Professor:
Dr. Nancy Baym
GTA:
Kiley Larson
Email is your best bet for reaching either Dr. Baym or Kiley
outside of office hours. If you are unable to come to office hours, we
encourage you to email us with questions you have about course material,
assignments, or exams. You can expect a response to an email within 48 hours.
Do not expect a response on evenings, nights, or weekends. As per University
policy, inquiries about grades should be made in person during office hours. If
you must miss class, you should get that information from peers in the class.
Emails asking what you missed when you did not come to class are not
appropriate.
Course
Description
This course provides an introduction to theoretical issues
raised by the internet for communication, with particular emphasis on personal
relationships. This course will focus on social and interpersonal topics
including how the internet is understood, forms of online communication,
impression formation and management in online contexts, relational development
and maintenance, and online communities and social networks.
Course Goals
After taking
this class, you should be able to:
- use theoretical concepts to
critique the messages you encounter about the internet
- take
positions regarding communication and the internet and defend them by drawing
on an established body of scholarly research
- analyze and make more conscious
choices about your own use of the internet
Required
Readings
Required
Text: Thurlow, Lengel, & Tomic
Computer-Mediated Communication: Social Interaction and the Internet (Sage Press). If the book store is out,
it is available from most online book sellers.
There are also
required readings available online. These can be acessed
through the URLs in the course schedule that follows.
The expectation is that you have completed readings by
the date for which they are assigned. Unannounced quick writes in class may
assume that you have done the readings.
Blackboard
There is a blackboard for this course. Class handouts such
as assignments and study guides will be posted here. The Blackboard grade sheet
will be maintained but may not always be immediately up to date. Please be
patient when waiting for grades to be posted. If you believe a grade posted on
Blackboard is inaccurate, please contact either Dr. Baym or Kiley immediately.
Course Policies
All grade
concerns should be addressed either during office hours, an appointment, or if
it is a very quick matter, just after class. University privacy concerns
prevent us from discussing your grades via email. If you believe you have been
graded unfairly or incorrectly, you must bring this to our attention
within one week of the assignment being returned in class. After that week, we will not review
grades that have been assigned. You are responsible for being in class to
collect your returned work in a timely manner.
Under
normal circumstances missed tests cannot be made up. If you know you will be unable to make
an exam in advance or encounter an extreme emergency, we may be able to make
alternative arrangements IF you contact Dr. Baym immediately. If you contact
either of us after missing an exam, we make no promises.
Late
papers will not be accepted
without prior approval.
Incompletes will be granted only when these three
conditions are met: there is a serious emergency, no additional class
attendance is necessary to finish the course, and the extension is cleared with
Dr. Baym before the final class period.
Assignments
and Expectations
All students
are expected to come to class having finished the assigned readings and
prepared with questions, viewpoints, or examples to contribute to the
discussion. Everyone should participate fully in discussions, neither
dominating nor allowing others to carry the intellectual load.
Grading
Scale:
KUÕs College
Academic Council describes each letter grade this way:
á The grade of A indicates achievement of outstanding quality.
á The grade of B indicates achievement of high quality.
á The grade of C indicates achievement of acceptable quality.
á The grade of D indicates achievement that
is minimally passing,
but at less than acceptable quality.
á The letters F, U (unsatisfactory) and NC
(no credit) are used to indicate that the student's work was not of passing
quality at the time of
un-enrollment from the course and that the student must repeat the course in
order to receive credit.
The final
grading scale in this class is: >899 points = A; 800-899 = B; 700-799 = C;
600-699 = D; <600 = F
There will be no exceptions (799 is a
C, just as 801 is a B).
Assignments
Quickwrites
(100): Quickwrites are unannounced writing assignments completed
at the start of class. They may require knowledge of the assigned readings and
are a means of assessing course participation. Quickwrites will be offered 12
times and are worth 10 points each. Each student may miss up to two quickwrites
without penalty. Students will receive extra credit for completing more than 10
quickwrites. If you are late or absent, you may not make up a missed
quickwrite. If you leave class after completing a quickwrite you will not
receive credit for that quickwrite.
