CS 301: Social Implications of Computer Technology
Course Syllabus
Spring, 2024
Section 1001: 1-1:50am Mon; TBE B-178
Section 1002: 1-1:50pm Wed; TBE B-178
Section 1003: 10-10:50am Tues; TBE B-176
Prof. Hal Berghel; office: TBE B-378A;
phone: 702-895-2441;
pick one: {hal.berghel \\unlvdomain, hlb \ \acm/ /org, hlb \ \computer/ /org }
office hours: Monday-Friday - 8:30 am to 9:50 am and by appointment
Teaching Assistant: Bao Phung,
phungb2 \\unlv.nevada // edu.
Course Description:
Examination of ethical and social issues relating to the use of computing and networking technology. Discussion of social trends and their possible effects. Review and discussion of the ACM Code of Ethics for computing professionals.
General notes:
- the Syllabus for this course will be maintained on the instructor's website at www.berghel.net/sat.
- Assigned readings will be provided as an ONLINE TEXT. come from online resources, many if not most of which were written by the instructor - think of them collectively as the course textbook. There may be an occasional external resource as well. In either case, URLs for the readings will be clearly identified as such in this syllabus. Time permitting, I will discuss all reading assignments in the lectures. However, you will be responsible for all reading assignments whether or not they are discussed in the lectures.
- Test questions covering the reading assinments are available in the class STUDY GUIDE . All exam questions will come from this study guide. If an assigned reading is not covered in the study guide, there will be no questions on that reading on an exam. (Note that I use this study guide for several classes, so not all study guide content relates to CS301).
- UNLV POLICIES AND RESOURCES
- The current UNLV policies that govern instruction are posted on the website of the The Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost at https://www.unlv.edu/policies/students.
- In addition, these resources may be of interest::
- Writing Center Statement
- Tutoring Availability
- UNLV Annual Security Report
- UNLV campus police crime log
- UNLV Institutional Metrics
- Additional University Policies: https://www.unlv.edu/policies/additional
- Supplementary course references (f.y.i.):
- Jaron Lanier, Ten Arguments for Deleting your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Picador reprint, 2019.
- Richard Spinello, Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace, 7th ed., Jones and Bartlett, 2021.
- 2023 ACLU Report on School Surveillance
- FORMATS for written work. Fo
- r CS301, provide references for all non-original material. Quotation according to the principles of "fair use" under the U.S. Copyright laws apply. i.e., quoting and identifying a source is acceptable, but plagiarizing a source is not. Any student found to have plagiarized will receive an "F" for the assignment. If you have any questions about this policy, consult with the instructor.
- GRADING SCALE : Grading will be on a standard "university scale," i.e., 90-100=A; 80-89=B; etc. The contribution of exams, homework, projects, etc. will vary but will be explained in the syllabus at the time of assignment.
- Your FINAL GRADE will be determined by two components, in equal measure::
- or, in the case of exceptional circumstances (e.g., audio or visual impairment) - and with the permission of the instructor-
- [2](B): a WRITTEN REPORT, consisting of both:
- 25 powerpoint slides (same requirements as above), and
- a written paper
- minimum of 3,000 words
- references in any format acceptable at UNLV
- All written reports in hardcopy (duplex printed and collated) are due.the week after the mid-term exam at the start of class. Late penalty will be 5% per day.
EXTRA CREDIT: If your mid-term exam is lower that you expected, you may elect to submit a written paper as extra
credit which may elevate your exam score by 0-20 points depending on quality of work. The due date for this report will be your
class period during the week of March 18. The subject of this written paper may be any topic covered in class lectures or
reading assigments that deals with social issues in computing..
- Policy on the use of GENERATIVE AI in your presentations and slides:
The use of generative AI to create content or make translations for use in coursework must be completely transparent. This transparency is needed to mitigate against violations of existing copyright laws and UNLV policies as well as to ensure fair and accurate grading of student work. A minimum complete disclosure of the (a) use, (b) name, (c) URL, (d) user, and (e) timestamp associated with the affected content, and (f) authorship credit to the generative AI platform must be acknowledged.
NOTES:
- Presentations will be scheduled alphabetically by last name around the 4th week of class. Due to the large class sizes, re-scheduling will not be allowed unless student provides a written excuse from UNLV student health, a registered health care professional, the UNLV office of student affairs, or a UNLV administrator three weeks before the scheduled presentation..
