CS/INFO 1305Computation & Culture in the Digital Age

Course Description

Computing and information science is relevant to many aspects of our lives, from explorations in science and medicine, the arts, to commerce and entertainment. This course explores some ideas and technologies of computing and information science as well as their role in society from the ethical, legal, historical, and cultural perspectives. Students are introduced to the user-centered development life cycle for web site design with a focus on critique and usability testing. Students are exposed to some of the underpinnings of modern artificial intelligence and they learn fundamental computer programming concepts through the manipulation of digital media. Through discussion, debate, and writing, this course also explores the rewards, challenges, and opportunities presented by the rapid evolution and adoption of computing and information technologies.

Instructor
Dr. K.-Y. Daisy Fan dfan at cs.cornell.edu
Teaching Assistants
Alexei Waters aaw13 at cornell.edu
Phil Adams pja22 at cornell.edu
Course Websites
Homepage
wiki
CMS

Times and Places

The typical meeting locations are given below. See the detailed schedule for the actual locations and meeting times for specific days.

9:00-10:15 and 10:30-11:45
307 Phillips Hall
1:15-2:45 and 3:00-4:45
Accel Blue Room (Carpenter Hall) or 111 Upson Hall

Schedule

All homework and tests must be completed at their scheduled time unless your request for special accommodation has been approved before the deadline. Any request for test-taking accommodation must be made during the first week of the course.

AI
artificial intelligence
PROG
computer programming
DIS
discussion
HCI
human-computer interaction

Sunday, July 12

Convocation

Monday, July 13

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
What is CIS?
Course Mechanics
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Culture: Social informatics, ethics & law
1:15-2:15 (UP111)
Artificial Intelligence
2:30-3:45
College admissions workshop
Assigned
Reading 1

Tuesday, July 14

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Natural language processing
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Machine translation
1:15-2:45 (Accel)
Lab: NACLO problems, translation
3:00-4:45 (Accel)
Explore course wiki and CMS
Explore Matlab
Assigned
AI Lab 1

Wednesday, July 15

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Ethical frameworks & copyright (notes)
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Ethical frameworks & copyright (notes)
1:15-2:45 (Accel)
Conditionals, loops
3:00-4:45 (Accel)
Exercise
Due
Reading 1
Assigned
Reading 2
Programming exercise 1

Thursday, July 16

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Information Retrieval (IR)
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Guest lecture: Tracy Mitrano
Director of IT Policy; Director of Computer and Law Program
1:15-2:45 (Accel)
Web search
3:00-4:45 (Accel)
Lab: IR
Due
AI Lab 1
AI Lab 2 (in class)

Friday, July 17

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Copyright (notes)
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Privacy
Due
Reading 2
Assigned
Reading 3

Monday, July 20

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Cybernetics and automation
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Video games and learning
1:15-2:15 (Accel)
Study/work period
2:30-3:45 (Uris Hall Aud.)
College admissions workshop
Due
Reading 3
Programming exercise 1
Assigned
Reading 4

Tuesday, July 21

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Debate topics overview
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Test 1
1:15-2:45 (Accel)
Function, nested loops
3:00-4:45 (Accel)
Exercise
Assigned
Final Project
Programming exercise 2

Wednesday, July 22

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Videogames and Learning (notes)
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Library research workshop
1:15-2:45 (Accel)
Robotics lab demo and activity
3:00-4:45 (Accel)
Study/work period
Due
Reading 4

Thursday, July 23

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Machine learning
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Spam classifier / Naïve Bayes
1:15-2:45 (Accel)
Vector
3:00-4:45 (Accel)
Project setup
Due
Programming exercise 2
Assigned
Programming exercise 3

Friday, July 24

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Information architecture
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Web design: navigation
Assigned
HCI exercise 1

Monday, July 27

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Human Computer Interaction
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Cybernetics update, review
1:15-2:45 (Accel)
Usability test plan
3:00-4:45 (Accel)
Study/work period
Due
HCI exercise 1
Programming exercise 3
Assigned
HCI exercise 2

Tuesday, July 28

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Usability & Browser interface
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Test 2
1:15-2:45 (Accel)
Vectors and matrices
3:00-4:45 (Accel)
Study/work period
Due
HCI exercise 2

