For this project, you will invent an original argument about virtual communities

WRIT 1133 by developing and testing your own hypothesis.

You will develop your hypothesis by applying your reading of Howard Rheingold’s Virtual Communities
and Neil Postman’s Technopoly to the virtual community of your choosing (e.g., Facebook, Ning,
Second Life, or any other online community, pending my approval).
You will test your hypothesis by creating and deploying your own research instrument, to consist of one
or some combination of the following methods: case study, ethnography, and/or interviews.
You will write up your research in the form of a 6–8-page paper. Your paper will consist of four sections:
1. An introductory section: In this section, you will introduce your hypothesis, explaining its theoretical
foundations in your reading of Rheingold and Postman and elaborating upon the reasoning
underlying it.

Your goal in this section is to insure that your audience knows exactly what your hypothesis is
and understands the concepts that inform it.
2. A methods section: In this section, you will describe in detail and justify the research instrument that
you created to test your hypothesis.

Your goal in this section is to explain your research methods clearly enough that another
researcher could reproduce your research on his or her own.
3. A results section: In this section, you will present the facts that your research uncovered. What did
you see? Hear? Read? What were you told?

Your goal here is not to interpret your results but simply to present them.
4. An analysis section: In this section, you will analyze and interpret your results. Do the results confirm
your hypothesis, disconfirm it, or a little of both? And, in light of your findings, how would you revise
Rheingold’s and Postman’s broader theories about virtual communities in general?

Your goal here is to make an original contribution to the scholarly discussion represented by
the Rheingold-Postman debate.
The audience for your paper consists of social scientists who study online behavior. Their primary
interest is in the scholarly value of your work, i.e., in what it original insights it offers with respect to the
core concepts articulated by Rheingold and Postman. Three consequences follow from this (1) The
most important part of your paper will be the analysis section, since this is where you’ll develop those
original insights. You should expect to devote the most space to this section. (2) Your introductory
section needs to be clear and compelling. Your audience will want to know exactly what your
hypothesis is, what it means, and how it relates to Rheingold and Postman. And (3): It is crucial, in the
methods section, to describe and justify your research instrument clearly enough that a member of
your audience could conduct the research him- or herself. Your audience won’t be persuaded by
your findings if they don’t know exactly how you arrived at them.
DUE DATES
Please bring a proposal for your project to class on Thursday, April 22. Your proposal should consist of
(a) a draft of the introductory section of the paper and (b) a rough sketch of the methods section:
How do you plan to test this hypothesis, and why do you think this plan will be effective? We will
workshop your proposals in class.
• A first draft of your paper is due in class on Tuesday, April 27. Please bring two PAPER copies.
• A revised draft of your paper is due to via email by the start of class on Thursday, April 29.

The Virtual Communities Project