University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

School of Information and Library Science

INLS 180: Communication Processes

Spring 1999

Syllabus

Time and Place Instructor: Gary Marchionini Graduate Asst:

12:30-1:45 Tues. & Thurs. Email: march@ils.unc.edu

Office 203 Manning Hall

Phone (919) 966-3611

Brief Course Description

This course serves as a survey of human communication processes (interpersonal, mass, scholarly) and relates these processes to principles of information science and human behavior. Special emphasis is given to information design for effective communication. Students will have opportunities to develop communication skills individually and in small groups. A general theme of the course will be the impact and implications of ubiquitous interpersonal communications capabilities on work and leisure.

Course Materials

No textbook is required. Readings will be on reserve in the SILS Library or online.

Assignments and Evaluation

Assignments include a five-minute speech, a series of media structure reviews, and a content or citation analysis. The assignments will be graded and in combination worth 50% of the final grade. A term project will determine 40% of the grade. The term project may be an empirical investigation and report (e.g., human communication behavior study, survey, citation analysis, content analysis), research proposal, original presentation/construction in a non-print medium (e.g., video, online), or scholarly paper. All projects must be approved by the instructor. Small group (two or three collaborators) projects are encouraged. A brief summary of the project will be presented in the final week of class. In addition, every student will be expected to make postings to the class electronic list and lead a discussion on one of the readings. The remaining 10% of the grade will be based on class participation.

Tentative Schedule

Session Topic Assignment

Week 1 Introduction

Jan. 7

  • Day One Class Notes

    Overview of course Search web for definitions of communication

    Introduce 1-min paper Subscribe to list, send favorite definition

    Read Pierce (1972) for Jan 12

    •

    Read Pool (1973) for Jan 14 G1

    Term Projects

  • Term Project Notes

    5-minute speech

    Week 2 Models & Modes

    Jan. 12 Communication models Read Weaver & Shannon (1949) for Jan 19

    Discuss Pierce

  • Day Two Class Notes

    Jan. 14 Communication systems: Discuss Pool Read Solomon (1997) for Jan 21 G2

    Speech schedule

  • Day Three Class Notes

    Week 3 Models & Modes continued

    Jan. 19 Information theory: Discuss Shannon Read Tannen (1995) for Jan 26 G3

  • Day Four Class Notes

    Jan. 21 Verbal communication 1: 1 Read Conger (1998) for Jan 26 G4

    Discuss Solomon ‘s analytical strategies

  • Day Five Class Notes

    Week 4 Verbal Communication

    Jan. 26 Verbal communication 2: 1-m In class debate setup

    Discuss Tannen, Discuss Conger

  • Day Six Class Notes

    Jan. 28 Group communications: in class debate Read Bolter (1991) for Feb 2 G5

  • Day Seven Class Notes

    Week 5 Written Communication

    Feb. 2 Formal writing Book structure due Feb 16

    Discuss Bolter

  • Day Eight Class Notes

    Feb. 4 Project commitments Read Dillon (1990) for Feb 11 G6

    Designing written messages

  • Day Nine Class Notes

    Week 6 Elicitation

    Feb. 9 Speeches Round 1 Read Price (1965) for Feb 16 G1

    Reference interview & help desks

    Feb. 11 Question elicitation: Discuss Dillon Content or citation analysis due Feb 25

  • Day Eleven Class Notes

  • Formal Communication Assignment

    Week 7 Scholarly Communication and Information Transfer

    Feb. 16 Citations and Informetrics Read AAP (1994) for Feb 18 G2

    Discuss Price [filed under Grycz et al.]

  • Day Twelve Class Notes

    Feb. 18 Publishing: Discuss AAP Read Chatman (1992) for Feb 25 G3

  • Day Thirteen Class Notes

    Week 8 Scholarly and Social networks

    Feb. 23 Speeches Round 2 Read Schramm for March 2 G4

    Libraries as communities

  • Day Fourteen Class Notes

    Feb. 25 Invisible colleges, Social networks

    Discuss Chatman

  • Day Fifteen Class Notes

    Week 9 Mass communication

    Mar. 2 Print and broadcast media TV structure due March 18

    Discuss Schramm

  • Day Sixteen Class Notes

    Mar. 4 Speeches Round 3

    TV and radio effects

  • Day Seventeen Class Notes

    Spring Break

    Week 10 Mass communication cont’

    Mar. 16 Web sites Web site structure due April 1

  • Day Eighteen Class Notes

    Mar. 18 Impact of mass comm Read Anderson et al. (1995) & Neu et al. (1998) for March 23

    Advertising, propaganda, censorship

  • Day Nineteen Class Notes

    Week 11 Computer mediated communication

    Mar. 23 email: personal and universal Read Reeves & Nass (1996) for March 30 G5

    Discuss Anderson; Neu

  • Day Twenty Class Notes

    Mar. 25 Speeches Round 4

    Email effects

    Week 12 Computer mediated communication cont’

    Mar. 30 Communication metaphors Read Olson et al. (1993) for April 6 G6

    Discuss Reeves & Nass online debate setup

  • Day Twenty-Two Class Notes

    Ap. 1 online debate in lab

  • Day Twenty-Three Class Notes

    Week 13 Computer mediated communication cont’

    Ap. 6 CSCW: Discuss Olson et al. Read Dibbell (1996) for April 13

    Ap. 8 Speeches Round 5

    CMC trends

    Week 14 Designing communication services

    Ap. 13 Cyberspace: Discuss Dibbell

  • Day Twenty-Six Class Notes

    Ap. 15 Information Design

  • Day Twenty-Seven Class Notes

    Week 15 Computer-mediated communication

    Ap. 20 Speeches Round 6

    Information design cont’

  • Day Twenty-Eight Class Notes

    Ap. 22 Ubiquitous communication & interactivity

    Week 16 Projects

    Ap. 27 Project Presentations

    Ap. 29 Project Presentations

    Pointers

    Required Reading (on reserve in PAM boxes in SILS Library)

    Anderson, R., Bikson, T., Law, S., & Mitchell, B. (1995). Universal access to e-mail: Feasibility and societal implications. Santa Monica, CA: RAND [Read: Summary xiii-xxiii AND Chapter One: Introduction p. 1-12.]

