7. Social Media (Soc 6110)

How do interactive digital systems alter the structure and content of social life in ways that undermine social order? How do they contribute to social change? To answer these questions we will need models from theory, understanding of digital systems, and data.

This seminar examines the intersection of social media and social change. We pay special attention to theories of social order that can help explain how different digital systems that provide affordances for social action can result in different collective outcomes.

We meet in person once a week, on Tuesdays at 4:35 to 7:15. Location, 007 Bentley Annex

We will rely on three primary texts and numerous sources of selections.

Primary texts:

• The Ministry for the Future Kim Stanley Robinson

  • We use this near future science fiction to expand our sociological imagination, and heighten our awareness of how social scientific theories offer different models for how and why social change occurs.

• Theories of Social Order, Michael Hechter and Christine Horne; 2nd edition

  • This text focuses on how sociological theories provide different explanatory models for variation in levels of social order.

• Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL, Hansen, Shneiderman, Smith, and Himelboim. 2nd Edition.

  • This text offers an introduction to the systematic study of social networks and helps explain how to perform network visualization and analysis.

Supplemental readings (students will chose one of the following)

Computer mediated interaction and largely optimistic observations on its role in social change

• Personal Connections in the Digital Age, Nancy Baym

• The long tail, Chris Anderson

Computer mediated interaction and largely pessimistic observations on its role in social change

• Computational Propaganda, Samuel C. Woolley and Philip N. Howard

• Like war: The Weaponization of Social Media, P.W. Singer

Insights into historical dimensions of social life and insights into social change and lack thereof

• Political parties: A sociological study of the oligarchical tendencies of modern democracy. Michels, R., Lipset, S. M., Paul, E., & Paul, C. (2017)

• General economic history. Weber, M., Cohen, I. J., & Knight, F. H.

Numerous additional chapters and articles will be assigned, based on the topic of the week.

Assignments:

Three areas for developing as a researcher are measured in this course:

(100 pts) Seminar deliverables, (100 pts) collaborative data collection and analysis project, (100 pts) creation of a collaborative white paper or research proposal.

Seminar deliverables:

Every week that we have new content students will generate slides for in class discussion, participate in the discussion and write a two paragraph reflection on what we discussed. Individual students will typically be responsible to report to the group about insights from specific readings. All students are expected to contribute to the quality of the seminar discussion through their attention to, and involvement in all readings and materials from the current seminar topics.

These are graded according to the following scale:

meh (check minus) - hopefully very rare

fine (check) - most common

great (check plus) - unusual

Social media data collection and analysis project:

We will perform a collaborative data collection and analysis project using a sample of reddit threads. Details in class.

Final paper project:

A collaborative white paper or individual formal research proposal, this assignment includes the production of a 5 min presentation in the form of a video presentation shared with the class in the final week of the semester.

Contacting me:

Send me a direct message on slack, or post to one of our slack channels.

Howard T. Welser Professor Welser

Office: Bentley Annex 123

Email: h.t.welser@gmail.com; welser@ohio.edu

Office hours:

Monday 11:00 to 11:50 123 Bentley Annex

Tuesday 3:00 to 4:00 123 Bentley Annex

Zoom in: Most weekdays 9:30 to 4:00

General teaching issues

Attention: Treat class time like your avocation.

Attendance: Be in class everyday, and be ready to do the work that we have planned of that day. If you know you will miss a day it is your job to get your work done ahead of time.

Polite electronic communication: Be brief, courteous and considerate. I will be brief, to the point, and to the best of my abilities, prompt. Send a follow up if you don’t hear back within 24 hours (during the school week).

Take credit for your work only: I should not need to mention this in this course, but I will include it from my 100 level syllabus: You should, with pride, lay claim to all of your unique contributions. When you work with others on assignments you should take pains to assure that you know, appreciate, and clearly identify the contributions of each of your colleagues. Deliberate attempts to claim the work of others as your own without clear acknowledgement will be seen as plagiarism and will be severely punished: a grade of F will be assigned to the plagiarized assignment.

Other details

Students with disabilities: I will gladly provide reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities, with the recommendation of Disability Services, at the Office for Institutional Equity (740-593-2620). Please show me the letter from that office indicating accommodations that you may need for this class.