CSCI 102T

The Socio-Techno Web

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Week 8: Social Networks/Media

For the seventh assignment we will continue the main writer / main responder format, switching roles from the previous week.
We all will again:
• format our essays as HTML documents on our personal webpage.
• distribute our work by committing our documents to our own personal git repository.
• clone our partner's repository (after you are notified) and read their document on the web.

Goals

This week, we will explore social networks. In particular, we will

1. learn essential network (graph) terminology and concepts so that we may reason about social networks
2. explore how social networks affect politics and polarization

We should all understand the concepts used in the text to analyze graphs, and we should be able to reason about the structure of graphs---both abstract and concrete. You should be able to speak clearly about the following terms:

• node
• edge
• mutual tie
• directional tie
• centrality
• network shape/structure/topology
• connected component
• homophily
• module/modular graph
• properties of graphs:
• connectedness
• contagion

Readings

Required Readings:

• Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How they Hape Our Lives:
  • Chapter 1
  • Chapter 6
• In Praise of Echo Chambers(2017)
• Your Filter Bubble is Destroying Democracy(2016)
• Facebook's Advertising Tools Complicate Efforts To Stop Russian Interference(2017)

Optional Readings/Media:

• How to Shake Up Your Echo Chamber(2015 podcast)
• Tech Creates Our Political Echo Chambers. It Might Also Be A Solution(2017)

Assignment

• Writing Prompt: In Chapter 1, the authors of Connected describe the structure and function of social networks, and in Chapter 6, they explore the impact of different social networks on politics. On page 31, they state:

  ...a social network is like a commonly owned forest: we all stand to benefit from it, but we also must work together to ensure it remains healthy and productive. This means that social networks require tending, by individuals, by groups, and by institutions.

  What makes a social network healthy? Are highly modular, polarized social networks harmful, or are they beneficial? Is it our responsibility to break out of echo chambers, or to embrace the shared values in our communities? How does the emergence of targeted advertising and "fake news" affect your stance? Take a strong, decisive stance, and provide support for your claims.


• Ongoing: As you read, please keep a list of questions that come to your mind that you want to revisit. This list may include things you wish the authors explored in more detail, open questions, confusing passages, vocab, etc.