CS4001: Computers & Society

Summer 2009 – Section B

MWF 2:40-3:50pm

CCB 101

Instructor: Valerie Henderson Summet

Office: TSRB

Contact: valerie (at) gatech.edu

Office hours: 1:30-2:30pm Mondays (before class) or by appointment

TA: TBD

Catalog Description

Examines the role and impact of information and communication technology in society, with emphasis on ethical, professional, and public policy issues .

Learning Objectives

• Understand the effects of computing and related technologies on individuals, organizations, and society

• Understand your responsibilities as a computing professional and their ethical underpinings

• Effectively communicate with others in writing and speech. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of communication generated by others

Required Texts:

• Ethics for the Information Age, (ETHICS) by Michael J. Quinn.  3rd Edition, Addison-Wesley, 2009.  ISBN: 978-0321536853

• Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings , ( WA ) by John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, and June Johnson. Concise Edition, Third Edition. Longman Publishers, 2004.

Grading:

There is no curve in this class.  The breakdown of grades is as follows:

Timely handling of grade disputes:

Disputes of grading on assignments, exams, etc must be discussed within one week of their return or posting. Should you find yourself having an issue with a grade, contact the grading TA. After you talk with your TA, if you are not satisfied you may contact the course instructor.

Attendance:

Attendance is mandatory.  You will begin the semester with 106% for attendance.  For every day you are absent, 3 points will be deducted from your attendance grade.  Therefore, you can miss up to 2 class periods with no penalty (or you may choose to attend all classes and keep the 6% extra credit).  There will be a si gn in sheet every class.  It is your responsibility to make sure you sign the sheet before it is collected at the end of class.  If your signature is not on the sheet, you will not get credit for attending class that day.  Excused absences throu gh the Dean of Students office are the exception to this rule.

Late Policy:

Homeworks are due every Wednesday by the beginning of class.  You may submit late homework assignments by Friday for a 20% deduction.  Homeworks are not accepted after Friday.  Example:

Assignments other then homeworks are NOT accepted late without appropriate documentation from the Dean's office.

Class management:  

The class will make use of some of the features of T-Square (https://t-square.gatech.edu/portal).  Assignments will be s ubmitted through T-Square in the “Assignments” tab.  Emailing your assignments to the instructor or TA is unacceptable.  We will also make use of the “Resources” tab as a repository for useful documents and readings.  Pertinent features will be demonstrated in class during the first and second weeks.

Document format:

• Written assignments should be submitted using PDF.  Do NOT submit .doc, .docx, .txt. .odt, etc.  In general, assignments should be written in 12 pt, Times-Roman font (or similar) and double spaced.

Class participation:

Discovery does not arise from instruction but from personal engagement with the controversies and potentials of a compute rized society. In this class, engagement will take several forms.

• • You will be expected to read and interpret the articles in the books and the current awareness articles for yourself and others.

  • You will be expected to present and persuasively defend your positions on controversial topics both orally and in writing.

  • You will be expected to critique the perspectives / opinions of both authors and classmates in discussions and position papers.

  • On any given day, you may be asked to summarize and critique readings from the book or elsewhere for the class.  On such occasions, you are invited to refer to n otes you've made in response to the readings.

Academic Honesty:

All students are expected to be familiar with and maintain Georgia Tech standards of academic integrity by giving pro per credit for all work referenced, quoted, etc. Unless otherwise stated, all work is individual work by each student. This means that you are not permitted to look at assignments submitted by other students or by students who have taken this course in th e past.  In particular, Appendix A of your Ethics book is a particularly good reference for recognizing and avoiding plagiarism.  If you have any questions about what does/does not constitute plagiarism, please contact the instructor or TA.

Term papers:

Term papers will account for a significant portion of your grade.  It is not possible to pass this class without submitting a term paper.  These papers will be on a top ic of your choice and will require a significant amount of research.  We will discuss this requirement in detail during class.

Your term paper is an opportunity to:

• Explore an issue in depth

• Take a position on that issue

• Clearly and logically support that issue using the ideas from WACE

Your target audience for the paper is the educated professional who is familiar with computers (as a user) and what is going on i n the world, but is not a computer scientist. That’s whom you want to convince that your position is correct.

There are five steps in your term paper project:

• Topic proposal

• Outline or draft

• List of references

• Peer review/critique

• Completed paper

For due dates, consult your class schedule.

Extra Credit:

There will be an opportunity for extra credit.  See the “Assignments” tab in T-Square for more information. � �All extra credit is due by July 21, 2009 and will not be accepted after this date.

Policies are subject to change with notice from the instructor.

Acknowledgments

Assignments and ideas on this syllabus build on those from everyone who has taught it before, especially Amy Brukman, Colin Potts, Mary Jean Harrold, Bill Ribarsky, Spencer Rugaber, and Jay Summet. < /p>