If you miss more than 2 quickwrites and EVERY SINGLE ONE you missed was for a
DOCUMENTED medical or equally extreme reason, speak with Dr. Baym about making
up all but 2.
3 Tests
and a Final (550 points): Tests
will combine true/false, multiple choice, fill in the blank, and short answer
questions. The first test is worth 100 points. Each test after that including
the final is worth 150 points. The final will emphasize material at the end of
the course but will be cumulative on all notes and readings.
Papers
(350 Points) The
purpose of the papers is to demonstrate your abilities to synthesize the
theoretical material in readings and class meetings and apply it to analyze specific
communication activities. We are looking for specificity, clarity and accuracy
of theoretical concepts, cited use of relevant readings, and coherent
insightful analysis. Grading rubrics for each paper assignment will be posted
to Blackboard.
1
Online Communication Self-Assessment (150 points): For 72 hours keep a detailed record of
all of your internet use. Write a 4-5 page analysis of your behavior using
the key theoretical concepts
that differentiate media as covered in class. Turn in your internet
communication record. A more detailed handout will be posted to Blackboard. Due
September 11.
1
Longer Paper (200 points): You
may complete any two paper assignments and drop the lower grade or you may complete any one paper
assignment. Detailed descriptions of each paper assignment will be on the
course Blackboard. You must turn each paper in by its due date. Papers should
be 5-7 pages.
(a)
Public Discourse Analysis: Choose at least two examples of popular cultural
discourse about the internet (for instance movies, novels, news articles, comic
strips). Analyze them using key theoretical concepts from the course
(technological determinism/social determinism/social realism,
utopianism/dystopianism/syntopian). Due October 2.
(b)
Community Communication Analysis: Choose an online group of which you
are not already a member. After observing and taking notes on the group, draw
on theory to identify specific communication behaviors that define ÔcommunityÕ
and use this to argue that this group is or is not a community. Due November 2.
(c)
Social Capital/Support Network Audit: Starting with yourself, draw on theory to map out your
social network and the distribution of social capital within that network. Due December
9.
Papers must be turned on at the start of class the day
they are due. Emailed papers will not be
accepted. Electronic submission (or the alternative, see below) to SageAssign
must be done before class on the due date as well. Late papers will not be
accepted without prior approval.
Academic Dishonesty
& Student Support Policies
Academic
Integrity: The issue of
digital plagiarism has raised concerns about ethics, student writing
experiences, and academic integrity. KU subscribes to a digital plagiarism
detection program called SafeAssign, which may be used to check papers
submitted in this course. In addition to turning in a paper copy, you must
submit your papers in electronically within BlackBoardª so that your paper can
be checked against web pages and databases of existing papers. Although you may
never have engaged in intentional plagiarism, many students do incorporate
sources without citations; this program can alert us to your academic needs. If
you have concerns about turning in your paper to this database electronically,
you may instead turn in complete print outs of all sources you used that are
not already listed on the syllabus. We may still check excerpts of such papers
using electronic search engines. NO PAPER WILL BE GRADED UNTIL ONE OF THESE
OPTIONS HAS BEEN TAKEN.
Writing
Support: Much of the
grade in this course is based on writing. We encourage you to take advantage of
KUÕs writing centers, known as the Writer's Roosts. These are places for students to talk
about their writing with trained peer consultants. There is a roost in the
Regents Center and there are several open across the Lawrence campus; please
check the website at www.writing.ku.edu for current locations and hours. The
Roosts welcome both drop-ins and appointments, and there is no charge for their
services. For more information, please call 864-2399 or send an e-mail to
writing@ku.edu. There is a very helpful online writerÕs handbook by the
University of WisconsinÕs writing center available here: http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/index.html
Students
With Disabilities: The
staff of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), 135 Strong,
785-864-2620 (v/tty), coordinates accommodations and services for KU
courses. If you have a disability
for which you may request accommodation in KU classes and have not contacted them,
please do as soon as possible. Please also see me privately in regard to this
course.
