Small Papers: Every Thursday, you will bring to class one copy of a one-to-two page paper (250 – 600 words using double-spacing and font "Times New Roman" at a font size of 12 with no more than 1 inch margins in all four directions). This paper is a short Summary and a Response (see below for details) to some article on the WWW dealing with the  computers and society issue we are currently investigating in class.  These articles are meant to evoke class discussion so that a piece like, "Microsoft profits remain Flat" would not be appropriate unless you can show the connection to a specific societal issue (see the Issues link on my homepage for examples of suitable topics for Small Papers). Attach a copy of the original article behind your Small Paper.

        Medium Papers: Every Tuesday you will bring to class two copies of a rough draft of a medium paper which comprise either answers to questions raised by Quinn at the end of the chapter or several Summary/Responses to the articles from Ermann and Shauff for that week (see Schedule below). Each Summary/Response should be one to two pages using double-spacing and font "Times New Roman" at a font size of 12 with no more than 1 inch margins in all four directions. Each article summarized and reviewed should begin with the title and the author in bold and should be followed by a Summary of the article and ended with your Response to the article. Be sure to clearly label the Summary part and the Response part.  Ermann and Shauff  provide a very short Summary of each article; you should provide a more detailed one. For a good grade, the Response should be longer than the Summary. You are encouraged to make connections between the articles but I want you to respond to each article separately in all of your Medium Papers. The Tuesday class will be devoted to peer reviewing each other’s papers followed by a full class discussion. Remember to always bring two copies of your Medium Papers to class with you every Tuesday (you will use one to record peer reviewer comments and you will turn in the other as part of your attendance grade). The final draft of the medium paper will be due at the start of the following (Thursday) class.

For each article assigned in a Medium Paper, you will submit a Summary and a Response:

One or more ideas you agree with and why

One or more ideas you disagree with and why

One or more ideas you think need clarification and why

Connections to other ideas and concepts

New ideas generated by the article

Your comments on the author’s writing style

....and most importantly:

Your writing grade will be based on the quality and quantity of your writing as well as the difficulty of the questions you are addressing. Your grade will also be based on the following writing criteria:

Content: meets the specifications and is interesting

Correctness: the content must be accurate

Clarity: is concise and coherent

Coherence: is well-organized and easy to read

... and last but not least: Grammar and Spelling

Note that attendance and class participation is an important part of this course.  If you don’t show up, you not only lose attendance points, you lose feedback (and the opportunity to provide it) on the first draft of the Medium paper and total credit for the Small Paper.

Late papers will be accepted but the grade will not be as high as if it were received on time. Papers may be resubmitted within one week for a higher grade provided that you make an appointment to see me to discuss specifically how your paper can be improved.

A typical week will go as follows:

Tuesday: Bring two copies (one for you and one for me) of the first draft of your Medium Paper for the week. To begin,  I will review and comment on selected sections of the reading assignment due today so you may have the opportunity to ask questions before discussion begins.  At this time, it's appropriate for you to start making comments on your copy of the paper.  Next we will do an In-Class Peer Critique exercise where your partner has the other copy of your paper to read back to you out loud so you can hear how it sounds to someone else and make changes to improve it.  Your partner has the responsibility to raise questions about any aspect of your writing that they do not understand; they may also suggest rewordings or rearrangements of the text.  Your partner's job is to help you improve your paper. Then you will switch and become the partner. This will be followed by a full class discussion of the assigned readings. At the end of class you will submit the unmarked draft of your Medium Paper as part of your attendance grade.

Thursday:  Bring only one copy of your Small Paper with a copy of the Internet article attached plus the final version of your Medium Paper from last Tuesday.  Each student will make a brief oral summary/response of their Small Paper providing the class an opportunity to respond and to ask questions. At the end of class you will submit your Small Paper (with attached Internet article) as well as the final version of  your Medium Paper.

This may all seem complicated to read about right now but, trust me,  after the second week of actually doing it, the process will be easy and obvious.  Take care, work hard and be happy.

