Assignments

This course has weekly homework assignments. This section contains the list of assignments and required readings as they pertain to each lecture topic.
LEC # TOPICS ASSIGNMENTS READINGS
1 Designing Sociable Media
2 The Culture of Text-based Conversations Assignment 1 (PDF) Saville-Troike, Muriel. Chap. 2 and 5 In The Ethnography of Communication. 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Basil Blackwell, 1982.

Whittaker, S., and  L. Terveen, and W. Hill, and L. Cherny. "The dynamics of mass communication." In The Proceedings of CSCW '98. 1998.
3 Visualizing Conversations Assignment 2 (PDF) McCloud, Scott. Chap. 4 and 5 Understanding Comics.

Small, David. Navigating large bodies of text. IBM Systems Journal ,Vol. 35, No. 3 and 4(1996).

Tufte, Edward. Envisioning Information. (will be on reserve in Rotch, available in other libraries at MIT & Harvard)
4 Graphical Conversations Assignment 3 (PDF) Karahalios, K. Communication systems: A Comparison along a Set of Major Axes. 2000. (optional)

Kurlander, D., and T. Skelly, and D. Salesin. "Comic Chat"  In Proceedings of ACM SIGGRAPH. 1996.

Landau, T. Chap. 3 In About Faces, .

Rossney, R. Metaworlds. 1996. Wired 4.06 (June 1996).

Viegas, F., and J. Donath. "Chat Circles." In Proceedings of CHI 99. 1999.
5 New Interfaces for Conversation Assignment 4 (PDF)
6 Representing Identity Assignment 5 (PDF) Donath, Judith. Identity and deception in the virtual community.

Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. (Introduction)

Holland & Skinner. "Prestige and Intimacy."  In Holland & Quinn, Cultural Models of Language and Thought.
7 Mediated Faces Assignment 6 (PDF) Donath, J. " The Illustrated conversation." Chap. 6 and Section 2 In Designing the Virtual City.

Fridlund, A. "The new ethology of human facial expression." In The Psychology of Facial Expression. Edited by Russell & Fernandez-Dols.

Landau, T. Chap. 3 In About Faces.

Zebrowitz, L. Chap. 2 and 3 In Reading Faces.
9 The Culture of the Web (CHI) Assignment 7 (PDF) Blood, R. Weblogs: a history and perspective. (and lots more on this topic if you are interested)

Csikszentmihaly, M., and E. Rochberg-Halton. Chap. 3 and 5 In The Meaning of Things.

Davis, F. Chapter 1 In Fashion, Culture and Identity.

Donath & Robertson. The Sociable Web. 1994.

McCracken, G. Chap. 5 In Culture and Consumption.
10 Identity Project Assignment 8 (PDF)
11 Final Project Proposal Assignment 9 (PDF)
12 Time and History Assignment 10 (PDF) Aveni, Anthony. Empires of Time. (optional)

Brand, Stewart. How Buildings Learn. (optional)

Hill, Will, and Jim Hollan. History enriched digital objects. (Required)

Lynch, Kevin. The Image of the City. (optional)

Norman, Don. The Psychology of Everyday Things. (optional)

Wexelblat, Alan. Footprints.

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. (optional)
13 Domestic Space Assignment 11 (PDF) Donath, and Viegas, and Karahal. Visiphone.

English-Lueck. Technology and Social Change.

Fischer. Chap. 8 In America Calling.

Horrigan. The Home of Tomorrow. (optional)  

Livingstone. The Meaning of Domestic Technologies. (optional)
14 Public Space Assignment 12 (PDF)

Rekimoto, Ayatsuko, and Hayashi. Augment-able Reality: Situated Communication through Physical and Digital Spaces.

Rozier, Karahalios, Donath. Hear and There.

Whyte, William. Chap. 2 In City.

15 Final Presentations Assignment 13 (PDF)