MAS 961 · Designing Sociable Media
Instructor: Judith Donath

Spring, 2001
Wednesday 2-4 in E15-335
Graduate level · 12 Units
Permission of instructor required
TA: Kelly Dobson
Course assistant Lisa Lieberson

Description

This course is about social life in the on-line world. Its focus is on how the design of the interface influences people's interactions with each other and shapes the cultural mores and structures they develop. We will examine the ways social cues are communicated in the real and the virtual world, discuss the limits imposed upon on-line communities by their mediated nature, and explore directions that virtual societies can take that are impossible for physical ones.

Readings range from classic papers in cognitive science, anthropology and urban studies to recent studies in the sociology of online communities. The work for this class includes reading articles, analyzing existing systems and designing innovative interfaces.

Syllabus

introduction

2.07 · Designing sociable media

conversations

2.14 · The culture of text-based conversations

2.21 · Visualizing conversations

2.28 · Graphical conversations

3.07 · New interfaces for conversation

identity

3.14 · Representing identity

3.21 · Mediated faces

3.28 · No class - MIT spring break

4.04 · The culture of the web (CHI)

4.11 · Identity project

4.18 · Final project proposal

context

4.25 · Time and history

5.01 · Domestic space

5.09 · Public space

conclusion

5.16 · Final presentations