CSEM: Web of Influence

Title: Web of Influence: Exploring Blogs and their Effects on Society

This course is designed to explore the effects of digital text on modern society. The course will focus on aspects of the web log on group behavior. The web log (or blog for short) is a new form of digital text that differs from many forms that have come before in that it makes a tight coupling between technology and society. The instant access of the Internet, combined with the continuously updated blog, has created complex dynamics in society. Thus, this course is designed to explore many questions, including:

• How did this connection between blogs and society develop?
• What are its manifestations?
• What are the implications of the rising role of technology in how we obtain information, read, write, listen, and watch?
• How can we use technology to our advantage, to put forward arguments, promote a cause?
• How has technology changed our concept of what a text is and how do we "read" that text?
• How do laws, especially copyright laws, connect to these issues?
• What does copyright mean and what should it mean now that texts (of all kinds) are readily available?
• Are the observable social phenomena that occur on the Internet simply manifestations of what we could not see before or are they something new that will affect the way we perceive ourselves in relation to the world?
• What does it mean to belong to a virtual community rather than a real one? Or in addition to a real one? Does a virtual community evolve/emerge or can it be created?

We do not propose to answer all of the above questions, but will explore them by jumping into the blog world and creating our own, and studying them in the wild. We will read about social theory related to blogging; learn the technology behind blogging, the Internet and searching; we will look at the relationship between weblogs and mainstream journalism; we will learn about rhetorical theory and how it applies to digital text; and we will consider different views of copyright in the 21st century.

Links:

• woi.brynmawr.edu/ - The groupblog
• edventure.brynmawr.edu/ - Grades, class mailing lists, downloadable documents, etc.

Required texts

1. Gladwell, Malcolm (2002). The Tipping Point ISBN: 0316346624, 304 pp. Back Bay Books (January 7, 2002)
2. Orwell, George (1990). 1984 ISBN: 0451524934, 336 pp. Signet Book; Reissue edition (May 1, 1990)
3. Watts, Duncan (2003). Six Degrees ISBN: 0393041425, 306 pp., W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition
4. Blood, Rebecca (ed) (2002). We've got blog ISBN: 0738207411, 176 pp., Perseus Books Group; 1st edition (June 15, 2002)
5. Bradbury, Ray (1987). Fahrenheit 451 ISBN: 0345342968 208 pp. Del Rey (August 12, 1987)
6. Hacker, Diana. Pocket Style Manual, 4th edition

Blogging is like voting: you should do it early and often. Feel free to blog as much as you wish. You don't have to wait for a particular assignment to write or comment. Have fun with it!

Weekly Conferences

Doug's students:

Group A
Name	Day, Time
Diana	Monday 11:10am
Lauren	Monday 11:30am
Helen	Monday 12:10pm
Shyama	Monday 3:10pm
Georgia	Wednesday 11:00am
Corey	Wednesday 1:50pm
Kristen	Wednesday 2:10pm
Trina	Wednesday 2:30pm
Irene	Wednesday 3:30pm
Ruchi	Friday 11:00pm
Katherine	Friday 11:15pm
Group B
Name	Day, Time
Alla	Monday 10:10am
Andrea	Monday 12:10am
Christina	Monday 2:10pm
Stephanie	Monday 2:45pm
Scher	Monday 3:10pm
Trina	Friday 12:10pm

Web of Influence Schedule

           August                  September
Wk  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Wk  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
        1  2  3  4  5  6                    1  2  3
     7  8  9 10 11 12 13    2   4  5  6  7  8  9 10
    14 15 16 17 18 19 20    3  11 12 13 14 15 16 17
    21 22 23 24 25 26 27    4  18 19 20 21 22 23 24
 1  28 29 30 31             5  25 26 27 28 29 30

