Editing Building Successful Online Communities (Spring 2021) (section)

=== Project 2: Consultant's Report ===

For the final assignment, I want you to take what you've learned in the class and apply it to a community you have observed or participated in. This project will involve two written assignments and a presentation.

==== Community Identification====
;Maximum Length: 300 words (~1 page double spaced)
;Deliverables: Turn in [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1448701/assignments/6166059 through Canvas]
;Due Date: Friday May 7
:* <strike>Signed copy of MOU (Turn in via Canvas)</strike>
:* [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1448701/assignments/6166059 Community identification essay] (Turn in to Canvas)

In this assignment, you should identify and the community you will be working with for your final project. In the essay part of this assignment, I am asking you to write several paragraphs explaining which community you will be working with and why you think it will be an fruitful site for applying the course material. If relevant or possible, it might be useful to also provide a link to any existing community or to the organization.

I am hoping that each of you will pick a community that you are intellectually interested and invested in. If you want to the community something you are involved in your personal and professional life, that's ideal.  Although I'm encouraging you to connect to your work lives, you should also keep in mind that you will be presenting this publicly to the class. If you don't know of such a community, Alex Stonehill (in his capacity as Comm Lead staff!) should be able to help connect you to businesses that are interested in advice on growing, improving, or starting an online community.

I also want to make sure that the organizations you are going to be working with are on board. I had considered asking you all to bring a signed copy of [[:File:MOU-online communities-2016-fall.pdf|this memorandum of understanding]] but I've decided that it's not necessary. You '''should''' read that document as soon as possible to get a sense of what you'll be asking organizations to agree to and you should make sure that the organization you plan to work with is on board.

You will be successful in this assignment if you identify a community and clearly explain why you think it would be a useful community to study using the concepts we have covered in the class. I will give you feedback on these write-ups and will let you each know if I think you have identified a project that might be too ambitious, too trivial, too broad, too narrow, etc.

==== Final Projects: Consultant's Report ====
;Final Presentation Date: June 3, 2021 (11:59pm)
;Paper Due Date: June 11 @ 11:59pm
;Maximum paper length: 4,500 words (~18 pages double spaced)
;Deliverables: 
:*Details on final presentations including due dates, instructions, and dropboxes are on [[/Final presentation]] 
:*Turn in copy of paper [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1448701/assignments/6166060 in Canvas]

For your final project, I expect students to build on the community identification assignment to describe what they have done and what they have found. I'll expect every student to give both:

* A final oral presentation (see instructions on  [[/Final presentation]])
* A final written report

Each project should include: (a) the description of the community you have identified (you are welcome to borrow from your Community Identification assignment), (b) a description of how you would use the course concepts to change and improve the community.

Each report should include the description of the community you have identified (you are welcome to borrow from your Community Identification assignment), and a description of how you would use the course concepts to change and improve the community.

Once again, your report will be evaluated on the degree to which it provides useful, informed, and actionable advice to the client organization and on the degree to which you engage with the course material. Please make sure you do the following things:

# Provide detailed, concrete, and actionable advice to the client organization. For example, what are they doing right? What should they change?
# Justify your recommendations in terms of the theories and principles we've covered and include references for your readers who won't have your background. Why should your recommendations be taken seriously?
# Remember that you don't have to take everything taught in the course for granted. What is unique or different about the client organization that causes you to have to think and read beyond the course material we've covered? What are the big open questions and risks they will be facing?

You will be evaluated on the degree to which you have demonstrated that you understand and have engaged with the course material and not on specifics of your community or the content of your advice.

A successful project will provide good advice that a client would be happy to have paid a consultant for, tell a compelling story, be clearly written, and will engage with, and improve upon, the course material to teach an audience that includes not only the client but me, your classmates, and students taking this class in future years on how to take advantage of online communities more effectively. The very best papers will give us all a new understanding of some aspect of course material and change the way I teach some portion of this course in the future.