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Spring 2008

5:30 PM to 8:00 PM Tuesday Library 3083

Instructor: Andr Brock

Office: 3074 Library/212 Bowman House

Office phone: (319) 335-6074

E-mail: [email protected] Box: Located in the SLIS officeOffice Hours: Two hours prior to each class session, or by appointment

Course Description1

This course will explore the concept of online communities. Students will gain an understanding of

community through the review and reflection on relevant theoretical and historical texts, as well as the

development of a culturally-aware framework for observation and evaluation, and the design of an online

community through groupwork. We will explore various online communities in various manifestations

and explore the principles tying them together.

For clarity, a community is defined as a group of people who sustain interaction over time. The bonds ty-

ing the group together could be a shared identity, a collective focus or purpose, or even the salvation of a

particular need.

Course Goals

Students should understand cultural and theoretical constructs of community, as well as the

technologies and trends of online communities over time.

Students will learn and apply a critical cultural evaluative framework to online communities.

Students will draft, plan, build, and evaluate an online community.

Assignments and Grading

Participation 30%

Online Community Profile 25%

Community Planning and Design 40%

Implementation and Evaluation 15%

Course Policies

You are responsible for reading all required readings on the syllabus, including additional handouts.

Please notify me in advance in writing if you have to miss a class; unexcused absences will count against

your grade.

Online Communities 021-259/160-259

Online Communities syllabus - Spring 2008 1

1 Much thanks for the unwitting assistance of Professors Elizabeth Osder, Jennifer Preece, Paul Resnick,

Susan Herring, Howard Rheingold, Amy Bruckman, and many others.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

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Spring 2008

This course is given by the Graduate College. As such, class policies on matters such as requirements,grading, and sanctions for academic dishonesty are governed by the Graduate College. Students wishing to

add or drop this course after the official deadline must receive the approval of the Dean of the Graduate

College. Policy governing students enrolled in courses outside their own college or degree program may be

found at: http://www.uiowa.edu/~provost/deos/crossenroll.doc

Academic Fraud

Plagiarism and any other activities when students present work that is not his or her own are academic

fraud. Academic fraud is reported to the departmental DEO and to the Associate Dean for Academic Pro-

grams and Services who enforces the appropriate consequences.

www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtm

Making a Suggestion or a Complaint

Students with a suggestion or complaint should first visit the instructor, then the course supervisor and

the departmental DEO. Complaints must be made within six months of the incident.

www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtml#5

Understanding Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment subverts the mission of the University and threatens the well-being of students, faculty,

and staff.www.sexualharassment.uiowa.edu

Reacting Safely to Severe Weather

In severe weather, the class members will seek shelter in the innermost part of the building, if possible at

the lowest level, staying clear of windows and free-standing expanses. (Operations Manual 16.14. i.)

Accommodations for Disabilities

A student seeking academic accommodations should register with Student Disability Services and meet

privately with the course instructor to make particular arrangements.

www.uiowa.edu/~sds/

It is my desire to fully include persons with disabilities in this course. Please let me knowwithin the first

two weeks of class if special accommodations are necessary to enable you to fully participate.


http://www.uiowa.edu/~sds/http://www.uiowa.edu/~sds/http://www.sexualharassment.uiowa.edu/http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtml#5http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtmhttp://www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtmhttp://www.uiowa.edu/~sds/http://www.uiowa.edu/~sds/http://www.sexualharassment.uiowa.edu/http://www.sexualharassment.uiowa.edu/http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtml#5http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtml#5http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtmhttp://www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtmhttp://www.uiowa.edu/~provost/deos/crossenroll.dochttp://www.uiowa.edu/~provost/deos/crossenroll.doc

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Spring 2008

Topical ScheduleReadings

Selections are listed under the day on which they will be discussed. The syllabus is subject to constant

revision, so make sure you keep up with the posted version on [xxxx]. Each days readings will be pre-

sented by one or more students. For more detail, see the assignment section.

Culture, Community, and Technology

January 22 Introduction

January 29 Rhetoric of Technology

Technology and Culture

February 5 Theories of CommunityCultural Considerations - Critical Race Theory

Social Capital

February 12 What is an Online Community?

