COMM 408.001 / 840.001 -- Special Topics in Social Science; Fall 2013
Prof. Sandvig, University of Michigan
http://408.niftyc.org/

Announcements

• Note the FIELD TRIP on 25 November (Monday).

About the Class

Instructor

Prof. Christian Sandvig
csandvig@umich.edu
734/763-0861
http://www.niftyc.org/
Office: 5385 North Quad
My mailbox is in the Communication Studies 5th floor mailbox room (5334 North Quad)
Office Hours: 9:30-10:30 a.m. Tuesdays and by appointment

Course Description

This course considers the social science of play and interactive media technology. The three central questions addressed will be: "What is play?," "How does technology mediate play?," and "What are the consequences of this mediation?" The course investigates competing social scientific and philosophical theories of play, the structure of games, and the societal consequences of mediated play for both children and adults. A special focus this year will be "games for change" (a.k.a. "serious games") that have an educational purpose. The term will be organized around competing theoretical understandings of play (e.g., development, fate/chance, power, identity, fantasy, self-fulfillment, nonsense), and will be illustrated with examples from computer games.

Course Credit

• Completing this course provides three units at the undergraduate level (COMM 408) or graduate level (COMM 840).
• This course counts as an approved social computing concentration elective for the Informatics major.
• This course provides credit for the Science, Technology, and Society minor.
• Enrollment by majors other than Communication Studies is welcome. Graduate enrollment is by instructor permission. At the undergraduate level, only Communication Studies majors may pre-register for a 400-level COMM class. To register as a non-major, you'll need to attend the first two class meetings and get on the waitlist. If all declared majors have been given seats at the end of the second class meeting, then you may complete a permission form to register. (This is true of all 400-level COMM rubric courses.)
• This course is not open to undeclared students. (This is true for all 400-level COMM rubric courses.)

Class Structure

This is a project-based course. Throughout the semester we will work toward producing two conceptual design projects for two playful technologies. Each student will produce their own projects. As this is a conceptual design project, technical skills are not required. Deadlines for turning in portions of the design project will be used instead of exams.

The course consists of two meetings each week that are a combination of lecture and discussion. The class meetings supplement but do not duplicate the readings; readings supplement but do not duplicate the class meetings. Some of the course content is available only from class meetings and students are responsible for attending them. Starting in week 3, each week class members will submit a blog post online (e.g., this might be an answer to a question about a reading). Questions are available by Friday and are always due the following Thursday before class begins.

To help organize your notes for the design projects, students will also use a reading diary to take notes on readings as the course progresses. The diary may be in a format of the student's choice. Students will need to bring the diary to class for announced checkpoints during the semester.

Overall Class Requirements

1. Careful listening to, close reading of, and critical reflection upon course lectures, discussions, and readings. Finish the day's assigned readings before arriving in class. You will take notes on your readings in a reading diary in a format of your choice.
2. Thoughtful, informed participation during class meetings, in-class exercises, and online.
3. Playing a weekly game and writing a short weekly blog post each Monday before class begins that responds to a prompt set by the instructor.
4. Completion of two conceptual design projects for two playful technologies that are informed by the concepts from the course. (These are chronologically equivalent to a midterm and a final.) This project will require creativity, critical analysis of related technologies, synthesis and explanation of salient course readings and concepts, and self-directed research outside of class. Results from the final design project must be presented in an engaging in-class final oral presentation. Both projects must include clear written supplementary materials on a project Web site.
5. Graduate students must complete one additional assignment to be decided individually in consultation with the instructor, and some additional graduate-only readings.

Grading

Your final grade for this course will be determined as follows.

Participation includes the quality & quantity of contribution in class. This includes attendance.

Letter grades will be calculated using the following scale.

