Professor:
Dr. Nancy Baym
Office Hours: 115 Bailey
Hall, 10-10:50 M & W 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 are best 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 Amazon and other online book sellers.
There are also
required readings available online. These can be acessed
through the URLs in the course schedule that follows.
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:
>899 points = A; 800-899 = B; 700-799
= C; 600-699 = D; <600 = F
2 Tests (300 Points): Tests will combine true/false, multiple
choice, and short answer questions.
1 Final (200 Points): The final will have a take-home essay
component and an in-class multiple-choice/short answer component. It will be
cummulative.
Study guides
will be provided for all tests.
Paper (240 Points). Throughout the semester you will be
tracking one or more sites that are interesting to you. In this paper you
should combine materials from reading and independent research to offer an
analysis of the site. Papers must be turned in the day they are due on paper to
me and electronically to turnitin.com
The plagiarism
monitoring website turnitin.com is utilized in this course to ensure
proper citation and
originality of student work. You must submit your paper to www.turnitin.com by
the end of the day the paper is due (you are always welcome to turn it in
early). No paper will be graded until it has been submitted to
turnitin.com. If a paper is not submitted to www.turnitin.com it will
receive no points.
Instructions for using www.turnitin.com will be posted on the Course Blackboard
site.
Draft
(40 pts) A first draft
of the paper is due October 24.
Final
Version (200 pts) The
final paper should be a substantially revised version of the draft based upon
the comments you received on the draft. This is due December 3.
Online
Forum Contributions
(260 Points)
This is a
course about online communication, hence communicating online is an important
component of the course. Course communication should happen through Blackboard
(I will also create a class Facebook group, but all work to be graded should be
posted to blackboard). There are three kinds of forum contributions: news
bytes, forum posts, and comments:
News
Bytes (4@ 15 points each = 60 points)
There is a
dedicated discussion forum for posting news bytes. Once every three weeks (each
of the 4 forum grading periods), you should write about a news story that is
relevant to the topics we discuss in this class. Along with a link to the
article and a brief description of the story you should explain how the article
connects to the class material. Finally, you should pose a question based on
the article to which other students can respond in the comments. Again,
remember the goal is to stimulate interesting interaction.
Forum
Writing Assignments on Syllabus (8 @ 15 points each = 120 points, plus up to 40
points extra credit for additional posts)
Each
person has his or her own discussion group on the Blackboard for writing these
assignments. There are 12 topics specified on the syllabus. Remember you must
post in time to give people to respond to one another before the class meets
again.
Each
topic is worth 15 points, you are required to post eight of them over the
course of the semester. You can gain up to 10 points extra credit for each
additional one you complete (so if you did all 12, you could get up to 40
points extra credit). You will be graded on the thought that went into your
contributions, as well as the skill with which you write for your readers.
Responses
to Each OthersÕ Entries (20 points per grading period)
The comments
section of each personÕs forum is the equivalent of in-class discussion. You
should spend as much time commenting on othersÕ comments as you do posting your
own. Grading on this is based on the quality of your contributions – are
they thoughtful responses to what was posted that take the discussion further
than it was before you posted? Posts that say things like ÒI agreeÓ or ÒI
disagreeÓ (or the equivalent in as many words) clutter up the blog and do not
further the interaction. You can earn up to 20 points for yor comments in each
of the four grading periods.
Contributions
will be graded:
September
14
October 12
November 2
December 5
By each of
these 4 dates you should have posted at least 1 newsbyte, 2 contributions, and
several thoughtful comments on othersÕ contributions and newsbytes. You should
NOT wait until the last minute to turn them in since no one will be able to
respond to them, which will lower your grades and theirs.
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 lose 5% of the possible grade if they are turned in after class the day
they are due, and an additional 5% each additional day they are late. Early
papers are always accepted.
Extensions
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 an "F" for the assignment and
possibly the course, and will be reported for possible disciplinary action at
the college and university levels. 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.
Grading Policies
All grade
concerns should be addressed either during office hours, an appointment, or if
it is a very quick matter, just after class. I will not respond to emails about
your grades unless I have asked you to email me.
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.
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.
NEW FORMS OF PERSONAL CONNECTION
Monday,
August 20: Key Concepts
Wednesday,
August 22 & Monday, August 27: 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:
Activities
Americans Have Ever Done Online: http://pewinternet.org/trends/Internet_Activities_6.15.07.htm
Activities
Americans Do Each Day: http://pewinternet.org/trends/Daily_Internet_Activities_6.15.07.htm
FORUM
POST:
How do you use
the internet? What do you do online? What things that you do online do you
enjoy the most? Provide links to public sites if you write about them so others
can check them out.
Wednesday,
August 29: Theoretical Approaches to New Technology
Thurlow, Lengel
& Tomic, pages 35-44
HYPE, HYSTERIA and HISTORY
Monday,
September 3: LABOR DAY, NO CLASS MEETING
Wednesday,
September 5: 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
FORUM POST:
What
technologies do you rely on to enable or mediate your interactions with other
people? What communication technologies other than the internet do you use
regularly?
Monday,
September 10 - Wednesday, September 12: Narratives, Metaphors and Themes
Thurlow, Lengel
& Tomic, pages 143-149
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
FORUM
POST:
What is a story
or metaphor you have heard about the internet? You might draw on the news,
movies, television shows, or conversations youÕve had with others. What
message(s) about the internet does this story or metaphor convey?
