SYMBOLIC SYSTEMS 150:
Computers and Social Decisions (3 units)
Spring Quarter 2003-2004, Stanford University
Instructor:  Todd Davies

Group Project Description (draft)

The group project for the class is being done on behalf of the East Palo Alto Community Network, whose staff work for Plugged In, a community technology center in East Palo Alto, California.  The community network and Symbolic Systems have been working together since 2002 under the Partnership for Internet Equity and Community Engagement (PIECE). 

The tentative goals of the group project are the following:

1. To perform a survey of designs of community web sites, especially looking at sites in low-income and/or multi-ethnic/multi-lingual communities.  Specifically, the community network design staff is interested in how these sites handle certain issues, such as how complex the homepage is, whether it is customizable to the user, and how content is organized. 
   
2. To design a study looking at a key issue in the redesign of EPA.Net's next version, such as whether providing a simpler and/or Spanish-up-front version will increase registrations and usership, especially among those who have not used computers, the Interent, or EPA.Net before.
3. To assist in the analysis of data from the study, to the extent that it can be carried out this quarter.

The project plan will be refined during the week 4 meeting with Rolando Zeledon, executive producer of EPA.Net, who is the main client contact for this project at Plugged In.