Several Social Designs
Thu, Feb 26
We begin our unit on social media with a history lesson: the Internet has not always looked the way that it does now. The early history of computer networks reveals a host of different ideas on how people might connect online, some perhaps more attractive than the platforms that are common today.
We have two main in-class learning goals. By the end of lecture today you will:
- Appreciate the early history of the Internet and its social aspects.
- Think about ways older technology can inform our path forward on the Internet.
The slides for today's lecture.
Read This:
The philosopher and media prophet Marshall McLuhan tells us that The Medium is the Message (read up to page 11 in the PDF)
UVA media studies professor Kevin Driscoll introduces us to an almost forgotten era of computer network in his piece A Prehistory of Social Media
Do This:
The instructions for Project 02 have Been Released.
The project for this unit will be the creation of design patterns for social media that summarizes your group's dialogues over the course of the next few weeks. Review the instructions that have been posted on the Project 02 page.
This project is due on 4/2 at 5pm.
This Week's Dialogue Group Meeting
Find at least one hour to meet with your group to discuss the prompt of the week: What activities and ways of thinking are encouraged and discouraged by the key features of your chosen technology? Answer this question by filtering it through a chosen set of virtue principles (these can be the themes of Catholic Social Teaching introduced in class).
Schedule your group meeting for next week. The new prompt is: Identify three virtues that are important for social media. Refer to the CST handout and this set of Virtues in Engineering for possible virtues.
Writing Reflection 05
See the instructions posted on the assignment's page.
This writing reflection is due on 3/3 at 5pm.