CS/INFO 1305Computation & Culture in the Digital Age

Course Description (Summer 2018)

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 explore their role in data science. Students also learn fundamental computer programming concepts. 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 <daisy.fan at cornell.edu>
Teaching Assistants
Louis Liu <LL677 at cornell.edu>
Isabella Yuan <LY89 at cornell.edu>
Course Websites
Homepage
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.

9:00-10:15am and 10:30-11:45am
206 Upson Hall (classroom)
1:15-4:00pm
225 Upson Hall (computer lab)

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. Homework is due at 10pm unless otherwise noted.

CSIS
cs/is technical areas
PROG
computer programming
SOC
computing and society

Sunday, 15 July

3:00-4:00pm (Mallott 253)
Convocation

Monday, 16 July

9:00-10:15 (UPS 206)
What is CIS? Course mechanics
10:30-11:45 (UPS 206)
Social informatics, ethics & law
1:15-2:15
Time for registration/supplies
2:30-3:45 (Uris Aud)
College admissions workshop
Assigned
Reading 1

Tuesday, 17 July

9:00-10:15 (UPS 206)
Artificial Intelligence
10:30-11:45 (UPS 206)
Natural language processing & information retrieval
1:15-2:30 (UPS 225)
Lab: Websearch & NACLO problems
2:45-4:00 (UPS 225)
CMS, Piazza, Study/work period
Due
Reading 1
Assigned
AI lab 1 (NACLO questions)

Wednesday, 18 July

9:00-10:15 (UPS 206)
Ethical frameworks & copyright
10:30-11:45 (UPS 225)
Explore Matlab (Lab files)
1:15-3:15 (Mann 112)
Design thinking & Maker's Lab - Group 1 (ODD NetIDs) only
Due
AI lab 1
Assigned
Reading 2

Thursday, 19 July

9:00-10:15 (UPS 225)
Branching and loops
10:30-11:45 (UPS 225)
(Example files)
1:15-3:15 (Mann 112)
Design thinking & Maker's Lab - Group 2 (EVEN NetIDs) only
Due
Reading 2
Assigned
Prog Ex 1

Friday, 20 July

9:00-10:15 (UPS 206)
Privacy
10:30-11:45 (UPS 206)
Debate/Project Topics Overview
Assigned
Reading 3
Term paper and final project

Sunday, 12 July

Due
Reading 3

Monday, 23 July

9:00-10:15 (UPS 206)
Cybernetics & automation
10:30-11:45 (UPS 206)
Web structure (handout)
1:15-2:15 (UPS 206)
Link analysis
2:30-4:00 (UPS 225)
Link analysis lab handout (IR lab)
Due
Debate topic preferences
Prog Ex 1 due at 6pm
Assigned
Reading 4
IR blog post

Tuesday, 24 July

9:00-9:50 (-)
Study/work period
10:05-11:45 (UPS 206)
Test 1
1:15-2:30 (UPS 225)
Functions, nested loops
2:45-4:00 (UPS 225)
Example files
Due
IR blog post due at 11:59pm
Assigned
Prog Ex 2

Wednesday, 25 July

9:00-10:15 (UPS 206)
Information architecture
10:30-11:45 (UPS 206)
Web design--navigation
1:15-2:30 (UPS 206)
Human-Computer Interaction
2:45-4:00 (UPS 225)
Usability test plan
Due
HCI Ex 1
Prog Ex 2
Assigned
HCI Ex 1
HCI Ex 2

Thursday, 26 July

9:00-10:15 (UPS 225)
Programming help on Ex 2
10:30-11:45 (UPS 225)
Library research
1:15-2:30 (UPS 225)
Vector
2:45-4:00 (UPS 225)
Exercise
Due
Prog Ex 2 due at 1pm
Reading 4
Assigned
Prog Ex 3

Friday, 27 July

9:00-10:15 (UPS 206)
Free speech and content control in cyberspace
Suggested viewing: Filter Bubbles
10:30-11:45 (UPS 206)
HCI talk: Jimmy Briggs on virtual reality
Due
HCI Ex 2
Final Project mini proposal

