Informatics 161: Social Analysis of Computerization
University of California, Irvine
Spring 2011
Course Code: 37090
Instructors
Professor: Melissa Mazmanian
Email: m.mazmanian@uci.edu
Office: Bren Hall 5074
Office Hours: By appointment
TA: Ellie Harmon
Email: ellie.harmon@gmail.com
Office: Bren Hall 5013
Office Hours: Tuesday: 4-5
Friday 11-12
Meeting Times
Lectures: T & Th: 5:00 – 6:20 pm
Classroom: ICS 180
https://eee.uci.edu/toolbox/roomfinder/class.php?ccode=37090&quarter=S11
Course Code: 37090
Discussion: W: 5:00-5:50pm
Classroom: DBH 1500
Course Code: 37091
Course Web Site
Course materials, including links to readings, will be available at:https://eee.uci.edu/11s/37090
You are responsible for checking this site regularly to insure that you are up-to-date with any changes in
the course. Readings will be available at least one week prior to the class session they are assigned for.
Class lectures will be posted online each week after they are presented in class.
Overview
This course is a broad introduction of computerization as a social process. It examines the social
opportunities and problems raised by new information technologies, and the consequences of different
ways of organizing. You will learn to do a socio-technical historical analysis that analyzes the
stakeholders, expected outcomes, and unexpected consequences that emerge as new technologies
affect social structures and daily experience. Topics include: computerization as providing new ways of
“seeing”; information archiving, search and locating; privacy; environmental implications of IT; the ‘self’
in a connected world; financial markets in the information age; community based research and
informatics; and games and virtual worlds.
Policies
Add/drop: In some cases, more students may wish to add this class than we have the capacity to
accommodate. Those wishing to add must fill out an enrollment request at the first class meeting;
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following departmental and university guidelines, we will establish priorities for filling any seats that
become available. Because a student who is enrolled occupies a seat that other students want, ICS does
not allow students to drop after it's too late for another student to fill that seat. Specifically, if you wish
to drop the class, you must do so by the beginning of class on Thursday, April 7 or sooner.
Attendance: Attendance in class is mandatory. Every class missed will result in an automatic loss of 3
points (approximately ½ of a final grade in the course). If you need to miss class for extenuating
circumstances I expect you to contact me at least one day ahead of class. Except for illness or
emergency any absences reported to me on the day of class will be counted as unaccepted.
Discussion sections are mandatory for the three weeks prior to your group presentation. Attendance will
be taken by the TA for the three weeks prior to your group presentation. Attendance in these discussion
sections and contributing to your group project are 50% of your group project grade. You are invited to
attend discussion sessions beyond the specified three weeks if you would like to discuss topics or
readings or feel that you would benefit from interaction with the TA. If a section will not be held in a
given week, it will be announced by email or in class no later than Thursday of the previous week.
Respect: This class involves significant in-class discussion of topics on which you and your classmates
may have differences in opinion. Please be respectful of others at all times.
Academic honesty: Please familiarize yourself with the latest UCI academic honesty policy:
http://www.editor.uci.edu/catalogue/appx/appx.2.htm. All papers will be turned in using the service
turnitin.com. Any episodes of plagiarism in the final paper will result in an automatic F for the entire
class (regardless of your past work in the course). If group reports have any plagiarized content EACH
PERSON in the group will receive an automatic zero for the group project.
Technology in class: Please turn off all cell phones/pagers/etc. before the beginning of each class. Please
do not use notebook computers during class for any purpose not directly relating to this class. Please do
not instant message or check email during class. We will be circulating and we WILL ask you to close
your computer or put away your phone. We appreciate not being put in that position.
I find using technologies while in class extremely rude. If I sense that people are becoming distracted by
facebook, email, games etc. I will prohibit all use of technology in the classroom
I have made sure that your guest lecturers are interesting, engaging, and knowledgeable. They are all
doing us a favor by visiting the class. If you use technologies to distract yourself while we have a guest
lecturer I will automatically deduct 3 points from your final grade.
Correspondence: We will send course announcements by email to the official course mailing list, so you
should check your email regularly. Note that this mailing list goes to the email address that the registrar
has for you (your UCInet ID). If you prefer to read your email on another account, you should set your
UCInet account to forward your Email to your preferred account (you can do this on the web at
http://phwww.cwis.uci.edu/cgi-bin/phupdate).
Assignments: All written assignments should use standard formatting – Times style font size 12 or
Arial/Tahoma style font size 10, 8.5x11in. paper, 1” margins. Final papers will be turned in digitally via
turnitin.com.
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Total Points
98 - 100
94 - 97
91 - 93
88 - 90
84 - 87
81 - 83
78 - 80
74 - 77
71 - 73
68 - 70
64 - 67
61 - 63
60 and below
Grade
A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DFail
Late Assignments: Papers that are received after 8am will have their grades reduced by half a grade
point. Papers more than one day late will not be accepted.
