Participation

Because we understand that different students prefer different modes of participation, we have a number of ways for you to participate and show us your engagement with 202. 

Blogging

In addition to the two blog posts that are part of assignments, blogging over the course of the semester will be part of your participation grade. We understand that many of you may be new to blogging, which is why we’ll seed the blog with posts from last year so that you can get a better idea of what we’re looking for in your posts. Consider blogging an opportunity to think out loud and share ideas and connections you’ve made with your classmates. Blogging will also help you to see the concepts we’re introducing in this class out in the real world, helping you better understand the material. Great topics for great blog posts include news stories relating to 202 concepts; questions or comments relating to lecture or section discussions; a story about something 202-ish that happened to you; or reflections on things you’ve learned. We want this to be an open and fun place for discussion that will help enrich your conceptual understanding of all things 202. Please also be sure to tag your blog post with the lecture number(s) that corresponds to its content (L1, L3, L15, etc.) as well as a few key descriptive terms so that we can organize and find them later. 

Commenting.

For many bloggers, receiving comments from readers is the greatest compliment. We encourage you to read each other’s posts and share your thoughts. We will pay attention to who engages with other bloggers in thoughtful and helpful ways. Of course, be kind!

Twitter

Sometimes, 140 characters is all you need to share a link or a quick though. For those students who use Twitter or would like to create an account on the service and begin using Twitter (it’s great for following food trucks and finding out what’s wrong with BART), we’ll pull your posts there—”tweets”—into SMC if you use the hashtag #i202 and a hashtag corresponding to the lecture number. For example:

Naming, description, & identity of beer: http://bit.ly/biiYAg #i202 #L3 

This would be displayed in the Twitter section of SMC and on the page for that particular lecture. Tweets are great for questions too. Those of you already using Twitter will be familiar with link shorteners. For those who are not, we recommend installing bit.ly’s Standard Toolbar Bookmarklet (http://bit.ly/pages/tools) in your browser’s toolbar, which, when clicked, will automatically generate a shortened link in a new tab or window. 

Note: Please follow the course Twitter account (@i202f10) so we can follow your back and display your tweets in the sidebar. This section is only visible to authenticated users (i.e., Google won't be able to index your tweets from the course site).

On-Call Sections

202 sections are a time for you to ask questions about assignments or material and to really talk about the issues we discuss in 202, and we will have each student select one section meeting during the semester to present a 202 in the News story relating to organizing systems out in the world. We will ask each student to be sure to answer the following questions: 

  • What is being organized – things, information about things, information?  What is the scope and scale of the domain?
  • Why it is being organized – what functions or capabilities are being enabled, and for whom?  Are the uses and users known or unknown? Is the organization being done to achieve personal, social, or institutional goals? 
  • How much is it being organized – what is the extent or degree of description, classification, or relational structure being imposed? What principles guide and are embodied in the organization?
  • When is it being organized – when it is created, at design time, or at runtime, just in case, just in time, all the time?
  • By whom (or by what computational processes) it is being organized – by individuals, by informal groups, by formal groups, by professionals, by automated methods?

You will write it up as a short blog post (or long one, if you’re really into it) and post to SMC before your section meets on your selected day. Have fun with this! This is an opportunity to share a connection you’ve made between 202 and the world. Please be sure to tag these posts as you would any other blog entry—lecture number, descriptive topic tags, and inthenews

In-Class Participation

Of course, in addition to your participation online, your participation in class and in sections is important too. We will be looking for insightful comments and questions that show you are thinking about the material. Don’t hold back just because you aren’t certain you have the right answer. In this class, there are often many different “right” answers, and we look forward to hearing what you think or may be struggling with. Do understand, however, that we want to give everyone a chance to speak in class, so we may tell you that you are done for the week if you have been exceptionally vocal.