CS 4001B: Computing, Society, & Professionalism

Instructor:	Amy Bruckman
Email:	asb at cc.gatech.edu
Office:	Technology Square Research Building (TSRB) 338
	(On 5th Street; the building with Moe's in it.)
Office Hours:	Find me after class, or email for an appointment.

 

TA:	Zsolt Kira
Email:	zkira at cc
Office:	TSRB S27 (Mobile Robot Lab, in the basement)
Office Hours:	Mondays at 1:30, or email for an appointment

 

Location:	College of Computing Building 53
Time:	Tuesday, Thursday 1:35-2:55
CoWeb:	http://swiki.cc.gatech.edu:8080/cs4001b-fa07
Newsgroup:	git.cc.class.cs4001b (server: news.gatech.edu)

Class Schedule

Learning Objectives

In this class. you will learn about:

Ethics

What do "right" and "wrong" mean anyway? How is "ethical" different from "legal"? We'll learn about several philosophical approaches to ethics including utilitiarianism, Kantianism, stakeholder analysis, and virtue ethics. The goal is for students to be able to address ethical dilemmas with reasoned arguments, grounded in a combination of these ethical theories.

Professional Ethics

What special responsibilities do we have as computing professionals? What do the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and ACM Code of Ethics say, and how can we use these in our daily practice?

Computing and Society

In what ways does computer technology impact society? We'll talk about a host of issues including privacy, intellectual property, and freedom of speech.

Argumentation

How do you construct a well-reasoned argument? Whatever you go on to do in your professional career, your success will arguably depend more on your oral and written communication skills than on your technical skills. This class is one of your few and precious opportunities to work to improve those skills.

Texts

• A Gift of Fire by Sara Baase, 2nd Edition (Abbreviation: GF)
• Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings, 4th Concise Edition (2007) by John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, and June Johnson. (Abbreviation: WA)
• Visual & Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Decision Making by Edward R. Tufte. Graphics Press, 1997.
• Note that this little book reproduces chapter 2 of Tufte's book Visual Explanations. If you're a Tufte fan, you may wish to buy the full book. However, it's expensive.
• Articles on electronic reserve.
• Articles available online.

Assignments and Grading

• Class Attendance (10%)
• Class Participation (10%)
• Homeworks (20%)
• Note that the term paper proposal and outline count as homework assignments.
• Midterm (15%)
  (Here is a sample midterm exam.)
• Term Paper (25%)
• Final Exam (20%)

Class attendance is required. Please remember to sign the attendance sheet each class.

Homeworks will be graded on a list of criteria (specified on the assignment) such as quality of writing, completeness, insight into technical issues, insight into social issues, etc. For each criterion, you will receive either a check plus, check, or check minus. Most criterion will receive a check. A plus means "you impressed me." A minus means the assignment is incomplete, incorrect, or sloppy in some fashion with respect to that criterion. Pluses and minuses are combined to give your grade for the assignment. For most assignments, you start out half way between a B+ and A-. One plus makes it an A-; one minus makes it a B+. These are general guidelines to let you know what to expect. Grading on specific assignments may differ.

Assignments are due at the start of class on the day they are due. Late assignments will not be accepted without an appropriate, documented excuse.

You will have the opportunity to revise your term paper. Your final term paper grade will be the average of your first and revised grade. To hand in a revised paper, you must hand in three things: a copy of the original paper with instructor comments on it, a copy of the revised paper, and a copy of the revised paper with changes highlighted. You may highlight changes with a highlighter pen, or use the 'version tracking' feature of many word processors.

If you have any concerns about how an assignment was graded, please raise these with the TA within one week of the return of the assignment.

If English is not your first language, you may request to not be graded on your writing for a particular individual assignment, including the term paper. This means you won't be penalized for bad writing, but you also won't get credit for good writing. To take advantage of this option, you must mark "ESL" (English as a Second Language) on the first page of your assignment/paper. This option is not available for group assignments. We still of course expect you to try to write in correct English, and will do our best to offer useful feedback on your writing.

This class abides by the Georgia Tech Honor Code. All assigned work is expected to be individual, except where explicitly written otherwise. You are encouraged to discuss the assignments with your classmates; however, what you hand in should be your own work.

Acknowledgments

Assignments and ideas on this syllabus build on those from everyone who has taught it before, especially Colin Potts, Mary Jean Harrold, Bill Ribarsky, and Spencer Rugaber.