The New School Media Studies, Program Session "C" March 14- May 13, 2005, #6635
 
 

Identity and Community in Online worlds

Instructor: Edward Lenert, JD, PhD

San Francisco, California.

E-mail: Lenert@gmail.com. Telephone: (646) 245-6200

Description : This introductory graduate level course explores the emerging relationships among communication, technology and society. It specifically focuses on online communities, e-commerce, and online computer games. Taking a critical studies approach, we will spend considerable time discussing how new communication technologies raise important questions relating to identity and community in online participatory environments.   Where are the borders between the imagined and actual worlds and what is it like to cross those borders?   Though research and discussion, students in this course will examine the intense relationships people develop though information technologies and how these relationships are changing the way we think and feel.

More information about the Instructor is available here.

Assigned Readings:

Murray, Janet Horowitz (1997), Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. ISBN: 0684827239

Johnson, Steven (1997): Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate. Basic Books.   ISBN: 0465036805

Turkle, Sherry. (1997)   Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. Simon & Schuster. ISBN: 0684833484

Course requirements and grading:

Your online participation is expected three times per week. In addition, there is a required final research and ethnographic observation project on a community or game of your selection.

1. Weekly posts on concepts from the assigned readings: 150 pts (overall)

2. Weekly discussion participation (discussing other student’s posts): 150 pts (overall)

3. Participatory learning (“Do and report” assignments): 400 pts (100 pts each assignment)

4. Final project: 300 pts.

Total: 1,000 points

Your posts are due 11:59 PM, Pacific Time, on the day indicated in the syllabus. Example: “Monday” means that your contribution is late if it is posted after midnight (Pacific Time) on Monday. Excused late posts are not subject to a penalty.

Weekly Schedule

Prologue: March 7-13: Orientation

1.   March 14-20: Class opens on March 17

2.   March 21-27:   Preface to online games and communities

  • Monday: Read and discuss two concepts from Johnson, Interface Culture. Preface, ch. 1, 2, and 6.
  • Wednesday: Comment on at least two posts your classmates.
  • Thursday: Do and report #1: Hypertext and Intelligent Agents in Yahoo and Amazon.com. Drawn especially upon Johnson, ch. 6.

3.   March 28-April 3: 3. E-commerce: Agents and customization

  • Monday: Read and discuss two concepts from Johnson, Interface Culture ch. 3, 4, 5 .  Click here for links to the supplemental readings.
  • Wednesday: Comment on two classmate’s experiences with Yahoo and Amazon. Comment of two classmates’s post concerning the Johnson reading.
  • Thursday: Do and report #2: (A) “Who shot JFK?” (2) Do and report: Buy or sell something on Ebay. Discuss how you evaluate credibility and truthfulness on-line.  

4.   April 4-10:  “Computers as Theater”

  • Monday: Read and discuss two concepts from Murray, Hamlet/ Holodeck ch. 1,2,3
  • Wednesday: Comment on a classmate’s “Who shot JFK / Ebay” assignment.
  • Thursday: Do and report #3: Play Zork and live to tell about it. Click here for links to the supplemental readings.

5.   April 11-17: Immersion, agency and transformation.

  • Monday: Read Murray, Hamlet/ Holodeck ch. 4, 5, 6. Post your analysis of at least two concepts from Hamlet/ Holodeck.
  • Wednesday: Comment on two classmate’s experiences playing Zork and the chapters from Murray.
  • Thursday: Do and report: #4: AI and bots. Have a conversation with a computer. Click here for links to the supplemental readings.

6.   April 18-24: The future of storytelling in new media

  • Monday, read Murray, Hamlet/ Holodeck ch. 7,8 and Johnson, Interface Culture ch.7 Click here for links to the supplemental readings.
  • Post your analysis of at least two concepts from Johnson and Murray readings. Comment on two posts your classmates.
  • Thursday: Begin your research and present a 200 word prospectus for final project.

7.   April 25-May1: Simulation and the self. Virtuality and identity. Gender, sex, the body and the self on-line.

  • Monday, read Turkle, Life/Screen, ch. Introduction, 1, 2, and post your analysis of two concepts.
  • Wednesday. Comment on two posts your classmates.
  • Thursday: Post your prospectus for the final project.   Begin research and observations.

8.   May 2-8: Human psychology and artificial life.

  • Monday: Read and discuss two concepts from Turkle, Life/Screen, ch. 3,4,5,6.
  • Wednesday: Comment on two posts your classmates.
  • Thursday: Discuss your research and initial ethnographic observations.

9.   May 9-13:   Wrap up and student “presentations”

  • Monday: Comment on another student’s research in progress.
  • Wednesday: Post your final paper and “present” the results of your research and observations.
  • Thursday: Comment on two final papers.

Please note that all work must be completed during the term. No grade of "incomplete" will be assigned without prior written permission of the instructor.

 
 

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