COMM 566 NEW MEDIA AND SOCIETY
Annenberg School for Communication
University of Pennsylvania
Spring, 2011
Tue 10:00-12:00 (ANNS 224)
Prof. Keith Hampton
Office Hours: Fridays 1:00-2:00 (Room ASC 327)
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This seminar provides an overview
of recent research on how “new media” – such as social networking services,
blogging, video games, and mobile phones – influence community, social
relationships, and public and private spaces. This subject is heavily weighted
towards the evaluation of empirical work, the study of social networks, and research
that address sociological research questions. Examples of questions that will
be explored in this course include:
REQUIREMENTS
Students are not expected to
have personal experience with the technologies discussed in this course. A
major component of the course will involve the development and use of a
personal blog. Students will receive access to the necessary blogging software
and will be provided with basic instruction on how to maintain a blog.
Final grades will be based on
an evaluation of 10 blog postings on the subject of the weekly course readings
(20%), 20 comments on other students’ blog postings (10%), a 1,000 word blog on
the video game lab (5%), a presentation outlining the final project (5%), class
participation (10%), and a final project (50%). Students are urged to pay close
attention to due dates, late assignments will not be accepted.
Course readings and
participation: Students are expected
to have read the week’s readings in advance of the course meeting. Class meetings
will be in a seminar format and students should be prepared to participate in a
discussion based on the topic and readings of the week.
Blog Postings: Students are responsible for submitting short
commentaries on 10 of the weeks’ readings (500-700 words). Commentaries should focus
on a minimum of 4 of the readings from each week and should consist of
limited summary; focusing on an evaluation of the readings and
identifying 2-3 questions for discussion during the class meeting (focus
on the papers’ key issues, strengths and limitations, and a comparison to
previous weeks’ readings). Each commentary must be submitted as a post to
the student’s personal class blog by 5:00pm on the Sunday before the class
meeting.
Blog Comments:
Each student is responsible for contributing comments to fellow students’ blogs.
Comments should be a minimum of 200 words and offer a critique of that week’s
posting, seek clarification, compare or contrast postings, or provide
additional evidence or new information (such as a link to a related article,
website, etc.). Each student must contribute a minimum of 20 comments, credit
will be given for a maximum of two comments each week, students cannot
comment on the same blog more than three times over the duration of the course.
Comments must be posted by 7:30am on the day of class for posts related to
that week’s readings.
Video Game Lab
(due March 29): Students will reserve
time in the video game lab (8 hours over six weeks). Each student will be
responsible for playing a series of games on both the Nintendo Wii and
Microsoft X-Box 360. Important: As part of this assignment you will be exposed
to video games that require physical activity. In addition, the content of
these games may include violence, nudity, strong language, and sexual content.
Each student must submit a 1,500-2,000 word commentary on their video game
experience and relevant course readings.
Presentation:
The in-class presentation is as an opportunity for students to explore
individual interests and to make a preliminary presentation of their final
project. Student’s presentations should be 10 minutes long, use PowerPoint, and
follow the format of a formal conference presentation. Presentations of papers
or proposals should include the following elements:
-Identification of the key problem.
-Research
question(s).
-Three citations of key research in the area.
-Research
methods and procedure.
-Main
strengths and weaknesses of your methods.
Final Project
(due May 2): The final project can take on one of a number of different forms
to be negotiated individually with the instructor. Projects should deal with
course themes focusing on a topic of interest to the student. Possibilities for
the final paper/project include a full research proposal, software or a
website, or a paper of near publishable quality based on the analysis of
existing data or data collected as part of an original research project (20-25
double spaced pages).
COURSE MATERIALS
Baym,
Nancy. (2010). Personal
Connections in the Digital Age. Cambridge, UK:
Ling, R. S. (2008). New
Tech, New Ties. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Turkle, Sherry (2011). Alone
Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.
New York: Basic Books.
All
other readings, files, and grades will be available from the course Blackboard
website: https://courseweb.library.upenn.edu/.
Handouts, information on
assignments, and other announcements will be available from the course blog: http://www.mysocialnetwork.net/blog11/566.
COURSE OUTLINE
WEEK 1 (Jan 18) - Introduction and Blogging 101
WEEK 2 (Jan 25) - Foundations
Hampton, Keith (2009).
