courses :: mas 963   the virtual society :: judith donath   this course is about social life in the on-line world. its focus is on how the design of the interface influences people's interactions with each other and shapes the cultural mores and structures they develop. drawing on work in cognitive science, urban design, anthropology, etc., as well as on research in the sociology of online communities, we will examine the ways social cues are communicated in the real and the virtual world, discuss the limits imposed upon on-line communities by their mediated nature, and explore directions that virtual societies can take that are impossible for physical ones.   assignments :: critique one :: what is identity? critique two :: identity and deception : the epistemology of online interaction critique three :: cultural identity : fashion on the world wide web critique four :: what do we communicate in text-based conversations? critique five :: graphical conversations critique six :: faces and the representation of people critique seven :: the metaphor of the city critique nine :: visualizing crowds   course website