Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 300961

Coordinator Athula Ginige Opens in new window

Description Rapid growth of computational devices connected to the internet such as mobile phones, tablets, personal computers have made us into a digitally connected society. This has enabled us to develop a new computing paradigm: Social Computing to enhance ways we can fulfil a range of primary and secondary human needs. Already many new businesses have evolved making use of these possibilities surpassing the number of users in corresponding conventional businesses such as retail, transportation and hotel chains. In this subject students will learn the fundamental concepts of Social Computing, how Social Computing is evolving, explore interaction models of social networks, analyse a few reported cases that relate to social computing in detail to understand the impact on society and businesses and explore ways to enhance a range of livelihood activities and future possibilities. This subject will also cover underpinning technologies related to social computing such as Web 2.0, knowledge management and related ethical, security and privacy issues.

School Computer, Data & Math Sciences

Discipline Information Systems, Not Elsewhere Classified.

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 2 10cp

Check your fees via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 3 subject

Restrictions

Successful completion of 160 credit points.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. Describe the characteristics and impact of Social Computing taking examples from our daily life.
2. Describe the factors and technologies that enabled wide spread use of social computing.
3. Analyse a specific scenario related to lack of timely information leading to unsatisfactory outcomes and develop a solution based on a Social Computing paradigm to transform these scenarios.
4. Explain the rapid evolution of Social Computing using theories relevant to technology diffusion.
5. Synthesise the future impact on Social Computing on individuals, organisations and the society as a whole.
6. Identify ethical issues, assess the impact and apply ethical decision-making frameworks to social computing scenarios.

Subject Content

1. Social Computing, its evolution and broader impact
2. The essential characteristics of Social Computing and how these relate to human needs
3. Review of technologies that enabled the Social Computing paradigm
4. Broader review of how Social Computing is impacting our daily activities
5. Explore ways to enhance livelihood activities using social computing
6. Review of technology diffusion patterns that are applicable to Social Computing
7. Security, ethical and privacy issues in Social Computing 
8. Future of Social Computing