          October                   November                   December
Wk  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Wk  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Wk  Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
                       1              1  2  3  4  5                    1  2  3
 6   2  3  4  5  6  7  8   10   6  7  8  9 10 11 12   14   4  5  6  7  8  9 10
     9 10 11 12 13 14 15   11  13 14 15 16 17 18 19       11 12 13 14 15 16 17
 7  16 17 18 19 20 21 22   12  20 21 22 23 24 25 26       18 19 20 21 22 23 24
 8  23 24 25 26 27 28 29   13  27 28 29 30                25 26 27 28 29 30 31
 9  30 31

Week 1: Aug 30, Sep 1

Tuesday:

1. Introductions
2. Mechanics of  Web of Influence
3. Decide and name your blog
4. For Thursday:

Using your new blog, describe some of the communities to which you belong. Describe how you came to be in these communities. Communitites can exist in space and time, and can be "virtual" as well. How are your communities related? Are there commonalities that tie them together? Afterwards, explore woi.brynmawr.edu/, try commenting on another's blog. Get familiar with our blogspace.

On Thursday we will begin reading "We've got blog."

Thursday:

1. Schedule your conference with Laura/Doug.
2. Discuss blog writing style, topics, and goals. Read. Think. Blog. Repeat.
3. Take charge of two chapters of "We've got blog"
4. For Tuesday:

Read We've got blog. Using your two chapters as a jumping off point, write a blog post that touches on today's class discussion and your chapters. This is not a "book report" or summary, but a novel post that highlights some aspect of these resources. Blog at will.

Week 2: Sep 6, Sep 8

Group A conferences (1).

Tuesday:

1. Discuss "We've got blog".
2. Design some propaganda.

Explore the blogosphere in the wild. Find some blogs that discuss a topic that you are interested in. Add them to the WOI aggregator.

Thursday:

1. Discuss "We've got blog".
2. Advertising ideas:
•  from Christina
• WOI owl logo

iblog
ublog
weblog
    

• blog it like it's hot
• we got blog
• blog this!
• blog happens
• i am so blogging this
3. For Tuesday:

Write a post about the blogs that you found that you are interested in. What drew you to these blogs? The writing style? Topic? Design of the site? Artwork? How did you find these sites? Are these sites part of a community? Could you be a part of this community?

Week 3: Sep 13, Sep 15

Group B conferences (1).

Tuesday:

1. Meet together to discuss blogosphere. Talkback example: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/06/AR2005090601995_Technorati.html
2. For Thursday:

Read faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/www2004_blogosphere_gill.pdf

Thursday:

1. Discuss faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/www2004_blogosphere_gill.pdf
2. For Tuesday:

Read chapters 1, 2, and 3 of the The Tipping Point.

Week 4: Sep 20, Sep 22

Group A conferences (2).

Tuesday:

1. Discuss chapters 1, 2, and 3 of The Tipping Point
2. For Thursday:

Blog post. Read chapters 4, and 5 of The Tipping Point.

Thursday:

1. Discuss chapters 4, 5 of The Tipping Point.
2. For Tuesday:

Finish The Tipping Point.

Week 5: Sep 27, Sep 29

Group B conferences (2).

Tuesday:

1. Discuss The Tipping Point

For Thursday, blog post.

Thursday:

1. Discuss The Tipping Point
2. For Tuesday:

Blog a capstone report wrapping up The Tipping Point topics. Read article TBA.

Week 6: Oct 4, Oct 6

Group A conferences (3).

Tuesday:

1. Discuss article TBA.
2. For Thursday:

Read article.

Thursday:

1. For Fall Break/Tuesday:

Read selections of Six Degrees.

Week 7: Oct 18, Oct 20

Group B conferences (3).

Tuesday:

1. Discuss Six Degrees

Thursday:

1. Discuss Six Degrees

Week 8: Oct 25, Oct 27

Group A conferences (4).