Social Ties and Community in Urban Places. In Harry Hiller (Ed.) Urban Sociology 2nd ed. Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press. 86-107.
Rheingold, H. (1993).
A slice of life in my virtual community. In L. M. Harasim (Ed.), Global Networks:
Computers and International Communication (pp. 37-80). Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
Turner, F. (2005). “Where the counterculture met the
new economy: The WELL and the Origins of Virtual Community.” Technology and
Culture 46: 485-512.
Wellman, B., and Gulia M. (1999). Net-Surfers Don’t
Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities.” Pp. 331-366 in Networks in the Global Village, edited
by Barry Wellman. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Baym, Nancy. (2010). Personal Connections in the Digital Age. Cambridge, UK: Polity (pp.
1-49).
WEEK 3 (Feb
1) – Harmful Effects?
Turkle, Sherry (2011).
Alone Together. Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.
New York: Basic Books. (Introduction & Ch. 8, 9, 10)
Kraut,
R., Lunmark, V., Patterson, M., Kiesler, S., Mukopadhyay, T., & Scherlis,
W. (1998). “Internet Paradox: A Social Technology That Reduces Social
Involvement and Psychological Well-Being?” In American Psychologist 53(9): 1017-1031.
Stepanikova, I., Nie,
N. H., & He, X. (2010). Time on the Internet at home, loneliness, and life
satisfaction: Evidence from panel time-diary data. Computers in Human Behavior 26(3): 329-338.
Block, J. J. (2008).
Issues for Dsm-V: Internet Addiction. Am J Psychiatry, 165(3), 306-307.
Chih-Hung, K.,
Sigmund, H., Gin-Chung, L., Ju-Yu, Y., Ming-Jen, Y., & Cheng-Fang, Y.
(2010). The characteristics of decision making, potential to take risks, and
personality of college students with Internet addiction. Psychiatry Research, 175(1), 121-125.
Gergen, K. J. (2008).
Mobile Communication and the Transformation of the Democratic Process. In J. E.
Katz (Ed.), Handbook of Mobile
Communication Studies (pp. 297-310). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
McPherson, M.,
Smith-Lovin, L., & Brashears, M. E. (2006). Social Isolation in America:
Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two decades. American Sociological
Review, 71, 353-375.
WEEK 4 (Feb 8) – Networks On- and Off-Line
Wellman, B. (2001). Physical Place and Cyberplace: The Rise of
Networked Individualism. In L. Keeble & B. Loader (Eds.), Community
Informatics: Shaping Computer-Mediated Social Relations. London: Routledge
Haythornthwaite, C. (2005). Social Networks and Internet Connectivity
Effects. Information, Communication & Society, 8(2), 125 - 147.
Baym, N. K., Zhang, Y. B., Kunkel, A., Ledbetter, A., & Lin, M.-C.
(2007). Relational Quality and Media Use in Interpersonal Relationships. New
Media Society, 9(5), 735-752.
Wang, H., &
Wellman, B. (2010). Social Connectivity in America. American Behavioral Scientist, 53(8), 1148-1169.
Hampton, K. N.,
Sessions, L., & Ja Her, E. (2011). Core Networks, Social Isolation, and New
Media: Internet and Mobile Phone Use, Network Size, and Diversity. Information, Communication & Society, 14(1),
130-155.
Hampton, K. N., Lee,
C. J., & Her, E. J. (in press). How New Media Afford Network Diversity:
Direct and Mediated Access to Social Capital Through Participation in Local
Social Settings. New Media & Society.
WEEK 5 (Feb 15) – New Relationships [Video Game
Tutorial]
Berman, J., &
Bruckman, A. (2001). The Turing Game. Convergence:
The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 7(3), 83
Toma, C., Hancock, J.,
& Ellison, N. (2008). Separating fact from fiction: An examination of
deceptive self-presentation in online dating profiles. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 34: 1023-1036.
Hancock, J. T., &
Toma, C. L. (2009). Putting Your Best Face Forward: The Accuracy of Online
Dating Photographs. Journal of
Communication, 59(2), 367-386.
Heino, R. D., Ellison,
N. B., & Gibbs, J. L. (2010). Relationshopping: Investigating the market
metaphor in online dating. Journal of
Social & Personal Relationships, 27(4), 427-447.