Sunday, 29 July

Due
Prog Ex 3

Monday, 30 July

9:00-9:50 (-)
Study/work period
10:05-11:45 (UPS 206)
Test 2
1:15-2:30 (Gates 114)
Usability test
2:45-4:00 (-)
Study/work period (for debate group preparation)

Tuesday, 31 July

9:00-10:15 (UPS 206)
Data visualization
9:30-11:45 (UPS 225)
Data visualization lab (Data sets)
1:15-4:00 (Malott Bache Aud)
Debate (topics and teams)
Assigned
Debate self and peer evaluation
Due
Draft paper due at 1pm (no late submission allowed)

Wednesday, 1 August

9:00-10:15 (UPS 206)
"Human Computers"--gender and race in early computing careers
10:30-11:45 (UPS 206)
"Human Computers"--gender and race in early computing careers
1:15-2:30 (Gates 114)
Supervised learning
2:45-4:00 (-)
class cancelled
7:00PM (Kennedy Aud)
Culture talk: Karen Levy on "Relational Big Data: How Data Collection Influences How We Live, Work, and Interact"
Assigned
Read about machine learning for predictive policing before Thursday

Thursday, 2 August

9:00-10:15 (UPS 206)
Supervised learning
10:30-11:45 (UPS 206)
Project presentations (order)
1:15-4:00 (UPS 225)
Supervised learning lab (handout, Matlab & data files)
Due
SL lab due in class at 4pm
Project presentation ppt/pdf (and program/data files, if any)

Friday, 3 August

9:00-10:15 (UPS 206)
Project presentations (order)
10:30-11:45 (UPS 206)
Project presentations, adjorn
Due
Final paper due at 5pm

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. Try as much as possible to provide concrete examples that are not from the reading.

Reading 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?

Reading 2

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: Chapter 3 Free Speech and Content Controls in Cyberspace
  • 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, his 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 increased span of life. They are illuminating the interactions of his physiological and psychological functions, giving the promise of an improved mental health."
    Imagine you have been appointed Director of Science, Technology and Humanitarian Policy. Your task in the first part of this writing assignment is to write a short memo. In your memo describe the vision of what you hope to achieve, your funding priorities; the governmental agencies that will be needed to assist you; the people and groups with whom you will form alliances 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 70 years later. (This should take about 1 page)
  • Do bloggers deserve the same privileges to protect their sources as do regular journalists? (Refer to "the Ethics of Blogging"in Chapter 3 of the textbook).

Materials

Books and Supplies

  • Required textbook: Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace by Spinello, 5th Edition
  • 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

Programming Lab 2: Branching and for-loop

Programming Lab 3: Loops and Functions

Programming Lab 4: Vectors

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
50%
Tests (2)
20%
Term paper and debate
15%
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.

Monday 4:00-5:00pm
Dr. Fan in Gates 114
Tuesday 4:00-5:00pm
Isabella in Upson 225 computer lab
Wednesday 4:00-5:00pm
Louis in Upson 225 computer lab
Thursday 4:00-5:00pm
Isabella in Upson 225 computer lab
Friday 11:45am-12:45pm
Dr. Fan in Upson 206
Sunday 11:00am-Noon
Louis in RPCC computer lab

Installing MATLAB

You can install MATLAB on your personal computer as a Cornell student. If your installation is not successful then please simply use the computers in the computer labs (Upson Hall and RPCC)! For this 3-week course where programming is only 1/4 of the course it is not worthwhile to spend a lot of time with installation issues.

Start from this page; the links will include detailed steps. Last year a course TA made this helpful step-by-step ppt with screen captures to walk you through the installation process: ppt

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.

Special Accommodation

You must write all tests at their scheduled time unless your request for special accommodation (medical reason, disability-related, or exam conflicts as posted on the University exam schedule) has been approved beforehand. Any request for test-taking accommodation must be made during the first week of the course, with documentation from Student Disability Services if appropriate. If you have a sudden illness that prevents you from completing required work, email the course instructor as soon as possible to make an alternative arrangement for the missed work.

CS/INFO 1305 (Summer 2018)