Communication in Cyberspace

Description
This course deals in depth with a variety of issues pertaining to forms and the social dynamics of computer-mediated communication (CMC). Through study, use, and online collaborative projects, students will complement the knowledge they acquire from scholarship, and develop critical insights into their own and others' uses of CMC; preparing for leadership decisions about the management of these systems. Theories, illustrations, and research findings on the uses and impacts of CMC will be surveyed in relation to these and other topics: organizational communication and structure; group communication and decision-making; virtual trans-national teams and the role of attribution, trust, social compacts, and other requisites for successful collaboration; virtual communities; social dynamics in work teams and online personal relationships; flaming, role-playing, and social relations online, and the capabilities of CMC that allow users to exceed outcomes available in parallel non-mediated activities.

Students will work in teams through electronic partnership. Teams will explore course readings and various on-line tools and resources, and report back to the class via one of several computer conferencing systems. Students provide semi-weekly synopses of course readings; lectures introduce and provide analytic frameworks for major issues, clarifying and extending students' input.

Three major collaborative research papers will be conducted in virtual teams. These teams will be composed on different bases, as derived from theories and research on the subject, to illustrate through experience different challenges and approaches to online collaboration.

Prerequisites
Previous coursework in communication theory or HCI.

Textbook(s)
Ordering Information

Format and Grading
Format and Grading information will only be current for courses being offered this semester.

Computing
Specific Computing requirements will only be current for courses being offered this semester.

Technical Requirements
Specific Technical requirements will only be current for courses being offered this semester.

Who Should Enroll
This course may be used in your Plan of Study as follows:

Degree Programs
CSCI - elective
CSYS - elective with advisor pre-approval
ELEC - elective with advisor pre-approval
EPOW - elective with advisor pre-approval
ESCI-MM - elective
ESCI-MOT - elective
ESCI-MSE - elective
ITEC - elective with advisor pre-approval
MBA - elective
MEAE - elective with advisor pre-approval
MGMT-MS - elective with advisor pre-approval
QUAL - elective with advisor pre-approval
SERV - elective with advisor pre-approval
TCOM - elective with advisor pre-approval

This course is also open to non-matriculated students who meet the prerequisites.