CONTENTS

• Overview
• Course Description
• Course Objectives
• Teaching Philosophy
• Grading
• Homework Assignments
• Debates

OVERVIEW

COURSE DESCRIPTION

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1. Understand the impacts of computer use on individuals and social groups;

 
2. Understand what are some of the major social controversies relating to computing, and how these are represented in different kinds of publications, including professional journals, books, and massmedia;

 
3. Critically analyze situations in which computers are used, identifying the important social and ethical issues;

 
4. Wrtie coherent and well-structured critiques of cases; and

 
5. Work and interact collaboratively in groups to discuss and inform others about the social aspects of computing.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

The primary purpose of this course is to help you develop into responsible and effective professionals by helping you to discover the ethical and social responsibilities shared by all computing professionals as well as the social implications of the technology you will be creating promoting after graduation.

This is not something you can learn by instruction. Only you can learn. As instructor, I can only guide and assist you. Thus, all of the class activities are designed to help you learn.

I make intensive use of classroom discussions and analystical writing assignments. You will be given many opportunities to express your positions on various situations where computerizations is having an impact on such topics as: the economy and labor markets, work life, public safety, consumer rights, intellectual property, individual privacy, social stratification, democracy, education, gender bias, national security, heath, etc.

You will be expected to participate actively in discussions. On many given issues, you may be asked to summarize and criticize reading assignments from the text or articles that you have read for you project papers.

GRADING

Weekly Assignment	30%
Term Paper	20%
Class participation	30%
Debates	10%
Mid-term	10%

All weekly assignments and term paper are required for passing the course.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

Format

• Find a recent media story or article on the topic of the week
• Present an analysis of the story summarizing the point(s) made that the author is trying to make and the way they are presented
• Critique the article and its coverage:
• Was the coverage/discussion balanced?
• Was the argument persuasive?
• Was the argument technically complete, correct and accurate?
• Compare what as written in the article with any relevant parts of the textbook and with your own thoughts and feelings.

Grading

AREA	Points
Choice of Topic		10
Relevance to class:	5
Importance / Timeliness	5
Summary		20
Clarity / Conciseness	10
Completeness / Thoroughness	10
Critique		30
Completeness / Thoroughness	15
Persuasiveness of arguments	15
Comparison		20
Relation to class readings	10
Personal thoughts/feelings	10
Style/Presentation		20
Grammar/Spelling/Clarity	10
TOTAL		100

DEBATES

Schedule / Topics

 

On 11/1 (Monday class) or 11/2 (Tuesday class) : there will be two debates:

                    Resolved: Open Software will eventually replace commercial software as the
                    dominant means for developing software.

                                    And

                    Resolved: Software should be patent-able like other intellectual property.

On 11/8 (Monday class) or 11/9 (Tuesday class) : there will be two debates:

                    Resolved: A Company ought to forbid all non-business use of e-mail and the
                    internet by their employees.

                                    And

                    Resolved: Anyone who uses the internet should be required to correctly identify
                    themselves to the system.

The Teams

   1.Each team will have 4 or 5 people on it.
   2.There will be 8 teams.
   3.We will have 4 debates, with one of the teams taking the Affirmative (i.e. supporting the resolution), and
     the other taking the Negative (i.e. opposing the resolution).

The Format

The debate should go in the following order (Times shown are maximums):

   1.Affirmative (A1) presents case (5 minutes)
   2.Negative (N1) cross-examines (3 minutes)
   3.Negative (N2) replies (5 minutes)
   4.Affirmative (A2) cross-examines (3 minutes)
   5.Affirmative rebuts (A3) (5 minutes)
   6.Negative (N3) cross-examines (3 minutes)
   7.Negative (N4 rebuts (5 minutes)
   8.Affirmative (A4) cross-examines (3 minutes)
   9.(optional) Affirmative (A5) sums up (3 minutes)
   10.(optional) Negative (N5) sums up (3 minutes)
   11.Questions from the audience (8 minutes)