Plagiarism
and other practices of academic dishonesty will result in a reduced grade and possible a zero for the
assignment and possibly the course, and will be reported for further possible
disciplinary action at the college and university levels. Disciplinary actions
at those levels can include reduced grades, academic probation and expulsion.
Simply put, all work you turn in must be your own. Ideas that came from others
must be credited to them, whether through quotation or citation. If you click
on Òavoiding plagiarismÓ at this KU website http://www.writing.ku.edu/students/docs/guides.shtml you will have a useful starting place
if you are unsure what exactly constitutes the misuse of sources that leads to
charges of plagiarism
University
Senate Rules and Regulations (USRR) 2.6.1 provides the following definition of
student academic misconduct:
Academic misconduct by a student shall include, but not be limited to, disruption
of classes; threatening an instructor or fellow student in an academic setting,
giving or receiving of unauthorized aid on examinations or in the preparation
of notebooks, themes, reports or other assignments; knowingly misrepresenting
the source of any academic work; unauthorized change of grades; unauthorized
use of University approvals or forging of signatures; falsification of research
results, plagiarizing of another's work; violation of regulations or ethical
codes for the treatment of human and animal subjects; or otherwise acting
dishonestly in research.
Taping Class. Course materials prepared by the
instructor, together with the content of all lectures and review sessions
presented by the instructor are the property of the instructor. Video and audio
recording of lectures and review sessions without the consent of the instructor
is prohibited. On request, the instructor will usually grant permission for
students to audio tape lectures, on the condition that these audio tapes are
only used as a study aid by the individual making the recording. Unless
explicit permission is obtained from the instructor, recordings of lectures and
review sessions may not be modified and must not be transferred or transmitted
to any other person, whether or not that individual is enrolled in the course.
Course Schedule
NEW FORMS OF PERSONAL CONNECTION
Friday 8.21: Course
Overview
Monday 8.24 - Monday 8.31: Online Communication Media
Thurlow, Lengel &
Tomic, pages 1-7, 14-24, 28-33, 75-79, 163 – 169, 181-186, 228-231
Pew Project on the Internet
and American Life Trend Reports: Online Activities-Total and Online
Activities-Daily. Available online at: http://pewinternet.org/trends.asp
Wednesday 9.2 & Friday 9.4: History of New Technology
Thurlow, Lengel &
Tomic, pages 25-27
Rheingold "Visionaries
and Convergences: The Accidental History of the Net" : http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/3.html
HYPE, HYSTERIA and HISTORY
Monday 9.7- Labor Day NO CLASS
Wednesday 9.9 & Friday 9.11: Theoretical Approaches to New
Technology: What Causes What?
SELF-ASSESSMENT
PAPER DUE
Thurlow, Lengel &
Tomic, pages 35-44
Sturken, M. & Thomas,
D. (2004). Introduction: Technological Visions and the Rhetoric of the New in
M. Sturken & D. Thomas (Eds.). Technological Visions: The Hopes and Fears
that Shape New Technologies. Available Online: http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1686_reg.html
Monday 9.14 - Friday 9.18: Communication about Communication Technology
Thurlow, Lengel &
Tomic, pages 143-149
Cassell, Justine &
Cramer, Meg (2007) "Hi Tech or High Risk? Moral Panics about Girls
Online" In T. MacPherson (Ed.) Digital Youth, Innovation, and the
Unexpected: The MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
pp. 53-75 Available Online: http://www.soc.northwestern.edu/justine/publications/Cassell_Cramer_MoralPanic.pdf
Monday 9.21:
TEST #1
COMMUNICATION IN DIGITAL SPACES
Wednesday 9:23 – Monday 9.28: Theories of Impoverishment
Thurlow, Lengel & Tomic, pages 45-50
& 69-75
Wednesday 9.30 & Friday 10.2: Language Use - Putting Social Cues
into Digital Media
PUBLIC
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS PAPER DUE FRIDAY 10.2
Thurlow, Lengel &
Tomic, pages 118-129
(Browse
the) Netlingo
Dictionary: http://www.netlingo.com/inframes.cfm
Listing
of Emoticons: http://www.windweaver.com/emoticon.htm
Listing
of Acronyms: http://www.magicpub.com/netprimer/acronyms.html
Monday 10.5 & Wednesday 10.7: The Influence of Context
Thurlow, Lengel &
Tomic, pages 82-88, 129-136
Pew Project on the Internet
and American Life Trend Reports: WhoÕs Online. Available online at: http://pewinternet.org/trends.asp
Top Ten Internet Languages:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm
Friday 10.9:
NO CLASS Association of Internet Researchers Conference
Monday 10.12:
The Influence of Context, cont.
