Virtual Communities/Social Media (Comm 182/282)

Stanford University
Fall, 2007
Wallenberg Learning Theater, Tuesdays, 2:15-5:05
Instructor: Howard Rheingold
Office Hours, Tuesdays, 1:15-2:15

Course Description

Expectations, Assignments, and Grading

Group Projects

Private disclosure and public evaluation: the dynamics of social networking websites

• Katie Ambrose
• Brittany Billmaier
• Leslie Mercado
• Abhay Sukumaran
• Stephanie Cao

Cultural Differences in Technology Use

• Elizabeth Markman
• Stephanie Chaparro
• Caitlin Geier
• Osvaldo Jimenez
• Casey Fisher

Avatars and the Identity of the "Self" in Virtual Spaces

• Erica Ashley McLain
• Silvia Sanchez
• Brian Thompson

Your project here -- link to your project page

•  

etc

---

Session One: September 25

• Wiki I
• Blog I

• Read the assigned readings for Session Two and be prepared to discuss them online
• Compose two blog posts per week, starting with this week and continuing through the quarter; posts should point to something on the Web that is worthy of this class' attention, described in the context of the readings
• Sign up on the wiki for at least two syllabus readings this quarter for which you will lead discussion, together with two other students, starting with our next class meeting. Each reading will be presented by a team of three students, who will communicate and coordinate among themselves and come to class prepared to present a brief summary of the reading, highlight its stance or assertion in the context of the syllabus and to lead discussion, working from questions submitted by students. While one student leads the team presentation and another student leads class discussion, the third student will take notes of the presentation and discussion on the wiki, which will be projected. 48 hours before each class meeting, each student will pose a question he or she is ready to discuss for each reading; each student will assign a one to five star rating on the questions posed by 5 other students. The top-rated proposed questions will be available to each team of discussion leaders.
• Sign up for and participate in the blog discussion that will take place over two weeks after the first class
• Remember that there is no class meeting next week; next class meeting is October 9.
• Notes on issues
• Notes on learning goals

Session Two: NO CLASS MEETING OCTOBER 2

• George Hillery Jr. (1955). "Definitions of Community: Areas of Agreement." Rural Sociology 20: 111-122. (READER ONLY)
• * I would like to start these discussions with the readings for session three. (Howard)*
• "Community and Society: Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft" by Ferdinand Tonnies, translated and edited by Charles P. Loomis, (East Lansing, The Michigan State University Press, 1957.) pp ix-xii (foreword and preface), 1-29 (introduction), 33-48, 64-80 (READER ONLY)
• Marshall Berman, All That is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity, 1988 (New York, Penguin), pp 41-60. (READER ONLY)
• Ray Oldenberg, The Great Good Place , Chapters One and Two (Page numbers TK) (READER ONLY)

Session Two

• Ronald E. Rice, James E. Katz, Sophia Acord, Kiku Dasgupta, Kalpana David,92004) "Personal Mediated Communication and the Concept of Community in Theory and Practice," in P. Kalbfleisch (ed), Communication and Community, Communication Yearbook 28, Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp 1-10 (attached )
• Robin Hamman, Introduction to Virtual Communities Research and Cybersociology Magazine Issue Two, available online.
• Amy Bruckman, (2006), "A New Perspective on "Community" and its Implications for Computer-Mediated Communication Systems," In Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Extended Abstracts (pp. 616-621). Montréal, Québec, 22-27 April, 2006. available online.
• Video on What defines community?
• Wikipedia on Sense of community
• Wikipedia on Community

• Participate in online discussion of readings via email list -- instructor will initiate discussion; each student is expected to respond to each discussion question
• Continue to blog twice and comment on other students' blog posts twice each week

• What does "what is community" mean?
• Can community be studied, analyzed, designed, grown, or created?

Session Three: Class Resumes Face to Face Tues, Oct 9

• Licklider, J. C. R., & R. W. Taylor. (1968). "The computer as a communication device," Science and Technology, April. Republished in SRC Research Report 61, Digital Equipment Corporation, 1990. Available online as PDF
• Osvaldo Jimenez
• Howard Rheingold, (1992) "A Slice of Life in My Virtual Community," available online.
• Leslie Mercado
• Fred Turner, "Where the counterculture met the new economy: the WELL and the origins of virtual community," Technology and Culture, Volume 46, Number 3, July 2005, pp. 485-512 available online as PDF.
• Jess Lee

• Howard Rheingold, (1985) "Xanadu, Network Culture, and Beyond," Tools for Thought. Available online.
• Alexia Nielsen
• Howard Rheingold, (1993) "The Heart of The Well," from The Virtual Community, available online.
• Brittany Billmaier
• Trebor Scholz, (2007) "A History of the Social Web" available online

• Blogging II
• Wiki II
• Introduction to Forum Software

• Sign up to refactor notes
• Refactored notes from today's class session
• Start your personal learning journal
• Continue blogging
• Log in to the forum and contribute two substantial comments per week

• How did the invention and early use of computer-mediated communication media differ from the way mainframe computer technology and culture developed?
• In what ways did the predictions of Taylor, Licklider, and Rheingold about the future of online culture hit or miss the mark of today's social cyberspaces?
• Did a counterculture subvert the megamachine, or the other way around?

