Take Home Final

Answer three of the following questions. Your answers should consist of well-documented and reasoned essays. Be sure to define terms and "terms of art" carefully; substantiate your arguments with references to the key readings (including page numbers) and points from the lectures and write clearly. Remember that the purpose of this is to (1) show that you have read and understood the readings, (2) integrate ideas across readings and course topics, and (3) think about the meaning of the readings for your work at SIMS and especially your career. You may work together in discussing the readings but each person must write his or her own answers individually.

Papers are due on or before Monday December 13 at 10AM in printed form, in 102 South Hall AND electronically; if you cannot deliver in printed form on time, please email to Peter (plyman@sims).

1. What are the most important issues to consider in helping to build "social capital" to sustain a "community" of people connected by "computer-mediated communication"? The terms in quotes are "terms of art" that different authors in our readings and lectures have used to talk about how online social relations are built and sustained; please be sure that you define your terms carefully, considering differences in terminology among assigned readings, and that you select and consider each of the relevant readings in discussing the key issues.

2. Ackerman, in discussing palliatives for the social-technical gap, says, "Over the last 20 years, people have worked out a number of ideological, political, or educational initiatives in an ad hoc manner." He returns to a theme we've been talking about since we read "diffusion of innovation" (Rogers) and "SCOT" - the importance of bringing users into the design process in some way - but the question is, "who" and "how?" That is, after reviewing these readings, how would you say that Rogers and SCOT would each help us to analyze and differentiate kinds of users?

3. At the beginning of the course we used the evolution of the telephone as an example of a technical innovation that proved to have important (unanticipated) social functions. You are now exploring the latest evolution of this platform - the camera phone. After reviewing the readings, and of course thinking about your own experience with camera phones, what are the three most significant factors to be considered in understanding whether and how people will use this innovation? Be sure to discuss Goffman, Ling, and Murtagh in your analysis - you may bring in other authors as you think appropriate.

4. We have discussed the "social nature of information" in a number of ways, but the word "social" remains rather vague. How do the concepts of "genre," "communities of practice," and Bowker and Star's discussion of classification illuminate the social dimension of information and information artifacts (like documents) and information retrieval? In your conclusion, address the relevance and significance of these concepts with respect to developing successful applications for document storage and management.

5. What in your opinion are the three most important findings in the course readings about how computer networks are changing social behavior and norms in organizations? Be sure to give a detailed justification for your choices -- why have you chosen them? What issues do these findings pose for the design of information networks or organizations?

Format requirements:

4 double spaced pages per question, with page numbers; put your name on each page.
References do not count for the page requirement. Footnotes count in the page limits.
Margins: 1.25" on each side
Text: Times New Roman, 12pt, double-spaced
Footnotes: Times New Roman, 10pt, single-spaced