Social  Computer Mediated Communication
Course Syllabus

Note:  Reading critiques should be sent to me the night before the day listed in the syllabus.



Week 1
W 
August 24 Introduction

F
August 26 Brief History of Communication Mediums

Readings:
Distance Matters by Olson and Olson
Visualizing Email Content:  Portraying Relationships from Conversational Histories by Viégas, Golder, and Donath

Will hand out the book  The Victorian Internet:  The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-line Pioneers by Standage in class

Week 2
W
August 31 Email, IM

Readings:
Email as Habitat:  an exploration of embedded personal information management by Ducheneaut and Bellotti
Designing Remail:  Reinventing the Email Client Through Innovation and Integration by Kerr and Wilcox
Planetary-Scale Views on a Large Instant-Messaging Network by Leskovec and Horvitz


F
September 2 The Collective:  Usenet, Question Answer Forums, Wikis

Readings:
Culture Matters:  A Survey Study of Social Q&A Behavior by Yang, Morris, Teevan, Adamic, and Ackerman
The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Social Search Engine by Horowitz and Kamvar
A Jury of Your Peers: Quality, Experience and Ownership in Wikipedia  by Halfaker et al

Week 3
W
September 7 Text:  Signaling and backchannels, Emotion

Readings:
Leveraging digital backchannels to enhance user experience in electronically mediated communication by Kellog et al
Emotion Rating from Short Blog Texts by Gill, Gergle, French, and Oberlander


F
September 9 Design Project:  Present new messaging interface

Week 4
W
September 14 Identity in Social Network Sites and Blogs

Readings:
Selective self-presentation in computer-mediated communication: Hyperpersonal dimensions of technology, language, and cognition by Walther
Affirming the self through online profiles: beneficial effects of social networking sites by Toma


F
September 16 Friendship and Social Capital

Readings:
Connection Strategies: Social Capital Implications of Facebook-enabled Communication Practices by Ellison, Steinfeld, and Lampe
Social capital on Facebook: Differentiating uses and users by Burke, Kraut, and Marlow

Week 5
W
September 21 Deception online, Trust online

Readings:
Separating Fact from Fiction:  An Examination of Deceptive Self-Presentation in Online Dating Profiles by Toma, Kancock, and Ellison
Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community by Donath
A Rape in Cyberspace by Dibbel


F
September 23 Design Project:  Presentation of Self

Week 6
W
September 28 Group Dynamics

Readings:
Why CSCW applications fail: problems in the design and evaluationof organizational interfaces by Grudin
Visualizing Real-Time Language-Based Feedback on Teamwork Behavior in Computer-Mediated Groups by Leshed et al
Brainstorming groups in context: effectiveness in a product design firm by Sutton and Hargadon


F
September 30 Social Visualization

Readings:
The Chat Circles Series: Explorations in designing abstract graphical communication interfaces by Judith Donath and Fernanda Viégas
Social translucence: an approach to designing systems that support social processes by Erickson and Kellogg
We Feel Fine at http://www.wefeelfine.org/

Week 7
W
October 5 Social Visualization and Social Networks

Visualizing Social Networks by Freeman
Viral Marketing for the Real World by Watts and Peretti
The Small World Problem by Milgram


F
October 7 Design Project:  Social Visualization

Week 8
W
October 12 Audio

Readings:
In Situ Speech Visaualization in Real-Time Interactive Installation and Performance by Levin and Lieberman
Thunderwire: a field study of an audio-only media space by Hindus et al
Media spaces: bringing people together in a video, audio, and computing environment by Bly, Harrison, and Irwin.


F
October 14 Video

Readings:
What Video Can and Can't do for Collaboration: A Case Study by Isaacs, E. and Tang, J.
Myron Krueger, Artificial Reality [Chap 2,3]  [Chap 11]
Beyond Being There by Hollan and Stornetta

Week 9
W
October 19 Trust

Readings:
Trust breaks down in electronic contexts but can be repaired by some initial face-to-face contact by Elena Rocco
Can You Ever Trust a Wiki? Impacting Perceived Trustworthiness in Wikipedia by Kittur, Suh, and Chi


F
October 21 In-Class Studio:  midterm project discussion

Week 10
W
October 26 Linguistic Style

Readings:
Mark My Words! Linguistic Style Accommodation in Social Media by Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, Gamon, and Dumais
Reading between the lines: linguistic cues to deception in online dating profiles by Toma and Hancock


F
October 28 Mid Term Project Presentations

Week 11
W
November 2 Social Media, Networks  and Health

Readings:
Social use of computer-mediated communication by adults on the autism spectrum by Burke, Kraut, and Williams
The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years by Christakis and Fowler


F
November 4 Communication in Games

Week 12
W
November 9 Surfaces, Furniture, Fashion, the Face and the Body

Readings:
Ambient Displays: Turning Architectural Space into an Interface between People and Digital Information by Wisneski, Ishii, Ullmer, and Yarin
Should We Call it Expression or Communication? by Ekman



F
November 11 Design Project:  Communication Object

Week 13
W
November 16 Social Spaces - what makes a social space?


F
November 18 William Whyte - Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

Week 14
W
November 23 Thanksgiving Break

F
November 25 Thanksgiving Break
Week 15
W
November 30 In Class Studio


F
December 2 Final Project Presentations
Week 16
W
December 7 Final Project Presentatioms