TECH 621 Research Focus: The Social Internet Course meets:Thursday 6-8:50 pm, Knoy B019 Professor: Dr.

Mihaela Vorvoreanu Office: Knoy 317 Email: mihaela@purdue.edu Office hours: WTh 3:00-4:00 pm; by appointment



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Information about the course will be available on: y Course blog: http://prprofmv.wordpress.com/ y Blackboard y Emails from professor Please make sure you monitor all three continuously throughout the semester! Course description: TECH 621 simulates an interdisciplinary think tank environment where students identify research questions and examine the impact of social media and social networking technologies on various aspects of society, business, culture, communication, web experience, and interface design. The course integrates immersion in social media with consideration of several theoretical perspectives from diverse fields. Students complete an original research project customized to fit individual or team interests. The course encourages theoretical and methodological diversity. Course objectives: Upon completing this course, students will be able to: 1. Conduct independent research with and about social media on topics of their own interest; 2. Recognize the defining principles of social media; 3. Recognize the changes effected by social media in some major aspects of culture and society, as well as their own area of interest; 4. Identify major trends in social media research; 5. Create social media solutions and apply them to their own area of interest. Course readings: Readings will be posted on Blackboard (Bb) the week before each class. It is your responsibility to check Blackboard, do the readings, take notes, and be prepared to discuss the readings in class.

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COURSE PHILOSOPHY
If this course succeeds, it will be unlike any course you've ever taken. That is because we will do our best to live & practice the principles of social media, which are quite different than those of traditional education. For example: Traditional Education top-down behind (fire)walls competitive teacher = authority, "fountain" of knowledge students = passive Social Media distributed open collaborative teacher = facilitator, guide students = active

I see my role as facilitating the learning and research process, as a guide, community organizer, and coach. I expect you to teach me and each other at least as much as I will teach you. We will try to make decisions together in this course. I urge you to take charge of your mind, your learning, your future. Be involved. Contribute. Express your opinion. Disagree with me. Do it nicely, politely, and constructively, but be active. Principles This course philosophy works if we all abide by the following principles: 1. We are honest with each other; we don't try to cheat, game, take advantage of others (students or teacher). 2. We are nice, constructive, polite, and professional. 3. We make an honest effort to learn, to create knowledge together, and to share it among members of the class and beyond. There is one sure way of ruining the course experience for everybody else, and even possibly failing the course: violating principle 1 above. Dishonesty, under any form (plagiarism, lying about attendance, deadlines, etc.) will not be tolerated. It will lead to being reported to the Dean of Students, failing the assignment, and possibly failing the course.We can deal with any problem, and we can help each other, as long as we are honest. Emergencies Please take some time to familiarize yourself with campus emergency procedures, available at:http://www.itap.purdue.edu/tlt/faculty/. page 2 of 7

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If you haven t done so already, please consider signing up for the campus text message emergency notification system at: http://www.purdue.edu/securepurdue/. In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances beyond the instructor s control. Here are ways to get information about changes in this course: y Course blog: http://prprofmv.wordpress.com y Blackboard y Email (Mihaela@purdue.edu)

ASSIGNMENTS& GRADING:
Social Media Immersion To really get social media, you need to be engaged with it, not only read about it. Therefore, social media immersion is a key part of this course. Social media immersion means creating daily habits of social media use, and being an active and engaged participant in social media. Similar to studying abroad, you don t get much out of the experience if you don t get out of your hotel room. Here are my expectations for minimum social media immersion: Reading blogs(10 points) Identify blogs that write about social media topics (social media blogs such as Mashable and Read/Write Web are a must) and follow them regularly. Subscribe to them by email or RSS feed reader. Blogs will help you stay informed about the newest trends and ideas. Reading blogs is not enough: You need to document what you read and let me know about it, so you can receive your points. There are two good ways to let me know you re actively reading blogs: 1) Writing brief blog posts on your own blog about something interesting you just read; 2) Tweeting links to interesting blog posts you ve just read. For both options, make it clear WHY you are recommending the link why is it interesting? Commenting on blogs(5 points) Comment on posts that you read. Comment on class mates posts and the professor s posts to start with, but comment also on other professional blogs you read. Make sure you archive your comments so I can review them. Create a page on your blog where you post links to each comment you made. Make sure to link to the permalink of the comment, or if that is not available, to the permalink of the post you commented on.

