Teaching

My teaching is exclusively in the area of my research interests: peer production, online communities, innovation, quantitative methodology, and collective action. In addition to graduate and undergraduate classes, I mentor students and frequently give guest lectures. This page documents much of my teaching activity.

My page on assessment includes the rubrics I use for both papers and participation in all of my classes and is largely inspired by similar documents written by Joseph Reagle.

Courses

I have developed (or modified and revamped) and taught the following quarter-long courses:

  • [Spring 2021, Fall 2016] Building Successful Online Communities (COMMLD570, COM597 — Masters Level). UW Communication Leadership’s “Masters in Communication in Communities and Networks” program. Elective that builds off some of the material originally developed for my Interpersonal Media class. [Syllabus (Spring 2021)] [Syllabus (Fall 2016)]
  • [Winter 2021] Statistical Methods in Communication (COM520 — Masters/PhD Level). UW Department of Communication. This is a first course in quantitative methods taught in our PhD program. The course was a technical course on statistics and statistical programming in GNU R. [Syllabus (Winter 2021)]
  • [Winter 2021] Methods of Inquiry (COM501 — Masters/PhD Level). UW Department of Communication. Mandatory second-quarter introductory methods course for students in the UW Department of Communication. Co-taught with Leah Ceccarelli in Winter 2021.
  • [Fall 2020, Winter 2020, Fall 2015, Fall 2014] Interpersonal Media (COM482 — Undergraduate Level). UW Department of Communication. The curriculum covers computer-mediated communication and focuses heavily on online communities. [Syllabus (Fall 2020)] [Syllabus (Winter 2020)] [Syllabus (Fall 2015)] [Syllabus (Fall 2014)]
  • [Winter 2020, Spring 2016, Spring 2015] Designing Internet Research (COM528 — Masters/PhD Level). UW Department of Communication. The curriculum offers a survey of several Internet research methods. [Syllabus (Winter 2020)] [Syllabus (Spring 2016)] [Syllabus (Spring 2015)]
  • [Fall 2019, Fall 2017, Fall 2016] Communication Theory Development (COM500 — Masters/PhD Level). UW Department of Communication. Mandatory first-quarter introductory theory course for students in the UW Department of Communication. Co-taught with Christine Harold in 2016, Ralina Joseph in 2017, and Patricia Moy in 2019. [Syllabus (Fall 2019)] [Syllabus (Fall 2017)] [Syllabus (Fall 2016)]
  • [Fall 2017, Spring 2016, Spring 2014] Innovation Communities (COM597 — Masters Level). UW Communication Leadership’s “Masters in Communication in Communities and Networks” program. Elective covering using online communities to harness user innovation. [Syllabus (Fall 2017)] [Syllabus (Spring 2016)] [Syllabus (Spring 2014)]
  • [Winter 2017] Advanced Statistical Methods in Communication (COM521 — Masters/PhD Level). UW Department of Communication. This is the second course in the two-course quantitative methods sequence taught in our PhD program. While the first course is mostly focused on issues of epistemology and design in social science, COM521 is a technical course on statistics and statistical programming in GNU R. [Syllabus (Winter 2017)]
  • [Spring 2015] Community Data Science (COM597G — Masters Level) UW Communication Leadership’s “Masters in Digital Media” program. Elective covering hands-on introduction to programming, web APIs, and basic data analysis in Python for absolute beginners. [Syllabus (Spring 2015)]

Workshops and Seminars

  • [Winter 2020, Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2014] Community Data Science Workshops. Funded by Department of Communication and eScience Institute, University of Washington.
  • [Fall 2013-Present] Social Computing Reading Group, University of Washington. Co-organized.
  • [2011–2013] Cooperation Group Seminar. Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University.
  • [Fall 2008] 15.960: Special Seminar in Collective Intelligence. Sloan School of Management. Supervised by Thomas Malone.
  • [August 27, 2004—September 1, 2004] Werkleitz School of Common Property, Halle Volkspark in Halle, Germany.

Mentorship

Current Graduate Students Advised

  • Kaylea Champion. Advisor and Chair (2019–), PhD Advisory Committee; Advisor and Chair (2017–2019), MA Thesis Committee; Department of Communication, University of Washington.
  • Regina Cheng. Co-Advisor and Co-Chair (2019–), PhD Advisory Committee; Department of Human-Centered Design & Engineering, University of Washington.
  • Emilia F. Gan. Co-Advisor and Co-Chair (2019–), PhD Advisory Committee; Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington.
  • Wm Salt Hale. Advisor and Chair (2017–), MA Thesis Committee; Department of Communication, University of Washington.
  • Charles Kiene. Advisor and Chair (2020–), PhD Advisory Committee; Advisor and Chair (2019–2020), MA Thesis Committee; Department of Communication, University of Washington.
  • Nate TeBluntenhuis. Advisor and Chair (2017–), PhD Advisory Committee; Advisor and Chair (2015–2017) MA Thesis Committee; Department of Communication, University of Washington.