Wednesday, July 29

9:00-10:15 (MT Bache Aud.)
Debate preparation
10:30-11:45 (MT Bache Aud.)
Debate
1:15-2:45 (UP5130)
Usability test
3:00-4:45 (UP5130)
Usability test
Assigned
HCI exercise 3

Thursday, July 30

9:00-10:15 (Accel)
Media computation (images, images 2, sounds)
10:30-11:45 (Accel)
Exercise
1:15-2:45 (Accel)
HCI lab tour and talk
3:00-4:45 (Accel)
Study/work period
Due
Programming exercise 4 (in class)

Friday, July 31

9:00-10:15 (PH307)
Student presentations
10:30-11:45 (PH307)
Student presentations
Due
HCI exercise 3
Final paper

Readings

Consult the schedule for reading due dates.

You may find it useful to read the abstract and/or introduction carefully. This will give you a sense of the themes and the arguments that the author(s) intends to make. Academic conclusions tend to list limitations of the research and suggest further lines of inquiry. The key for you, beyond understanding the intensions of the author(s), is to develop and clearly articulate your own position/opinion/response to the reading. It is not enough to simply agree or disagree - offer theoretical and/or empiracal justification! The reading questions may well help guide your understanding and thinking - you do not have to answer them directly.

You can respond to the reading questions individually or as a unified essay. The length should be two paragraphs (although less or more is fine as long as you answer them with sufficient clarity and completeness. Try as much as possible to provide concrete examples that are no from the reading. At the end of your written response, list two questions or issues that you would like to discuss in class. If you were confused or not sure whether you udnerstood a concept, include that as well.

Reading 1

  • Textbook: The Internet and Ethical Values. pp 1-25.
  • Textbook: Case study: Yahoo. pp 46-48.
  • Lessig (2001): The Internet Under Siege. Foreign Policy, Nov/Dec 2001.
  • Sharma (1998): Down By Law: Responses and Effects of Sampling Restrictions on Rap. PoLAR Vol. 22(1).

Reading Questions:

  • What does the "iron cage" refer to? Do you think it supports technological or social determinism? Why or why not?
  • What is the difference between negative and positive freedoms / liberty?
  • What are natural laws? Do they favor increased government regulation of the internet?
  • What does the categorical imperative refer to in Kant's moral philosophy? Can you apply the categorical imperative to the use of cell phones in public spaces? Why or why not?
  • Does Lessig employ consequentialist or deontological justifications for allowing the internet to operate as a creative commons?
  • Where do you stand on the Yahoo case study issue?
  • The textbook has further prompts for this section on p 24.

Reading 2

  • Textbook: Regulating Internet Privacy. pp 141-182.
  • Mayo et. al. (2009): Video games: A Route to Large-Scale STEM Education? Science New Series, Vol. 323, pp 79-82.

Reading Questions

  • How would you define privacy? Is it a moral concept, legal construct, governmental policy, a set of organizational principles or some combination of them all? If so explain how and why privacy works in cyberspace AND in your daily life by providing an example. Is privacy a universal right in the Kantian sense or a something that is culturally relative?
  • What approach did the Direct Marketing Association want the U.S. government to adopt? What was the basis of their argument? Do you agree with their position? If so, what is the basis for your agreement. If you disagree, explain why.
  • How can self-regulation of privacy work? Can it be more efficient than relying on legal protections or governmental/industry/university policies?
  • What is HIPPA? Why was it created? Do you think it is too stringent and increases the difficulty of obtaining personal information and sharing it with others (like family members)?
  • How much privacy protection should companies provide for their employees?
  • List two major differences between the U.S. and the European Union (EU) in devising and enforcing privacy laws. Which do you prefer? Why? Should there be a global privacy protection that is similar to a universal human right?

Reading 3

Reading Questions

  • The article by Prof. Terrell Ward Bynum analyzes Norbert Wiener's views on the positive and negative aspects of the "automatic age." What is cybernetics? Is cybernetics a Utopian idea? Do you think the development of "information and communication ethics" has any impact on Lessig's vision of a creative commons?
  • Why was Norbert Wiener so worried about divergences in time scales in his article entitled,"Some Moral and Technical Consequences of Automation." Do you think this is as much of a problem today as he thought?
  • What kind of game did Princeton mathematician John von Neumann event/discover? How was it applied by the military? Is it still being used today? Can you think of any moral and political problems that such gaming can produce?
  • Wiener claims that "The human brain is a far more efficient control apparatus than is the intelligent machine when we come to the higher areas of logic." Do you agree? if so, what evidence is there? If you disagree, provide some examples of how control can lead to very dangerous problems?
  • Arthur L. Samuel worked as a researcher at IBM when he responded to Wiener's article on automation. Samuel claimed that Wiener was exaggerating about the power of machines. Do you think Samuel's argument is convincing? Why or why not?