Online Communities I

February 19 Online Communities

Identity and the Internet

February 25 Online Communities

Embodiment, Identity, and the Internet

March 4 Online Communities

Typology

Purpose

March 11 Research Method and Ethics

CMDA

Content Analysis

Cyberethnography

March 18 Spring Break

Online Communities II

March 25 Culture, Technology, Community

BlackPlanet

Second Life

April 1 Rituals, Beliefs, and Norms

MMOs

Games

April 8 Practices and Governance

Wikipedia

April 15 TBA

April 22 TBA

April 29 Presentations

May 6 Presentations



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Spring 2008

ow

Course Calendar

Date Assign-

ment Due

Readings

Jan 22, 2008 None None

Jan 29, 2008

Rhetoric of

Technology

Technology

and Culture

Pacey, A. (1983). The culture of technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Pp. 1-34, 78-96 [UIowa InfoLink]

Winner, L. (1980) Do artifacts have politics?Daedelus 109(1). Available

from:

http://cscl.ist.psu.edu/public/users/mrosson/IST501/readings/Winner86

.pdfDinerstein, J. (2006) Technology and its discontents: On the verge of the

posthuman. American Quarterly 58(3). 569 [UIowa InfoLink]

Baraka, A. (1979) Technology and Ethos. In Rage, rays, raise, raze: Es-

says since 1965. Available from:

http://www.marilynnance.com/titanic/baraka.html

Lockard, J. (1995). Selling Brooklyn bridges in cyberspace. Bad Sub-

jects 18. Available from: http://eserver.org/bs/18/Lockard.html

Feb 5, 2008

Theories of

Community

Cultural Con-

siderations -

Critical Race

Theory

Social Capital

Dyer, R. (1999) The matter of whiteness. White. London: Routledge. Pp.

1-40 [Handout]

Lipsitz, G. (1995). The possessive investment in Whiteness: Racialized

social democracy and the "White" problem in American Studies.

American Quarterly 47(3). Pp. 369-387. [UIowa InfoLink}

Tonnies, F. (1957). On Gemeinschaft and gesellschaft. In Community

and society: Gemeinschaft und gesellschaft. Translated and edited by

Charles P. Loomis. Lansing, MI: Michigan State UP. Pp. 223-231 Avail-

able from: http://media.pfeiffer.edu/lridener/courses/GEMEIN.HTML

Putnam, R. D. (1995). Tuning in, tuning out: The strange disappearance

of social capital in America.PS: Political Science and Politics, 28(4), 664-

683. [UIowa InfoLink]

Putnam, R. D. (1995) Bowling alone. Journal of Democracy 6(1). 65.

[UIowa InfoLink]

Oldenburg, R. Chapters 1&2. The Great Good Place. [TBS]


http://media.pfeiffer.edu/lridener/courses/GEMEIN.HTMLhttp://media.pfeiffer.edu/lridener/courses/GEMEIN.HTMLhttp://media.pfeiffer.edu/lridener/courses/GEMEIN.HTMLhttp://eserver.org/bs/18/Lockard.htmlhttp://eserver.org/bs/18/Lockard.htmlhttp://www.marilynnance.com/titanic/baraka.htmlhttp://www.marilynnance.com/titanic/baraka.htmlhttp://cscl.ist.psu.edu/public/users/mrosson/IST501/readings/Winner86.pdfhttp://cscl.ist.psu.edu/public/users/mrosson/IST501/readings/Winner86.pdfhttp://cscl.ist.psu.edu/public/users/mrosson/IST501/readings/Winner86.pdfhttp://cscl.ist.psu.edu/public/users/mrosson/IST501/readings/Winner86.pdf

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Course Calendar

Feb 12, 2008

What is an

online com-

munity?

Lessig, L. (1999). Chapter 6. Code and other laws of cyberspace. New

York, NY: Basic Books. Available from:

http://codebook.jot.com/Book/Chapter6/Ch6Part1

Wellman, B. and Gulia, M. (1999) Net surfers dont ride alone. In In P.

