DESCRIPTION:
This course focuses on how social groups form and evolve, how members of these groups interact with each other, and how these groups are supported and augmented with computer systems and technology. The course is interdisciplinary, drawing from the fields of Computing and Information as well as Humanities, and Social Sciences. It covers key theories and technologies of social computing in terms of (1) computer systems supporting social behavior and (2) socially intelligent computing carried out by groups. Students will have a chance to explore social computing systems, get experience with social data analyses and focus on design, and evaluation of a social software as their final project for the course. The course follows a very hands-on format and include in-class activities that are integrated within each lecture. Students' participation in the classes and activities play an important role in their learning of the courses materials; therefore, they are highly encouraged not to miss classes.
PREREQUISITES:
This course does not assume any particular prerequisites. However, this is a graduate course which assumes critical thinking, desire to learn and being challenged with new topics, and hard work.
TEXT:
We will be reading excerpts from a large number of books and articles. Links to electronic copies are provided.
GRADING:
- Participation activities [15 points]: Leading at least 1 activity in 7 different classes
- 2 Quizzes [20 points]: Distributed collaboration, Social network analysis, social capital, Collective Intelligence, Recommender systems
- Reading assignments [15 points]: the reading assignment are designed as paired assignments. There are a total of four papers throughout the semester, two per each assignment. For each paper, one student designs a set of 5 questions from the paper and the paired student answers those questions while reading the paper carefully. All students are required to read all the papers carefully. During the class presentation, randomly selected team will present their questions and responses about the paper. The questions have to be conceptual and not too specific. Examples of good questions include: "What is the main problem the authors try to address in this paper?", "What approaches have the authors taken to address the problem?". Teams who present in the class will be awarded extra points
- Social data analysis assignment [15 points]: this is an individual assignment require you to analyze data from a social media site such as Twitter to study a problem. The assignment will require you to use the social media API as well as visualization and network analysis.
- Final project [35 points]: The project involves design, prototyping, and evaluation of a social computing application related to a societal issues. It is a group project (groups of 3 or 4 students). Idea generation (5 points), Proposal (5 points), Mid-semester progress (10 points), Final presentation and Final report (15 points)
OFFICE HOUR:
Email or online meetings by appointment:
- Instructor email: rfarzan at pitt dot edu
- TA email: at pitt dot edu
TOPICS TO BE COVERED:
- Social software
- Virtual worlds
- Social networks and social network analysis
- Social data analysis
- Social information processing
- Human computation and collective intelligence
- Social computing theories
- Social computing ethics
SYLLABUS:
| # | Date | Topic | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2023-08-30 | Introduction and overview | Course logistics and requirements Overview of what social computing is about and what you will learn in this course |
| 2 | 2023-09-06 | Social software | What is social software? Connecting people through technology Open source software development |
| 3 | 2023-09-13 | Virtual Worlds | Designing virtual worlds MUD Metaverse Virtual identity Reading assignment 1: in-class presentation |
| 4 | 2023-09-20 | Team communication | Team communication Computer supported collaboration tools Content sharing Team communication in virutal worlds Project ideas due |
| 5 | 2023-09-27 | Project topic and team formation | Instructor will provide feedback for each team on the general idea, methods, and plan of their project |
| 6 | 2023-10-04 | Social Networks and Social Network Analysis | Networks: definition, metrics Social networks: Design, Technology, Features, and Impacts Social networks analysis: Why and How |
| 7 | 2023-10-11 | Social data analysis | Visualization and sense-making of social data Social and collaborative exploration of data Collecting social traces Social media APIs |
| 8 | 2023-10-18 | Work time | Work with your groups on your projects and data analysis assignment Quiz 1: Network analysis and virtual worlds |
| 9 | 2023-10-25 | Project progress report | In-class presentation of developed project idea, progress report, and feedback on your projects |
| 10 | 2023-11-01 | Social computing theories | Theories of personal behavior Theories of social behavior Mass communication theories |
| 11 | 2023-11-08 | Social capital | Definitions and measures Social capital and social networks Role of online communities on social capital |
| 12 | 2023-11-15 | Socially intelligent computing | Collective intelligence Content based recommender systems Collaborative filtering recommender systems Quiz 2: Social computing theories |
| 13 | 2023-11-22 | No class | Thanksgiving break |
| 14 | 2023-11-29 | Social information processing | Social navigation Social search Social bots Social data analysis assignment due |
| 15 | 2023-12-06 | Social computing: ethics and societal impact | Impact on physical and psychological well-being Interplay of online and offline world Social media ethics |
| 16 | 2023-12-13 | Final project | Final project presentations and report |
COURSE POLICIES
Academic Integrity: You are expected to be fully aware of your responsibility to maintain a high quality of integrity in all of your work. All work must be your own, unless collaboration is specifically and explicitly permitted as in the course group project. Any unauthorized collaboration or copying will at minimum result in no credit for the affected assignment and may be subject to further action under the University Guidelines for Academic Integrity. You are expected to have read and understood these Guidelines. A document discussing these guidelines was included in your orientation materials.
Attendance: Class attendance, while not mandatory, is required if you want to succeed in this course, especially since the course does not have any course book and involves a lot of in-class discussions. If you have missed the lecture, make sure that you have a copy of the slides. All the lecture materials will be uploaded online. The in-class activities are engineered to encourage your attendance.
Late Submissions: Every student has a total of 3 days late-submission quota to use on your assignments; i.e. you can submit one assignment 3 days late and you will be ok, or you can submit 3 assignment each 1 day late and you will be ok. Late submission cannot be accepted for assignments that require in-class presentation
Concerning Students with Disabilities: If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and Disability Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt Union, (412) 648-7890/(412) 383-7355 (TTY), as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.
An important note on plagiarism: Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students caught cheating or plagiarizing will receive no credit for the assignment on which the cheating occurred. Additional actions -- including assigning the student a failing grade in the class or referring the case for disciplinary action -- may be taken at the discretion of the instructors. You may incorporate excerpts from publications by other authors, but they must be clearly marked as quotations and properly attributed. You may obtain copy editing assistance, and you may discuss your ideas with others, but all substantive writing and ideas must be your own or else be explicitly attributed to another, using a citation sufficiently detailed for someone else to easily locate your source.