COMMUNICATION IN DIGITAL SPACES
Monday,
September 17 & Wednesday, September 19: Theories of Impovrishment
Thurlow, Lengel
& Tomic, pages 45-50 & 69-75
FORUM POST:
Choose a site
(or perhaps a set of related sites) that you are either already into or that
could sustain your interest for a course-long project. Make sure it is a site that has many
people actively participating. You might consider networking sites like
Facebook and MySpace, online games like World of Warcraft and Everquest, or fan
sites for tv shows, celebrities, bands, sports teams. Tell us about that site
and tell us why youÕve chosen it – whatÕs going on in the communication
there thatÕs interesting? Provide links!
Monday,
September 24: Language Use
Thurlow, Lengel
& Tomic, pages 118-129
Herring, S. (2001).
Computer-Mediated Discourse. In Tannen, D., Schiffrin, D., & Hamilton, H.
(Eds.) Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Blackwell. PDF file available
online at:
http://www.let.rug.nl/~redeker/herring.pdfhttp://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1686_reg.html
FORUM POST:
What kinds of
communication media (for example email vs IM vs telephone vs face-to-face) you
prefer for different kinds of interactions? Why do you think this is? How does
this mesh with what Cues-Filtered-Out Theories predict? How does your experience
support or challenge this kind of theory?
Wednesday,
September 26: Performance and Play
(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,
October 1: The Influence of Context
Thurlow, Lengel
& Tomic, pages 82-88, 129-136
Pew Project on the
Internet and American Life Trend Reports: Demographics of American Internet
Users: http://pewinternet.org/trends/User_Demo_6.15.07.htm
Global
Internet Statistics By Language: http://global-reach.biz/globstats/index.php3
Herring, S. C.,
Paolillo, J. C., Ramos Vielba, I., Kouper, I., Wright, E., Stoerger, S.,
Scheidt, L. A., and Clark, B. (2007). Language networks on LiveJournal.
Proceedings of the Fortieth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Press.
http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/%7Eherring/hicss07.pdf
Wednesday,
October 3: TEST #1
ONLINE COMMUNITIES
Monday,
October 8: Debates and Definitions
Thurlow, Lengel
& Tomic, pages 58-60, 107-115, 187-191
FORUM POST:
What
communication conventions are there on the site(s) youÕre following that a new
person trying to get into the site would have to learn? Give us specific
examples, ideally with links.
Wednesday,
October 10: Sites as Communities, Communities across Sites
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. 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), URL:
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_8/baym/index.html
Monday,
October 15: Social Roles and Motivations
Welser, Howard T.,
Eric Gleave, Danyel Fisher, and Marc Smith. 2007.
"Visualizing the Signatures of Social Roles in Online Discussion
Groups." The Journal of Social Structure. 8(2)
http://www.cmu.edu/joss/content/articles/volume8/Welser/
FORUM POST:
To what extent
do you think the site youÕve chosen to focus on behaves like a community? What
makes it this way?
Wednesday,
October 17: Behavioral Norms
Thurlow, Lengel
& Tomic, pages 63-66
Dibell, J. ÒA
Rape in CyberspaceÓ http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.html
FORUM POST:
What standard
for appropriate behavior are at play in your site? What happens when someone
violates those standards?
Monday,
October 22: Social Support
Harris, S. (2006).
Emotional Support on the Internet, V1.37
http://www.cix.co.uk/%7Enet-services/care/list.htm
Wednesday,
October 24: Local and Online Community
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
Monday,
October 29: 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
FORUM
POST:
Introduce
us to some of the key personalities on your site(s). What are your impressions
of them and how does their communication behavior lead to those
impressions?
Wednesday,
October 31: Online Identity
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,
November 5: Online Relational Development
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)
FORUM POST:
What kind of
relational activity do you see in the site(s) youÕre following? What kinds of
relationships are being conducted there? How do you think those relationships
fit into the rest of the participantsÕ lives?
Wednesday,
November 7 - Monday, November 12: Relational Maintenance and Quality
Wright, Kevin
B. On-Line Relational Maintenance
Strategies and Perceptions of Partners within Exclusively Internet-Based and
Primarily Internet-Based Relationships Communication Studies, Vol. 55, 2004
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3669/is_200407/ai_n9451851
FORUM POST:
How do you use
the internet relationally? Who are the people you communicate most with online?
Are there limits to what you will and wonÕt do socially via the internet?
Wednesday,
November 14: TEST #2
SOCIAL NETWORKS
Monday,
November 19: Defining Social Networks
Wellman, B.,
Quan-Haase, A. Q., Boase, J., Chen, W., Hampton, K., de Diaz, I. I., et al.
(2003). The social affordances of the Internet for networked individualism.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 8. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol8/issue3/wellman.html
Wednesday,
November 21: THANKSGIVING BREAK, NO CLASS
Monday,
November 26: Identity, Privacy and Trust
Thurlow, Lengel
& Tomic, pages 91-92
Barnes, S. B.
(2006) A privacy paradox: Social networking in the United States. First
Monday, volume 11,
number 9 (September 2006), URL:
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_9/barnes/index.html
Wednesday,
November 28: 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
FORUM POST:
What social
networking sites (facebook, myspace,
last,fm, etc) if any do you
use? What sort of social network do you think youÕve built through those sites.
How connected is it to your face-to-face and telephone networks? How connected
are they to each other? If you donÕt use any of them, tell us your impression
of them and why youÕve chosen not to use them.
CONCLUSION
Monday,
December 3 - 5: Catch up and Review
FINAL EXAM:
Friday, December 14, 10:30 AM – 1 PM.