Informatics 161: Social Analysis of Computerization

This course will introduce you to the social analysis of computerization. You will learn how to think about computerization as a social phenomenon. This course will familiarize you with various social analytical approaches to the study of computerization. You will become acquainted with social analysis at various levels: from small groups to society.

Meeting Information

Location: CS 174
Lecture Time: Wednesday and Friday, 3:30pm - 4:50pm

Discussion Section 1: Mon. 3pm to 3:50pm in ET 204
Discussion Section 2: Mon. 4pm to 4:50pm in ET 202

Instructor Information

Charlotte P. Lee
cplee@ics.uci.edu
Office: Calit2 4416
Office Hours: Wednesday 1:00 - 2:30pm

Amanda Williams, Teaching Assistant
amandamw@ics.uci.edu
amandamarisa on AIM
metamanda on Yahoo
Office Hours: Fri. 1:30 - 3:15pm @ Calit2 Room 4300

Silvia Lindtner, Reader
lindtner@ics.uci.edu
Office Hours: Tu. 1:00-2:00pm @ Calit2 Room 4300

Marisa Cohn, Reader
mlcohn@ics.uci.edu
Office Hours: M. 11:30am-12:30pm @ Computer Science Trailer, 127A
 

Schedule

Assignments

Assignment 1: Analyzing Images (2 to 3 pages)

The purpose of this assignment is to get you to look closely at some ways in which technology is portrayed.

Find two images of computer/information technology.  One should be utopian, one dystopian.  These images can be from advertising, magazines, newspapers, articles, billboards, TV, movies, or even music.  For each of these images:

1) Indicate EXACTLY where you found it (in other words, which source, the date it was published, the name of the TV show or movie, channel, date, you get the idea).

2) Describe the technology presented and indicate if it is current, future, science fictional.

3) How is the technology presented?  What kind of people are affected by it and are presented as using it?  Who is the target audience (children, computer professionals, individuals, families, etc?).  What is the technology supposed to do to or for them?

4) What is the "real message" being presented?  Is it to get you to buy something, believe something, protest something, fear something?

5) How did you react to this image and did you believe what is being presented?  Why or why not?

Your write-up should NOT be in the Question and Answer format presented here, but should be written as a narrative.  Use these questions as a guide.

Assignment 2: Prospectus for Final Paper (1 to 2 pages)

The purpose of this assignment is to get you started on your final paper.

Write a 1 to 2 page prospectus that provides answers to the following:

• What is a contemporary controversial computerization topic that interests you?
• Why is this a timely topic? Why now?
• Who are the stakeholders? What are the stakes for each stakeholder?
• What technology is involved?
• You must cite at least 2 academic journal articles or books. Include full citations. Attach photocopies or printouts of the first page of your articles or books.

Your write-up should NOT be in the Question and Answer format presented here, but should be written as a narrative.  Use these questions as a guide.

Assignment 3: More Literature for the Final Paper (2 to 3 pages, not including photocopies)

The purpose of this assignment is to help you continue working on your final paper. Make sure you turn in both an electronic and a hard copy. Your assignment is due on Wednesday, Nov. 15 in class.

Find 3 additional academic articles (i.e. appearing in a peer-reviewed journal or conference) or books about your chosen topic. You'll be spending a little time on them so try to choose interesting articles. Non-academic articles or books are unacceptable for this assignment. If you are unsure as to how to find academic articles on a given topic, a reference librarian can help direct you to good sources including some that can be accessed through ANTPAC.

1) For each article:
a) Provide a full citation.. Choose a citation format in which to list all your papers. Common citation formats include MLA or APA or Chicago Style.
b) For each article, state what field or discipline (e.g. HCI, Psychology, Sociology, Policy Studies, Organizational Studies, etc.) the book or article is from.
c) Summarize each article or book in your own words.
d) Provide a photocopy of the title page of each article or book on both electronic and hard copies.

2) Synthesize the readings
a) Compare and contrast your readings. How are they different? How are they similar? Do the articles have methods, themes, or arguments in common? Are they concerned with similar or dissimilar aspects of your topic?
b) List 3 questions that you have about your chosen topic after reading these articles.

Final Paper

You will write a final paper in this class. The topic is open for either paper, but they should cover issues which clearly relate to and reference the reading in the course. You are expected to relate your papers to the course readings and to include a reference list. Excellent papers will also cite additional sources that are not on the reading list.

The paper will be approximately 3000 words.

Grading

Assignment 1: 10%

Assignment 2: 10%

Assignment 3: 10%

Midterm Exam: 30%

Final Paper: 40%

Late assignments will be downgraded 1/3 of a letter grade per day.

Grades that fall on or near the border (e.g. A-/B+) will be decided at the instructor's discretion.

Bibliography

Ackerman, M. (2000). The intellectual challenge of CSCW: The gap between social requirements and technical feasibility. Human-Computer Interaction, 15(2/3), 179. [PDF]

Carroll, J. M. & Rosson, M. B. (2003). A trajectory for community networks. The Information Society, 19(5), 381. [PDF]

Dourish, P. (2004). Where the action is: The foundations of embodied interaction [PDF]

Dourish, P. In press. collective information practice: Exploring privacy and security as social and cultural phenomena Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. [PDF]

Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E., & Moore, R. J. (2006). "Alone Together?": Exploring the Social Dynamics of Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: ACM Press. [PDF]

Electronic Frontier Foundation. RIAA vs. the people: Two years later.

