"The responsibilities of the computer science professional. The ACM Code of Ethics, software economics,
quality tradeoffs, software safety, intellectual property, history of computing and the social implications of
computers in the modern world. Technical presentation methods and practice."
Goals and Objectives:
The goal of this course is to understand important issues and challenges
faced by professionals in the area of computer science and information technology.
Students will learn about the existence, nature, problems, and implications
related to these issues. They will explore technical, ethical, and legal
aspects, and view such challenges from different perspectives.
Based on these explorations, students are encouraged to identify their
own preferences and standpoints, while engaging in a cooperative discussion
with others who may or may not share their opinions.
More specifically, after successfull completion of the course, students should
be aware of the main challenges dealing with professional responsibilities
in computer science and related fields
be able to identify the core issues involved
be able to acquire an understanding of the technical issues involved
be aware of the main ethical, social and legal implications
know how to find additional opinions and resources
be prepared to engage in a fruitful discussion about these challenges,
both with their peers in the profession, as well as with others
have the ability to explain the main issues, describe commonly held viewpoints,
and express their own opinion about the challenges.
In addition, the Software Engineering Code of
Ethics, approved and published by both the IEEE and ACM,
will be important for the discussions in this class.
Students are expected to have a copy and to be familiare with its contents.
There is a column in the course schedule
indicating the chapters in the book that correspond to a topic discussed in class.
Students are expected to read the respective chapters before
the topic is covered in class; there might be questions on quizzes
relating to a new chapter.
For further reading, a list of additional books can be found at the Web site
accompanying Sara Baase's book.
This Web site also contains a wealth of additional material, such as links to
related Web pages.
Class Format
This class will consist mainly of discussions, presentations by participants,
and group activities. There will be a few presentations by guest
speakers, and some lectures by the instructor.
BlackBoard
Cal Poly's BlackBoard system will be used for some administrative aspects as well
as for assignments and discussions. Please make sure that your BlackBoard account
is working.
Required Coursework
Readings
See the assigned material in the course schedule.
Further material may be made available through handouts in class,
and through pointers to relevant Web pages.
Attendance
Attendance and participation in classroom activities are important aspects
of this course, and will contribute to your grade.
Assignments
Assignments are indicated on the course schedule.
A typical assignment could be the exploration and analysis of a case study
related to the current class topic.
Team Projects
Teams will be established at the beginning of the class to
investigate, analyse, and present one topic of their choice.
They will give short, informal presentations approximately
every two weeks, and a final presentation in the last week.
The final team presentations will be 20 minutes long.
The teams are expected to make accompanying documentation available
in the same format as the term paper. A separate Web page
provides more details on the team project .
Presentation and Term Paper
Each student will select a topic for a presentation and term paper.
The presentations will be about 15 minutes long, and are intended
to serve as the starting point for a discussion.
Two other students will serve as commentators on the presentation,
and will help with the editing of the term paper.
The material for your presentation (typically PowerPoint slides
or something similar) must be made available through BlackBoard
one week before the presentation is given. You can shoose your
own format and structure for the presentation, but it is
probably a good idea to follow the outline given for the
term paper.
Follow this link for a table with the
evaluation criteria
that I will use for the presentations.
The term paper should be suitable
for submission to the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)
essay writing
contest. The paper will be submitted through BlackBoard, and should
be in a format that is easily accessible on the Web (e.g. HTML or PDF).
Two previous CSC 300 students, Eric Rall and Rom Yatziv, have submitted their term papers
to the CPSR essay writing contest, winning cash prizes and having their work published!
Eric Rall's paper is on
Shrinkwrap licenses,
and Rom Yatziv wrote on
Spyware: Do You Know Who's Watching You?
An overview of the calculation of the grades is given in the table.
I reserve the right to change the formula used.
Assignment Due Dates and Late Policy
Journals may be collected or inspected at any time, and must be up to date.
Other assignments must be submitted on the date specified.
Late submissions may be subject to a 10% penalty for each business day they are late.