Editing Building Successful Online Communities (Fall 2024) (section)

== Websites and Technology Expectations ==

There are a number of expectations that you will be able to connect to certain websites. In order to complete this class, I expect you to be able to access and use the following web resources:

* [https://wiki.communitydata.science/ wiki.communitydata.science] — This website will host the syllabus for the course. I expect you to be able to visit it regularly. If you're reading this, you have access.
* [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1774897 UW's Canvas] — We'll be using Canvas for posting announcements, uploading course-restricted files, turning in assignments, and distributing grades, comments, and similar.
* [https://www.lib.washington.edu/help/connect/tools UW Library Proxy] — I'm going to expect that you can use the UW Libraries proxy to access material that UW subscribes to from off campus. You'll need to use it to get material to read for class.
* [https://discord.com/ Discord] — We'll use Discord for synchronous communication around the class. When you've got a question about an assignment, this is almost certainly going to be the fastest and best way to get my attention. One benefit of asking a question on Discord is that others in the class will be able to see our answer to you! Instructions on joining the Discord server are in the [https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1774897/pages/course-setup-checklist Class Setup Checklist]. You'll see that we've created a few channels. If you don't see an obvious place to ask your question, go ahead and ask it in the #general-discussion channel.
* [https://www.panopto.com Panopto] — UW uses the video hosting service Panopto, which I will use to share all the lectures and recorded parts for this course.
<!-- * [https://zoom.us Zoom] — UW strongly recommends that all courses be conducted in Zoom so I will be following their advice. Our case studies will involve Zoom.-->
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/ English Wikipedia] — Assignments for this course involve contributing to Wikipedia. This means that you will need to have access to Wikipedia.
* [https://docs.google.com/ Google Docs] — I'll be using Google Docs to host web forms. This includes the form you'll need to fill out to tell me that you're going to miss class. You will need to be able to access Google to use this.
* Various other websites that will likely include Reddit, Stack Exchange, Twitch, TikTok, ChatGPT, and more — We will analyze these communities as part of our case study discussion, and you will be required to visit, create accounts, and spend time on these websites.

These websites, in turn, use various hosting providers, including Amazon Web Services, Google, and Microsoft. As a result, participation in this course requires students to access Internet resources that may not be accessible directly in some places outside of the UW campus. Anybody taking the class must ensure they can access all Internet resources required for this course reliably and safely. For students who are off-campus temporarily and are in a situation where direct access to these required resources is not possible, UW-IT recommends that students use the official UW VPN, called [https://itconnect.uw.edu/connect/uw-networks/about-husky-onnet/use-husky-onnet/ Husky OnNet VPN]. UW-IT advises students to use the VPN with the “All Internet Traffic” option enabled (see the [https://www.lib.washington.edu/help/connect/husky-onnet UW Libraries instructions] and [https://itconnect.uw.edu/connect/uw-networks/about-husky-onnet/faqs/ UW-IT’s FAQs]). Doing so will route all incoming and outgoing Internet through UW servers while it is enabled.

Students who travel outside the US should be aware that they may be subject to laws, policies, and/or technological systems that restrict the use of VPNs. UW does not guarantee students’ access to UW resources when students are off-campus, and [https://itconnect.uw.edu/work/appropriate-use/ students are responsible for their own compliance with all laws] regarding the use of Husky OnNet and all other UW resources. Because this course is in-person, I don't expect this to be a big issue.