Kollock and M. Smith (Eds.) Communities in Cyberspace. London:

Routledge. Available from:

www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/netsurfers/netsurfers.pdf

Wellman, B. (2001) Computer networks as social networks.Science,

293(14 September), 2031-2034. [UIowa InfoLink]

Paccagnella, L. (2001) Online community action: Perils and Possibili-

ties. In C. Werry and M. Mowbray (Eds), Online Communities: Com-

merce, community action, and the virtual university. Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Pp. 365-393 [Handout]

Preece, J., Maloney-Krichmar, D, Abras, C. (2003) History and emer-

gence of online communities. In B. Wellman (Ed.),Encyclopedia of

Community. Berkshire Publishing Group, Sage. Available from:

http://www.ifsm.umbc.edu/~preece/paper/6%20Final%20Enc%20preece

%20et%20al.pdf

Rheingold, H. (1992). Introduction and Daily Life in Cyberspace: Howthe Computerized Counterculture Built a New Kind of Place. The vir-

tual community: Homesteading on the electronic frontier. Available

from: http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/

Feb 19, 2008

Online Com-

munities

Identity and

the Internet

Post dis-

cussions

online

Goffman, E. (1959) Introduction and Chapter 1. Presentation of self in

everyday life.

Donath, J. (1999). Identity and deception in the virtual community. In

P. Kollock and M. Smith (Eds.) Communities in Cyberspace. London:

Routledge. Available online:

http://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/Donath/IdentityDeception/IdentityDe

ception.pdfBenkler, Y. (2006) Peer production and sharing. The Wealth of Net-

works. New Haven, CT: Yale UP. Available from:

http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks_Chapter_3.pdf


http://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/Donath/IdentityDeception/IdentityDeception.pdfhttp://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks_Chapter_3.pdfhttp://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks_Chapter_3.pdfhttp://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/Donath/IdentityDeception/IdentityDeception.pdfhttp://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/Donath/IdentityDeception/IdentityDeception.pdfhttp://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/Donath/IdentityDeception/IdentityDeception.pdfhttp://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/Donath/IdentityDeception/IdentityDeception.pdfhttp://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/http://www.ifsm.umbc.edu/~preece/paper/6%20Final%20Enc%20preece%20et%20al.pdfhttp://www.ifsm.umbc.edu/~preece/paper/6%20Final%20Enc%20preece%20et%20al.pdfhttp://www.ifsm.umbc.edu/~preece/paper/6%20Final%20Enc%20preece%20et%20al.pdfhttp://www.ifsm.umbc.edu/~preece/paper/6%20Final%20Enc%20preece%20et%20al.pdfhttp://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/netsurfers/netsurfers.pdfhttp://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/netsurfers/netsurfers.pdfhttp://codebook.jot.com/Book/Chapter6/Ch6Part1http://codebook.jot.com/Book/Chapter6/Ch6Part1

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Spring 2008

Course Calendar

Feb 26, 2008

Online Com-

munities

Embodiment

and Identity

Gefen, D. And Ridings, C.M. (2004). Virtual community attraction: Why

people hang out online. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

10(1). [UIowa InfoLink]

Robinson, L (2007). The cyber-self: the self-ing project goes online,

symbolic interaction in the digital age. New Media and Society 9. 93.

[UIowa InfoLink]

Burkhalter, B. (1999). Reading race online: discovering racial identity in

Usenet discussions. In P. Kollock and M. Smith (Eds.) Communities in

Cyberspace. London: Routledge. Available from:

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/communities_03.

htm

Senft, T. (2000) Baud girls and cargo cults. In T. Swiss and A. Herman

(Eds.) World Wide Web: Myth, Metaphor, Magic New York: Routledge.

Available from: http://www.terrisenft.net/writing/bgcc.html

Suler, J. (2005). The psychology of cyberspace. Available from:

http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/basicfeat.html

Nakamura (2002) Race in/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial

Passing on the Internet available at:

http://www.humanities.uci.edu/mposter/syllabi/readings/nakamura.html

Mar 4, 2008

Online Com-

munities

Typology

Purpose

Stanoesvska-Slabeva and Schmid (2001) A typology of online communi-

ties and community supporting platforms. Proceedings of the 34th Ha-

waii International Conference on System Sciences. Available from:

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/iel5/7255/20032/00927041.

pdf?tp=&arnumber=927041&isnumber=20032

Preece, J. and Maloney-Krichmar, D. (2003). Online communities: De-

sign, theory, and practice.Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,

10(4), article 1. [UIowa InfoLink]

Rheingold, H. (1993) Chapter 5 and 6. In The Virtual Community: Home-

steading on the electronic frontier. Available from:

http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/5.htmland

http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/6.html

Doering, N. (2002). Personal home pages on the Web: A review of re-

search.Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication7(3). [UIowa Info-

