MIS 300 - Web 2.0: Maintaining and Developing Online Communities

3 unit course
MW 11:00 - 12:15
McClelland 128

*Note: We should be changing the course name to Managing Online Communities

Instructor Information

Andrea Winkle
621-4810
awinkle@eller.arizona.edu
Office hours: MW by appointment

Course Description

Online social networking and communities have become a big role in how organizations interact within themselves as well as with external partners. Developing a healthy community can lead to new business opportunities, improved customer relations, as well as improved communications to the world. Online social network sites already claim over 300 million members worldwide in public sites that are starting to turn into a new generation of b2b and b2c business collaboration and brokerage sites. This course investigates the technologies, methods and practices towards developing online communities, and how this knowledge and these skills are applied to businesses.

The course will involve lectures facilitated by the instructor and corporate representatives. Also incorporated will be experiential exercises and skill development assignments.

Course Calendar

The course calendar is on this page

Course Outcomes

Understand the role of online communities in the business world, how they deliver value, and the role of community managers.
Learn about the popular community-oriented tools, online social networking and how and what they are used for
Learn the basics of how to plan, start, grow and manage a community
Marketing your community and interacting with other communities, online sites and search engines.
Measuring the success of your community

Course Topics:

Overview of the role of online communities in business
- what businesses are doing in their online communities
- competing for mindshare
- user-generated/user-led vs. organizationally-developed content
- what are and are not online communities: community identity & interaction
Overview of common types of community tools:
- What happened to just a simple Web page? - Web 2.0
- content & collaboration tools: blogs, forums, instant messaging/forums, wikis, etc.
- workflow, process and project management tools
- information organization: categorization, taxonomies, tagging
- distribution and syndication: RSS/Atom Web feeds
Overview of community environments:
- forum-based communities,
- spaces-based communities,
- tag-based communities, etc.
Community development & maturity:
- designing, launching, recruiting/populating, growing.
Ethics:
- what is acceptable, what is not,
- setting up member guidelines
Encouraging your membership:
- Motivation and Inhibitors,
- reward mechanisms,
Measuring your community:
- what metrics should you measure,
- how do you determine success
Marketing your community:
- things to do to let others know about or join your community,
- search-engines, word-of-mouth/grass-roots marketing

Course Activities

A combination of weekly small lectures and discussion sessions as well as experiential learning opportunities. This class will be very hands on and active which requires participation and attendance by students each meeting in order to get the full experience form this class.

Attendance Policy:

Because so much of our course will be done with discussions, a percentage of your points are based on attendance. You may have 1 excused absence a semester. You will forfeit the attendance points for this day; however you will not be called on to present your weekly assignment. In order to schedule an excused absence, please send an email to me 1 class period prior to the absence. If you have an emergency, please contact me as soon as possible and we will discuss your options.

Course Requirements and Grade Components

Weekly Assignments: You will be required to turn in a small weekly report on a specific topic assigned. This report must be submitted via turnitin.com by class time on the due date. More details on the written and verbal report will come. Please bring a hard copy with you to class as you may be chosen to present your assignment. You will be chosen 2 times during the semester to present and you will not be told when you are going to be chosen.

Community Development/Final Project: You will work in a small group to develop a community website (no technical skills required J ). Your team will run this site for 2 weeks working through the lifecycle we will discuss in class throughout the semester. More details to come.

Grading:

Attendance and Participation                              150
(10 points per week for attendance/participation,
10 points for being ready for presentation when called)
Weekly Assignments (8) Written Portion             80
Weekly Assignments (2) Verbal Portion              100

Community Development Plan/Final Project 200

Total Points 530

90% and above = A 80 - 89% = B 70 - 79% = C 60 - 69% = D 50% and below = E

Notes:

Topic Assignments: You are required to complete each weekly assignment, however only a couple of students will present each week. This will be tied into your attendance and participation as you will be called on randomly to present. 5-8 minute presentations.
Assignments will generally not be accepted after the due date without prior arrangements. Please contact me before the due for an exception.

Academic Dishonesty

Academic Dishonesty occurs whenever any action or attempted action is pursued that creates an unfair academic advantage or disadvantage for you and/or any member or members of the academic community. All forms of academic dishonesty are subject to sanctions under the Code of Academic Integrity. Sanctions include: written warning, loss of credit for work involved, reduction in grade for work involved, failing grade in the course, notation on transcript, suspension, and/or expulsion. Various forms of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, and/or plagiarism.

Academic Misconduct

Academic Misconduct is defined as any behaviors not conforming to prevailing standards or rules within the academic community. All forms of academic misconduct are subject to sanctions under the Code of Conduct. Sanctions include: classroom conduct, interim action, program/support, organizational sanctions, restricted access to university property, administrative hold, warning, probation, suspension, and/or expulsion. Various forms of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to disruptive behavior, threatening behavior, and/or the theft or damage of University property.

For more specific examples of academic dishonesty, academic misconduct, and how to avoid such behaviors, please visit the following website:

http://ugrad.eller.arizona.edu/etegrity/policies.aspx