CS 3001 - Computing, Society, and Professionalism

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CS 3001, formally known as either Computing, Society, and Professionalism or simply Computing and Society, is a 3-credit Computer Science course that satisfies the Ethics requirement for the Computer Science bachelor's degree. CS 3001 was formerly listed as CS 4001, CS 4863, and CS 4873 - all of the course numbers are equivalent, although you may need to contact your academic advisor to receive credit for some versions.

The course covers the foundations of moral decision-making through an introductory study of ethics in philosophy. Additional approaches to ethics are explored through existing legislation, organizational codes of conduct, and studies from influential thinkers. These approaches are applied in a survey of real-world case studies within which students analyze how computing technologies influence society at large.

Topic List

General Topic List

  • Deadly Software Errors
    • Therac-25 radiation overdoses
    • Boeing 737 MAX plane crashes
  • Do Artifacts Have Politics? - Langdon Winner
  • Utilitarianism
    • Act Utilitarianism - Jeremy Bentham
    • Rule Utilitarianism - John Stuart Mill
  • Deontology
    • The Categorical Imperative - Immanuel Kant
  • Social Contract Theory
    • Enlightenment-era Social Contract Theory - John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
    • Modern Social Contract Theory - John Rawls
  • Stakeholder Analysis - Carol Gilligan
  • Virtue Ethics
    • Virtue Ethics - Aristotle, Plato
    • Neo-Aristotelian Virtue Ethics - Various Authors
  • Professional Ethics
    • ACM Code of Conduct - ACM
  • Privacy
    • Privacy and the Government
      • The GDPR
    • Privacy and Biological Data
    • The PATRIOT ACT
  • Intellectual Property
    • Types of Intellectual Property: Copyrights, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, Patents
    • Validity of Software as Intellectual Property
    • Computer Reliability and Software Warranties
  • Visual Argument - Edward Tufte
    • The 1854 Cholera Epidemic
    • The Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster
  • Work and Wealth
    • Globalization, Automation, and Telework
  • AI, Algorithms, and Bias
  • Technology and Race
  • Net Neutrality
  • Wikipedia and Truth - Amy Bruckman
  • Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely

Class Structure

Content

The first quarter of the class teaches learning various ethical theories as outlined in Michael Quinn's Ethics for the Information Age textbook. Of those discussed, five ethical theories - act utilitarianism, rule utilitarianism, deontology, social contract theory, and virtue ethics - are isolated as workable theories for the purposes of the course. Additional perspectives on technology are considered through Langdon Winner's influential essay Do Artifacts Have Politics?.

The rest of the course covers a wide breadth of topics in computing, which can vary by instructor. Each week presents one or more topics in computing (such as intellectual property, property, or any others listed in the Topic List), which are discussed in lecture and section.

Lectures and Discussion Sections

The class is structured around two 50-minute lectures early in the week (between Monday and Wednesday), and one 2-hour recitation block later in the week (between Wednesday and Friday).

Prior to attending lecture, students are expected to complete each lecture's assigned readings. Instructional time in lecture is spent synthesizing the key points of assigned readings. Depending on the instructor, students may be requested to participate in answering open-ended questions in class.

Sections are small discussion blocks with up to 10 students per section and a TA who moderates the discussion. Attendance and participation within sections is an important component of the overall course grade. The contents of each week's section reflect the materials from each week's readings and lecture, and they encourage students to engage in nuanced dialogue regarding the materials. Students may be requested to perform an activity prior to section, such as finding a poorly made visualization or extracting an interesting quote from a reading.

Assignments

Assignments will vary depending on the instructor. Below is a list of assignments from prior instructors of the course. Some assignments will require students to write essays, while other assignments may be free response answers to questions. Students are expected to use APA format when writing essays.

Note that the term paper is worth a significant portion of the final grade.

Melody Jackson & Clint Zeagler

Dr. Jackson and Dr. Zeagler are co-instructors for CS 3001B for the Spring.

