This document outlines the schedule and assignments for a summer school course on Web 2.0 and online communities. On day 4, the class will cover Internet and web technologies like web servers, HTML, and AJAX. Students will be assigned to groups and work on developing ideas for online communities. Assignments include blog posts, setting up online accounts, and forming groups to work on a social media project involving a Facebook page, report, and presentation. Assessment will be based on blog assignments, the group project, and a final exam.

1. Web 2.0 & Online Communities, Summer School 2011
Day 4: Projects & Internet/Web technologies

2. This week (Week 2)
Tuesday (day 4):
– Internet/Web technologies (web server, HTML, AJAX,
...)
Wednesday (day 5):
– Diving deeper into Facebook pages
Thursday (day 6):
– Social media case studies (strategies!)
– Power of free (Phil Osborne ‐ Marketing)
Assessment:
– Blog assignment 1
– Group roles organised & ideas being explored
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3. Getting these things done
Us:
– Group allocations (done)
– Blog assignment 1 (done)
– Schedule (today?)
You:
– Who wants to be the class rep?
– Start thinking of viable online community ideas
– All accounts set up including blogs, Twitter accounts,
& wiki page
– Blog assignment submitted by Friday 5:00pm
– Who wants to be on a gaming panel at IRGO 2?
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4. Gaming blurb
“Resistance and control are familiar themes in video games. In
fact, a great majority of plots and narratives found in games
focus on humans battling it out with some form of invader
(e.g., aliens, demons, zombies) or fomenting a rebellion against
some giant corporation or governmental authority. The notion
of control is also central in video games. First and foremost, the
player controls the avatar and in many ways ‘plays god’ with its
life and death. But the game itself also controls the player
through the available choices of avatars and their skills, and
the parameters of the game and its environment, practically
begging players to try to circumvent them.
This panel will discuss the idea that video games are the
ultimate training camps for resistance in the 21st century
?real? world.” 4

5. 5

6. Assessing your performance
Assessment Weighting Total
Blog assignments 3 x 5% 15%
Group project: 40%
• Report 15%
• Prototype 15%
• Presentation 10%
Final Examination 45%
Total 100%
Group project with 3 other students
3 components: report, prototype, presentation
Presentations to expert panel (df. Dragon’s Den)
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7. Blog assignment 1 (Due: Friday 22 nd, 5:00pm)
Mashups are a great community‐driven example of
Web 2.0 technology in action. While mashups have
been used to combine music, videos, books, and other
cultural artefacts to make new creations, they also
provide a similar function on websites.
Your job for this first blog assignment, is to show your
understanding of what web‐based mashups are by:
– finding a website or web service that exemplifies a mashup
– using this example to help give a clear account of what a
mashup is
Make to sure read the guidelines and tips provided on
the main blog assigment page.
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8. Assessing your performance
Assessment Weighting Total
Blog assignments 3 x 5% 15%
Group project: 40%
• Report 15%
• Prototype 15%
• Presentation 10%
Final Examination 45%
Total 100%
Group project with 3 other students
3 components: report, prototype, presentation
Presentations to expert panel (df. Dragon’s Den)
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9. Group project (40%)
Create a new social media‐focused website to
support & grow a new online community
Idea should be original and potentially viable
Built as a Facebook page (see Wed class)
Team roles:
– CEO ‐ Team leader
– CTO ‐ Technical guru
– Marketing Director ‐ Promotion and user attraction
– Creative Director ‐ Design and creative decisions
– Content and Community Director ‐ User interactions
and content management
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10. The Facebook page (15%)
1. Purpose should be clear and aimed at a target
audience.
2. Should be apparent how you wish the
community to act.
3. Representative content present.
4. Clear, consistent design reflecting strong
identity.
5. Facebook page augmented by external apps.
6. Have social media content integration and
automation.
7. Evidence of active community engagement.
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11. The report (15%)
Executive summary: Report summary (300 words)
Market research: Need, competition, niche, user
benefits
Promotion strategy: User recruitment, retention &
motivation
Content strategy: Proposed content types and use
Action Plan: Sequence of future actions to grow site
Design plan: Design choices behind branding
Issues: Possible ethical and/or legal issues
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12. The presentation (10%)
Held during final Wednesday class
Modified elevator pitch
The presentation process:
– One team member has 55 seconds to articulate
the ideas behind the Facebook page (no slides)
– The remaining team members will then have 2
minutes to demonstrate the different features of
the Facebook page
– The whole team will be available to answer
questions from the judging panel
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13. Suggested timeline for projects
Week Tasks
1 Contacted group members
2 Idea close to confirmation, roles assigned & plan
organised
3 Market research almost complete & report started
4 Website structure in place & seeding content added
5 Final website design done, community activity
continuing, report completed
6 Presentation ready for Wednesday, website & report
ready for submission
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14. Time to meet your group mates!
END OF PART 1
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15. Part 2: Internet/Web
technologies
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16. The plan
1. Find your group letter & get into your groups
2. Pick a random number from the box
3. Choose your question to work on
4. Spend 30 minutes researching concept &
making a single slide presentation
5. Upload presentation to class page on wiki
6. One person (or more) from each group
presents slide to class (in selection order)
7. Top presentation gets a prize!
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17. Questions
1. Is the Internet & the World Wide Web the same
thing?
2. How has AJAX transformed the user experience
on the web?
3. What do the terms “IPv4” and “IPv6” mean and
why are they significant this year?
4. How does the domain naming system work?
5. What is the relationship between HTML and
CSS?
6. How do websites remember who you are?
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18. The end
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