Computer & Society

CIS300 Computers & Society -- May I, 2004

General information
Course Materials
Topic Schedule
Assignments
Grading
Communication
Lecture notes (Ask the instructor for the UserID/Passwd)

General Information

Instructor:: Jiang B. Liu, jiangbo@bradley.edu; Professor of Computer Science & Information Systems; Phone: (309) 677-2386
Prerequisites:: Junior standing or consent of instructor
Lecture:: 2:30-5:30pm, MTWTF, in BR 126
Office Hours:: M-F 1:00-2:30pm in BR105a, or by an appointment.

Course Materials

Required:

A Gift of Fire, Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues in Computing, Second Edition; by Sara Baase

Topics

In this class we will discuss the computer technologies and their impacts on the society. The goals of the course are to provide students with a fundamental understanding of current computer technologies and the social, legal, and ethical issues associated with them. The lecture units are:

Unit 1	Introduction to social issues and problems: - Impact of computers--Is the technology neutral? - Reliability and safety of computer systems - Freedom of speech--censoring the Internet - Govern and private use of personal data. - Intellectual property issues - Computer crime - Computers in the workplace--employee monitoring - Social issues--access to computers - Ethical issues for computer professionals Introduction to Computer Technologies and Their impacts on the Society - Computers (Hardware, Networks, & Internet) and Software (Operating Systems and Application Software) - Brief history	Read 1. Gift of Fire: Chapter 1 2. Lecture Notes: Computer Overview
Unit 2	Privacy Protection Encryption Policy Computer Operating Systems - Windows/Unix/Linux - Resource Management Application Software	Read 1. Gift of Fire: Chapter 2,3 2. Lecture Notes: Computer Software
Unit 3	Reliability of computer systems: errors, major and minor failures. Computer Elements: CPU, Memory	Read 1. Gift of Fire: Chapter 4 2. Lecture Notes: Computer Hardware
Unit 4	Freedom of speech and press, and censoring the Internet HTML and Web page development	Read 1. Gift of Fire: Chapter 5 2. Lecture Notes: Web Page Development
Unit 5	Intellectual property issues, copyright and patent; Computer Law. Computing Networking	Read 1. Gift of Fire: Chapter 6 2. Lecture Notes: Computer Network
Unit 6	Communications issues: encryption and wiretapping Computer Crime, Software piracy policies for privacy protection Internet: Information Access, E-commerce, Security	Read 1. Gift of Fire: Chapter 7 2. Lecture Notes: Internet
Unit 7	Computers in the workplace: effects on employment, telecommuting, employee monitoring, e-mail privacy. Databases and DBMS	Read 1. Gift of Fire: Chapter 8 2. Lecture Notes: DBMS
Unit 8	General social issues Software Development	Read 1. Gift of Fire: Chapter 9 2. Lecture Notes: Software Development
Unit 9	Ethical issues for computer professionals Programming Languages	Read 1. Gift of Fire: Chapter 10 2. Lecture Notes: Programming Languages

Assignments

Assignment 1: Write a short essay of computer impacts on the society; Debate the controversial social issues of using computer technologies.
Assignment 2: Develop a personal/theme web page.

(Sample home page)

(Homepage submit form)

Assignment 3: Write an investigative report of an interesting Internet site.
Final Exam: Take home examination.

All assignments are due in class on the due day. Later homework will have 20% subtracted from the score for every late day.

Grading

Class attendance: 120 pts

Class discussion session participation: 80 pts

Assignment 1: 100 pts

Assignment 2: 100 pts

Assignment 3: 100 pts

Final: 200 pts

(621-700 A; 541-620 B; 461-540 C; 380-460 D; below 380 F)

Check the Grade Book to see your grade.

Communication

This home page, "http://bradley.bradley.edu/~jiangbo/, will be used to post assignments. You are also encouraged to send me email about your questions related to the course or share related information with the class.

jiangbo@bradley.edu