Reading 4

  • Textbook: Free Speech and Content Controls in Cyberspace. pp 55-88
  • Bush: As We May Think. The Atlantic Online, 1945.

Reading Questions

  • At the beginning of Section 1 in "As We May Think," Vannevar Bush makes the following claim:
    "Of what lasting benefit has man's use of science and of the new instruments which his research brought into existence? First, they have increased his control of his material environment. They have improved his food, his clothing, hid shelter; they have increased his security and released him partly from the bondage of bare existence. They have given him increasing knowledge of his own biological processes so that he has had a progressive freedom from disease and an increasing span of life. They are illuminating the interactions of his physiological and psychological Technology policy functions, giving the promise of improved mental health."
    Imagine you have been appointed Director of Science, Technology and Humanitarian Policy by President Obama. Your task in the first part of this writing assignment is to write a short memo In your memo describe vision of what you hope to achieve, your funding priorities; the governmental agencies that will be needed to assist you; the people and groups you will form alliances with in order to build public support for your plans; and the time/schedule for completion of the first phase of your project. Defend your choices using a mixture of ethical theories and empirical facts. For example, if you want to target funding to help people in Africa with new strains of Tuberculosis (TB) who are migrating to the U.S., then explain how this initiative will help the U.S., its global image and help reduce a devastating disease by increasing funding at university-based science and engineering labs (like Cornell). Finally, compare how your vision of the world compares with Vannevar Bush’s ideas 64 years later. (This should take about 1 page)
  • Do bloggers deserve the same privileges to protect their sources as do regular journalists? (Read about the dilemmas on page 76 in Spinello).

Materials

Books

  • Required textbook: Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace
  • Optional material: a portable memory device (e.g., a memory stick)

Class Files

Please note: lecture notes are linked to in the above schedule.

Programming Lab 1: Exploring Matlab

AI Lab 1: NLP

Programming Lab 2: Conditional Statements

AI Lab 2: IR

Library Research Day

Programming Lab 3: Loops and Functions

HCI Labs

Programming Lab 4: Vectors and Matrices

Debate Team Photos

Class Photos

Grades

You must adhere to the Code of Academic Integrity for all work.

Items that count towards your course grade include homework, lab exercises, two tests, a term paper (including a debate), a final presentation, and participation in discussion. Given the broad range of topics covered in the course, "homework" appears in different forms, including reading, pre-discussion questions, post-discussion notes, programming assignments, problem sets, and writing assignments.

Participation
10%
Lab exercises and homework
45%
Tests (2)
20%
Term paper and debate
20%
Final presentation
5%

Office Hours

Office Hour is time outside of scheduled classes during which you can get help on course material. The instructor or a teaching assistant (TA) will be able to answer your questions. Just "walk in" - no appointment is necessary. Some office hours will be in the Engineering Library after class and some will be in the RPCC computer lab in the evening.

Mondays 4:45-5:45pm
Alexei in Engineering Library small meeting room
Tuesdays 7:00-8:00pm
Phil in RPCC Computer Lab
Wednesdays 7:00-8:00pm
Dr. Fan in RPCC Computer Lab
Thursdays 7:00-8:00pm
Phil in RPCC Computer Lab
Fridays 11:45am-12:45pm
Alexei in Engineering Library small meeting room

Academic Integrity

Simply put, academic integrity is about respecting yourself and respecting others. You respect yourself by submitting work completed through your own effort; you respect others by acknowledging contribution from others when such external contribution is allowed, e.g., for group projects. You can always seek help from the course staff, but when your individual effort is required you may neither seek nor accept help from others. You must read the Code of Academic Integrity on the course website. Ignorance of the Code is not an acceptable excuse.

You can view Cornell's full Code of Academic Integrity for more details.

CS/INFO 1305 (Summer 2009)