Communication Studies Research Seminar (394-0-3)

Instructors

Kevin Ackermann

Meeting Info

Frances Searle Building 2378: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

"The internet is a graveyard. MySpace, Club Penguin, GeoCities: millions of people once built friendships, identities, and whole worlds in these places (among many others). Then, one by one, the lights went out. Some communities faded slowly; others vanished overnight when a company pulled the plug. And some are still technically online, haunted by a handful of loyal users long after everyone else moved on.

What does it actually mean for an online community to die? Who decides? And what can we learn by digging through the ruins? We'll explore the full lifecycle of online communities, from emergence and growth to stagnation, decline, and collapse. In this course, students will become digital investigators through multiple qualitative methods: archival analysis, ethnographic observation, interviews and oral histories, memo writing, and thematic coding. With these investigative tools, by the end of the quarter you'll write your own original paper: an autopsy of a dead online community of your choice."

Class Attributes

No Freshmen