- Any topic relating to Social Issues in Computing is acceptable for purposes of presentations, slides and reports. However the topics, themes, and references of the slides and presentations must correspond with one another.
- I may change the syllabus based on the feedback on, and pace of, the lectures, so check the syllabus frequently and note changes. If you have any questions about the syllabus, ask them in class or send email to instructor or TA.
- There is no final in CS301.
- The mid-term exam will be "closed everything": e.g., "closed book," "closed notes," PDAs and computers turned off, cell phones off, etc. Any student caught with an active mobile device during an exam will receive a grade of F for the exam.
- ATTENDANCE will be taken. Perfect attendance (i.e., no missed classes, attendance for full class periods, confirmed by the attendance sheet circulated in each class) will be rewarded with a mid-term grade increase of one letter grade - e.g., B would be raised to A. C+ raised to B+, etc.)
- A few times each semester the University will cancel classes for holidays. You are responsible for the material covered that week as described in the online syllabus, so plan to attend one of the other sections if your class is cancelled; else contact instructor or TA for other arrangements.
- NOTE: UNLV experiences several power outages each year (many unannounced or announced on short notice) that crash
college computer systems, so plan ahead and download the content you need well in advance of exams. As a precaution,
I recommend that you download the CS 301 Online Text so that you can store the URLs for readings covered on the exams offline.
What you will need for your presentation:
- A small USB memory stick formatted in either NTFS or FAT32 (preferred) for your presentation slides. I recommend against accessing your slides from a cloud service because of the delays involved. If you choose to download your slides from a network resource, understand that
the time spent accessing your slides will be deducted from the 10 minutes provided for your talk.
- You will need access to a computer that can be used to prepare your presentation slides. The UNLV Office of IT has Windows labs for students on campus. Alternative formats such as PDF are acceptable so long as OIT can confirm that they can be rendered by the classroom computer.
- Only hardcopy will be accepted (these documents will be retained for ABET accreditation purposes). To minimize the amount of paper used, you must submit the slides "handout style" 4 or 6 to a page, double sided. Failure to use handout style will result in a 25% grade penalty. The course TA will provide advice on how to print handout style should you need help.
ABET Course Outcomes:
Syllabus
(reminder: When UNLV closes during the classweek, students are advised to attend other sections. You are still responsible for the material covered.)
General Overview of Course
- How to use the online course resources (syllabus, readings, links to digital libraries)
- Discussion of Required in-class presentations
- Calculation of final grade: presentation and slides -or- semester report will each count 50% toward your final grade. The mid-term exam will also count 50%. There will be no final in this class
- quality of presentation slides (at keast 25 slides to be submitted to me in hardcopy on the day of presentation: 4/6 slide/page handout style)
- quality of oral presentation (10 minutes maximum; you are not expected to cover all of the slides. This will be your opportunity to have fun sharing the more interesting information with the class.)
- quality of 3000 word written report fully referenced (any style of your choosing)
- Grading Criteria for Presentation, Slides and Report: (Re: ABET Student Learning Outcome 3, above).
- Click here for an illustration of an acceptable slide format.
- assignment: look over the assigned readings and think of a few topics that might suit you for an in-class presentation. Finalize a topic within the first two weeks of class. If you want my opinion on the suitability of the topic(s), just ask in class, speak with me after class or during office hours, or send me an email.
- In class assignment: place your name on note paper and summarize your opinion of the video shown in class (link below). Your summary will be returned to you on the last day of class and you will be asked to determine whether your opinion has changed. (this exercise is for student use only and will not be graded ).
- Study Guide to the assigned readings
- about Pa$Sw0rDZ
Lectures by date and topics: (see the CS301 online text for specific reading assignments.)
Week of January 16: Technology, Information, and Innovation
Week of January 22: Disinformatics
Week of January 29: Information Technology and Democracy
Week of February 5: The World of Computing, Professional Ethics and You
- Lecture and readings relate directly to ABET Student Learning Outcome 4, above).
- Presentation Schedule will be ordered by Last Name - check syllabus, below. If there are any conflicts (e.g., jury duty, medical procedures, participation in official UNLV events, etc.) inform the instructor by email by the end of this week and be prepared to provide documentation..
Week of February 12- Mid-Term Exam -Exam is "closed everything": e.g., "closed book," "closed notes,"
PDAs and computers turned off, cell phones off, etc. The detection of any mobile device in use will result
in an exam grade of F. Make sure to confirm that you have the latest revision of the study guide.
