Designing Systems for Collaboration, Cooperation, and Collective Action

Catalog description

This project-based class focuses on the design of systems that support large groups to collaborate, cooperate, and act together. A large body of research in Human-Computer Interaction and Computer Supported Cooperative Work is devoted to the design of systems that assist large groups to come together and aggregate their efforts, whether in the form of information, code, or people power. Examples of these sociotechnical systems include Wikipedia, Facebook groups, and Change.org. Students will read papers in the HCI literature and participate in discussions that analyze the design of these systems, the various stakeholders, and how the systems play out in the real world. Prerequisites: CS 147; CS 376 recommended but not required.