Due Dates for Papers:

    Tu 8/28:  Possible first day activities:  
Go over Syllabus (taking into account infinite recursion when you reach this point).  Introduce ourselves:
Name, Address,  When and how did you first get interested in computers? What aspect of Computer Science interests and excites you the most? What else interests you?  What are your future plans (if you could wave a magic wand … where would you be and what would you be doing in five years?)   A Poem to analyze.   Go over the Plagiarism Appendix.  In small groups, analyze the four Scenarios on pp 55-58 of the Quinn text answering all the Questions. Small groups report back to whole class after each Scenario.  This course involves "heavy lifting".

    Th 8/30:    Bring a copy (only one) of Small Paper #1 to share with the class and then turn in with a copy of the original Internet article attached.  Reminder: Start to read Chapter 2 in Quinn for next week's writing assignment.

    Tu 9/04:    Bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #1 comprising answers to: questions 24-30; 33, 34, 36, 37 and a Summary/Response (see definition above) to the "Interview with James Moor" at the end of Chapter 2 in Quinn.  Reminder:  When appropriate, use one or more ethical theories to support your position.

    Th 9/06:     Bring a (only one) copy of Small Paper #2 (with copy of the original Internet article attached) to share with the class and then turn in.  The final draft of Medium Paper #1 is also due today.

    Tu 9/11:     Bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #2 comprising Summary/Responses to: Article 1 (Hospers), Article 2 (Rachels), Article 6 (Barger) in the Ermann/Shauf  text, and "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism" (Rachels) on the CSC372 website.  There should be one Summary/Response for each article (that would be a total of four for this writing assignment --- be sure to follow the format specified for Medium Papers:  "Each article summarized and reviewed from should begin with the title and the author in bold and should be followed by a Summary of the article and ended with your Response to the article. Be sure to clearly label the Summary part and the Response part.  Ermann and Shauff  provide a very short Summary of each article; you should provide a more detailed one."  Reminder:  When appropriate, use one or more ethical theories to support your position.

    Th 9/13:   Small Paper #3 and  Final draft of Medium Paper #2 due.

    Tu 9/18:    For Chapter 3 in Quinn, bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #3 comprising answers to: questions 14-19; 21, 22, 25, 27, 36, a Summary/Response  to the "Interview with Jennifer Preece", and a Summary/Response  to Article 13 (Postman) in the Ermann/Shauf text.  Reminder:  When appropriate, use one or more ethical theories to support your position.

    Th 9/20:     Small Paper #4 and  Final draft of Medium Paper #3 due.

    Tu 9/25:    For Chapter 4 in Quinn, bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #4 comprising answers to: questions 15, 17, 20, 24, 28, 29, 30, 32 (defend both positions using ethical theories), 33, 34 and a Summary/Response  to the "Interview withWendy Seltzer". 

    Th 9/27:     Small Paper #5 and  Final draft of Medium Paper #4 due.

    Tu 10/02:    Bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #5 comprising  five Summary/Responses to: Articles 17 (Stallman) and 22 (Natl. Research Council)  in the Ermann/Shauf text, and the three handouts, "Scan this Book!" (Kelly), "Programs to the People" (Mann), and "Righting Copywrongs" ( Surowiecki). 

    Th 10/04:     Small Paper #6 and  Final draft of Medium Paper #5 due.

    Tu 10/9:    No classes, Columbus Day Break, and next Thursday (10/11) will be like our typical Tuesday session except that there will be no time for Peer Reviews so the  Final Draft of Medium Paper #6 will be due on (10/11).  There will be no Small Paper for this week, however, we will have a class discussion on Chapter 5 in Quinn.   Medium Paper #6 is to be based on Chapter 5 in Quinn and comprises answers to: questions 6, 9, 11, 44-52, 55, 56, 59 and a Summary/Response  to the "Interview with Ann Cavoukian". 

