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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 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.