Danet, B. & Herring, S.
(2003) The Multilingual Internet, EditorsÕ Introduction. Journal of Computer
Mediated Communication. Available Online: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol9/issue1/intro.html
Wednesday
10.14: Test #2
Friday
10.16: Fall Break NO CLASS
COMMUNITIES AND NETWORKS
Monday 10.19 - Friday 10.23: Online Community
Thurlow, Lengel &
Tomic, pages 58-60, 63-66, 107-115, 187-191
Steinkuehler, C. A., and
Williams, D. (2006). Where everybody knows your (screen) name: Online games as
"third places." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(4),
article 1. Available Online: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue4/steinkuehler.html
Baym, N. K. (2007). The new
shape of online community: The example of Swedish independent music fandom. First
Monday, volume 12,
number 8 (August 2007), Available Online: http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1978/1853
Monday 10.26 – Friday 10.30: Social Networks
Williams, D. (2006). On and
off the 'net: Scales for social capital in an online era. Journal of
Computer-Mediated
Communication, 11(2),
article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue2/williams.html
boyd, d. m., & Ellison,
N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal
of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
Monday 11.2 & Wednesday 11.4: Local and Online Community
Monday
11.2: COMMUNITY COMMUNICATION ANALYSIS PAPER DUE
Thurlow, Lengel &
Tomic, pages 88-90
Katz,
J.E. & Rice, R. E. (2002) ÔProject Syntopia: Social Consequences of
Internet UseÕ , IT & Society 1(1): 166-179 (available on course Blackboard)
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Friday 11.6 – Wednesday 11.13: Relationship
Formation – Identity Challenges
Thurlow, Lengel & Tomic, pages 60-63, 66-67, 95-105, 192-196
ÒWho Am We?Ó An interview with Sherry Turkle
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive//4.01/turkle.html?person=sherry_turkle&topic_set=wiredpeople
Ellison, N., Heino, R.,
& Gibbs, J. (2006). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation
processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication, 11(2), article 2. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue2/ellison.html
Monday 11.16:
TEST 3
Wednesday 11.18 - Monday 11.23: Relational Development & Maintenance Online
Thurlow, Lengel & Tomic, pages 50-55, 137-143
McKenna, Green,
&. Gleason (2002), "Relationship formation on the Internet: What's the
big attraction?" (available on course Blackboard)
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield,
C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook "friends:"
Social capital and college students' use of online social network sites.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), article 1. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html
Wednesday 11.25 & Friday 11.27 = Thanksgiving Break
NO CLASS
Monday 11.30:
TBA
Wednesday 12.2 & Friday 12.4: Uncertain Norms: Appropriateness,
Friendship and Disclosure
Thurlow, Lengel
& Tomic, pages 91-92
Lenhart, A., & Madden,
M. (2007, April 18). Teens, privacy, & online social networks. Pew Internet and American Life Project
Report. http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Teens_Privacy_SNS_Report_Final.pdf
CONCLUSION
Wednesday 12.9:
In Class Review
SOCIAL
NETWORK AUDIT PAPER DUE
FINAL EXAM: Tuesday,
Dec 15 10:30 – 1:00 pm