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Writing a blog (10 points) You will create your own blog on wordpress.com. You will aim to write about 1-2 blog posts every week. You will tag and categorize your blog posts clearly. I suggest the following categories: y Reading reflections Before each class, post a few thoughts or ideas about the readings. What did YOU take away from the readings? What was interesting/useful to you? How can you apply ideas from the readings to your own area of interest? What questions do you have about the readings? Post before 5 pm on class day. Links to interesting blog posts When you read an interesting post and want to keep it or recommend it to your readers, write a brief post on your blog: Share the link to the interesting post, and briefly explain why it is interesting to you. Social media tool evaluation Experiment with social media tools and services. Sign up for social media sites, try them out, then post your thoughts about them. What is this thing, how does it work, and how could it be used in your own area of interest? For example, how could social bookmarking sites or photo sharing sites be used in marketing, education, emergency management, etc.? Come up with ideas and applications. Ideas, thoughts, opinions, commentary on anything you see/read/hear that is or can be related to class and/or your work. For example, you may share an interesting video and write your thoughts about it. Or you can post your thoughts/opinions about something that was discussed in class, something that happened, etc. You can post videos, photos, etc. Some mix of personal or humorous posts ad spice to your blog and show your humanity and complexity. Just keep it work-appropriate :) Questions, fears, unfinished ideas - blogs are most interesting when they document your thinking and learning process rather than when they show a finished, polished "final paper."

y y

Twitter(5 points) - This semester, you will be required to use Twitter professionally. You will start by interacting with the professor and class mates, but the power of Twitter is when you create your own Personal Learning Network (PLN): When you find and follow people you want to learn from. Your Twitter grade will be based on how active you are, how many people you follow in your PLN, and how interactive/conversational you are within, but especially beyond class. Research Article Analyses(25 points) During the course of the semester, you will identify, read, and analyze at least 5 research articles about social media and a topic of your own interest. You will share these articles with the class during class discussion,

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and on your blog. More details about this assignment will be available on the course blog and on Bb. Small Presentations (10 points) Students will prepare and present 3 topics over the course of the semester. Final Research Project(25 points) Each individual student or team of students will create an independent research project on a topic related to social media. Attendance, Participation, Professionalism (10 points) - Every student in the class starts with an automatic maximum of 10 points for APP. Students may lose some or all 10 points if their attendance, participation, and/or professionalism do not meet the professor s and the class mates expectations: Attendance You are expected to attend all classes. If you have to miss a class, please let me know as soon as possible, and make arrangements to get a hold of class material. Excuses accepted only for serious emergencies, and only if well documented with written evidence. If you are not present at the beginning of each session when the roster is called, you will be marked absent for that class. Each unexcused absence except the first one will result in a 3 point deduction. Participation You are expected to do the readings before the class for which they are assigned. You are expected to make informed, meaningful contributions to both lecture and lab discussions and exercises. Make an effort to speak up. Be engaged. Pay attention. If you occupy yourself with anything not related to class, you will lose all 10 points. Professionalism You are expected to behave and communicate professionally with fellow students and the professor. Be courteous, polite, dependable. When in doubt, ask yourself if the behavior would be tolerated in a workplace. It is always safer to err on the side of being more formal and polite than necessary. Proofread the emails you send that are class related, and address them semiformally. ( Hey or heya are not semi-formal salutations.) Disruptive or unprofessional behavior of any kind will result in loss of 10 points. Extremely unprofessional behavior will be reported to the Dean of Students and may result in failure of the course.

Course grades: page 5 of 7

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Total points 95-100 90-94 87-89 84-86 80-83 77-79 74-76 70-73 67-69 64-66 60-63 0-59

Letter Grade A, A+ AB+ B BC+ C CD+ D DF

COURSE SCHEDULE
Readings for each class available on Blackboard. Please read before class. Schedule subject to change. Please monitor your email for announcements and find the most up-to-date syllabus on Blackboard. Date Aug 25 Sept 1 Topic Introductions & Course overview Social media definitions & classifications Social media adoption Social media users Conducting academic research about social media Internet culture Self-presentation &Online Page 6 of 7Identity Social capital Online participation Communities Crowdsourcing Self-organizing Information organization: tagging & rating Social media in the workplace: Communication, Collaboration, Assignments Bring to class a list of at least 20 social media sites/tools that you did not know about before. Student presentations

1 2

3 4 5 6

Sept 8 Sept 15 Sept 22 Sept 29

Student presentations Research topic due

7 8

Oct 6 Oct 13

Research plan due

9 Oct 20 10 Oct 27 11 Nov 3

Literature review due

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12 Nov 10 13 Nov 17 14 Dec 1 15 Dec 8 Dec 12

Coordination Attention & Intelligence The dark side Student presentations Wild card Final project draft due THANKSGIVING BREAK Final project presentations Final project due

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