Tufekci, Z. (2010).
Who Acquires Friends Through Social Media and Why?" Rich Get Richer"
versus" Seek and Ye Shall Find.
Steinkuehler, C. A.,
& Williams, D. (2006). Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name: Online
Games as “Third Places”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(4),
885-909.
Byun, S., Ruffini, C.,
Mills, J. E., Douglas, A. C., Niang, M., Stepchenkova, S., et al. (2009).
Internet Addiction: Metasynthesis of 1996–2006 Quantitative Research. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(2),
203-207.
WEEK 6 (Feb 22) – Social Networking Services
Facebook 'linked to rise in syphilis'. (2010). The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/7508945/Facebook-linked-to-rise-in-syphilis.html
Boyd, D., & Ellison, N.B. (2007). Social network
sites: definition, History, and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.
Steinfield, C., Ellison, N. B, & Lampe, C. (2008).
Social Capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: a
longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied
Developmental Psychology 29: 434-445.
Burke, M., Marlow, C.,
& Lento, T. (2010). Social network activity and social well-being. Paper
presented at the Proceedings of the 28th international conference on Human
factors in computing systems.
Yardi, S., & Boyd,
D. (2010). Dynamic Debates: An Analysis of Group Polarization Over Time on
Twitter. Bulletin of Science, Technology
& Society, 30(5), 316-327.
McFarlane, M, Bull,
SS, and Rietmeijer, CA. (2000). The Internet as a newly emerging risk
environment for sexually transmitted diseases. JAMA 284(4): 443-6.
WEEK 7 (Mar 1) - Video Games
Yamaguchi, M. (October
23, 2008). Angry online divorcee ‘kills’ virtual ex-hubby. MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27337812/
Anderson, C., & Dill, K. (2000). Video Games and
Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(4), 772-790.
Anderson, C., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E.,
Bushman, B., Sakamoto, A., et al. (2010). Violent video game effects on
aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries: A
meta-analytic review. Psychological
Bulletin, 136(2), 151-173.
Dill, KE, Brown, BP, & Collins MA (2008). Effects of exposure to
sex-stereotyped video game characters on tolerance of sexual harassment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44(5):
1402-1408.
Williams, D &
Skoric, M (2005). Internet Fantasy Violence. Communication Monographs 72(2): 217-233.
Jenkins, H. (1999). Testimony before the U.S. Senate
Commerce Committee. http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/0504jen.pdf
James, B. W., Darren, M., Stephanie Sargent, W., Wendi, K., Gary, L.
H., Doĝan, E., et al. (2009). Health-Risk Correlates of Video-Game Playing
Among Adults. American journal of
preventive medicine, 37(4), 299-305.
Biddiss, E., &
Irwin, J. (2010). Active Video Games to Promote Physical Activity in Children
and Youth: A Systematic Review. Arch
Pediatr Adolesc Med, 164(7), 664-672.
Bonis, J. (2007).
Acute Wiitis. New England Journal of
Medicine 356: 2431-2432.
Cowley, A. D., & Minnaar, G. (2008). Watch out for Wii Shoulder. BMJ,
336(7636), 110-d-.
WEEK 8 (Mar 8) – Spring Break
WEEK 9 (Mar 15) - Presentations
WEEK 10 (Mar 22) – Children & Youth
Livingstone, S.
(2010). e-Youth:(future) policy implications: reflections on online risk, harm
and vulnerability.
Vandebosch, H., &
Van Cleemput, K. (2009). Cyberbullying among youngsters: profiles of bullies
and victims. New Media & Society, 11(8),
1349-1371.
boyd, danah , Ryan,
Jenny & Leavitt, Alex.
(Forthcoming). "Pro-Self-Harm and the Visibility of Youth-Generated
Problematic Content."
Boyd, danah.
(Forthcoming). "White Flight in Networked Publics? How Race and Class
Shaped American Teen Engagement with MySpace and Facebook." In Digital Race Anthology (Eds. Lisa
Nakamura and Peter Chow-White). Routledge.
Draper, Nora. (2011). ‘Is
your teen at risk?’: Discourse of Adolescent Sexting in American Broadcast
Television. Working paper.
