This Social Computing course tackles the topic of “online sociality.” The course will examine online behaviors as they are exhibited on the social web and other social computing platforms. Specifically, the course focuses on understanding and modeling social behavior through its digital traces. What kind of insight can we gain about social dynamics through the massive online data? The course will also focus on how social dynamics, interactions, and social networks get shaped by various online platforms and environments. Students will read relevant academic papers in social computing, as well as being introduced to some foundational methods and techniques in social media data analysis, such as network analysis, topic modeling, and sentiment analysis. They will express their learning through written (reflections) and in-class discussion of reading, individual homework assignments, and a final group research project. With their final projects, they will investigate specific questions about social behavior and analyze real world data sets, including Twitter, OpenStreetMap, and likely Wikipedia data.

Expectations

Students are expected to:

• Attend all class meetings
• Participate in in-class discussions
• Submit four individual homeworks
• Submit and present a group final project
• Grads only: make a brief group presentation and lead a class discussion on the affordances of a social media platform and how they affect sociality

Basic Information

Contact: Post all questions to Canvas (except for private matters)

Canvas: https://utah.instructure.com/courses/884889

Class Time & Location: Mondays & Wednesdays, 1:25-2:45PM @ WEB 1248

Office Hours:

Scheduled hours are held most weeks:

• Mondays 4:00PM-5:00PM @ MEB 3140

Other meetings by appointment.

Readings

There is no textbook required for class, but there will be required readings, all made available through Canvas. See Course Schedule.

Grading

Final grades are determined using the following weights:

Undergraduate Grade Points

• Weekly Reading Reflections - 30%
• Homeworks - 20%
• Class Participation - 15%
• Final Project - 35%

Graduate Grade Points

• Weekly Reading Reflections - 30%
• Homeworks - 15%
• Class Participation - 15%
• Grad-student presentation and student-led discussion - 10%
• Final Project - 30%

Weekly Reading Reflections

Reading Reflections are intended to develop students’ understanding of the social computing literature and prepare them for the in-class discussion. To prepare you for the in-class discussion, your weekly reflection should include the following aspects:

• • Your impressions of the readings: what seemed interesting, surprising, most important. Reflect on the bullet points (esp 1 and 2) in this article to make your impressions as specific as possible
  • What aspects you are critical of (disagree, see problems with methods)
  • Two questions about the readings for class discussion
  • What kind of study would you design based on these ideas

Submit one-page (min) single-spaced Reflections by 5PM the night before class.

Class Participation

Class Participation is intended to develop students’ communication skills by summarizing, discussing, raising questions about, and critiquing the weekly readings. Such in-depth discussion will also facilitate student engagement with and understanding of the readings.

Grad student presentation and student-led discussion

Graduate students will make short presentations and lead in-class discussion for weeks 11 and 12 of the course. In groups of 2, graduate students will make short presentations detailing affordances of a social media platform of interest. They will also select a required reading about the platform and facilitate in-class discussion. The social media platforms for these grad-student led presentations and discussions will be crowdsourced on the first day of class.

Final Project

The Final Project is intended as an opportunity for students to apply the frameworks and ideas from the Social Computing literature to real-world data sets. Students will investigate specific questions about social behavior and analyze large-scale data sets, including but not limited to Twitter, OpenStreetMap, and Wikipedia data.

Regrade / Errors in grading

It is very important to us that all assignments are properly graded. If you believe there is an error in your assignment grading, please submit an explanation via email to us within 7 days of receiving the grade. No regrade requests will be accepted orally, and no regrade requests will be accepted more than 7 days after you receive the grade for the assignment.

Communication / Getting Help

• A key responsibility for a student in this course is to use the online Canvas class website and to check it regularly for due dates, updated materials, and corrections. To send urgent messages to everyone in the class, such as corrections to assignments or changes in due dates, I will make use of the email addresses connected to the Canvas site. Students are expected to check their email and the class website regularly.
• Students who would like to ask a question should email the instructors through the Canvas site. Questions should be addressed to "All Instructors", you will get all the course staff, so that is really the best way to get a response. For technical questions regarding clarification on assignments, it is best to post the question on discussion board so that everyone can see the question and response and possibly provide a suggestion. 
• Students are encouraged to use a discussion board for additional questions outside of class and office hours. Feel free to post questions regarding any questions related to class: homeworks, schedule, material covered in class. Also feel free to answer questions, the instructor and TA will also actively be answering questions. 
• Take advantage of the instructor and TA office hours (posted on course web page). We will work hard to be accessible to students. Please send us email if you need to meet outside of office hours. Don’t be shy if you don’t understand something: attend office hours, send email, or speak up in class! 