Link]


http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/2.htmlhttp://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/iel5/7255/20032/00927041.pdf?tp=&arnumber=927041&isnumber=20032http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/2.htmlhttp://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/2.htmlhttp://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/2.htmlhttp://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/2.htmlhttp://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/iel5/7255/20032/00927041.pdf?tp=&arnumber=927041&isnumber=20032http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/iel5/7255/20032/00927041.pdf?tp=&arnumber=927041&isnumber=20032http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/iel5/7255/20032/00927041.pdf?tp=&arnumber=927041&isnumber=20032http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/iel5/7255/20032/00927041.pdf?tp=&arnumber=927041&isnumber=20032http://www.humanities.uci.edu/mposter/syllabi/readings/nakamura.htmlhttp://www.humanities.uci.edu/mposter/syllabi/readings/nakamura.htmlhttp://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/basicfeat.htmlhttp://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/basicfeat.htmlhttp://www.terrisenft.net/writing/bgcc.htmlhttp://www.terrisenft.net/writing/bgcc.htmlhttp://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/communities_03.htmhttp://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/communities_03.htmhttp://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/communities_03.htmhttp://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/communities_03.htm

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Spring 2008

Course Calendar

Mar 11, 2008

Research

Methods

Research Eth-

ics

Complete

UIowa

human

subjects

online

certifica-

tion

course

(IRB-02) at

http://ww

w.citiprogr

am.org/

You must

turn in a

copy of

the certifi-

cate.

Schneider, S.M. and Foot, K.A. (2004) The Web as an object of study.

New Media & Society 6(1). 114-122 [UIowa InfoLink]

Herring, S. (2004) Computer-mediated discourse analysis: An approach

to researching on-line behavior. Available from:

http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/%7Eherring/cmda.pdfHudson, J. and Bruckman, A. (2004) 'go away': Participant objections to

being studied and the ethics of chatroom research. The Information So-

ciety, 20(2), 127-139. [UIowa InfoLink]Bruckman, A. (2006). Teaching students to study online communities

ethically. Journal of Information Ethics 15(2), 82-98. [UIowa InfoLink]

Churchill, E.F. And Halverson, C.A. (2005). Social networks and social

networking. IEEE Internet Computing 9(5). Pp. 14-19 [UIowa InfoLink]

Ess, C. (2001) AoIR research ethics. Available from:

http://aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf

Walther J.B. Research ethics in Internet-enabled research: Human sub-

jects issues and methodological myopia. Ethics and Information Technol-ogy 4. 205-216 Available from:

http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/ethics_wal_full.html

Miller, R. and Slater, D. (2000). Chapter 1. The Internet: An Ethnographic

Approach. [TBS}

Mar 18, 2008 Spring Break


http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/ethics_wal_full.htmlhttp://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/ethics_wal_full.htmlhttp://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/ethics_wal_full.htmlhttp://aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdfhttp://aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdfhttp://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~herring/cmda.pdfhttp://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~herring/cmda.pdfhttp://www.citiprogram.org/http://www.citiprogram.org/http://www.citiprogram.org/http://www.citiprogram.org/http://www.citiprogram.org/http://www.citiprogram.org/

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Spring 2008

Course Calendar

Mar 25, 2008

Culture, Com-

munity, and

Technology

Online

Commu-

nity

Evaluation

Due

Winner, L. (1996). Who will we be in cyberspace? The Information Soci-

ety 12. 63-72. [UIowa InfoLink]

boyd, d. [blog post] Viewing America. Available from:

http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2007/06/24/viewing_america.

html

Raymond, E. (xxxx) The Cathedral and the Bazaar

http://catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/cathedra

l-bazaar.pshttp://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/

boyd,d. and Ellison, N. (2007) Social network sites: Definition, history,

and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13 (1), 210

230 [UIowa InfoLink]

April 1

Rituals, Beliefs,

and Norms

MySpace

Livejournal

MMOs

Casual Games

Slashdot

Preece, J. and Nonnecke,B. (2000) Lurker demographics: counting the

silent. Proceedings of CHI 2000, April 1 - 6, 2000, The Hague, Nether-

lands, pp. 73-80 [UIowa InfoLink]

Postmes, T., Spears, R. And Lea, M. (2000). The formation of group

norms in computer mediated communication. Human Communication

Research 26. 341-371 [UIowa InfoLink]

Dibbell, J. (1998). A rape in cyberspace. InMy Tiny Life. New York:

