entries [150-200 words each]
3 substantive edits of existing entries
Email me the 5 links to your entries by Monday night.
Readings:
A Manifesto for Networked Objects (Why Things Matter) by Julian Bleeker
Technologies of Cooperation by Howard Rheingold
A video, podcast and other materials from a lecture Howard Rheingold gave about this topic can be found here
Attachment | Size |
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Julian_Bleecker-Why_Things_Matter.pdf | 943.23 KB |
Howard-Rheingold_Technologies-of-Cooperation.pdf | 1.15 MB |
DUE: 4-5 page comparative essay
Compare and contrast your experience of writing an individual blog to that of co-authoring a wiki. Your essay should draw from class readings. Try to look critically at the output of both endeavors.
Some similarities and differences you might consider:
Readings:
We Media. Chapter 4: The rules of participation by Dan Gillmor
If you're interested in continuing your blog and would like to host it at your own domain name (get rid of the blogspot) these links might be helpful:
Suggestions on where to buy domain names and webhosting.
Info on using a custom domain and using your own webhosting service.
Info on using a custom domain but continuing to host your blog at blogger.
DUE: Final Take-Home Endeavor
You may work in groups of 2 or 3.
This endeavor is meant to be an integrative exercise, covering as much of the course work as possible, and also one in which you begin to come to terms with the points of view of the readings, class discussions, small group discussions, shares, websites, projects, the course as a whole, and your own reactions to them. I ask that you show your struggle to make sense of the course work and how you relate to it personally as well as intellectually. There are no right answers, and any judgments, reservations, criticisms, rejections, acceptances, celebrations, provocative questions, hesitations, insights, etc. are acceptable as long as they are backed up by careful references to sources (readings, websites, etc) and/or thoughtful reasoning.
Respond to the following 2 questions - stating opinions is not enough, cite relevant authors in your discussion. I highly recommend that you write cooperatively with your classmates (as opposed to divvying up the questions and writing individually). Your answers will be stronger if you generate answers through discussing the various themes and issues raised by the course material.
Groups of 2 should write 4 pages per question.
Groups of 3 should write 6 pages per question.
The Networked Public Sphere is being designed as we speak. How this occurs will govern what you can do, what you can see, what you look like and who can gain access to what. It is our responsibility to participate in envisioning this future.
Imagine: you have been provided 10 gazillion dollars of seed money and a crack team of engineers and computer programmers who can make anything you design.
The Challenge: design either a new web service or personal display (handheld or wearable device) that augments/enhances social interactivity.
Questions:
+ What are you making, what does it do?
+ Who are you making it for - who is your audience?
+ What kind of identity information is emitted?
+ Is the display/service public, private, both?
+ How does it interact with other users - proximity, affinities?
+ What problem does it set out to address?
+ What are some related products/services - how does yours differ?
Format:
A 10-15 minute presentation in the form of Power Point or a webpage/blog. Please turn in either a copy burned to CD or a URL.
The presentation should incorporate the following:
!!! your device/service does not have to work - but you need to explain how it would work.
in no particular order:
http://the-penguino.blogspot.com by Quikktrip
http://awaybutnot.blogspot.com by crushedice
http://perfbyperf.blogspot.com by CassieLynn
http://grafaroidnyc.blogspot.com by asmyth
http://thebigdome.blogspot.com by adegroff
http://prevengeofthenerds.blogspot.com by DancinMike
http://lightbluebutton.blogspot.com by kalynn
http://lalakeshow.blogspot.com by nikki lajom
http://realityhore.blogspot.com by ldow
http://popsiculture.blogspot.com by akirwan
http://treschicatrain.blogspot.com by ashleyhearon
http://theinfamousbigredbox.blogspot.com by MRASTROUSKI
http://rewindandreview.blogspot.com by emilykhughes
http://ladyearth2.blogspot.com by Bridget123
http://requiemforastudent.blogspot.com by bhoughton
http://gnocchinookie.blogspot.com by Jdonnarumma
http://deathgetoverit.blogspot.com by eseguin
http://moneymattersnyc.blogspot.com by charshman