Communication and media research is expanding to include artificial intelligence and robotics, and this broadening of the study of communication also has extended to the classroom. Scholars who are integrating human-machine communication into their courses are invited to participate in the Human-Machine Communication Syllabus Project by Andrea L. Guzman, Northern Illinois University, and Jason Archer, Michigan Technological University. 

The purpose of the project is two-fold: First, we aim to study how scholars are conceptualizing human-machine communication and incorporating it as a subject of study within higher education. Second, we want to offer scholars the opportunity to voluntarily share and access HMC syllabi to support education in this emerging area. 

The research portion of the project focuses on how educators are integrating aspects of human-machine communication into courses at the undergraduate (associate, bachelor’s) and graduate (master’s, PhD) levels. Human-machine communication can be defined as meaning-making among humans and communicative machines (i.e. smart assistants, robots, generative AI, automated journalism) and the implications of such technologies for self, culture, and society. Its study draws from and has applications to the full realm of communication and media research and, in particular, encompasses aspects of human-computer interaction (HCI), human-robot interaction (HRI), human-agent interaction (HAI) and critical and cultural approaches regarding technologies articulated as communicators. (See below for additional HMC resources.) 

For the study, we are seeking syllabi for courses that focus primarily on human-machine communication and its applications as well as courses in which at least 25% of the content covered is dedicated to some aspect of human-machine communication and/or its application. 

To support teaching and learning, we are also creating a public repository of HMC syllabi submitted for this project. We are asking submitters whether they would like their syllabi to be included in a publicly accessible online location to assist others in the development of HMC-related courses. Inclusion of an individual’s syllabus in the public repository is completely voluntary and does not affect their ability to participate in the research project. The researchers will destroy all syllabi not included in the repository after the completion of the research project. The repository will be made publicly available at a future date when all syllabi have been received and reviewed.

The deadline to submit your syllabi to the project is September 13, 2024. Please follow all directions on how to submit to the project that can be found below and at https://andrealguzman.net/hmcsyllabusproject.

You can also contact the researchers directly: Andrea L. Guzman, alguzman@niu.edu, Jason E. Archer, jearcher@mtu.edu. 

Thank you.

Andrea & Jason

Participation Instructions

Required: All syllabi submitted to the project must include the following. If the syllabi do not already include some of the information, then please add this information at the top.

1. University name
   
2. Course title 
   
3. Department/School in which the course is offered
   
4. Indicate whether the course is for undergraduate (associate, bachelor’s), graduate (master’s, PhD), or both
   
5. Date: The term in which the course is being or was last taught (i.e. Spring 2024).
   
6. Course description
   
7. Course objectives/outcomes
   
8. Reading list identifying all readings AND/OR course schedule including all readings
   
9. Be written in English or translated into English by the author
   

There is no limit to the number of syllabi an individual can submit. For recurring courses, submit ONLY the most recent version of the syllabus.

Participants do NOT have to format the syllabi a certain way or remove extraneous information from the syllabi; although, they may want to remove personal or sensitive information if submitting to the public repository.

Voluntary Inclusion in Public Repository

The format of the public repository will be dependent upon the number of syllabi received. Possible distribution options include a folder in Google Drive or a dedicated page on an existing website.  

All syllabi to be included in the repository will be posted “as is” and will be available to the public (i.e. anyone on the internet). Participants voluntarily submitting to the repository are responsible for removing any information they do NOT want shared publicly such as their name, contact information, office/student-meeting hours, links to online learning systems, policies, etc. 

The syllabi of participants who do not want to contribute to the repository will be stored separately and only be available to the researchers. Syllabi will be deleted once the project is completed.

Syllabi submission: 

To participate, please e-mail your syllabi to hmcsyllabusproject@gmail.com. In your e-mail, please indicate whether you want your syllabi shared publicly via the online repository. The deadline to participate in the project is September 13, 2024.

HMC Resources:

Fortunati, L., & Edwards, A. (2020). Opening space for theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues in Human-Machine Communication. Human-Machine Communication. https://doi.org/10.30658/hmc.1.1 (open access)

Guzman, A.L. (2018). What is Human-Machine Communication, anyway? Human-Machine Communication: Rethinking communication, technology, and ourselves (link to chapter author copy)

Human-Machine Communication Interest Group of the International Communication Association. https://humanmachinecommunication.org/

Human-Machine Communication journal

The SAGE Handbook of Human-Machine Communication edited by A.L. Guzman, R. McEwen, S. Jones (2023). (link to Table of Contents)