Tuesday: Discuss  Powerlaws, Weblogs, and Inequality For Thursday:

Imagine a world of turtles of two different races, red ones and green ones. In this world, we can control the turtle's preferences. We can make all of the turtles be very selective and only want to be surrounded by turtles of their own kind (color). These are turtles that have a 100% "strength of preference." We suspect that these turtles won't be happy in a random world. In this turtle simulation, unhappy turtles will move out of their area. Then all of the turtles will check their happiness again and stay put if they are happy or move away if not. We suspect 100% "strength of preference" turtles will continue to be unhappy and move until all nearby turtles are like them.

On the other hand, we can also make all of the turtles so that they don't care about what color their neighbors are. These turtles have a 0% "strength of preference." We suspect that they will be happy in a random world.

Do both of these extremes lead to happy turtles? Will they settle down into a happy state? Try it!

Now, we have seen what happens with extreme turtles of both kinds, but what will happen with "middle of the road turtles"? What if we set the turtle's preference at 50% so that each turtle would like just half of the nearby turtles to be like them? Try it!

Thursday: Discuss serendip.brynmawr.edu/complexity/models/seginteg/ "Thinking About Segregation and Integration: An Interactive Scientific Exploration Using Models"

Week 9: Nov 1, Nov 3

Tuesday: Discuss George Orwell's "1984"

Thursday: Discuss George Orwell's "1984"

Week 10: Nov 8, Nov 10

Group A conferences (5).

Tuesday: Read "Fahrenheit 451"

Thursday: Read "Fahrenheit 451"

For Tuesday, read the three items listed under Writing and Revision at  h2obeta.law.harvard.edu/71013.

Week 11: Nov 15, Nov 17

Group B conferences (5).

Tuesday: Revisions, Discuss h2obeta.law.harvard.edu/71013

Thursday: Revisions, bubo.brynmawr.edu/~dblank/paragraphs.html

For Tuesday, read  www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/ac_paper/logic.shtml

Week 12: Nov 22, break

No conferences this week.

Tuesday: Argument/Revision

Week 13: Nov 29, Dec 1

Group A conferences (6).

Tuesday:

Thursday:  Blog Against Racism

Week 14: Dec 6, Dec 8

Group B conferences (6).

Tuesday:

Thursday:

Assessment

Grading will be based on the following:

Category	Percentage
Blog participation	40%
Class participation	20%
Conference participation	20%
Portfolio	20%

Other Accommodations

Students who think they may need accommodations in this course because of the impact of a disability are encouraged to meet with either course instructor early in the semester. Students should also contact Stephanie Bell, Coordinator of Access Services, at 610-526-7351 in Canwyll House, as soon as possible, to verify their eligibility for reasonable accommodations. Early contact will help to avoid unnecessary inconvenience and delays.

Links to WOI

1. www.somewhatfrank.com/2005/09/how_influential.html to "Drunk Like Socrates"
2. thewayfaringstranger.blogspot.com/2005/09/like-cat-tied-to-stick-part-ii.html to "Tech Goddess"
3. www.hackingnetflix.com/ to "The RuRu"
4. www.comingupnext.com/blog to "How I learned to drive"
5. socialpsych.blogspot.com/ to site
6. www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=13310193&postID=112848013717682189 to site (comment from above)
7. forum.starwreck.com/viewtopic.php?t=1571 to "Whimsical Monkey"
8. www.katrinafeeds.org/?m=200509&paged=34 to any post on "Katrina"
9. mental-health.blogcarnival.com/archives/2005/10/im_mad_about_ma.html to "CurlyQ"
10. sticklersworld.blogspot.com/ our first Blogroll!
11. worldchocolate.blogspot.com/2005/10/racism-against-chocolate.html to "Sparkelle" (apparently a blogbot that searches/finds/and posts something about chocolate every few minutes)
12. mt.middlebury.edu/middblogs/ganley/bgblogging/009956.html to site
13. napkinini.blogspot.com/2005/10/democracy-of-blogosphere.html to "Whimsical Monkey"
14. www.weblogg-ed.com/2005/10/30#a4164 to "Presentation on the course and philosophy"
15. www.plagiarismtoday.com/?p=121 to "MyT"