• How People Learn by John Bransford, Ann Brown, et al.
  

Required for CS 6470:

• Community Building on the Web by Amy Jo Kim.
  
• Code by Lawrence Lessig.
  
• The Virtual Community by Howard Rheingold
  A great introduction to the topic. There's a complete version on Howard's website.
• Interviewing as Qualitative Research by Irving Seidman.
  
• Communities in Cyberspace edited by Marc Smith and Peter Kollock
  
• Life on the Screen by Sherry Turkle.
  Psychological implications of the Internet. By one of the smartest people I've ever met.

Recommended:

• Cyberville by Stacy Horn
  Stacy's account of founding the ECHO BBS in NY. The book is foul-mouthed, self-indulgent, and absolutely brilliant in its observations about online culture.
• The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community by Ray Oldenburg
  People need a "third place" which is neither work nor home. This book never mentions the Internet, but is essential reading for anyone interested in online communities.
• Online Communities: Designing Usability and Supporting Sociability by Jennifer Preece
• Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge (software)

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  Social and Psychological Implications of Technology

  • More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave by Ruth Schwartz Cowan
    Before the vacuum cleaner, once or twice a year the whole family would get together to take the carpets outside and beat them. After the vacuum cleaner, suddenly our standards of cleanliness rose such that one must clean every week. Furthermore, cleaning the rugs became a task typically left for women alone to do, instead of one done by the whole family. This pattern is repeated across other "labor saving" devices. An important book for anyone interested in how technologies can have counter-intuitive effects on our lives.
  • The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit by Sherry Turkle
    Psychological implications of computers. This is a must-read for anyone trying to figure out what this computer thing is all about.
    
  • Extra Life: Coming of Age in Cyberspace by David Bennahum
    My senior year of high school, I was student system manager of our DEC PDP 11/44 computer. There always seemed to be legions of junior high boys hanging around the computer room. Twenty years later, one of them wrote a book about his experiences growing up with computers. In the book, he describes me and the system managers from other years with great reverence. I don't think at the time I understood how much we had an impact on younger kids. Anyway, I think even those who weren't there will find Bennahum's memoir readable and insightful. It resonates with parts of Sherry Turkle's The Second Self.

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  Books for "Educational Technology: Design and Evaluation"

  Required:
  • Educational Research by Gay and Airasian
  Recommended:
  • Becoming Qualitative Researchers by Corrine Glesne
    
  • Interviewing as Qualitative Research by Irving Seidman
    

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  Education

  • Jocks and Burnouts: Social Categories and Identity in the High School by Penelope Eckert
    Ever wonder why some kids work hard in school and other kids flip authority the bird?
  • Interviewing as Qualitative Research by Irving Seidman
    I assign this book for both my Design and Evaluation of Educational Software and Design of Online Communities graduate classes. It's well-written, insightful, useful. You don't need to follow Seidman's three-interview format exactly, but the read the book for general insights into qualitative data gathering.

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  Cultural Studies

  • Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture by Henry Jenkins
    A personal favorite. Jenkins writes about how television fans rework content from shows into stories, videos, and songs. The fans he studied reuse commercial content to make very personal meanings. They are not passive dupes of large corporations but creative, thinking active individuals who use popular culture as a jumping-off point for their own creative endeavors. From a cultural studies perspective, the point is that the process of reading is active, not passive. From my perspective as a designer of new media technologies, Jenkins reminds me to trust in people's basic intelligence and creativity, and design technologies to empower them. He also presents valuable examples of how pop culture can be leveraged as the beginning of a creative process.
  • Reading the Romance : Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature by Janice Radway
    A cultural studies classic. Ever wonder why many women read romance novels? Here's the answer. This provides important insight into the role media play in people's lives.
  • Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
    A wonderful introduction to comics as an art form. Of practical use to anyone who has to try to make meaning with combinations of words and images.

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    Books on Video Game Design and Programming

    • Joystick Nation by JC Herz
    • A Programmer's Guide to Sound by Tim Kientzle

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    Technical

    Jon Orwant writes great books about Perl:

    • Mastering Algorithms with Perl
    • Perl 5 Interactive Course

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    Poetry

    • Bite Every Sorrow by Barbara Ras
      If you're anywhere near Cambridge, Massachusetts, go to the Grolier poetry bookstore on Plympton Street in Harvard Square. Last time I was in the Boston area, I dropped by and they recommended this book by Barbara Ras. Ras uses surprising, playful imagery to reflect on every day life not as an idealization but as it really is. Amazing stuff. If you can't get to the Grolier, you can order it here.

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