CMSC 304

Ethics and Social Issues in Information Technology

Topic Selection and Reading Assignment
handed out on Wed Sep 4, 2013, due on Mon Sep 16, 2013

http://www.cs.umbc.edu/CMSC304/Fall2013/topics.html

In-Class Activity: Topic Selection

Today we'll be selecting topics for the reading-based discussions that will take up most of our class time during the semester. On each of these topic-based days, there will be some associated reading assignment (to be completed before class), one or more students assigned to give a brief overview presentation (signup will be forthcoming once the topics are selected), and an in-class discussion, debate, or other activity. We may also have guest speakers for some topics.

At the end of this assignment are two lists: a list of tentative topics that I included in the initial class schedule, and another list of topics that I thought might also be interesting.

Your assignment today is to work with your teams to make and prioritize a list of topics for the class. You should be thinking about several decision criteria:

It's fine to use your laptops to explore the Internet for possible reading assignments and to learn more about the topics, to see whether they'll be interesting in practice. You can also get started on the reading assignment that's due next week (see below).

Here's the intended schedule for today's class:

I'll take this list and use it to establish the final topic schedule (topics and dates) after class, and will post this schedule on the course website (replacing what's there now). I reserve the right to adjust the list of topics if I think essential topics have been left off the list, if there is too much duplication, or if I see other problems with the generated list. I'll also keep a couple of topics in reserve in case the schedule shifts.

Assignment: Reading Selection

Each student must pick at least two topics from the selected list and submit at least two solid reading assignments for each of those topics. One of the two assignments for a given topic can be a video. Note that I will make the final reading assignments (which will be posted on the website), but these will largely be drawn from your selections.

By "solid," I mean that the assigned readings/videos must be of reasonable length and have fair amount of technical and thoughtful content. A half-page lightweight piece or 90-second youtube video doesn't count, although some set of those might be equivalent to one solid assignment.

Team Option: If you wish, your team (or a subset of your team) may work together on this assignment. In that case, if you have N students working together, you must pick at least 2N topics, and must include at least two reading assignments for each topic.

Your suggested readings should be submitted on Piazza, as a PDF or plain text. The submission should list each topic, with the readings collected under the topic. Each reading should include an article/video title, author (or publishing organization), and URL (if available) or other source (if not available online). You may also include a brief explanation of why you think the readings would be appropriate for the class. If you work in a group, only one person should submit the assignment, and it MUST include the list of members!

Topics from Tentative Class Schedule

Other Topics to Consider

These are the topics selected by the class on Wed Sep 4, 2013. This is the topic list to use for the Reading Selection assignment. Again, I will make the final topic and reading selections. I will post them on the website on the schedule page.

Class Selected Topics