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Connected Media Practices

MDST 5001

the real engine of change is never “critical mass”; dramatic and systemic change always begins with “critical connections.”
—Grace Lee Boggs, The Next American Revolution (2012)

This course is a critical, collective immersion into the theories and practices of social networking, online and off. Rather than simply taking established platforms like Facebook and Snapchat for granted, we will consider a wide variety of networks in order to expand our tactical repertoires. We will study the dominant structures and business models of the social-media ecosystem in order to spread messages effectively. But will we also explore ways of transforming that ecosystem by creating networks of our own.

Students need not have prior experience with particular networked platforms, but they should expect to teach themselves some. Throughout the course, students will conduct action research toward developing a new platform or improving an existing one.

Instructor

Nathan Schneider
nathan.schneider@colorado.edu
Armory 1B24, meetings by appointment via email
Website: nathanschneider.info

Objectives

  • Learn to think critically and tactically about networked society
  • Cultivate habits of contributing to and protecting a commons
  • Practice entrepreneurship and teamwork

Expectations

Coursework

Throughout the semester, each student will (as a percentage of the total course grade):

  • Take part in annotation and discussion of assigned material through the Hypothesis tool, making frequent and substantive contributions (15%)
  • Turn in (in the D2L discussion by class time and bring to class) a “connection” each week—a reflection on one side of a piece of paper, and perhaps a show-and-tell object, that connects assigned materials to the student's platform project (25%)
  • Be an active participant in every class discussion and demonstrate thoughtful engagement with the course material, augmenting the course material with relevant sources (15%)
    • Online students only: By Thursday morning each week, contribute at least 3 substantial comments on fellow students' “connection” posts that engage with assigned materials
  • Hold at least one in-person meeting with instructor during the course, by appointment (5%)

If you cannot attend a class meeting or participate online on a given week, please discuss the reason ahead of time with the instructor. Otherwise it will affect the participation grade.

Platform project

The core of this course is an action-research project in which students work on a digital platform that serves the university community. This may involve the development of a concept for a new platform or a recommendation for improving an existing one. The whole class may work on a single project together, or students may work in groups of at least two. For the platform project, groups of students will each produce a whitepaper outlining the structure, function, and economy of an online platform. (40%)

Each student will:

  • Take responsibility for one section of their group's whitepaper, between 1,800 and 2,000 words, including relevant visual aids, following appropriate citation standards
  • Articulate a challenge or problem and present background research on how other platforms have addressed similar challenges and what options could be explored
  • Describe action-research methods and findings
  • Present 1-3 specific, plausible solutions appropriate to the platform, with pros and cons
  • Engage with at least 2 examples assigned content from the course in a sophisticated fashion

The platform project is a process, not just a result, including (with grades as a percentage of the project total):

  • Approved proposal for project and role (10%)
  • Research plan of 600-800 words, along with 3 Platform Design Toolkit worksheets (10%)
  • Participation in peer review of two fellow students' sections outside of your group (10%)
  • Final draft, due on the last day of class (50%)
  • Anonymous feedback from collaborators on project contributions (20%)

Sections will be evaluated individually. But to reflect our accountability to one another, all students are expected to help in evaluating one another's contributions to the platform project. Evaluations are anonymous to fellow students. Evaluate peers' projects based on the criteria in the Expectations section of this syllabus, as well as based on the student's contributions to the collegiality of the team effort.

Grading

Based on the stated point structure, grades will be awarded as follows: A (94-100), A- (90-93), B+ (87-89), B (83-86), B- (80-82), C+ (77-79), C (73-76), C- (70-72), D+ (67-69), D (63-66), D- (60-62), F (0-59).

Terms and conditions

Each student is expected to:

  • Work together to foster a respectful, mature, convivial community based on discussion, accommodation, and attention
  • Adhere to all university policies regarding academic integrity, behavior, and accessibility; we take responsibility for understanding them and the relevant procedures
  • Respect the privacy of one another, keeping any materials or statements shared in class confidential unless permission is granted to do otherwise
  • Refrain from the use of screen devices during class, except upon agreement with the instructor or for reasons of accessibility

Calendar

Fall 2017. All due dates are at 9 am.

  • Platform project topic and role proposal due (in D2L discussion): 9/18
  • Research plan due (in D2L discussion): 10/16
  • Whitepaper draft (in D2L discussion): 12/1
  • Complete whitepaper peer reviews (in D2L discussion): 12/4
  • Whitepaper final due (in D2L dropbox): 12/11

Units

The units of the course probe the themes of connectedness and networks, from offline contingency to the online self. Throughout we will be reading from:

  • Geoffrey G. Parker, Marshall W. Van Alstyne, and Sangeet Paul Choudary, Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy and How to Make them Work for You (W. W. Norton, 2016)

In addition to providing a window into the conceptual universe of the dominant corporate networks, this will likely provide useful guidance for the platform project.

As students develop their platform projects, they will also make use of:

Other assigned materials are organized on a weekly basis as follows.

Critical histories

Platform Revolution: chapter 1

Critical connections

Platform Revolution: chapter 2

Net-worked

Platform Revolution: chapter 3

Commoning

Platform Revolution: chapter 4

Being watched

Platform Revolution: chapter 5

Sharing, on-demand

Platform Revolution: chapter 6

Organization nets

Platform Revolution: chapter 7

Sharing all the way down

Platform Revolution: chapter 8

Money

Platform Revolution: chapter 9

All the world's a game

Platform Revolution: chapter 10

Distributed sovereignty

Platform Revolution: chapter 11

Victims and vigilantes

Platform Revolution: chapter 12

Wasting time online


This syllabus is a living document. Any part of it may be brought up for discussion and modified by a consensus of those present during any official class period.

[ Notes ]