Garett, R. K. (2006). Protest in an information society: A review of literature on social movements and new ICTs. Information, Communication Society, 9(2), 202. [PDF]

Grinter, R. E., & Palen, L. (2002). Instant messaging in teen life. CSCW '02: Proceedings of the 2002 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. 21-30. [PDF]

Grudin, J. (1989). Why groupware applications fail: Problems in design and evaluation. Information Technology People, 4(3), 245. [PDF]

Grudin, J., & Palen, L. Why groupware succeeds: Discretion or mandate? ACM Conf. Computer-Supported Cooperative Work ECSCW'95, Stockholm, Sweden. [PDF]

Howcroft, D., & Fitzgerald, B. "from Utopia to Dystopia: The Twin Faces of the Internet" [PDF]

Huff, C. (2002). Gender, software design, and occupational equity. SIGCSE Bulletin, 34(2), 112. [PDF]

Hughes, J., Randall, D., & Shapiro, D. (1993). From ethnographic record to system design: Some experiences from the field. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1(3), 123. [PDF]

Johnson, D. G., & Miller, K. W. (2006). A dialogue on responsibility, moral agency, and IT systems. SAC '06: Proceedings of the 2006 ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Dijon, France. 272-276. [PDF]

Kensing, F., & Bloomberg, J. (1998). Participatory design: Issues and concerns. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 7(3/4), 167. [PDF]

Kling, R. (1999). What is social informatics and why does it matter. D-Lib Magazine, 5(1), 1.

Lievrouw. (2003). Information and equity. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 37(1), 499. [PDF]

Mackay, & et al. (2000). Reconfiguring the user: Using rapid application development. Social Studies of Science, 30(5), 737. [PDF]

Malhotra, A., Gosain, S., & Hars, A. (1997). Evolution of a virtual community: Understanding design issues through a longitudinal study. ICIS '97: Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Information Systems, Atlanta, Georgia, United States. 59-74. [PDF]

Nardi, B. A., Schiano, D. J., Gumbrecht, Michelle, Swartz, & Luke. (2004). Why we blog. Communications of the ACM, 47(12), 41. [PDF]

Paulos, E., & Goodman, E. (2004). The familiar stranger: Anxiety, comfort, and play in public places. CHI '04: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vienna, Austria. 223-230. [PDF]

Resnick, P., Bikson, T., Mynatt, E., Puttnam, R., Sproull, L., & Wellman, B. (2000). Beyond bowling together: SocioTechnical capital. CSCW '00: Proceedings of the 2000 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. 363. [PDF]

Voida, A., Grinter, R. E., Ducheneaut, N., Edwards, W. K., & Newman, M. W. (2005). Listening in: Practices surrounding iTunes music sharing. CHI '05: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Portland, Oregon, USA. 191-200. [PDF]

Wellman, B., & Hogan, B. (2004). The internet in everyday life. In W. S. Bainbridge (Ed.), Berkshire encyclopedia of human-computer interaction (pp. 389-389-397). Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing.

Williams, A. and Dourish, P. (In press). Imagining the City: The Cultural Dimensions of Urban Computing. IEEE Computer Society [PDF]

Optional Readings

Agre, P. E. (1997). Toward a critical technical practice: Lessons learned in trying to reform AI. In G. Bowker, L. Gasser, L. Star & B. Turner (Eds.), Bridging the great divide: Social science, technical systems, and cooperative work ()Erlbaum.

Asaro, P. M. (2000). Transforming society by transforming technology: The science and politics of participatory design. Accounting, Management, and Information Technologies, 10(4), 257.

Button, G., & Dourish, P. (1996). Technomethodology: Paradoxes and possibilities. CHI '96: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 19-26. from http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/238386.238394

Fisher, D. R., & Wright, L. M. (2001). On utopias and dystopias: Toward an understanding of the discourse surrounding the internet. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 6(2)

Mackay, H., & Gillespie, G. Extending the social shaping of technology approach: Ideology and appropriation

Policies

The instructor reserves the right to change the syllabus at any time.

Add/drop: The last day to drop this course is the end of the second week of classes. 

Respect: This class involves significant in-class discussion of topics on which you and your classmates may have differences in opinion. Please be respectful of others at all times.

Academic honesty: Please familiarize yourself with the latest UCI academic honesty policy: http://www.editor.uci.edu/catalogue/appx/appx.2.htm. The consequences of academic dishonesty are not worth the risks.

Technology in class: Please turn off all cell phones/pagers/etc. before the beginning of each class. Please do not use notebook computers during class for any purpose not directly relating to this class. Please do not instant message or check email during class.

Correspondence: We will send course announcements by email to the official course mailing list, so you should check your email regularly. Note that this mailing list goes to the email address that the registrar has for you (your UCInet ID). If you prefer to read your Email on another account, you should set your UCInet account to forward your Email to your preferred account (you can do this on the web at http://phwww.cwis.uci.edu/cgi-bin/phupdate).

Assignments: All written assignments should use standard formatting – Times style font size 12 or Arial/Tahoma style font size 10, 8.5x11in paper, 1" margins, double spaced. Paper copies of each assignment should be turned in at the end of class on the day listed on the course outline below.