CS 1023 Cultural Implications of the Information Society

Lectures and Assignments, Fall 2000

Week Dates Topic Assignment Sources
1 Aug 28, 30, Sept 1 Course organization and aims.
The Internet. Writing		 Read Preface (v-vii), 9.1.2 (297-300),
9.1.3 (300-302), and Guide to Writing. 		Preface and
Webpage
2 Sept 6, 8
(Sept 4: Labor day)		 Introduction. The Information Age.
New solutions, new viewpoints.		 Read 1.1.1 (2-3), 1.2.1 (8-13),
1.2.2 (14-15), and Education.		 1 and
Webpage
3 Sept 11, 13, 15 Ethics and ethical theories. Moral
sense, tilitarianism, social contract,
Kant's theory. Why act ethically?		 Read 10.1, 10.2 (332-340), and Ethics.
Essay 1 due Sept 13.		 10 and
Webpage
4 Sept 18, 20, 22 Technology (exponential growth).
iIdentification, ID cards.		 Read 1.1.2 (6-8), 2.2.5 (46-48),
and Identification.		 1, 2, and
Webpage
5 Sept 25, 27, 29 Privacy. Government databases.
Medical data. Right to privacy.
Credit Bureaus.		 Read 2.1(38-40), 2.2.2(42-44), 2.4(56-57),
2.5(57-61), 2.7.1(63-64), Privacy, and
Code of Fair Info Practices (Figure 2.4, 71)		 2 and
Webpage
6 Oct 2, 4, 6 Security and Cryptography.
Public-key cryptography.		 Read 3.1 (86-91), 3.3.1 (95-100), and
Cryptography.
Essay 2 due Oct 4.		 3
7 Oct 9, 11, 13 Risks of Computer Use. Read 4.1.1 (114-116), 4.1.3 (120-123),
4.2 (125-129), and Avoiding Risks.		 4 and
Webpage
8 Oct 16, 18, 20 Free Speech. Offensive
speech. Anonymity.		 Read 6.2 (203-213),
6.3 (213-215), and Anonymity.		 6 and
Webpage
9 Oct 23, 25, 27
(Oct 27: Last drop)		 Computer Crime. Identity
theft. Hacking.		 Read 7.2.2 (232-233), 7.4 (237-242), and
7.6 (252-254).
Essay 3 due Oct 27.		 7
10 Oct 30, Nov 1, 3 The Workplace. Creating and
destroying jobs. Teleworking.
Monitoring on the job.		 Read 8.1 (262), 8.2.1 (262-266),
8.2.4 (269-270), 8.3.1 (270-273),
and 8.4 (275-281). 		8
11 Nov, 6, 8, 10 Artificial Intelligence and Agents.
Knowledgebases.		 Read Knowledgebases and Prolog, 
Agents and The Future (Bill Joy)		 Webpages and
Joy's article
12 Nov 13, 15, 17 Social Issues. Freedom versus
control. Neo-luddites.
Fingerprinting.		 Read 9.2 (302-305), 9.3.1 (305-311),
Anti-technologists, and Fingerprinting..
Essay 4 due Nov 15.		 9 and
Webpage
13 Nov 20, (22, no class)
(Nov 23: Thanksg.)		 Crime-proof hardware,
and safe guns.		 Read Crime-proof Hardware. Webpage
14 Nov 27, 29, Dec 1 Bad uses: Warfare,
Gambling. Pornography.		 Read Bad Uses.
Web Resource Project due Nov 29.		 Webpage
15 Dec 4, 6
(Dec 7, 8: Study)		 Wrap-up. Web Page Assignment due Dec 6.  

Notes:

  1. In the table above the reading assignments refer to either
    1. the text: A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues in Computing, by Sara Baase, Prentice-Hall, 1997 (in green), or
    2. other materials on the web supplied by me (in blue).

  2. Each Friday quiz is marked above in dark orange. These will cover that week's reading, except that the quizzes on Sept 8 and Dec 1 that will cover 5 periods over two weeks. Note that there are twelve (12) quizzes -- the two lowest grades will be thrown out, leaving ten grades. There will be no make-up quizzes.

  3. The four essay assignments (in red) are each due on a Wednesday. You can find details about the essays by following the link, but in brief each is to be typed on one side of one sheet of paper. If they are handed two days late on Friday, they lose 10% of their grade, and if handed in the next Monday, they lose 25%. After the next Monday they will not be accepted.

  4. The Web Resource Projectis also discussed in the Syllabus.

  5. The Web Page Assignment asks you to create your own web page.

Revision date: 2000-08-17.
    (Also known as 17 August 2000, or 8/17/00.
    Please use ISO 8601, the International Standard Date and Time Notation.)