Other Students Currently Supervised

  • Zach Arenson. Supervisor (2020–), Undergraduate Honors Thesis; Department of Communication, University of Washington.
  • Kevin Calderwood. Member (2019–), PhD Dissertation Committee; Member (2017–2019), General Examination Committee; Department of Communication, University of Washington.
  • Matthew Conlen. Graduate Student Representative (2021–), PhD Advisory Committee; Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington.
  • Stefania Druga. Member (2020–), PhD Advisory Committee; Information School, University of Washington.
  • Jenna Frens. Member (2019–), PhD Dissertation Committee; Member (2018–2019), General Examination Committee; Department of Human-Centered Design & Engineering, University of Washington.
  • Aparna Gosh. Member (2019–), PhD Advisory Committee, Department of Communication, University of Washington.
  • Luyue Ma. Member (2019–) PhD Advisory Committee; Member (2019), General Examination Committee; Department of Communication, University of Washington.
  • Jim Maddock. Member (2019–), General Examination Committee; Program in Technology and Social Behavior, Northwestern University.
  • Amirah Majid. Graduate School Representative (2016–), PhD Dissertation Committee; Information School, University of Washington.
  • Jason Portenoy. Graduate School Representative (2017–), PhD Dissertation Committee, Graduate School Representative (2017), General Examination Committee, Information School, University of Washington.
  • John Robinson. Member (2018–) General Examination Committee, Department of Human-Centered Design and Engineering, University of Washington.
  • Lucy Simko. Graduate Student Representative (2021–), PhD Advisory Committee; Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington.
  • Polly Straub-Cook. Member (2019–), PhD Dissertation Committee; Member (2018–2019), General Examination Committee; Department of Communication, University of Washington.
  • Chau Tran. Member (2019–) PhD Dissertation Committee; Member (2018–2019), Qualifying Examination Committee; Department of Computer Science & Engineering, New York University.
  • Janny Wang. Member (2017–), PhD Dissertation Committee; Member (2017) General Examination Committee; Department of Communication, University of Washington.
  • Spencer Williams. Graduate School Representative (2020–), General Examination Committee; Department of Human-Centered Design & Engineering, University of Washington.
  • Eric Zeng. Graduate Student Representative (2020–), PhD Advisory Committee; Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington.

Former Postdoctoral Supervisees

  • Sayamindu Dasgupta. Postdoctoral Supervisor (2017–2018), Moore/Sloan Foundation Data Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, eScience Institute, University of Washington.

Other Former Students

  • Rob Thompson. Graduate Student Representative (2019), PhD Dissertation Committee; Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering; University of Washington.
  • Jeremy D. Foote. Member (2018–2019), PhD Dissertation Committee; Program in Media, Technology, and Society, School of Communication Studies, Northwestern University.
  • Sneha Narayan. Member (2017–2019), PhD Dissertation Committee; Program in Technology and Social Behavior, Northwestern University.
  • Amanda Menking. Member (2019) and Graduate School Representative (2016–2019), PhD Dissertation Committee; Information School, University of Washington.
  • Samuel Woolley. Member (2015–2018) PhD Dissertation Committee; Member (2014–2015), PhD General Examination Committee; Department of Communication, University of Washington.
  • Sayamindu Dasgupta. Member (2015–2016), PhD Dissertation Committee; Program in Media Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Lynette Shaw. Graduate School Representative (2016), PhD Dissertation Committee; Department of Sociology, University of Washington.
  • Michael Gilbert. Member (2014–2016), PhD Dissertation Committee; Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, University of Washington.
  • J. Nathan Mathias. Member (2014–2015), PhD General Examination Committee; Program in Media Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Martin Gimpl. Member (2009), Masters Thesis Evaluation Committee; Media Lab, University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland.

