TCSS 466 - Computer-Mediated Communications Systems

Credits: 5
Prerequisites: TCSS342, TCSS360
Faculty: Dr. George Mobus, Associate Professor, CSS

Catalog Description

Course Justification

Syllabus

Subject

The field of Computer-Mediated Communications (CMC) provides a unique perspective on the interface between the technologies of distributed computing and communications networks, and human-machine/human-human interactions. This area provides model understanding of these complex interactions in light of an important social enterprise -- discourse. It brings together, under one topic, diverse aspects of computing and software systems, telecommunications, and psycho-sociological factors that let us look at a paradigm case of how human to human communications can be facilitated, in the best cases, or disturbed, in the worst.

This course lays out the major areas of the field and provides an understanding and appreciation for the interrelationships between them. It further develops the CSS student's knowledge of information architectures, software designs, human-computer interactions (HCI) and the social and cultural implications of global scale CMC.

Subject areas covered include:

• History and development of computer-mediated communications from the precursor to the Internet (ARPANET) through the emergence of the World Wide Web (WWW) to the most recent developments in collaborative work systems and teleconferencing. This history provides background and context to the technical aspects of the field.
• Summary of the main technical aspects of the interplay between telecommunications systems and computers, digital communications, the basics of the Internet and WWW and the HTTP protocol, client-server architectures for distributed computing, and current research in more flexible architectures such as peer-to-peer.
• Technically detailed look at important representative CMC applications -- email (with email list servers), the dynamic Web, and the most recent rise of Wikis as collaboration tools. We will examine in some detail the protocols, data structures (messages) and client and server programming involved in these systems.
• Psycho-social factors in CMC systems. We will examine the common uses of various CMC applications. We will be looking at both the positive and negative factors which influence how people use these systems. The analysis will be from several perspectives, including such views as communications efficiency (productivity), psychological stress and abusive responses, and security issues.
• A survey of the major research in psycho-social implications and potential improvements in future applications, application of artificial intelligence (such as Google's use of semantic analysis to find similar page content) to improve productivity and reduce information overload, and next generation Internet features that will elevate the communications experience through very high bandwidth data transfer.

Experiential Learning:

Development of a live Wiki site for collaborative work. Students will work in small teams to construct one of several Wiki applications sites for possible deployment. These sites will be geared to collaborative CMC such as the Faculty Annotated Bibliography Collaboration (WikiBib) designed by the author and developed by a graduate student. Students will install, configure and do some modifications to the code for an open source Wiki package so that it can function in special-purpose applications. This project will constitute 30% of the grade with individual contributions being graded separately from team success. Deliverables include: design documentation, as-built documentation and a report detailing the intended uses of the Wiki application. A presentation at the end of the quarter will be given.

Service Learning. In addition to the grade points available with this project, students may earn extra credit points if their project is in service to the University or some other non-profit organization and is deployed or at least provided to that organization for later deployment.

Background Research Paper in Virtual Communities and Collaborative Decision-making. This will be a three to five page, double-spaced, research paper on this subject. Students may explore any aspect of virtual communities such as:

• Political Decisions and Democratic Potentials
• Standards-setting Process in Engineering Communities of Practice
• Student Learning in Virtual Classrooms or in Using Discussion Boards
• Abusive Behavior in On-line Chat Communities
• Clique Formation in On-line Gaming Communities

The paper will be 15% of the final grade and will be due on the 7^th week of the course.

Course Objectives

Knowledge Objectives

• Factual Knowledge:
  Technical details regarding the Internet, telecommunications and networking (in general), protocols and integration with applications. Exposure to specific studies of usage patterns of several different CMC systems. An introductory level look at aspects of sociology and psychology of on-line interactions, circumstances under which it appears that people are either productive in achieving goals of discourse, or fail to achieve those goals, and what aspects of the structure of the CMC system might have contributed to those results.
• Conceptual Knowledge:
  Relationships between the architectural features, functions and HCI elements of various CMC systems and the user experience/success or failure in achieving the desired communications. Case studies from mail lists, threaded discussions, and eDelphi will be used to illustrate usage patterns and results.
• Integration:
  The social context of uses of CMC to achieve human goals will be studied through case studies of standards setting bodies (World Wide Web Consortium - W³C) and community governance. Using the relationships explored above, we will develop hypotheses about the overall effectiveness of CMC in helping communities of interested parties achieve broader goals of social importance.
• Analytical:
  From the hypotheses above, we will develop sets of questions about the effectiveness and how to better test it in one or more CMC application area. We will identify what works and what seems not to work in producing the desired results from the CMC application. We will attempt to develop plans for discovering better methods when we find areas that need improvement.
• Synthesis:
  The project will be used for students to bring together their understandings in order to produce a Wiki-based CMC application with a socially important purpose.

Skill Objectives

• Critical Thinking:
  Along the lines of the Analytical objectives above, students will be expected to develop sets of questions regarding the efficacy in achieving communications for the various CMC systems examined. A key objective here is that students learn the importance of asking important questions of this type rather than accepting the claims made based on the "WOW" factor that often accompanies new technology. Question asking, of this sort, will be encouraged. That will be followed by proposing ways to find the answers to those questions.
• Written, Oral and Graphical Communications:
  Students will be expected to produce a high-quality research paper (above) and emphasis will be placed on integrating ideas from two or three disciplinary areas (CMC is cross-disciplinary by nature). They will be expected to coherently develop ideas which show the relationship between the technology of CMC with one or more human factors (sociological, psychological, economic, etc.).
• Design:
  The nature of the project will require students to undertake a top-down design approach. This will further strengthen their understanding of design issues and processes.
• Programming:
  The project will require some modification to existing code bases, or may involve developing modules from scratch. Languages involved may be: Java, JavaScript, Python or PHP, SQL.

Service Objective

Whether or not the student projects are deployed, they will be expected to develop an application that might feasibly be used by a non-profit group. We will emphasize the need to support such groups with open-source solutions, due to the economic constraints that these groups are under.

Student Competencies

Student Evaluation

• Midterm exam - 20%
• Final exam - 25%
• Project - 30%
• Research Paper - 15%
• Quizzes - 10%

Course Resources

Required Texts

Additional Reading

Wiki: Web Collaboration
Ebersbach, Anja, Glaser, Markus, Heigl, Richard 2006, XVIII, 383 p. 81 illus., Hardcover
ISBN: 3-540-25995-3
Springer

Computer Mediated Communication (Paperback)
by Crispin Thurlow, Laura Lengel, Alice Tomic
ISBN: 0-7619-4945-2
Sage Publications

Journal of Computer Mediated Communications, Annenberg School for Communications, University of Southern California.

The Delphi Method, by Scheele, D. S., IS @ NJIT.

Topic Schedule

[NOTE: quizzes may be given at any time so they do not appear on the schedule]