Professor:
Dr. Nancy Baym
Office Hours: 115 Bailey
Hall, 11-12 Tuesday and Thursday
and by appointment
nbaym@ku.edu
864-9876
Mailbox: Communication Department
Office, 102 Bailey
Email is your
best bet for reaching me outside of office hours. If you are unable to come to
office hours, I encourage you to email me 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. 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.
Blackboard
There is a
blackboard for this course, which can be located on the web via
courseware.ku.edu. Class handouts such as assignments and study guides will be
posted here. The Blackboard grade sheet will be maintained but may not always
be up to date. Please be patient when waiting for grades to be posted. If you
believe a grade posted on Blackboard is inaccurate, bring it to my attention
immediately.
Required
Readings
The required
book in this course is Thurlow, Lengel, and 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.
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). If any extra credit becomes
available, it will be equally available to all students in the course and it
will not change this grading scale.
Participation:
The more the whole class
comes prepared and engaged each day, the more everyone will get out of the
class. Points will be awarded for thoughtful contributions to class discussion
and attendance twice during the semester. The students who get the most
participation points will be those who come to every class and contribute to
discussion with questions, examples, or other insights that are relevant to the
topic under discussion. Those who speak rarely if at all, consistently miss
class meetings, or engage in distracting behavior will certainly receive fewer
and may not receive any participation points. Among the behaviors that most degrade everyoneÕs course
experience are: talking to one another, checking cell phones or laptops, doing
puzzles, sleeping or reading.
10
Readings Writings:
There are 15 sets of readings for this course. For any ten sets, you must write
a summary or analysis of all the readings in that set. In a single sentence of no
more than 50 words,
write a summary of the arguments, narratives, or discussions you read. The
fifty-first word will meet a terrible fate! These sentences should summarize or
analyze the week's readings. Please do not provide criticism of the
text—we'll save that for class.
What's the
difference between a summary and analysis? A summary offers a short description
of the topics or positions discussed and offered by the authors of the texts.
An analysis seeks to find a common thread among the texts and shows their
relation to one another.
Writing
assignments must be submitted no later than midnight the night before a set of
readings is due. Late assignments are not accepted.
Weekly writings
will be assessed by the class, using the Òrank this postÓ stars on Blackboard
and the instructor. Writing will be evaluated based on their accuracy and
clarity. Because work will be submitted publicly, students are required to read
and rate each other's work for help and guidance.
3 Tests
and a Final: Tests
will combine true/false, multiple choice, and short answer questions. Each test
is worth 100 points.The final will emphasize material at the end of the course
but will be cummulative on all notes and readings. It will be worth 150 points.
3 Papers
(3-4 pages each): You
may either complete all four paper assignments and drop the lowest grade, or
you may complete any three papers. Each paper is worth 150 points. Detailed
descriptions of each paper assignment will be on the course Blackboard.
(1) Online
Communication Self-Assessment: For 72 hours keep a detailed record of all
of your internet use. Write a two page analysis of your behavior using the key
theoretical concepts that differentiate media covered in class. Turn in your
internet communication record. Due September 9.
(2) Public
Discourse Analysis: Choose at least two examples of popular cultural
discourse about the internet (for instance movies, novels, news articles, comic
strips). Analyse them using key theoretical concepts from the course
(technological determinism/social determinism/social realism,
utopianism/dystopianism/syntopian). Due September 30.
(3) 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 the theory
presented in the course to identify specific communication behaviors which
might distinguish them as a Òcommunity.Ó Due October 30.
(4) Social
Network or Identity Audit:
Starting with yourself, draw on course material to map out your social
network and the distribution of social capital within that network OR draw on
course material to conduct a critical audit of your identity as presented on
the internet. Due December 11.
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. You may not turn in a paper after the
deadline.
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 should 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 me 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. I may still check excerpts of such papers using
electronic search engines. NO PAPER WILL BE GRADED UNTIL ONE OF THESE OPTIONS
HAS BEEN TAKEN.
Much
of the grade in this course is based on writing. I 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.
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 me from discussing your grades via email. If you believe you have been
graded unfairly or incorrectly, you must bring this to my attention
within one week of the assignment being returned in class. After that week, I 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 me immediately. If you contact me after
missing an exam, I 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
me before the final class period.
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.
NEW FORMS OF PERSONAL CONNECTION
Thursday,
August 21: Course Overview
Tuesday,
August 26 - Tuesday, September 2: 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
Thursday,
September 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
Tuesday,
September 9: Theoretical Approaches to New Technology
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
Thursday,
September 11 & Tuesday, September 16: Narratives, Metaphors and Themes
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
Thursday,
September 18: TEST #1
COMMUNICATION IN DIGITAL SPACES
Tuesday,
September 23 & Thursday, September 25: Theories of Impoverishment
Thurlow, Lengel
& Tomic, pages 45-50 & 69-75
Tuesday,
September 30: Language Use
DISCOURSE
ANALYSIS PAPER DUE
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
Thursday,
October 2 & Tuesday, October 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
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
Thursday,
October 9: Test #2
ONLINE COMMUNITIES
Tuesday,
October 14 - Thursday, October 23: Debates and Definitions
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/issues/issue12_8/baym/index.html
Tuesday,
October 28: Social Support and Social Capital
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
Thursday,
October 30: Local and Online Community
COMMUNITY
COMMUNICATION PAPER DUE
Thurlow, Lengel
& Tomic, pages 88-90
Katz, J.E. and R.E.
Rice (2002) ÔProject Syntopia: Social Consequences of Internet UseÕ , IT &
Society 1(1): 166-179 http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/itandsociety/v01i01/v01i01a11.pdf#search=%27The%20Syntopia%20Project%27
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Tuesday, November
4 & Thursday, November 6:
Identity and Relationships
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
Tuesday,
November 11: TEST 3
Thursday,
November 13 – Tuesday November 25: 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 online http://homepages.nyu.edu/~kym1/relationship_formation.pdf)
SOCIAL NETWORKS
Tuesday,
December 2: Defining Social Networks
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
Thursday,
December 4: Identity, Privacy and Trust
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
Tuesday,
December 9: Relationships in Social Networks
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
CONCLUSION
Thursday,
December 11: In Class Review
SOCIAL
NETWORK OR IDENTITY AUDIT PAPER DUE
FINAL EXAM: Monday, December 15: 7:30 AM –
10:00 AM