Guest Lectures

I have also given the following guest lectures in other perople's classes:

  • “Grants and funding.” Patricia Moy's MA/PhD Proseminar (COM594), Department of Communication, University of Washington. January 22, 2020.
  • “Quantitative Research.” Kristina Scharp and LeiLani Nishime's Methods of Iniquiry (COM 501), University of Washington. January 8, 2020.
  • “Managing Organizational Culture in Online Group Mergers.” Julie Kientz's Academic Research Seminar (HCDE 547), University of Washington. November 30, 2019.
  • “Beautiful TeX Documents with Knitr.” Andrew Berdahl's Beautiful Documents with LaTeX (FISH 512), School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington. November 14, 2019.
  • “User Innovation.” Nate TeBlunthuis' Interpersonal Media (COM482), Department of Communication, University of Washington. February 26, 2019.
  • “Computer-supported cooperative work and Social Computing.” James Fogerty's Human-Computer Interaction Seminar (CSE510), Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington. October 25, 2018.
  • “Writing for publication.” Lisa Coutu's MA/PhD Proseminar (COM594), Department of Communication, University of Washington. May 8, 2018.
  • “Grants and funding.” Lisa Coutu's MA/PhD Proseminar (COM594), Department of Communication, University of Washington. January 17, 2018.
  • “Communication research and Laboratories of Oligrachy.“ Sara Quinn's Honors Sociology Seminar, Department of Sociology, University of Washington. November 7, 2017.
  • “Computer-supported cooperative work and Social Computing.“ James Fogerty's Human-computer Interaction Seminar (CSE 510), Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington. February 23, 2016.
  • “Communication research and Laboratories of Oligrachy.“ Hedy Lee's Honors Sociology Seminar, Department of Sociology, University of Washington. October 27, 2016.
  • “Grants and funding.” Lisa Coutu's MA/PhD Proseminar (COM594), Department of Communication, University of Washington. May 3, 2016.
  • “Big Data Research in Communication.” Valerie Manusov's "Methods of Inquiry" (COM501). Department of Communication, University of Washington. March 4, 2015.
  • “Big Data Research in Communication.” Kirsten Foot's "Theories of Technology and Society" (COM539). Department of Communication, University of Washington. January 28, 2015.
  • “From Free Software to Free Culture and Wikipedia.” Annisa Tanweer's "Navigating Information Networks" (COM301). Department of Communication, University of Washington. November 10, 2014.
  • “Hackers and Innovation: The CHDK Story.” Robin Avni's class on digital photography (COM597). University of Washington. August 5, 2014.
  • “Introduction to Internet Research Methods.” Kirsten Foot's "Designing Internet Research" (COM528). Department of Communication, University of Washington. April 2, 2014.
  • “Big Data Research in Communication.” Valerie Manusov's "Methods of Inquiry" (COM501). Department of Communication, University of Washington. March 10, 2014.
  • “Big Data Research in Communication.” Gina Neff's "Theories of Technology and Society" (COM539). Department of Communication, University of Washington. October 29, 2013.
  • “Introduction to Free Software.” Melanie Crean's Collaborative Futures, Parsons The New School for Design. October 24, 2013.
  • “Introduction to Free Software.” Aaron Shaw's Communities and Crowds, Northwestern University. October 15, 2013.
  • “User Innovation and User Communities.” Aaron Shaw's Communities and Crowds, Northwestern University. October 10, 2013.
  • “User Innovation and User Communities.” Executive Education, MIT Sloan. September 10, 2013.
  • “User Innovation and User Communities.” Executive Education, MIT Sloan. April 30, 2013.
  • “User Innovation and User Communities.” Executive Education, MIT Sloan. April 9, 2013.
  • “Wikipedia and Organization.” Tom Malone's class on Strategic Organizational Design at MIT Sloan. April 3, 2013.
  • “Openness and Learning.” Mitch Resnick's class on Learning Creative Learning at the MIT Media Lab. March 11, 2013. [Blost Post]
  • “Attracting Participants To An Online Community.” Eric von Hippel's User-Centered Innovations (15.S08). MIT Program in Systems Design and Management. March 8, 2013.
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Eric von Hippel's How to Develop "Breakthrough" Products and Services (15.356). MIT Sloan School of Management. March 4, 2013.
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Eric von Hippel's User-Centered Innovations (15.S08). MIT Program in Systems Design and Management. February 15, 2013.
  • “Introduction to Free Software.” Jeffrey Juris's "Cybercultures and Technopolitics," Northeastern University. January 23, 2013.
  • “Harnessing User Innovation with Toolkits and User Communities.” MIT Executive Education. September 10, 2012
  • “User Innovation and User Communities.” Executive Education, MIT Sloan. July 17, 2012. (2 sessions)