As of Spring 2022:

  1. Therac-25 and the Boeing 737 MAX (Essay)
  2. Reflection on the politics of a technological artifact (Essay)
  3. Applying ethical frameworks to a dilemma (Free Response)
  4. CITI RCR Certification Training (Certification)
  5. Analysis of the new ACM Code (Free Response)
  6. Term paper proposal
  7. Term paper outline
  8. Term paper

Amy Bruckman

As of Fall 2021[1]:

  1. Therac-25 and the Boeing 737 MAX (Essay)
  2. Reflection on the politics of a technological artifact (Essay)
  3. Applying ethical frameworks to a dilemma (Free Response)
  4. Analysis of the new ACM Code (Free Response)
  5. Term paper proposal
  6. Term paper outline
  7. Term paper

Munmun De Choudhury

As of Spring 2021[2]:

  1. Therac-25 and the Boeing 737 MAX (Essay)
  2. Reflection on the politics of a technological artifact (Essay)
  3. Professional ethics (Free Response)
  4. Privacy and algorithms (Free Response)
  5. Algorithmic ethics and intellectual property (Free Response)
  6. Term paper proposal
  7. Term paper outline
  8. Term paper

Blair MacIntyre

As of Spring 2021[3]:

  1. Therac-25 and the Boeing 737 MAX (Essay)
  2. Reflection on the politics of a technological artifact (Essay)
  3. Applying ethical frameworks to a dilemma (Free Response)
  4. Fair Use (Short Essay)
  5. Analysis of the new ACM Code (Free Response)
  6. Term paper proposal
  7. Term paper outline
  8. Term paper

Dr. MacIntyre also assigns weekly reading commentaries (~4 sentences) for specified assigned readings[4].

Term Paper

The term paper is the culminating individual project for the course. Students write a ~10-page term paper about any issue in computing that sparks their interest - ideally one that they are initially undecided about. Students conduct a literature review of sources surrounding various dimensions of the topic. The aim of the paper is to take a position on an issue and support it through one's research. Although the term paper may sound daunting to some students, the instructors and TAs are there to provide support to students in each stage of the writing process. During section, TAs conduct brainstorming sections with students and are available for progress check-ins.

The term paper proposal is a common assignment among all instructors, and it encourages students to conduct introductory research into an issue of their choosing. The proposal is a short document identifying the issue, why it is interesting, and why the student is undecided. Students will also identify a few sources, including refereed sources. TAs will provide feedback and comments about the direction of one's proposal.

Between the term paper proposal and term paper outline, students conduct further research into their topic of interest, gathering at least 10 references, some of which must be peer reviewed.

The term paper outline allows students to synthesize their research into the basic structural components of a paper. The outline is structured in a bullet-point format, and bullet points requiring citations should have citations placed. By this point, most of the research should be complete. An effective outline can be translated directly into a paper by elaborating on each of the bullet points using paragraph form.

If a student is not satisfied with the term paper topic they have chosen, they may change it! If a student has already submitted a proposal and would like to pivot to a new topic entirely, this is acceptable - let the TA know.

Prerequisite Knowledge

No formal prerequisites are listed for CS 3001. Students should ideally be comfortable writing medium-length essays prior to taking this class. ENGL 1101 and ENGL 1102 provide great support for students to build up college-level writing skills, and may be a consideration prior to taking this class.

No background knowledge of course material is necessary to take this class. The course provides an introductory survey of many current issues within computing and society. Students should be aware that the class can be reading-heavy.

Scheduling

This is a required course for undergraduate Computer Science majors at Georgia Tech. Completion of this course represents the fulfillment of the Ethics credit. Once the Ethics credit is obtained, students may take their Junior Design capstone. Because of the lack of prerequisites, CS students may take this course at any time.

References

  1. ↑ CS4873CSP, Fall 2021--Schedule (gatech.edu)[1]
  2. ↑ Computing, Society, and Professionalism | munmund
  3. ↑ CS 4873C Spring’21 | Computing, Society, & Professionalism (blairmacintyre.me)[2]
  4. ↑ Homeworks | CS 4873C Spring’21 (blairmacintyre.me)[3]
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