SOC-MED Syllabus for 2011

COURSE SYLLABUS OF SOC-MED

1.0COURSE DESCRIPTION

Course Code: SOC-MED
Course Title: Social Computing and Impacts of Social Media
Description: Social computing is a growing field of study concerned on supporting, facilitating, understanding or even promoting various social behaviors and social relationships through the use of web, social software or other technologies. The course also teaches the basic make-up of social computing in terms of structure, media, technology and psychology as well as the power of social media that influences social relationships.

Credit Units: 3
Course Adviser email: mavic.pineda@delasalle.ph
Twitter: queenandroid, #socmed
Liberty : Use of laptop and Bluetooth enabled mobile phones together with the web is a privilege during group dynamics and experiments that may be held/performed in the classroom.

2.0COURSE OBJECTIVES

The course intends to introduce social computing and push the students to migrate from being online consumers to idea producers or designers of social network software through:

a. learning, analyzing the fundamental aspects and dynamics of social computing;
b. analyzing and critically reviewing various social computing and/or networking sites;
c. perform various online experiments to have a deeper understanding of social network impacts;
d. acquire the knowledge and understanding of how social computing works, make a critique and forecast the next level of social networks with supporting data and existing models;
e. design a prototype of a social network application based on some needs analysis, application of social network or group theories;
f. and finally, construct some ideas how to promote a constructive web culture and mature online social environment inspired by Christian values1.

3.0 COURSE TOPICS

1. Introduction
Social Structures and social relationships

2. Human Relationships
Everyday conduct & management of relationships
Attachment and emotions
Experiment no. 1: Collection of online conversations

3.-4. Relationship within other relationships: social networks
Influencing strangers, acquaintances and friends
Social circle and types of connections
Experiment no. 2: Test of credibility and reputation in Facebook

5.-6.0 Web 2.0++ technologies, social software & social media
Social software themes and attributes
Modes of Interaction: asynchronous, synchronous, mobile
Models & structures of relationships
Assignment on Relationship application research
Project orientation

6.Group presentations: Social computing tools/applications
Blogs, Wikis and Google Docs
Social Bookmarks and RSS
Youtube videos
Social Networks

*7. Management of relationship difficulty in social networks
Social Networks and Twitter

8.-9. Experiment 4: A case study of relationship difficulty
Discussion of the case study on Hyperfriendship
Technology and the boundaries of human relationships

*10. Digital Identities, Avatars and Profiles
What, how and why; group sharing

11. Group presentations: Six degrees of separation experiment

12.-13. Project Presentations

*Online meetings
**Topic nos. correspond to week nos.
4. 0 LEARNING STRATEGIES

1.Experiments as major course work;
2.Use of short video and/or wikis and/or blogs and relationship simulation tool for presentations;
3.Interactive discussions, insight sharing, research & heavy reading assignments;
4.Participation in a blogs, twitter and online meetings;
5.Development of a well-thought web-based or mobile social relationship application/solution.

5.0 RATING SYSTEM

Group Experiments/Work (10% each) - 50%
Class Activities – participation in group interactions, insight sharing, online discussions - 15%
Final Project (20% design and 10%convincing
presentation, 5% documentation) - 35%
TOTAL
100%


REFERENCES:

**Duck, S. (2007). Human Relationships. London: Sage Publications.
Call No: HM 132 D8 2007
Weber, M. (2002). Basic Concepts in Sociology. New York: Citadel Press.
Call No: HM 57 W313 2002

CLASS READINGS :
Kadushin, Charles. (Feb 17, 2004). Introduction to Social Network Theory. http://home.earthlink.net/~ckadushin/Texts/Basic%20Network%20Concepts.pdf
Morville, Peter. (Feb 21, 2002). Social Network Analysis. Semantic Studios. http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000006.php
O’Reilly, Tim. (Sep 30, 2005). What is Web 2.0? O’Reilly Behind the Cover. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
Rayner, Philip et al. (2004). Media Studies: The Essential Resource. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group. London.
Suler, John. (Aug 4, 2004). The Online Disinhibition Effect. The Psychology of Cyberspace. http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/disinhibit.html
Suler, John (Jan 2007). The Psychology of Avatars and Graphical Space in Multimedia Chat Communities. The Psychology of Cyberspace. http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/psyav.html

*other reading materials to follow.
**Main course references

Prepared by MVP/jan 2011