Readings are subject to change. Please always check the online syllabus.

CS 6470: Design of Online Communities

Instructor:	Amy Bruckman
Email:	asb at cc.gatech.edu
Student Hours:	Talk to me after class, or email for an appointment.

TA:	Ciabhan Connelly
Email:	ciabhanconnelly at gatech.edu
Student Hours:	Find me after class, or email for an appointment.

TA:	Princess Empel
Email:	mempel3 at gatech.edu
Student Hours:	Find me after class, or email for an appointment.

Location:	J. Erskine Love Manufacturing 183
Time:	Tuesday, Thursday 12:30-1:45
Class Schedule:	Calendar

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Learning Objectives

Online communities are becoming an increasing part of how we work, play, and learn. But how are they designed? What are they really good for? Why are some communities more successful than others? What are the key issues in this field of research?

At the completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand important features of online interactions,
• Analyze online interactions critically,
• Use qualitative methods to study online activity, including participant observation and interviewing,
• Understand how to study internet behavior ethically,
• Design an online community, and
• Understand research issues in this field.

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Texts

Required:

• The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, by Erving Goffman
• The Great Good Place, by Ray Oldenburg (paper copies hard to find; available on Kindle)
• Interviewing as Qualitative Research, by I.E. Seidman
• Should You Believe Wikipedia?, by Amy Bruckman (free draft provided)
• Subscription to a transcription service such as otter.ai ($8.33/month, starting after project proposals are approved in mid to late September, through the date papers are due in November.)

Additional readings are online and on Canvas.

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Assignments and Grading

Your grade is based on:

• Short paper (2-6 pages): What are your best and worst experiences in an online community? (5%)
• Homeworks (10%)
• Quizzes (10%)
  There will be short quizzes on random days at the start of class, which are designed to be easy if you did the reading. Your lowest quiz grade is dropped.
  If you miss a quiz for an excused reason, you may write a two-page "reading reflection" to replace your quiz grade, due one week after you return from your excused absence. The makeup assignment is here. Please submit it by email to the TAs.
  If you miss a quiz because you were late to class, we will let you do the makeup assignment ONCE during the semester. After that, it is a zero.
  If you are sick, please email the TAs BEFORE class if you would like to be eligible to do the makeup assignment. If you are too sick to email before, we of course accept documentation from the Dean of Students office.
• Interviews (7%)
• Community study paper (20-30 pages):
  Participate in a virtual community for a significant amount of time (at least 10 hours) and observe it. Each team member will interview at least three community members. Analyze how the community is designed and in what ways it is successful. (groups of approx. three, 28%)
• Short paper: Online community design idea (10%)
• Midterm (15%)
• Final (15%)

Assignments will be graded on a list of criteria (specified on the assignment) such as quality of writing, completeness, insight into design issues, insight into social issues, etc. For each criterion, you will receive either a check plus, check, or check minus. Most criterion will receive a check. A plus means "you impressed me." A minus means the assignment is incomplete, incorrect, or sloppy in some fashion with respect to that criterion. Your grade on an assignment starts at a 90 and goes up about 3 points for each plus and down about 3 points for each minus. This is not exact--it may be adjusted more. Generally, a 90 means your work satisifed what was expected and more than that means you impressed us; less means this not what we expected.

Extra credit towards the community study paper and design assignment are offered for giving an in-class presentation.

Late Policy

Assignments are due fifteen minutes before the start of class on the day they are due. Over the course of the term, you have three "late days" where work may be late with no explanation needed. Once you have used up your late days, late assignments will be penalized at a rate of 3 pts (one grade step: A becomes A-) per day. Assignments more than one week late will not be accepted. Presentations may not be late. I suggest you save your late days for your larger assignments. We can't transfer them if you have used them and then are late on a later assignment worth more points.

Attendance

The single best thing you can do to do well in this class (and learn useful things from it) is to make sure to attend all the lectures. There are things you need to know about how to do your project that you will miss if you don't attend.

If you feel ill or have another legitimate excuse, you may do a makeup assignment if you missed a quiz. Legitimate excuses include things like illness, a job interview, or attending a professional conference. Things that are not legitimate include having furniture delivered, picking someone up at the airport, or having a presentation in another class (please tell your other professor to not schedule during someone else's class.)

Stay home if you are sick

Stay home if you are sick. If you have any symptoms of illness of any kind, please don't come in. You do not need a doctor's note to be excused for illness. Please get notes from a classmate.

English as a Second Language

If Engish is not your first language, you may request to not be graded on your writing for a particular individual assignment. This means you won't be penalized for bad writing, but you also won't get credit for good writing. To take advantage of this option, you must mark "ESL" (English as a Second Language) on the first page of your assignment/paper. This option is not available for group assignments. We still of course expect you to try to write in correct English, and will do our best to offer useful feedback on your writing.

Reference format

Please use APA format for all references. APA format is described here.

Honor Code

This class abides by the Georgia Tech Honor Code. All assigned work is expected to be individual, except where explicitly written otherwise. You are encouraged to discuss the assignments with your classmates; however, what you hand in should be your own work.

Policy on use of AI

• Use of spelling and grammar checkers are encouraged.
• Use of generative AI is discouraged (except when explicitly asked to do so), but not prohibited.

If you choose to use generative AI, you must do so responsibly. Please consider the following risks:

• Reduced learning. The purpose of academic writing assignments is to help you learn the material. You should be aware that using generative AI typically lessens the amount you learn from the assignment. This includes both reduced content learning, and reduced learning about how to write independently. This reduced learning may diminish what you get from the course, and may impact your grade later in your performance on exams.
• Factual errors. AI may introduce factual errors. If your work contains factual errors, we will deduct points for each error (typically 5 or 10 points per error) or may give a zero on the assignment, at the instructor’s discretion.
• Bias. AI may introduce unfair biases, for example against certain groups. You are responsible for any biases in work you submit.
• Fake references. AI may provide fake references. Citing a paper is asserting that it exists, you have read part or all of it, and that it supports the point being made. If you have a reference for a paper that does not exist in your bibliography, you will be reported for a violation of academic integrity, and this may result in a grade of zero on the assignment or F in the course.
• Poor style. AI sometimes writes in an awkward or clichéd style. The quality of your writing is part of your grade, and we will deduct points for poor writing style.

No Laptop or Cell Phone Use in Class

Please do not use your laptop or cell phone in class, unless specifically asked to do so. The reason is that you will end up not paying attention, and may distract others around you. Please take notes on paper. You may ask for an exception to this policy if needed.

You will need either your phone or laptop in class to take quizzes.