Session 4--Social role, capital and trust

First, some housekeeping. Overall I was extremely pleased with your blog posts for the last session, but instead of posting comments on your blogs this time, I'm going to take this opportunity to give you some mid-semester feedback. Over the next week I'll send each of you an email containing my session 3 comments and an overall assessment of your blog/comment contributions thus far, so you know where you stand.

A few of you have sent me final project proposals, but since those are a component of this session's assignment, I'll hold off on those comments for now. As a reminder, your final project proposals are due to me via email Monday March 9, and to that end, this session's assignment will be geared as much as possible toward helping you conceptualize your final project.

Session 3's focus on content contributions led to many of you discovering that eliciting participation in an online community requires some knowledge and consideration of the norms, roles and expectations within that community. If you'll forgive an automotive analogy, the horsepower of good content contributions means little without the traction of understanding the community. Three core concepts that have been introduced by researchers in the pre-Web world have been adapted to online communities, and form the core of this session's readings: social role, social capital and trust.

Session 4, Week 1--complete by Sunday, March 1, 11:59pm

After completing the readings, find and compare two online communities that implement different social capital/trust mechanisms. Choose sites you have not visited or blogged about before. Compare the two mechanisms, and include one anecdote and screenshot of an illustrative personal experience you had with each. Suggest improvements to each site's role/capital/trust mechanism, based on the community, the session 4 readings (always important) and your own experience with other sites.

Conclude your post with one or more ideas for a final project, which need not be connected to this session's topics. Phrase it as a question you're interested in exploring, both analytically and empirically. Make some reference to relevant readings, and include some specific ideas on how and where you plan to address the question.


Session 4, Week 2--complete by Sunday, March 8, 11:59pm

Comment on at least five other students' blog posts, and include a reaction to their final project idea(s). You can contribute questions you think they should consider, outside resources you think may be of help, problems/pitfalls you think might arise, or any other contribution that helps them focus and finalize their project proposal.

Session 3--Motivating content contributions (plus final project guidelines)

So far, some of you have dipped your toes into the social computing waters, while others have cannonballed off the high dive. We've read and discussed in general terms what attracts people to social sites, but this week we're going to get more specific about what people do when they get there.

In the previous sentence, it probably seemed natural to you that I would use metaphors of geography to describe navigation between sites, but they apply less and less. Most of you are probably reading this post via a feed reader, as opposed to pointing your browser to the course blog's URL. Even though the differences are more in perception than embedded in code, when the information seems to come to you, rather than you having to go to it, expectations change.

This session's readings provide a wide array of frameworks in which past researchers have attempted to describe or explain online communities, and participation within them. Read these closely, always with an eye toward specific questions you'd like to explore. Remember, readings not linked from the online syllabus are available through Laulima, under the Resources tab. And a word to the wise, for this and all future sessions: a good way to demonstrate your enthusiasm, participation and preparation in an online course is to discuss the Laulima/pdf readings, not just the (usually much shorter) Web-accessible ones.

Also, please note that this session will have a slightly different schedule than the rest.


Session 3, Week 1--complete by Tuesday Feb 17, 11:59pm

After you complete the readings, instead of turning you loose to find any social site, for this session we'll all use the same one: Answerbag (http://www.answerbag.com), a Social Q&A site that I moderate and use as a research testbed. Your instructions:

1. Lurk. Before posting anything, browse the site. Get a feel for how this community interacts, and how contributions are motivated and rewarded. Read the assignment guidelines carefully, and think strategically about how other site users have accomplished the objectives of this assignment. Then craft your own strategy.
   
2. Create a new Answerbag account. Don't use your real name.
3. Post. You may post as many or as few questions and answers as you like, but you must accomplish at least two of the following by Sunday February 15, 11:59pm:

• Your top-rated question must accumulate 40 or more rating points
• Your top-rated answer must accumulate 40 or more rating points
• One of your questions must draw 8 or more answers
• One of your answers must draw 8 or more comments

Don't dawdle--the sooner you complete the readings, assess the site, craft a strategy and post your content, the more time you'll have to accumulate points and responses. Don't game the system by answering your own questions, creating multiple accounts or other chicanery (remember, I'm an admin ;)). Also understand that openly asking for points is against the rules of the site. You may respond to comments beneath your own answers, though these will not count toward your total. Apart from that, your goal is to understand the community and use the affordances of the site to motivate content contributions.

Discuss your experience on your blog, and (important) relate it directly to this session's readings, as well as your experiences on other sites which rely on active user contributions. What was your strategy to motivate other Answerbag users to respond to and uprate your content, and why do you think it succeeded or failed? Include a link to your user profile in your post, but if you prefer to have it remain private, email it to me directly. Remember to post your blog by Tuesday Feb 17, 11:59pm.


Session 3, Week 2--complete by Sunday, Feb 22, 11:59pm

Read and comment on at least five other students' Session 3 posts, again seeking out those you haven't commented on before--but that certainly doesn't mean you have to completely ignore people you've already engaged with.


Final Project guidelines

I've had a few questions about the final project, and I'm very happy to see some of you already proposing (or more accurately, thinking out loud about) aspects of social computing that you'd like to explore in more depth. The standard framework for the final will mirror that of each session:

• Identify a question rising out of the readings that you'd like to explore in more depth. You may work alone or in pairs. Send me an email with your proposed question, and how you plan to address it, no later than Monday, March 9.
  
• Address your question both analytically (include literature both within and beyond the course readings) and empirically (data gathered via your experience on one or more relevant social sites). Use data gathering models from the readings or elsewhere to structure your investigation, and conclude with a reflective discussion section where you evaluate your results in light of your original question. Planning, flexibility and persistence will also be key components of your grade.
• Length should be roughly 15 pages for a solo project, not counting screenshots (required) and bibliography.
• Final projects will be due Sunday, May 10
  

However, you are free to propose a different final project or format. If this option interests you, contact me as far in advance of the proposal deadline as possible.