Monday, October 16

Today we’ll continue to discuss the software we’ll use for the collaborative Web resource as well as decide on the name and title of the site. Then we’ll discuss some of the terms and concepts necessary for thinking about online communities, especially in terms of how they do and don’t work to facilitate collaboration and community. Finally, we’ll talk some more about research questions and a focus for your individual analyses, and work to generate library sources and “field research” sources that might be good for your projects.

Assignments for Next Class

• Read any three articles from “[1] Group Dynamics in Cyberspace“
• Read “[2] Communities, Audiences, and Scale“
• “[3] Cult blog a fake, admit ‘lonelygirl’ creators“
• Watch “[4] A Beginner’s Guide to Faking Your Death on the Internet“(Warning: Contains Profanity)
• Post a response to the discussion post.

Wednesday, October 18

Today we’ll discuss issues related to credibility, authority, and ethics in collaboration and community online. Then we’ll continue to work on analysis projects and on the collaborative Web resource.

Assignments for Next Class

• Read any three articles from “[1] Group Dynamics in Cyberspace“
• Read “[2] Communities, Audiences, and Scale“
• “[3] Cult blog a fake, admit ‘lonelygirl’ creators“
• Watch “[4] A Beginner’s Guide to Faking Your Death on the Internet“(Warning: Contains Profanity)
• Post a response to the discussion post.