Due Date: March 17th

Assignment #2 Details:
- Assignment 2 is due at the beginning of class on March 17th.
- Bring two stapled copies of your assignment to class.
- Papers should be double-spaced, 12-point font (e.g., Times New Roman).
- Cite quotes and paraphrased arguments from articles and papers using a standard citation style*. You must include a bibliography for articles and papers that you reference.

* See http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/instruct/guides/citations.html for more information. You may want to use citation management software such as Zotero, Mendeley (both free) or EndNote (commercial) to help with inserting properly formatted citations and a bibliography.

Part I (50%)

1. Clearly define four of the following concepts from our readings below, citing authors and page numbers where appropriate. Second, explain and describe how each concept helps our understanding of information systems or information technology. To do this effectively, you should draw from the readings and cite the authors and their arguments when appropriate.

    Notification Norms
    Tacit Knowledge
    Self-fulfilling Prophecy
    Natural Trajectories
    Knowledge Claims
    Crowding Out
    Order and Coordination
    The Digital Divide
    Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
    Social Information
    Public Goods
    Deindividuation

2. Select a single news article and write an essay evaluating the arguments that the article makes, using at least two of the concepts you defined. You may use one of our example articles below, or a news article that you find on your own, dealing with some aspect of social uses or social implications of information technology. The article should be from a recognized news source, such as Wired, Ars Technica, Slashdot.org, or the New York Times. You should not summarize the article; instead, use the two concepts you selected to frame your critique and analysis of the article. We do not want you to draw tenuous connections between concepts, so please choose terms that you can readily apply to your critique of the article you choose. Your essay response should be about 500 words, which is roughly 2 double spaced pages of text.

    Choose one of these or find your own article:

    a. Will Facebook Replace Labor Unions?
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-hayes/will-facebook-replace-lab_b_8289...

    b. Taking a Break from the Net: There's an App for That
    http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/03/net-sabbath-app/

    c. Why Does Wikipedia Have Such a Tough Time Attracting Female Editors?
    http://www.businessinsider.com/women-discuss-men-expound-2011-2

Part II (50%)

Write an essay that begins to flesh out the topic and problem area for your final paper. You essay should do the following four things: (1) clearly describe the topic area, (2) state the specific problem or problems that you are engaging with, (3) provide justification for why this problem (or problems) are important, and (4) describe one or more research questions that arise from these problems. A good research question would be one that you can defend through your reading of existing empirical research (for example, "what are the behavioral implications of adding monetary incentives to Wikipedia?"). In contrast, you should avoid purely descriptive research questions (for example, "how does Wikipedia work?"), or unanswerable questions ( for example, "What is the future of Wikipedia?"). You must include at least four academic citations, which can include course readings if applicable for your topic, but also articles and papers that you have found as you research your topic area. Your essay response should be about 500 words, which is roughly 2 double spaced pages of text.