Henry Holt. pp. 11-32. Available online:

http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.html and also:

http://www.lulu.com/content/1070691(I recommend this one for read-

ability)

Castronova, E. (2001). Virtual worlds: A first-hand account of market

and society on the Cyberian Frontier. Available from:

http://www.bepress.com/giwp/default/vol2/iss1/art1/current_article.html

Morris, S. (xxxx) Online gaming culture: an examination of emerging

forms of production and participation in multiplayer first person

shooter gaming [UIowa InfoLink]

boyd, d. (2006). Friends, friendsters, and top 8: Writing community into

being on social network sites.First Monday 11(12) (December) Available

from: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_12/boyd/index.html


http://www.bepress.com/giwp/default/vol2/iss1/art1/current_article.htmlhttp://www.lulu.com/content/1070691http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.htmlhttp://www.bepress.com/giwp/default/vol2/iss1/art1/current_article.htmlhttp://www.bepress.com/giwp/default/vol2/iss1/art1/current_article.htmlhttp://www.lulu.com/content/1070691http://www.lulu.com/content/1070691http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.htmlhttp://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.htmlhttp://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2007/06/24/viewing_america.htmlhttp://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2007/06/24/viewing_america.htmlhttp://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2007/06/24/viewing_america.htmlhttp://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2007/06/24/viewing_america.html

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Spring 2008

Course Calendar

April 8

Practices, Gov-

ernance, and

Design

(PG&D)

Wikipedia

YouTube

Flickr

Digg

iVillage

Coates, J. (1993) Cyberspace innkeeping: Building online community.

Available from: http://gopher.well.sf.ca.us:70/0/Community/innkeeping

Miklaucic, S. (xxxx) Virtual real(i)ty: SimCity and the production of

urban cyberspace. [UIowa InfoLink]

Godwin, M. (1994). Nine principles for making virtual communities

work. Wired 2.06(June). Available from:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.06/vc.principles_pr.html

Suler, J. (1998). Making virtual communities work. Available from:http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/commwork.html

Bruckman, A. (1996) Finding one's own space in cyberspace. Technology

Review 99(1) (January) [UIowa InfoLink]

Kollock, P. (1999). The economies of online cooperation: Gifts and pub-

lic goods in cyberspace. In P. Kollock and M. Smith (Eds.) Communities

in Cyberspace. London: Routledge. Available from:

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

Apr 15, 2008

PG&D contin-ued...

Andrews (2002). Audience-specific online community design. Communi-

cations of the ACM 45(4), 64-68. [UIowa InfoLink]Suler, J. (xxxx) Communicative subtlety in multimedia chat. Available

from: http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/

Kim, A.J. (1998) Secrets of successful web communities: 9 timeless de-

sign principles for community building. [TBS]

Bruckman, Amy (xxxx) Approaches to managing deviant behavior in

virtual communities. Available from:

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/papers/deviance-chi94.txt

Apr 22, 2008 TBA

Apr 29, 2008 Presentations

May 6, 2008 Presentations


http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/papers/deviance-chi94.txthttp://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/papers/deviance-chi94.txthttp://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/papers/deviance-chi94.txthttp://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/communities_03.htmhttp://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/communities_03.htmhttp://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/commwork.htmlhttp://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/commwork.htmlhttp://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.06/vc.principles_pr.htmlhttp://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.06/vc.principles_pr.htmlhttp://gopher.well.sf.ca.us:70/0/Community/innkeepinghttp://gopher.well.sf.ca.us:70/0/Community/innkeeping

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Spring 2008

Assignments

Participation Grade (30%)

Discussion Leader (20%) - Each student is required to present at least THREEassigned readings during

the course of the semester. Your presentation should cover the argument and your interpretations of

those arguments, rather than a book report of the reading. Since the readings are grouped loosely by

topic, you should work together with the other students presenting readings during that class. Bonus

points will be given for presentations that examine some online community through the arguments of the

assigned reading(s).

Class Participation (10%)All students not doing readings are required to submit at least two questions

about the readings for that class. Your questions can NOT be about the same reading, but one question

can ask about similar themes in multiple readings (ask if youre not sure what this means). This is in-

tended to give me an idea of what to focus on during class discussion.

Questions must be emailed to me (use the subject heading [class date] discussion questions) by Monday at

5 PM. Late questions will cause a reduction of your participation grade...cuz that means you havent read

the readings.