Session Four: Tues, Oct 16

• Manuel Castells, "Why Networks Matter," Network Logic: Who Governs in an Interconnected World?, Helen McCarthy, Paul Miller, Paul Skidmore, eds, London: Demos, 2004, pp 221-224; available online
• Brian Thompson
• Stephanie Chaparro
• D. J. Watts. The “new” science of networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 243-270 (2004). available online.
• Casey Fisher
• Jim Ratcliffe
• Barry Wellman, "Physical Place and Cyber Place: The Rise of Personalized Networking," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 25 (2001), Special Issue on "Networks, Class and Place," edited by Talja Blokland and Mike Savage. available online.
• Brittany Billmaier
• Silvia Sanchez

• Mark Granovetter, "The Strength of Weak Ties, A Network Theory Revisited," Sociological Theory, Volume 1(1983), 201-233 available online
• danah boyd,Friends, Friendsters, and Top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites
• Shiv Singh,Social Networks and Group Formation

• Wiki III
• Twitter

• Use the comment features of your group's wiki page to continue your classroom discussion of your project; revise the wiki page and add linked pages if needed to reflect your decisions.

• What is the relationship between technological and social networks?
• What is the relationship between the architecture of a communication medium and the social, political, economic characteristics of its use?
• Why are online social networks popular today and what might they mean in the future?

Session Five: Tues, October 23

• Garrett Hardin, (1968) "The Tragedy of the Commons," Science, 162(1968):1243-1248. available online.
• Stephanie Chaparro
• Elizabeth Markman
• Caitlin Geier
• Peter Kollock, "Social Dilemmas: The Anatomy of Cooperation," available online.
• Elinor Ostrom, (1990) Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp 1-28
• Summary of Governing the Commons
• Robert Axelrod, "Three Conditions for Human Cooperation." available online
• Refactored lecture note from today

• Andrea Saveri, Howard Rheingold, Kathi Vian, Technologies of Cooperation, a report for Institute for the Future, 2003,available online.
• Mancur Olson (1965), The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups, (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1965), pp 1-52 (library reserve only)
• Peter Kollock, "The Economics of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace," in Smith and Kollock, Communities in Cyberspace, available online.

• Cooperation games
• Synchronous media -- IM, Presence, and Chat

• IM/Chat with instructor and other students during online office hours (TBS)

• How do social dilemmas figure in daily life?
• In what ways do communication media and practices influence the capability to organize collective action?
• Are humans successful because we are competitive, cooperative, or some as-yet undefined tendency? Refactored class notes for October 23

Session Six: Tues, October 30

• Sherry Turkle, (1995) "Aspects of the Self," Chapter Seven from Life On The Screen, Simon & Schuster, pp 177-210(READER ONLY)
• Liz Markman
• Caitlin Geier
• Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life , Introduction and Chapter One, (pp 1-50) (READER ONLY)
• Erica McLain
• Julian Dibbell, (1998). A Rape in Cyberspace. In My Tiny Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World (pp. 11-30). New York: Henry Holt and Company. available online
• Katie Ambrose
• danah boyd, 2006. "Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace." American Association for the Advancement of Science, St. Louis, MO. February 19. available online
• Silvia Sanchez
• Stephanie Cao

Midterm feedback

• Donath, J. (1999). "Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community,"In M. A. Smith & P. Kollock (Eds.), Communities in Cyberspace (pp. 29-59). New York: Routledge. available online
• Regina Lynn, "Virtual rape is traumatic, but is it a crime?," Wired, May 4, 2007, available online.
• Rheingold Mind-to-Mind with Sherry Turkle available online
• Video: Brad Paisley Online
• PDF, slides, video: Digital Identity and the Ghost in the Machine

• Introduction to Second Life

• Create and customize a Second Life avatar
• Search for Howard Rheingold and offer friendship
• Search for the group "NMC Guests" and join it
• Explore Howard Rheingold's Second Life office, located at Eduisland II 127, 21, 28 - Carl F. Spackler Hall, landmark it
• Find Southwest, NMC Conference Center 165, 133, 25 -- explore the tutorials by touching them; landmark this place
• Explore the world, blog about your observations about creating your avatar, learning to navigate (NOTE: since blogging assignments have been suspended for the rest of the quarter, this is no longer required. However, it won't hurt your grade if you do it.)