Hargittai, E., &
Hsieh, Y.-l. P. (2010). Predictors and Consequences of Differentiated Practices
on Social Network Sites. Information,
Communication & Society, 13(4), 515 - 536.
WEEK 11 (Mar 29) - Mobile Life
Humphreys, L. (2005).
Cellphones in public: social interactions in a wireless era. New Media &
Society, 7(6), 810-833.
Ling, R. S. (2008).
New Tech, New Ties. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (pp. TBD).
Chen, Y., & Katz, J. (2009). Extending family to
school life: College students' use of the mobile phone. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 67(2), 179-191.
Hampton, K. N., & Gupta, N. (2008). Community and
Social Interaction in the Wireless City. New Media & Society, 10(6),
831-850.
Hampton, K. N., Livio,
O., & Goulet, L. S. (2010). The Social Life of Wireless Urban Spaces:
Internet Use, Social Networks, and the Public Realm. Journal of Communication, 60(4), 701-722.
WEEK 12 (April 5) - Civic / Political Engagement
Boczkowski, P. J. (2009). Technology, Monitoring, and
Imitation in Contemporary News Work. Communication,
Culture & Critique, 2(1), 39-59.
DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Celeste, C., &
Shafer, S. (2006). From unequal access to differentiated use. In D. B. Grusky
& S. Szelényi (Eds.), The Inequality
Reader (pp. 549-565).
Rheingold, H. (2008). Mobile Media and Political
Collective Action. In J. Katz (ed), Handbook
of Mobile Communication Studies (pp. 225-239).
Gil de Zúñiga, H., Veenstra, A., Vraga, E., &
Shah, D. (2010). Digital Democracy: Reimagining Pathways to Political Participation.
Journal of Information Technology &
Politics, 7(1), 36-51.
Haragittai, Eszter & Shaw, Aaron (2011). The
Internet, Young Adults and Political Engagement around the 2008 Presidential
Election. Working paper.
Hampton, K. N. (in press). Comparing Bonding and
Bridging Ties for Democratic Engagement: Everyday Use of Communication
Technologies within Social Networks for Civic and Civil Behaviors. Information, Communication & Society, 14(4).
WEEK 13 (April 12) - Local and Place-Based Community
Hampton, K.N. and Wellman, B. (2003). “Neighboring in
Netville: How the Internet Supports Community and Social Capital in a Wired
Suburb.” City and Community 2(4),
277-311.
Hampton, K. N. (2007). Neighborhoods in the network
society: The e-neighbors study. Information,
Communication and Society, 10(5), 714-748.
Hampton, K. N. (2010). Internet Use and the
Concentration of Disadvantage. American Behavioral Scientist, 53(8), 1111-1132.
Yardi, Sarita &
boyd, danah. (2010). "Tweeting from the Town Square: Measuring Geographic
Local Networks." ICWSM-2010.
Mok, D., Wellman, B.,
& Carrasco, J. (2010). Does Distance Still Matter in the Age of the
Internet? Urban Studies, 47(13),
2747-2783.
Sessions, L. F.
(2010). How Offline Gatherings Affect Online Communities -- When virtual
community members ‘meetup’. Information,
Communication & Society, 13(3), 375 - 395.
WEEK 14
(April 19) - Locative Media
Grinberg, Emanuella (2010). 3D illusion in street
tries to change drivers’ attitudes .CNN.com http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/09/3d-illusion-in-street-tries-to-change-drivers-attitudes/?hpt=C2
Zraick, Karen (2010). Phone Apps Aim to Fight
Harassment. New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/nyregion/08hollaback.html
Gordon, Eric & de Souza e Silva, Andriana (in
press). Net Locality: Why Location
Matters in a Network World. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. (pp. 85-104).
Humphreys, L. (2007). Mobile social networks and
social practice: A case study of Dodgeball. Journal
of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 17.
de Souza e Silva, A., & Frith, J. (2010). Locative
Mobile Social Networks: Mapping Communication and Location in Urban Spaces.
Mobilities, 5(4), 485 - 505.
Humphreys, L. (2010). Mobile social networks and urban
public space. New Media & Society, 12(5),
763-778.
WEEK 15 (April 26) – Catch-up and Discuss Final Papers