Crowdsourcing and Human Computation

CS/INFO 5306 | Fall 2019

Molly Q Feldman (Instructor)

Jun-You Liu (TA)
Johanna Smith-Palliser (TA)

Contact Information: For all main course correspondence, please email: cs5306-staff-l@cornell.edu. Do not email the instructor directly; you will likely receive a speedier reply via the mailing list. If you have something you would like to specifically discuss with the instructor, you can find her email on her website.


Basics
Schedule & Calendar
Grading
Policies


Basics

Schedule

The schedule below outlines topics and provides links to lecture slides, readings, and assignments. If you are off-campus and need to access articles with paywalls, please use Passkey.

(If the schedule below does not appear below for some reason, Click here to view it.)

Course Calendar

The course calendar will be updated with relevant course information that is not lecture or assignment specific, as appropriate. The calendar will also show office hours; specific timing may change week to week, so please check the calendar before you go to office hours.

(If the calendar does not appear below for some reason, Click here to view it.)

Grading

Your grade will be calculated from the following:

Policies

Attendance

Attendance will be taken in lecture on either Tuesday or Thursday, although the day will not be announced ahead of time. Attendance is factored into your participant points for the course; low attendance will result in negative participant points whereas good attendance will result in positive participant points.

Technology Policy

Technology should only be used in lecture for course related purposes, for instance note taking or answering in-class Q&As. Technology should always be down during the "think" and "group" parts of the lecture. As a reminder, there is extensive research on the negative effects of technology in the classroom.

About Teams

As noted above, all three projects in this course will be done in teams. Teamwork is a valuable skill to learn; teams are the norm in industry and you are typically evaluated each year (for promotion or retention) on what you bring to the team and your ability to work in a team. It's a skill that we will work on developing and improving this semester. For each project, your team will be asked to establish expectations in a team contract and you will evaluate each project member's teamwork at the end of the project. Based on those peer ratings, your individual project grade can increase.

Teams are groups of people, so there is no doubt that conflicts will arise. Part of teamwork is managing that conflict. We expect you to manage conflict professionally and courteously, as you do everything else in this course. The course staff is available to help you with team conflict. In the worst case, the instructor has the power to effect large-scale team change: remove a member, reorganize teams, etc. However, this will not be done until there is an attempt to address issues at hand within the group.

Late Work

Because of the nature of the workload, late submissions are not accepted. Deadlines for projects are announced with significant notice to be able to let groups work around personal commitments.

Academic Integrity

From Cornell's code of academic integrity:

Absolute integrity is expected of every Cornell student in all academic undertakings. Integrity entails a firm adherence to a set of values, and the values most essential to an academic community are grounded on the concept of honesty with respect to the intellectual efforts of oneself and others. Academic integrity is expected not only in formal coursework situations, but in all University relationships and interactions connected to the educational process, including the use of University resources. ... A Cornell student's submission of work for academic credit indicates that the work is the student's own. All outside assistance should be acknowledged, and the student's academic position truthfully reported at all times. In addition, Cornell students have a right to expect academic integrity from each of their peers.

Accommodations

This course complies with the Cornell University policy and equal access laws to ensure that students with disabilities can still participate fully in this course. Requests for academic accommodations should be made during the first three weeks of the semester, except for unusual circumstances, so arrangements can be made as soon as possible. Students are encouraged to register with Student Disability Services, as we may require verification of eligibility to provide appropriate accommodations. Please email your letter (or alert us a new letter will be sent later) to cs5306-staff-l@cornell.edu.

Respect for Others

Everyone, the instructors, TAs, and students, must be respectful of everyone else in this class. All communication, in class and online, will be held to a high standard for thoughtfulness and inclusiveness: it may never target individuals or groups for harassment, and it may not exclude specific groups. That includes everything from outright animosity to the subtle ways we phrase things and even our timing.

If any of the communication in this class doesn't meet these standards, please don't escalate it by responding in kind. Instead, contact the instructor as early as possible; if for whatever reason you don't feel comfortable discussing something directly with the instructor please contact your advising office or the department chair. A list of potentially relevant resources are below.

Advice for Success

Unlike courses you may have taken in the past, a significant amount of planning and control in 5306 is on you, the student. Some suggestions for how to succeed in this environment are below:



Website layout inspired by UCSD's CSE131 & website content from previous iterations of CS5306, UPenn's NETS 213, CMU's 17-356, and Brown's CS019