    Th 10/11:    Discussion of Chapter 5 in Quinn and Final draft of Medium Paper #6 due (see explanation in 10/10 above)

     Tu 10/16:    Bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #7 comprising  three Summary/Responses to: Articles 9 (Spafford) and 16 (Garfinkel) in the Ermann/Shauf text, and the handout, "Why Privacy is Important" (Rachels).  Finally do a small research article (2-4 pages) on the topic, "Privacy vs Anonymity"; you may use the Internet as a source.

    Th 10/18:     Small Paper #7 and  Final draft of Medium Paper #7 due.

    Tu 10/23:     Bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #8 which is based on Chapter 6 of Quinn and comprises answers to questions 20, 23-26, 29, 30, 32 and a Summary/Response  to the "Interview with Matt Bishop" as well as two  Summary/Responses to: Article 24 (Denning) in the Ermann/Shauf text, and the handout "How Hackers Break In... and How they are Caught" (Meinel).

    Th 10/25:    Small Paper #8 and  Final draft of Medium Paper #8 due.

    Tu 10/30:     For Chapter 7 in Quinn, bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #9 comprising answers to: questions 9, 26, 28, 29, 33, 38, and 40 (disregard the last paragraph; instead discuss the best course of action from the point of view of each of the five stakeholders. 

    Th 11/01:    Small Paper #9 and  Final draft of Medium Paper #9 due.

    Tu 11/06:    Bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #10 comprising  five Summary/Responses to: Article 8 (Friedman and Kahn)  in the Ermann/Shauf text, and the four handouts, "The Patriot Missle Failure" (Arnold), "Two Watchmakers" (Koestler), "Safety-Critical Computing" (Jacky), "Limits of Correctness in Computers" (Smith). 

    Th 11/08:    Small Paper #10 and  Final draft of Medium Paper #10 due.

    Tu 11/13:    For Chapter 8 in Quinn, bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #11 comprising answers to: questions 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21, 22, 26, 28 (disregard the last paragraph; instead discuss the advantages and disadvantages to working for each of the three companies and indicate which one you would choose and why.) and a Summary/Response  to the "Interview with Jerry Berman". 

    Th 11/15:    Small Paper #11 and  Final draft of Medium Paper #11 due.

    Tu 11/20:    Since  next class is over Thanksgiving Break, this class will be like the 10/11 one: there will be no time for Peer Reviews so the  Final Draft of Medium Paper #12 will be due this class .  There will be no Small Paper for this week, however, we will have a class discussion on the assigned readings for Medium Paper #12  which are  in  Ermann/Shauf:   Article 11 (Bereano), Article 18 (Brown), Article 20 ( Townsend), and Article 21 (Conroy).  If you miss this class, be sure to submit your Final draft of Medium Paper #12 by Noon  Tu 11/20.

    Th 11/22:    Thanksgiving Break No Classes --- see notes in 11/20 above.

    Tu 11/27:    Ch 9 Quinn Medium #13,  For Chapter 9 in Quinn, bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #13 comprising answers to: questions 1,  2,  10, 12, 13, 15 - 21 (In Question 21 substiture the the word "You are an employee" for the phrase "The members of the class are employees") and a Summary/Response  to the "Interview with Paul Axtell". Instead of using the Ethical Theories for analysis, apply the the methodology described in Section 9.5 Case Studies to your analysis of questions: 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20 and 21 (#18 is just a Utilitarian cost-benefit analysis)

    Th 11/29:     Small Paper #12 and  Final draft of Medium Paper #13 due.

    Tu 12/04:    Bring two copies of first draft of Medium Paper #15 comprising  five Summary/Responses to: Article 10 (Dreyfus and Dreyfus) and Article 14 (Joy) in the Ermann/Shauf text plus the three  handouts, "Is the Brain's Mind a Computer Program?" (Searle), "Why People Think Computers Can't" (Minsky) and "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" (Turing).

    Th 12/06:  How to write a critical literary review.  Small Paper #14 and  Final draft of Medium Paper #15 due.

Final Exam: ( Time to be Be announced)  Read the short story, "The Machine Stops" by E. M. Forster (link is on the CSC372 Website) and write and submit a critical review  (counts as Medium Paper 16) which we will discuss during the meeting time.