  • “User Innovation and User Communities.” Executive Education, MIT Sloan. June 11, 2012.
  • “User Innovation and User Communities.” Executive Education, MIT Sloan. April 24, 2012.
  • “User Innovation and User Communities.” Executive Education, MIT Sloan. March 20, 2012.
  • “Attracting Participants To An Online Community.” Eric von Hippel's User-Centered Innovations (15.S08). MIT Program in Systems Design and Management. March 16, 2012.
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Eric von Hippel's How to Develop "Breakthrough" Products and Services (15.356). MIT Sloan School of Management. March 7, 2012.
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Eric von Hippel's User-Centered Innovations (15.S08). MIT Program in Systems Design and Management. February 10, 2012.
  • “Failure in Free Software and Civic Media.” Civic Media, Comparative Media Studies, MIT. November 28, 2011.
  • “Free Software and Free Culture.” Elizabeth Stark's Difficult Problems in Cyberlaw, Stanford School of Design and Stanford Law School. October, 31, 2011.
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Dr. Philipp Türtscher's visiting MBA Class from Vienna University. September 12, 2011.
  • “Designing for Cooperation with Social Incentives” Internet Law Conference (iLaw), Harvard Law School. September 8, 2011.
  • “Attracting Participants To An Online Community.” Eric von Hippel's User-Centered Innovations (15.S08). MIT Program in Systems Design and Management. March 11, 2011.
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Eric von Hippel's How to Develop "Breakthrough" Products and Services (15.356). MIT Sloan School of Management. February 14, 2011.
  • “Antifeatures.” Free Technology Academy, February 10, 2011.
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Eric von Hippel's User-Centered Innovations (15.969). MIT Program in Systems Design and Management. February 4, 2011.
  • “Revealing Errors.” Richard Weiss's Course, Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington. Decembrer 6, 2010.
  • “Antifeatures.” Doug Schuler's Course, Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington. Decembrer 4, 2010.
  • “Building Free Election Technologies.” Crisis Mapping, MIT Visual Arts Program, MIT. November 3, 2010.
  • “Introduction to Free Software and Open Source.” Leah Buechley's Design for Empowerement (MAS.961), MIT Media Lab, MIT. October 8, 2010.
  • “Introduction to Free Software and Open Source.” Neil Gershenfeld's How to Make Almost Anything. MIT Center for Bits and Atom, MIT. May 4, 2010
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Dr. Philipp Türtscher's visiting MBA Class from Vienna University. May 4, 2010.
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Eric von Hippel's How to Develop "Breakthrough" Products and Services (15.356). MIT Sloan School of Management. February 16, 2010. [ODP Slides, PDF Slides, HTML Notes, ReST Notes]
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Eric von Hippel's User-Centered Innovations (15.969). MIT Program in Systems Design and Management. February 12, 2010.
  • “Free Software, Open Source, and Academic Research.” Leah Buechley's Design for Empowerement (MAS.961), MIT Media Lab, MIT. November 13, 2009.
  • “Introduction to Free Software and Open Source.” Neil Gershenfeld's How to Make Almost Anything. MIT Center for Bits and Atom, MIT. May 11, 2009
  • “Introduction to Free/Libre Open Source.” Elizabeth Stark's Internet Law, Yale, New Haven, Connecticut. March 24, 2009.
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Eric von Hippel's User-Centered Innovations (15.969). MIT Program in Systems Design and Management. February 20, 2009.
  • “Hackers: What they do, and why they do it.” Eric von Hippel's How to Develop "Breakthrough" Products and Services (15.356). MIT Sloan School of Management. February 17, 2009.
  • “Introduction to Free Software and Open Source.” Hiroshi Ishii's Futurecraft (MAS.921), MIT Media Lab, MIT. October 1, 2008.
  • “Introduction to Free Software and Open Source.” Hiroshi Ishii's Futurecraft (MAS.921), MIT Media Lab, MIT. October 1, 2008.
  • “User Innovation in Action.” Eric von Hippel's course, MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts. March 7, 2008.

Graduate Teaching

I have helped teach the following classes as a teaching assistant where I, over the several years I have taught the class, have also delivered a number of the course lectures:

  • [Teaching Assistant] 15.356: How to Develop "Breakthrough" Products and Services. (Prof. Eric von Hippel). MIT Program in Systems Design and Management. Spring, 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012.
  • [Teaching Assistant] 15.969 (15.S08): User-Centric Innovations. (Prof. Eric von Hippel). MIT Sloan School of Management. Spring, 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012.
  • [Teacher] MAS.960: Graduate Reading Seminar in Free Software and Open Source. MIT Media Lab. Supervised by Chris Csikszentmihályi. Fall 2008.