Student Presentations Begin (Speakers: provide slides in handout form to instructor on your way to the lectern. USB port available on lectern computer. Attendance will be taken!)
Week of February 19- Student Presentations / written reports due
- section 1001
(Monday) - no class - President's Day
- section 1003
(Tuesday)
- Aggarwal, Nirbhay
- Cheung, Jake
- Danlag, Andrew
- Del Rio, Maylee Sofia
- section 1002
(Wednesday)
- Arcales, Glenn David Montejo
- Bautista, Chloe Renee
- Canlas, Coby
- Colon, Jesse J
Week of February 26 - Student Presentations
- section 1001
(Monday)
- Alharbi, Abdulrahman M
- Baker, Alexander Xavier
- Collins, Thomas Jace
- Dalton, Gunnar Michael
- section 1003
(Tuesday)
- Escobedo, Rubi
- Estrada, Billy
- Figueroa, Maxine Jill Deguzman
- Harper, Jacari
- section 1002
(Wednesday)
- Duran, Bryan
- Grafton, Kazmean
- Kano, Marcos
- Legarda, Lord Kobe
Week of March 4 - Student Presentations
- section 1001
(Monday)
- Finelli, Taylor
- Gumarang II, Alain Blanco
- Gumenyuk, Victor
- Haro, Quinn Gildardo
- section 1003
(Tuesday)
- Lewis, Jonah
- Mariano, Patrick Aiken
- Mijares, Bridget
- Rainey, Kyle
- section 1002
(Wednesday)
- Lesinsky, Daniel
- Lok, Jada
- Nativo Galvez, Cristian M
- Nguyen, Thien
Week of March 11 - Spring Break
Week of March 18 - Student Presentations
- section 1001
(Monday)
- Janda, Adrian
- Johnson, Jonathan Ryan
- Koss, Scott Thomas
- Lai, Steven
- section 1003
(Tuesday)
- Regala, Ann Bernadette
- Shannon, Dakota Remy
- Staana, Primo
- Stiles, Josh Raymond
- section 1002
(Wednesday)
- Nheik, Pandora
- Ramirez-Rodriguez, Horacio
- Ray, Skyler Mika
- Rohani, Kusha
Week of March 25 - Student Presentations
- section 1001
(Monday)
- Lopez, Matthew
- Melios, Hristiyan Todorov
- Minnich, Jacob
- Nguyen, Isabel
- section 1003
(Tuesday)
- Taylor, Bronson Chandler
- Villegas, Alex
- Zamora, Joshua Nathan Santos
- section 1002
(Wednesday)
- Rosales, Eli
- Sanchez-Serna, Oscar
- Surova, Maria
- Thompson, Jason Ryan
Week of April 1 - Student Presentations
- section 1001
(Monday)
- Padilla, Chris
- Pahlavan, Parham
- Pecson, Emanuel Lagman
- Phillips, Matthew Allan
- section 1003
(Tuesday) - no class
- section 1002
(Wednesday)
- Tong, Natalie
- Tsitou, Dzmitry
- Weiss, Conner Kyle
Week of April 8- Student Presentations
- section 1001
(Monday)
- Prentice, Garrett
- Ramos, Riley
- Robles I, Caesar Ponciano
- Rosado, Chris
- section 1003
(Tuesday) - no class
- section 1002
(Wednesday) - no class
Week of April 15- Student Presentations
- section 1001
(Monday)
- Rosario, Jared
- Rubini, Stefano
- Salcido, Oscar
- Singo, Alvin
- section 1003
(Tuesday) - no class
- section 1002
(Wednesday) - no class
Week of April 22- Student Presentations
- section 1001
(Monday)
- Smith, Rowan
- Stancliff, Ethan Micheal
- Vargason, Richard
- Villanueva Abreu, Marcos
- section 1003
(Tuesday) - no class
- section 1002
(Wednesday) - no class
Week of April 29- Student Presentations (section 1001)
- section 1001
(Monday)
- Vukojcic, Anja
- Vuong, Chris
- Wilson, Kaleb Michael
- section 1003
(Tuesday) - no class
- section 1002
(Wednesday) - no class
Week of April 29- (all sections) Student Outcome Assessment, review of ACM Code of Ethics, and course review (Re: ABET Student Learning Outcome 4, above). Attendance in this Class is Mandatory!