This course introduces network structures and principles, the technology and infrastructures that allows them to flourish, and the cultures that grow up through and around them. It also explores how social media enables community, how it assembles and empowers agents of change and how design informs individual and group behavior. 

Learning Objectives

  • Identify key network concepts, vocabulary and conceptual literacy; 
  • Consider dimensions of protocols and power in social media use;
  • Contrast the social capital models of various social networks; 
  • Consider ways social media is used to promote social change; 
  • Examine concepts around “privacy” and identity in a social media context; 
  • Evaluate considerations of copyright and intellectual property in the share economy. 

In this course, you will

  • Gather insights from family and friends about their perspective values of social media use to help inform class discussions;
  • Engage with fellow classmates in analyzing case studies; 
  • Survey examples of social media use.