• What is the connection between identity and performance online?
• How do we distinguish between virtual social interactions between avatars and physical social interactions between people? How should we?
• What does the immersion in an always-on life do to human minds, relationships, communities?

Session Seven: Tues, November 6

• John Coate, "Cyberspace Innkeeping: Building Online Community," available online.
• Brian Thompson
• Peter Kollock, (1996), "Design Principles for Online Communities," Harvard Conference on the Internet and Society. available online.
• Amy Jo Kim, (2000) "Purpose: The Heart of Your Community," from Community Building on the Web, Peachpit Press, pp 1-18, available online.
• Amy Jo Kim, (2000), "Nine Principles of Community Design," attached.
• Howard Rheingold, (1999), "The Art of Hosting Good Conversations Online," available online.

• The WELL Host Manual, chapter two, available online.
• Chip Morningstar and F. Randall Farmer, "Lessons from Lucasfilms Habitat,", available online.
• Mike Godwin, "Nine Principles for Making Virtual Communities Work,"available online.
• Lee Lefever, What are the Differences Between Message Boards and Weblogs?

• Second Life and First Life

• During the following week, meet at agreed times in Second Life.
• Create an object, link it to a web page, and put your name in the text displayed -- use the script from the books on the glass desk in Howard's office

• What are the continuities and discontinuities between community-building in virtual and physical worlds?
• What is the tension between planning and growing when dealing with human social behavior?
• How do graphical simulations such as Second Life avatars affect how you think of yourself online, how people interact socially

Session Eight: Tues, November 13

• Robert Putnam, (1993) Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Princeton University Press, 1993, pp 121-181.
• Brittany Billmaier
• Paul Resnick, (2007) "Beyond Bowling Together: Sociotechnical Capital" HCI in the New Millenium, edited by John Carroll. Addison-Wesley attached.
• Rick Attig
• Keith Hampton, "Neighborhoods in the Network Society: The e-neighbors Study," Information, Communication, and Society, 10(5), 714-748, 2007, available online
• Ronald Burt, "Social Origins of Good Ideas," available online.

• Wikipedia entry on Social Capital available online
• Quan-Haase, A. and Wellman, B., "How does the internet affect social capital? available online
• T. Kobayashi, T, K. i. Ikeda and K. Miyata (2006) "Social Capital Online: Collective Use of the Internet and Reciprocity as Lubricants of Democracy", Information, Communication and Society, 9 (5), pp. 582-611. available online.
• Katie Ambrose
• Keith Hampton, E-neighbors study This links to the abstract; download the paper from this page.

Please watch this video here or here or here and read this to prepare!

• What is the relationship between community and democracy?
• What can only be done alone, and what requires collective action?
• Do networks of trust and reciprocity work better or worse in the always-on era?

• Katie Ambrose refactored notes here*

---

---

Session Nine: Tues, November 27

• John Suler, Basic Psychological Features of Cyberspace, available online.
• Abhay Sukumaran
• K. Ling, Beenen, G., Ludford, P., Wang, X., Chang, K., Cosley, D., Frankowski, D., Terveen, L., Rashid, A. M., Resnick, P., and Kraut, R. (2005). "Using social psychology to motivate contributions to online communities." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(4), article 10. available online.
• Allison Brian
• Sherry Turkle (2007), "Can You Hear Me Now," Forbes, May 7, 2007 http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0507/176.html
• Leslie Mercado
• Erica McLain
• Abhay Sukumaran
• Katherine Hayles, (2007). "Hyperattention" MLA Profession attached: Hayles-hyper.doc

• Create an account on Reframe It and join the Comm 182/282 group, and annotate this syllabus.

• How do your digital media and online social practices affect the way you think?
• Where does social cyberspace collide with physical sociality in your life, or in the lives of others?
• How do you determine whether life online is happier than life without the online part?

Session Ten: Tues, December 4

• Henry Jenkins, "How Second Life Impacts our First Life" (blog posting) available online.
• Jess Lee
• Stephanie Cao
• Leslie Mercado
• danah boyd, (2007) "Incantations for Muggles," Presentation at O'Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference, February.available online.
• Osvaldo Jimenez
• Allison Brian
• Christian Fuchs, (2006) "The Self-Organization of Virtual Communities," In: Journal of New Communications Research. Vol. 1. No. 1. pp. 29-68. attached

• Group Presentations
• Discussion: How can this course work better?

• Does the shift from community-centric media to networked individualism online (from virtual communities to social network services, from BBSs to blogs, from Usenet to Google Groups) signal a psychosocial shift?
• What is the connection between attentional, social, and normative considerations?
• Are you different from your parents because of the way you use media, and will your children be different from you?

 .html

 .html