CS 3001
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.
The course covers the foundations of moral decision-making through an introductory study of ethics as a philosophical subfield. Additional approaches to ethics are explored through existing legislation, organizational codes of conduct, and guidelines 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
- Are There Absolute Moral Rules? - James Rachels
- Social Contract Theory
- Enlightenment Social Contract Theory - John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rosseau
- Modern Social Contract Theory - John Rawls
- Stakeholder Analysis
- Virtue Ethics
- Virtue Ethics - Aristotle, Plato
- Neo-Aristotelian Virtue Ethics - Various Authors
- Professional Ethics
- ACM Code of Conduct - ACM
- Privacy
- Privacy and the Government
- 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 is spent on 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. Langdon Winner's influential essay Do Artifacts Have Politics? is also essential reading.
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), which are referred to as 'sections'.
Prior to attending lecture, students are expected to complete each lecture's assigned readings prior to class. 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.
Sections are small discussion blocks with 10 students per section, along with a TA moderating 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 and a visualization that is well-made to share with their cohort.
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:
- Therac-25 and the Boeing 737 MAX (Essay)
- Reflection on the politics of a technological artifact (Essay)
- Applying ethical frameworks to a dilemma (Free Response)
- CITI RCR Certification Training (Certification)
- Analysis of the new ACM Code (Free Response)
- Term paper proposal
- Term paper outline
- Term paper
Amy Bruckman[1]
As of Fall 2021:
- Therac-25 and the Boeing 737 MAX (Essay)
- Reflection on the politics of a technological artifact (Essay)
- Applying ethical frameworks to a dilemma (Free Response)
- Analysis of the new ACM Code (Free Response)
- Term paper proposal
- Term paper outline
- Term paper
Munmun De Choudhury[2]
As of Spring 2021:
- Therac-25 and the Boeing 737 MAX (Essay)
- Reflection on the politics of a technological artifact (Essay)
- Professional ethics (Free Response)
- Privacy and algorithms (Free Response)
- Algorithmic ethics and intellectual property (Free Response)
- Term paper proposal
- Term paper outline
- Term paper
Blair MacIntyre[3]
As of Spring 2021:
- Therac-25 and the Boeing 737 MAX (Essay)
- Reflection on the politics of a technological artifact (Essay)
- Applying ethical frameworks to a dilemma (Free Response)
- Fair Use (Short Essay)
- Analysis of the new ACM Code (Free Response)
- Term paper proposal
- Term paper outline
- 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.
Quizzes and Exams
Depending on the instructor, there may be quizzes and exams. However, this is highly variable among instructors.
| Instructor | Quizzes? | Exams? |
|---|---|---|
| Melody Jackson / Clint Zeagler (Spring 2022) | No | Yes |
| Amy Bruckman (Fall 2021)[5] | No | Yes |
| Munmun De Choudhury (Spring 2021)[2] | No | Yes |
| Blair MacIntyre (Spring 2021)[3] | Yes | No |
Prerequisite Knowledge
To be completed.
Scheduling
To be completed.
Resources
To be completed.
