Wikipedia talk:Education program archive/Cornell University/Online Communities (Fall 2014)/Course description

Course description
The Internet and the web offer spaces for groups of individuals to get together, socialize, exchange information, learn, create, work, and consume. These spaces range from social networking sites, discussion forums, virtual worlds and games, marketplaces, crowdwork systems, and more. They are available through websites, email lists, and desktop and mobile applications. These online spaces play an important part in our everyday lives. But what are they really good for? How are they designed, organized, and managed? Why are some more successful than others?

This course will cover topics and issues of how communities and crowds form in online spaces from both a design perspective and a social-science perspective, demonstrated through a variety of sites, applications, and technologies. Learning Objectives

Goals
At the completion of this course, students will be able to:
 * Understand important features of group interactions in online spaces and social media
 * Critically analyze technology-mediated group interactions
 * Understand, identify, and respond to design issues of online social applications
 * Understand the research issues in this field

Additional accomplishments

 * Contribute an article to Wikipedia
 * Complete a research project start-to-finish
 * Improve your teamwork skills

Wikipedia Project
In the first half of the semester, you will be working in groups of 3-4 students to majorly edit a Wikipedia article. The purpose of this assignment is to learn and understand the backbone of how the Wikipedia community works as an example of an active, vibrant, and successful online space. This project will involve:
 * Creating a Wikipedia account and becoming familiar with the Wikipedia editors community
 * Proposing an underdeveloped article to expand and majorly edit
 * Researching the topic of the article and finding reliable sources for a high-quality article
 * Adding content to the article including text, non-copyrighted multimedia, and citations, organizing the article, styling it with tables, adding an infobox, linking it to other relevant articles and to external pages, etc.
 * Learning and adhering to the Wikipedia editing policies, standards, and norms
 * Engaging in discussions with other Wikipedia editors about the content and form of the article
 * Reflecting on the process of becoming part of the Wikipedia community

Deliverables

 * 1) Sep 4: Getting your feet wet: Create a Wikipedia account, complete student training, and do basic editing.
 * 2) Sep 11: Project proposal: describe the Wikipedia article you plan to improve, what changes you plan to make, and who the group members are.
 * 3) Sep 25: Make progress: start developing conversations on talk pages and making changes to the article content
 * 4) Oct 9: Project report: submit a report that describes the edits you completed and the interactions you had.
 * 5) Oct 16: Presentation: class will be dedicated to presenting the articles you have edited.
 * 6) Oct 16: Personal reflection: an individual report on which you describe and reflect on your contribution to the project, what you have learned, and what you could have improved.

Evaluation
Your work in this project will be evaluated based on: The project will be graded as a whole. Interim deliverables, including project proposal and talk page discussions will not be graded but will be provided feedback on. This allows teams to improve their project without being penalized for poor interim products.
 * Quality, quantity and depth of your contribution to the article you have edited, following Wikipedia’s standards
 * Your interactions on talk pages and involvement with the Wikipedia community

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