Class Policies

• Class Attendance. You are expected to attend all class meetings and to be on time for class. Attendance is taken at lab sections and factored into your grade (see "participation" above). As attendance is taken at the beginning of class, if you arrive after roll is taken this is counted as an absence.
• Late work and examinations. You are responsible for planning ahead and taking whatever steps are necessary to allow you (1) to be available to give your oral presentations and (2) turn in assignments on the specified due dates. Late work will not be accepted except in documented cases of illness or emergency (see below). Computer problems are not acceptable as an excuse for late work: if an assignment requires use of unfamiliar software, allow enough time to get help if you have problems. (It is hard to help you when presented with a problem five minutes before an assignment is due.)
• Academic Integrity. All assignments must be your own work. The College's community standards of academic integrity contain very strict and explicit policies prohibiting plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, and facilitating these acts. Penalties for violations can be severe, such as an automatic failing grade in the course and/or disciplinary suspension from the university. These rules will be strictly enforced. However, note that some of the material written in your reading diaries and the weekly blog posts can be used as part of the two design projects without any penalty. (Normally it is a violation of academic integrity to turn in the same work for more than one assignment without permission.)
• Extended illness, emergencies, or other serious unforeseen situation. If an illness makes it impossible for a student to attend to their responsibilities, they must contact the LS&A Dean's office of student affairs and report the problem. For example, students may use the LS&A "Report an Illness" form. The Dean's office will then notify all of the student's instructors. I will then make any necessary accommodations after receiving notice from the Dean's office and reviewing documentation of the illness. In the event of an emergency or other serious unforeseen situation, the student should seek help from the Dean of Students.
• Students with disabilities. If you think you need an accommodation for a disability, please let me know at your earliest convenience. Some aspects of this course, the assignments, the in-class activities, and the way we teach may be modified to facilitate your participation and progress. As soon as you make me aware of your needs, we can work with the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) to help us determine appropriate accommodations. SSD (734-763-3000; http://www.umich.edu/sswd/) typically recommends accommodations through a Verified Individualized Services and Accommodations (VISA) form. I will treat any information that you provide in as confidential a manner as possible.

Textbooks

There are TWO required books. You can buy them anywhere you'd like. If you buy them new from amazon.com they can be returned for a full refund within 30 days, and if you sign up for "Amazon Student" two-day shipping is free. Both of these books are also widely available on the Web. They are available as discounted used books, as textbook rentals, and at the library.

1. Sutton-Smith, B. (1997). The Ambiguity of Play. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. [purchase via amazon] [purchase via alibris]
2. Salen, K. & Zimmerman, E. (eds.) (2005). The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. Cambridge: MIT Press. (hardcover only) [purchase via amazon.com] [purchase via alibris]

Online Readings

Online readings are available in electronic form either free on the Web or using using password-protected links to PDFs. These password-protected links lead to the reading in CTools directly from this page.

Foundational Bibliography

This bibliography will be referred to in class and may be used in your final projects and other special assignments (particularly graduate student assignments). The whole thing is good for you, and some sources have been scanned by the instructors for your convenience.

(Sorted and referred to by author.)

1. Callois, R. (1958/2001). Man, Play and Games (M. Barash, Trans.). Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
2. Csikszentmihalyi M., & Bennett, S. (1971). An Exploratory Model of Play. American Anthropologist, 73(1), 45-58.
3. Gadamer, H. G. (1998). Play as the Clue to Ontological Explanation (D. G. Marshall, Trans.). In H.-G. Gadamer (Ed.), Truth and Method (2nd ed., pp. 101-134). New York: Continuum.
4. Geertz, C. (1973). Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight. In C. Geertz (Ed.), The Interpretation of Cultures (pp. 412-453). New York: Basic Books.
5. Giddens, A. (1964). Notes on the Concepts of Play and Leisure. The Sociological Review, 12(1), 73-89.
6. Goffman, E. (1961). Fun in Games. In E. Goffman (Ed.), Encounters: Two Studies in the Sociology of Interaction (pp. 15-81). Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.
7. Hearn, F. (1976-1977). Toward a Critical Theory of Play. Telos, 30, 145-160.
8. Huizinga, J. (1950). Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon, pp. 1-27 FROM: Huizinga, J. (1950). Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture. Boston: Beacon Press.
9. Lorenz, K. (1954). Man Meets Dog. London: Methuen. See, e.g., Ch. 16: "On Feline Play" (pp. 150-156).
10. Malone, T. W. (1981). Toward a Theory of Intrinsically Motivating Instruction. Cognitive Science, 4, 333-369.
11. Miller, S. (1973). Ends, Means, and Galumphing: Some Leitmotifs of Play. American Anthropologist, 75(1), 87-98.
12. Piaget, J. (1962). Play, Dreams, and Imitation in Childhood (C. Gattegno & F. M. Hodgson, Trans.). New York: Norton.
13. Stephenson, W. (1988). The Play Theory of Mass Communication (rev. ed.). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books. See esp Ch. 4 ("Play Theory")
14. Veblen, T. (1899/1994). The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Penguin Twentieth Century Classics. Read the complete book online via Project Gutenberg. See esp. Ch. 1: Introductory. (This book is so famous you can buy a handy pocket-sized reprint of the first chapter for about $8 so you can carry it around with you everywhere.)

Schedule

Except for the final exam period, these dates may be adjusted to reflect our progress (or lack of it). This means that you should check the class Web site regularly for updates.

Beware: Note that links on this page to slides and readings are often large PDF files.

(tl;dr)