Course Mechanics and Grading
Grading (Items Explained Below)
Reading Summaries: 30%
Group Project: 30%
Final Paper: 30%
Class participation: 10%
Total = 100 points
Basis of Lecture/Course Materials: For each lecture there will be 2 articles identified and some or all will
be discussed in class. All of the articles will be available electronically. You should read the articles
before coming to class on the day that they are listed. Readings can be downloaded from the course
website.
Reading Summaries: Regularly at the beginning of class you will be asked to answer questions about the
readings assigned for that day. Three questions will be asked about each reading:
2) What do you think the author is most concerned about?
OR What are you most concerned about after reading this piece?
3) What do you think the author is most optimistic/excited about?
OR What are you most optimistic/excited about after reading this piece?
These assignments will each count for up to 3 points: 1 point for writing your name at the top of the
paper (an attendance check), and 1 pt for each reading assigned. If only one reading is assigned up to
two points will be awarded to your summary depending on quality of the summary. Be careful, these
points add up to a significant part of your grade.
On any given class day, you may choose to turn in a written summary that you have written and printed
prior to class. You need to show up with a printed-paper with your summaries and your name hand
written on the top. You cannot turn summaries in via email.
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Group project/final paper: You will participate in a group project that explores a relevant event or issue
that is currently in the news. Your final paper will involve expanding on an issue presented by a different
group. Details will be discussed in class. Final papers will be turned through turnitin.com by 8am on
Monday, June 6.
Class Participation: We strongly encourage you to participate in class discussion. This is an interactive
course that relies on the viewpoints and interests of a variety of students to be interesting. Your
participation grade will reflect your willingness to speak up with constructive and interesting comments.
If you have difficulty speaking in class please come speak with the instructor privately within the first
three weeks of class.
Note
These are guidelines intended to help students plan their work in this course. However, the instructor
reserves the right to make changes to this syllabus over the course of the quarter.
SCHEUDLE
Class Date
Lecture: Tues, March 29
Discussion: Wed, March 30
Lecture: Thurs, March 31
Lecture: Tues, April 5
Topic
Introduction
NO DISCUSSION
What is a “socio-technical”
analysis?
Technology as altering humanity
Readings
Ray Bradbury, “The Murderer”
Tom Standage, selections from “The
Victorian Internet” Chapters 1, 7, & 8
Postman, N, "The Surrender of Culture
to Technology" Chapters 1 & 8
Assignment
Reading
summaries
Sarewitz, D. The Science of Happiness
Discussion: Wed, April 6
Lecture: Thurs, April 7
Lecture: Tues, April 12
Discussion: Wed, April 13
Lecture: Thurs, April 14
Lecture: Tues, April 19
Mandatory groups 1 & 2
Computation as a new ways of
seeing?
What is the “social” in social
networking?
Mandatory groups 1, 2, 3, 4
Objects and Information: Archiving,
searching, locating
New forms of work
TBD
Reading
summaries
TBD
Reading
summaries
TBD
Reading
summaries
Reading
summaries
TBD
Discussion: Wed, April 20
Lecture: Thurs, April 21
Mandatory groups 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
GROUP 1 & 2 PRESENT
Lecture: Tues, April 26
Guest Lecture – Paul Dourish
Privacy in the information age
Mandatory groups 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
GROUP 3 & 4 PRESENT
TBD
Wired self
TBD
Mandatory groups 5, 6, 7, 8
Guest Lecture – Bill Tomlinson
Title: IT and (Un)sustainable Cultures
Tomlinson, et. al, “Can More Efficient
IT Be Worse for the Environment.”
Discussion: Wed, April 27
Lecture: Thurs, April 28
Lecture: Tues, May 3
Discussion: Wed, May 4
Lecture: Thurs, May 5
Group
Presentations
Group
Presentations
Reading
summaries
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Tomlinson, IT and (Un)sustainable
Cultures
Lecture: Tues, May 10
Discussion: Wed, May 11
Lecture: Thurs, May 12
Lecture: Tues, May 17
GROUP 5 & 6 PRESENT
Group
Presentations
Mandatory groups 7, 8, 9, 10
GROUP 7 & 8 PRESENT
Financial markets
TBD
Lecture: Tues, May 24
Mandatory groups 9, 10, 11, 12
Guest Lecture – Gillian Hayes
Community Based Research and
Informatics
Virtual worlds and games
Hayes, “The Relationship of Action
Research to Human Computer
Interaction.”
TBD
Discussion: Wed, May 25
Lecture: Thurs, May 26
Mandatory groups 9, 10, 11, 12
GROUP 9 & 10 PRESENT
Discussion: Wed, May 18
Lecture: Thurs, May 19
Lecture: Tues, May 31
Discussion: Wed, June 1
Lecture: Thurs, June 2
Mon: June 6
Robotics and humanity
TBD
Group
Presentations
Reading
summaries
Reading
summaries
Reading
summaries
Group
Presentations
Reading
summaries
Mandatory groups 11 & 12
GROUP 11 & 12
FINAL PAPER DUE by 8am
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