    Association of American Publishers (1994). Promises and pitfalls: A briefing paper on Internet publishing. NY: AAP. (Introduction, p 1-6; part iv—migrating to the electronic milieu, p 35-40. Filed under Grycz et al.

    Bolter, J.D. (1991). Writing space: The computer, hypertext, and the history of writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Chapter 1 p 1-11.

    Chatman, E. (1992). The information world of retired women. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Chapter 3, Social network theory, p 33-41.

    Conger, J. (1998). The necessary art of persuasion. Harvard Business Review, May-June, 84-95.

    Dibbell, J. (1996). A rape in cyberspace: How an evil clown, a Haitian trikster spirit, two wizards, and a cast of dozens turned a database into a society. In Mark Stefik (Ed.) Internet dreams: Archetypes, myths, and metaphors. Cambridge, MIT Press.

    Dillon, J. (1990). The practice of questioning. London: Routledge. Chapter 10, Notions of questions p 131-163.

    Neu, C., Anderson, R., & Bikson, T. (1998). E-mail communication between government and citizens: Security, policy issues, and next steps. Rand Issue Paper: Science and Technology.

    Olson, J., Card, S., Landauer, T., Olson, G., Malone, T., & Leggett, J. (1993). Computer-supported co-operative work: Research issues for the 90s. Behaviour & Information technology, 12(2), 115-129.

    Pierce, J.R. (1972). Communication. Scientific American. 227(3), 31-41.

    Pool, I. De Sola. (1973). Communication systems. In Ithiel Pool, Wilbur Schramm, Nathan Maccoby & Edwin Parker, (Eds.), Handbook of communication. Chicago: Rand McNally. 3-26.

    Reeves, B. & Nass, C. (1996). The media equation: How people treat computers, television, and the new media like real people and places. NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Schramm, W. (1973). Channels and audiences. In Ithiel Pool, Wilbur Schramm, Nathan Maccoby & Edwin Parker, (Eds.), Handbook of communication. Chicago: Rand McNally. 116-140.

    Solomon, P. (1997). Conversation in information-seeking contexts: A test of an analytical framework. Library and Information Science Research, 19(3), 217-248.

    Tannen, D. (1995). The power of talk: Who gets heard and why. Harvard Business Review, Sept/Oct, 138-148.

    Weaver, W. (1949). Recent contributions to the mathematical theory of communication. In, The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana, IL: U. of Illinois Press. [Read Chapter 1]

    Others Readings of Interest

    Albers, M. (1997). Cognitive strain as a factor in effective document design. Proceedings of 15th Annual International Conference on Computer Documentation; SIGDOC ’97 (Salt Lake City, Oct. 19-22, 1997). P. 1-6.

    Borgman, C. (Ed.) (1990). Scholarly communication and bibliometrics. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. [Read Editor’s Introduction, p 10-27.]

    Canary, D. & Dindia, K. (1998). Sex differences and similarities in communication: Critical essays and empirical investigations of sex and gender in interaction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Crane, D. (1972). Invisible colleges. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press. Chpater 3, The social organization of research areas, p 41-65.

    De Kerckhove, D. (1995). The skin of culture: Investigating the new electronic reality. Toronto: Somerville House.

    Dizard, W. (1997). Old media, new media: Mass communications in the information age (2nd Ed). NY: Longman.

    McGarry, K. (1975). Communication, knowledge and the librarian. London: Clive Bingley.

    McCarthy, J. & Monk, A. (1994). Measuring the quality of computer-mediated communication. Behaviour & Information Technology, 13(5), 311-319.

    Paisley, W. (1993). Knowledge utilization: The role of new communication technologies. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 44(4), 222-234.

    Rogers, E. (1962). Diffusion of innovations. NY: Fress Press.

    Rogers, E. (1994). A history of communication study: A biographical approach. NY: The Free Press.

    Sonnenwald, D. (1996). Communication roles that support collaboration during the design process. Design Studies, 17, 277-301.

    Thayer, L. (Ed.). 1966. Communication concepts and perspectives. Washington, DC: Spartan Books

    Tibbo, H. (1995). Interviewing techniques for remote reference: Electronic versus traditional environments. American Archivist, 58, 294-310.

    Tonfoni, G. (1996). Communication patterns and textual forms. Exeter, UK: Intellect. CPP-TRS: A universal grammar of linguistic performance, p 48-62.

    Trigg, R. & Bodker, S. (1994). From implementation to design: Tailoring and the emergence of systematization in CSCW. Proceedings of ACM 1994 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (Chapel Hill, NC, Oct. 22-26, 1994). New York: ACM Press, 45-54.

    Turoff, M. (1991). Computer-mediated communication requirements for group support. Journal of organizational computing, 1, 85-113.