Statements and Links

Academic Misconduct

• You are bound by the School Of Computing’s Academic Misconduct Policy https://www.cs.utah.edu/academic-misconduct/. You should not use content or ideas from other people without directly citing your source, and your submitted assignments must be the work of yourself (and your group, in the case of group assignments). If you are in doubt about whether something is allowed, you should ask the course staff.

• The School of Computing has instituted a two strikes and you're out cheating policy, meaning if you get caught cheating twice in any SoC classes, you will be unable to take any future SoC courses. https://handbook.cs.utah.edu/current/Academics/policies.php
• For a detailed description of the university policy on cheating, please see the University of Utah Student Code: http://www.regulations.utah.edu/academics/6-400.html.

College of Engineering Guidelines 

For information on withdrawing from courses, appealing grades, and more, see the College of Engineering guidelines at https://www.coe.utah.edu/students/current/semester-guidelines/

School of Computing guidelines 

For more information on School of Computing policies and guidelines, please refer to https://handbook.cs.utah.edu/current/Academics/policies.php mnmb 

COVID-19 Guidelines

Safety 

The University of Utah values the safety of all campus community members. To report suspicious activity or to request a courtesy escort, call campus police at 801-585-COPS (801-585-2677). You will receive important emergency alerts and safety messages regarding campus safety via text message. For more information regarding safety and to view available training resources, including helpful videos, visit safeu.utah.edu.

Academic Accommodations

• The University of Utah seeks to provide equal access to its programs, services and activities for people with disabilities. If you will need accommodations in the class, reasonable prior notice needs to be given to the Center for Disability and Access ( http://disability.utah.edu ), (801) 581-5020. CDA will work with you and the instructor to make arrangements for accommodations. Accommodations cannot be given without paperwork from this office.
• If you are aware that you qualify as having a disability or believe that you might qualify, we encourage you to reach out to the CDA as soon as possible. You can always choose not to use accommodations recommended by the CDA, and School of Computing faculty and staff are not made aware of your arrangement until you notify them.
• We also recognize that current circumstances can be very disruptive to established routines and strategies. We are not experts, but we encourage you (if you have not) to consider proactively establishing or re-establishing contact with appropriate groups or professionals in order to explore (for example) what routines or strategies might benefit from being updated given the current global circumstances. Also see the section below on Wellness, Resiliency, Self-Care, and Productivity.

Discrimination and Harassment

  Violence and harassment based on sex and gender (which includes sexual orientation and gender identity/expression), race, national origin, color, religion, age, status as a person with a disability, veteran’s status, or genetic information are civil rights offenses. If you or someone you know has been harassed or assaulted, you are encouraged report the incident to the Office of Equal Opportunity And Affirmative Action (OEO/AA) or to the Office of the Dean of Students . Counseling is available at the University Counseling Center .  Resources for general wellness and resiliency are available at the Center for Student Wellness .  To report to the police, contact the Department of Public Safety , 801-585-2677(COPS).

Student Names & Personal Pronouns  

Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student’s legal name as well as “Preferred first name” (if previously entered by you in the Student Profile section of your CIS account). Please advise me of any name or pronoun changes (and update CIS) so I can help create a learning environment in which you, your name, and your pronoun will be respected. If you need assistance getting your preferred name on your UIDcard, please visit the LGBT Resource Center Room 409 in the Olpin Union Building, or email bpeacock@sa.utah.edu to schedule a time to drop by. The LGBT Resource Center hours are M-F 8am-5pm, and 8am-6pm on Tuesdays.

Wellness, Resiliency, Self-Care, and Productivity

You might want to consider giving yourself the “homework” - especially early in the semester - of looking through wellness and then figuring out what works for you. You could think of it as an opportunity to debug and learn how to optimize yourself!

General strategies for wellbeing include things like: getting enough sleep on a consistent schedule, getting enough exercise and sunlight, interpersonal contact, separation of “work” and “play” time and spaces, accountability structure (e.g., regularly attending lecture), and practicing time management (so that you know what you should be working on when, that you have enough time to get things done based on how things are going, and that you can put work down at the end of the day).

We encourage you to dedicate some intentional time to better understand what helps you feel (and do!) your best so that you are well-equipped for whatever the year brings. The University has resources like:

• Center for Student Wellness
• Mindfulness Center
• Online Fitness Services at Campus Recreation Services
• University Counseling Center

However, you don’t need to be limited by looking through the resources offered by the university!