Online Community Profile (25%) - 5 to 7 pages

This assignment requires you to select an online community and evaluate it using the questions and crite-

ria below. The purpose of this assignment is to acquaint you with the technological, social, and cultural

frameworks of an online community of your choice. This assignment cannot be started until the comple-

tion of the UIowa IRB human subjects research training, and is due March 25. Your community must be

clearly identified and, if possible, a link to the community should be provided.

Please answer the following questions in the course of your report:

1. How does this community manifest itself online? Describe the platform and software used by thecommunity.

a. Describe in detail the text, graphics, multimedia, and page design used to represent the community

themes.

b. What are the major sections and organizational elements of the community? What are the contents

vs. the functions available on the site?

c. How do the aesthetics of the community strike you? Do they appeal or repel? Why?

2. What is the central interest of this community? Is there a a particular theme, philosophy, or style thatinforms this interest?

a. How did you find your community (e.g., search engine)?

3. What is the central or common interest of the community?

a. What need does it fulfill?

i. Why do people participate?



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ii. What is their reward?

b. Does the community have a prevailing philosophy or style?

i. Do community members use terms or expressions that are unique to the group?

ii. Are there ethical, social, and cultural issues that are of concern for this community?

iii.When you joined or visited the community, did you feel welcome in the group?

1. Is it a group you would be interested in joining?

4. Who created the community?

5. Who are the participants in this community?

a. Did you join or visit?

6. How is identity constructed in this community (e.g., bios, aliases, avatars)?

7. What is the method of interaction? How do users interact?

a. What is the quality of the discourse?

b. What is the tone of the interaction?

c. How often do users post/login/participate?

8. Do the members trust each other? How is trust created?

9. What policies or rules govern the community?

10. What aspect of this community appeals to you most? Least?

Online Community Design (40%)

As a team (to be decided later), you will be required to plan and design an online community. The final

product will be erected on the web using OC templates fromwww.ning.com, but before we get to that

stage, you must produce a detailed analysis and explanation of your community and how it will operate,

using materials from the readings of the course, your evaluations of other online communities, and your

practical experience. Your community will be written up using the Project Roadmap framework (see be-

low) and evaluated by the other teams.

Project Roadmap

Here is a broad outline of the report that your team will prepare and present to explain your online com-

munity. This document will be due at the final presentation.

I. Executive Summary


http://www.ning.com/http://www.ning.com/http://www.ning.com/

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II. Mission

A. About your Community

B. Mission and Values

1. What is the purpose?

2. How will this clear purpose facilitate credibility and trust in the community?

C. Strategy: How is it unique?

D. Goals and Objectives of your community

III. The People

1. Who are the residents of your community?

a. Describe them?

b. Why do they need this?

c. Can they get it anywhere else?

A. Research

1. What do you know about this audience?

2. How can you learn more about them?

a. Research Plan

b. Research cited

B. How do you design a community to meet their unique needs?

1. What about this topic or audience provides guidance for community design?

IV. The Community

A. Detailed description of your community as a product?

1. Topic: What is it about?

2. Audience: Who is it for?

3. What does it provide?

a. Interaction model? Users talk to each other, publish content, Share? Peer

Production

B. Programming/Content Plan

C. Sections, Services, Special Features

1. Design



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2. Layout

3. Style

4. User interactions

a. How will you get people to participate?

i. Incentives? Rewards?

ii. How will users build Trust?

iii. What is the role of identity?

1. What assessment signals will your community promote to

create transparency and promote trust?

V. Marketing

A. How will your community:

1. Learn about your site?

2. Find your site?

3. Will you link or partner with other content or communities?

VI. Operations & Policies

A. How will you run your community?

1. Technology?

a. What technologies will you use?

b. Can you buy or do you need to build your technology?

B. Staffing

1. Who will you need to run the community?

a. Job descriptions

b. Skills? Interests

c. Organizational Plan

i. Who does what?

d. Operations Plan:

i. How does it all fit together?

C. Logistics



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1. Unique issues to your idea?

a. De-centralized management

i. Remote, low cost of operations

b. centralized management

i. office, other expenses

D. Policies?

1. What are the policies or rules that guide your community?

a. What are the implications of these choices?

i. Do users have to accept to participate?

VII. Appendices

A. Examples (mock-ups, page designs, examples)

B. Additional Research

1. Copies of any important documents.

C. Other supporting documents



Documents

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