Online Communities 021-259/160-259

Spring 2008

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

Instructor: André Brock
Office: 3074 Library/212 Bowman House
Office phone: (319) 335-6074
E-mail:                 andre-brock@uiowa.edu
Mail Box:              Located in the SLIS office
Office 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.

1Much thanks for the unwitting assistance of Professors Elizabeth Osder, Jennifer Preece, Paul Resnick,
Susan Herring, Howard Rheingold, Amy Bruckman, and many others.

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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 know within the first
two weeks of class if special accommodations are necessary to enable you to fully participate.

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Topical Schedule
Readings

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 day’s 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 Community
Cultural 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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ow

Course Calendar
Date Assign- Readings
ment Due

Jan 22, 2008 None None

Jan 29, 2008 Pacey, A. (1983). The culture of technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Pp. 1-34, 78-96 [UIowa InfoLink]
Rhetoric of
Technology Winner, L. (1980) Do artifacts have politics? Daedelus 109(1). Available
from:
Technology
http://cscl.ist.psu.edu/public/users/mrosson/IST501/readings/Winner86
and Culture
.pdf

Dinerstein, 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 Dyer, R. (1999) The matter of whiteness. White. London: Routledge. Pp.
1-40 [Handout]

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

Theories of
social democracy and the "White" problem in American Studies.
Community
American Quarterly 47(3). Pp. 369-387. [UIowa InfoLink}

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

siderations - and society: Gemeinschaft und gesellschaft. Translated and edited by
Critical Race Charles P. Loomis. Lansing, MI: Michigan State UP. Pp. 223-231 Avail-
Theory able from: http://media.pfeiffer.edu/lridener/courses/GEMEIN.HTML

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

Social Capital
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]

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Course Calendar
Feb 12, 2008 Lessig, L. (1999). Chapter 6. Code and other laws of cyberspace. New
York, NY: Basic Books. Available from:
What is an
http://codebook.jot.com/Book/Chapter6/Ch6Part1
online com-
munity? Wellman, B. and Gulia, M. (1999) Net surfers don’t 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: How

the 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 Post dis- Goffman, E. (1959) Introduction and Chapter 1. Presentation of self in
cussions everyday life.
Online Com-
online
munities Donath, J. (1999). Identity and deception in the virtual community. In
P. Kollock and M. Smith (Eds.) Communities in Cyberspace. London:
Identity and
Routledge. Available online:
the Internet
http://smg.media.mit.edu/papers/Donath/IdentityDeception/IdentityDe
ception.pdf

Benkler, 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

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Course Calendar
Feb 26, 2008 Gefen, D. And Ridings, C.M. (2004). Virtual community attraction: Why
people hang out online. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Online Com-
10(1). [UIowa InfoLink]
munities
Robinson, L (2007). The cyber-self: the self-ing project goes online,
Embodiment
symbolic interaction in the digital age. New Media and Society 9. 93.
and Identity
[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 Stanoesvska-Slabeva and Schmid (2001) A typology of online communi-

ties and community supporting platforms. Proceedings of the 34th Ha-
Online Com-
waii International Conference on System Sciences. Available from:
munities
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/iel5/7255/20032/00927041.
Typology pdf?tp=&arnumber=927041&isnumber=20032

Purpose 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.html and
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 Communication 7(3). [UIowa Info-
Link]

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Course Calendar
Mar 11, 2008 Complete Schneider, S.M. and Foot, K.A. (2004) The Web as an object of study.
UIowa New Media & Society 6(1). 114-122 [UIowa InfoLink]
Research
human
Methods
subjects Herring, S. (2004) Computer-mediated discourse analysis: An approach
Research Eth- online to researching on-line behavior. Available from:
ics certifica- http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/%7Eherring/cmda.pdf
tion
course Hudson, J. and Bruckman, A. (2004) 'go away': Participant objections to
(IRB-02) at being studied and the ethics of chatroom research. The Information So-
ciety, 20(2), 127-139. [UIowa InfoLink]
http://ww
w.citiprogr
Bruckman, A. (2006). Teaching students to study online communities
am.org/
ethically. Journal of Information Ethics 15(2), 82-98. [UIowa InfoLink]

Churchill, E.F. And Halverson, C.A. (2005). Social networks and social
You must
networking. IEEE Internet Computing 9(5). Pp. 14-19 [UIowa InfoLink]
turn in a
copy of
Ess, C. (2001) AoIR research ethics. Available from:
the certifi-
http://aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf
cate.
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

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Course Calendar
Mar 25, 2008 Online Winner, L. (1996). Who will we be in cyberspace? The Information Soci-
Commu- ety 12. 63-72. [UIowa InfoLink]
Culture, Com-
nity
munity, and boyd, d. [blog post] Viewing America. Available from:
Evaluation
Technology
Due 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.ps http://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 Preece, J. and Nonnecke,B. (2000) Lurker demographics: counting the

silent. Proceedings of CHI 2000, April 1 - 6, 2000, The Hague, Nether-
Rituals, Beliefs,
lands, pp. 73-80 [UIowa InfoLink]
and Norms
Postmes, T., Spears, R. And Lea, M. (2000). The formation of group
MySpace
norms in computer mediated communication. Human Communication
Livejournal Research 26. 341-371 [UIowa InfoLink]

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

Henry Holt. pp. 11-32. Available online:
Casual Games
http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.html and also:
Slashdot 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

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Course Calendar
April 8 Coates, J. (1993) Cyberspace innkeeping: Building online community.
Available from: http://gopher.well.sf.ca.us:70/0/Community/innkeeping
Practices, Gov-
ernance, and Miklaucic, S. (xxxx) Virtual real(i)ty: SimCity and the production of
Design urban cyberspace. [UIowa InfoLink]
(PG&D)
Godwin, M. (1994). Nine principles for making virtual communities
Wikipedia work. Wired 2.06 (June). Available from:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.06/vc.principles_pr.html
YouTube
Suler, J. (1998). Making virtual communities work. Available from:
Flickr
http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/commwork.html
Digg
Bruckman, A. (1996) Finding one's own space in cyberspace. Technology
iVillage 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 Andrews (2002). Audience-specific online community design. Communi-
cations of the ACM 45(4), 64-68. [UIowa InfoLink]
PG&D contin-
ued... 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

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Assignments

Participation Grade (30%)

Discussion Leader (20%) - Each student is required to present at least THREE assigned 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 you’re 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 haven’t 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 the
community.

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 that
informs 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 from www.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

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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

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