CS 293

Social and Ethical Issues in Computing

Wednesdays 1:00–1:50 — CENT 1030

Prof. Patrick Gage Kelley

pgk @ cs.unm.edu

Topics

Assignments

Nearly every week you will have to turn in a short written essay. These should be turned in, printed out, each Wednesday in class.

Final Project

There will be one larger project which you will create a final written report for. The topic will be selected by you, and you will convince me it is of the correct scope and related to the course. This project could be a book review, an original essay, an experimental study, an explanatory brochure, or something completely different. The project will be completed in phases. More details about the project will follow.

Project Proposal Guidelines

Your project must have:

Expectations

You are expect to attend class, to have completed the assigned readings, and to participate in class discussion. If you must miss a class, please send me an email in advance. All assignments should be done individually.

Grade

Schedule

  1. Wednesday August 21
    Discussion: Introduction and class goals.
  2. Wednesday August 28
    Essay due: Should the government be responsible for informing people what information they collect/store?
    Discussion: NSA and Edward Snowden.
  3. Wednesday September 4
    Read for class: Maner– The Uniqueness of Ethics
    Read for class: Johnson– The Uniqueness of Ethics
    Essay due: Summarize the ethical/social impact of a single, specific new technology.
    Discussion: The new ethics of technology.
  4. Wednesday September 11
    Read for class: ACM Code of Ethics
    Essay due: Describe how a scientist/engineer acted unethically.
    Discussion: ACM Code of Ethics.
  5. Wednesday September 18
    Essay due: Find and describe an example of how you think the copyright system either did or did not work.
    Discussion: Intellectual Property.
  6. Wednesday September 25
    Essay due: What is the value of Wikipedia?
    Discussion: Content creation, blogs, wikis, and more.
  7. Wednesday October 2
    Essay due: Find and describe an example of how privacy is *not* dead.
    Discussion: Consumer privacy.
  8. Wednesday October 9
    Read for class: Solove on Privacy
    Project proposal due.
    Discussion: Résumés.
  9. Wednesday October 16
    Résumé help sites: Why I Won't Read YOUR Resume
    Making a Good CS Resume
    Samples
    Résumé due.
    Discussion: AI & Futurism.
  10. Wednesday October 23
    Project outline and sources due.
    Discussion: Project presentations (1).
  11. Wednesday October 30
    Discussion: Project presentations (2).
  12. Wednesday November 6
    Discussion: Project presentations (3).
  13. Wednesday November 13
  14. Wednesday November 20
    Final project due.
  15. Wednesday November 27
    No class (enjoy thanksgiving).
  16. Wednesday December 4
    Last class.