Each student is required to develop a research project based on some social issue or implication of networked digital communication. Since the focus of this class is on the Internet, each project must be put on the Web. This means that each student will need to be somewhat familar with computers, aspects of the Internet (especially the Web), and Web authoring tools and/or HTML mark-up. It also means that the whole (on-line) world will be able to read your paper.
Each project must be scholarly; but this does not mean that the project should be unreadable or uninteresting. We hope that we can create projects that are readable, interesting, and scholarly! In this class, scholarly will mean that (1) we will identify research question(s) that are being asked, addressed; (2) we will seek out evidence and use it to support or challenge hypotheses; (3) we will establish how our work relates to other work; and (4) we will identify where additional research needs to occur.
We will be very flexible as to what constitutes an acceptable project. It can be...
The project can be related to the virtual event project.
And since the project will be put on the web, it can include graphics, links to other sites, sound, animation, etc.
Each student will turn in an initial plan on February 1. At a minimum the plan will include a topic, possible title(s), tentative hypotheses (research questions and assumptions), brief descriptions of project and steps that need to be taken.
We will be using the research projects to help us focus discussions on what research is and how do can do it effectively.
Some possible topics
"Distance learning", MUDs, avatars and metaworlds, why people do/don't like computers, why people do/don't use computers, computers in the classrooms, sociopathic use of computer networks, on-line activism, self-help networks, business and commerce on the net, cross-border labor organizing, theft of identity, community networks, access to government information, net addiction, censorship and free speech, policy options, cyberwar, increasingly interactive and realistic applications (war games, for example) ...
and this is just scratching the surface!
The winter '97 projects are now available for perusal.
I have made this material freely available on the web to encourage its re-use. Please attribute its source if you use it in any way. I welcome your feedback. Please let me know what you find useful and what you find less useful. How should it be improved? Please let me know if you are interested in future collaboration.