H79.2426 Lecture 4 Credits
Instructor(s): Shirky
This course is about supporting and extending group dynamics using software. Students will work in small groups (3-5 members), and each group will develop, refine, and present a piece of social software. The group goal will be to build software that supports small-group collaboration of the sort that often goes on at ITP -- brainstorming, decision making, group conversation, and annotation of ideas. (The class group will be collaborating on building collaborative tools, allowing for continuous internal testing.) The software does not necessarily need to support purely online collaboration; software that operates as an adjunct to physical work (e.g. using Wifi networks to tie local computers together) would fit the class goals as well. The course will culminate in a presentation of the software to outside reviewers at the final. In addition to the production work, the class will include an overview of the history and current practice of social software generally, and readings in the literature of collaboration. Students will be expected to maintain project weblogs documenting their work throughout the semester.
