CS 349
Contemporary Issues in Computer Science
Alan Cline
This class
satisfies the University’s requirements for the writing flag. The goal of this requirement is to
assure that students learn not just the content of the areas they choose to
study but also the communication skills that are required to share what they
know with others. In the Internet
age, these skills include more than just writing. They include using graphics, video and
sound in ways that that are suitable for publication on the Web.
A major part
(53%) of the grade in this class will be the completion of a term project. During the first few weeks of class, we
will survey the topics that we will be discussing during the semester. We’ll briefly mention ethical
theories, privacy, intellectual property, free speech on the internet, risk,
security and hacking, the digital divide, and the future impact of technology
on the job market, among other things. Any of these areas can serve as the
basis for your project.
Your project
will be submitted in two parts:
·
A
paper.
·
A
short video.
You may work
alone or in teams of up to three people.
If you do work in a group, each person must contribute substantially to
both the paper and the video. We
will ask each group member to submit a statement that describes his/her
contribution to the joint effort.
Paper and video
length:
|
|
Individual |
2-Person Team |
3-Person Team |
|
Paper length |
At least
4,000 words |
At least
7,000 words |
At least
10,000 words |
|
Video length |
2 to 5
minutes |
4 to 10
minutes |
6 to 15
minutes |
Notice that, if
you work in an n-person team, the total number of pages required is fewer than
n times the one-person requirement.
But that is because you’ll only write some parts (e.g., the intro
and the conclusion) once. While you
may write fewer words if you work in a team, we will expect significantly more
depth in your coverage of your topic.
More
about the Videos:
For many of
you, this will be your first experience at producing a video. You may find it stressful but our
experience has been that, by the end of the semester, students are really glad
that they had the experience.
We’ve
posted some examples of really good videos from past classes. Click here
to watch them to get some ideas.
As you’re
working on your video, you may need a camera that’s better than any that
you have. In that case, you can
check out camera kits at the Fine Arts Library.
Your video can
be a documentary or a drama. Many
good documentaries rely heavily on interviews. You may be able to find experts who are
willing to talk to you. Don’t
be bashful. It never hurts to
ask. You may also find it
interesting to conduct “man in the street” interviews to convey a
sense of public attitude toward your topic. Remember that, if you conduct
interviews, you should be sure to get permission from your interviewees before
you distribute your video or post it on the web. You should also send a copy of your
completed video to anyone you interviewed.
Your video may
include images and clips, if properly cited, taken from other people’s
work. But we want the bulk of the material to by yours. So:
1. The video may have up to 40% material from outside video
sources. However no more than 25%
may come from a single outside video source. ("Outside" meaning
material you did not produce.)
2.
No more than 90 continuous seconds can come from a single outside video source.
3.
The material you produce is not limited to video you shot with a camera. It may
come from video-producing software, as well.
Schedule:
There are
several project milestones, spread out over the semester. See http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/ear/cs349/Syllabus.html
for specific dates.
|
Initial
discussion about topics |
|
Outline and
annotated bibliography (for both paper and video) (See Note 1 for details.) |
|
First draft
of paper (at least 1,000 words) (See Note 2 for details.) |
|
Written video
progress report (less than one page) (See Note 3 for details.) |
|
Final video
turned in (See Note 4 for
details.) |
|
Final paper
turned in (See Note 5 for
late policy.) |
The paper first
drafts that you turn in will be reviewed by our TAs. We will also swap the papers and ask
each of you to read someone else’s paper and provide feedback on it.
We will spend
the last three weeks of class watching everyone’s videos. You’ll be expected offer a short
introduction to your video and then to host a short discussion after we watch
it.
Note 1: You should turn in four things: (1) A
statement of the thesis of your paper.
This can be short. One
sentence may suffice. It should
take no more than a paragraph. (2)
An outline
of your paper. It should be
at least a page. More is okay. In fact, if you have written any of your
paper, you may include the written sections, leaving the unwritten sections in
outline form. We want to see that
you’ve begun to think about exactly what your topic is and how you will
present it. (3) An annotated
bibliography. It
needn’t be complete, but we want to see that you’ve begun to do
research. For each source, write a
couple of sentences summarizing the key ideas. The sources that you mention must be
substantively different. For
example, we do not want four news articles, written within a week of each
other, all of which say approximately the same thing. (4) An outline of your video. It may be as little as half a page. We want to see that you have the
beginning of a plan. Clearly
indicate whether you’ll be doing a documentary, a mockumentary, or a
drama. If you are planning to do
interviews, indicate who your interviewee(s) will be.
Note 2: You should turn in a draft that
contains some complete paragraphs.
In particular, you should have written your topic paragraph and your
concluding paragraph. We want to
see at least 1000 words. The parts
of your paper that are not written yet should appear in outline form so that we
can see the flow of the entire paper.
You should turn in your draft electronically, as usual. But you should also bring a copy of your
draft to class. Everyone will take home and then comment on someone
else’s paper. We hope that
this additional feedback will be helpful as you work on turning your first
draft into your final paper.
If your grade
on this draft is below 80, it is important that you make substantial
changes. So we encourage you to
read the comments, meet with us, and then revise and resubmit. We will accept a new submission any time
up to a week after the grades for the draft have been posted.
Note 3: You should do two things: (1) Revise
the outline that you submitted earlier if you have made changes to it. (2) Annotate the outline to show your
progress. Indicate the parts that
you have filmed, the parts that you have edited, and the parts that you still
need to work on. If there are
issues, like trying to track down interviewees, indicate what they are.
Note 4: To submit your video, you should do two
things. (1) Upload the video to
YouTube. (2) Fill out this form, pdf it, and submit it on
Canvas. The video is due by
midnight on the due date. That
means that it must have a YouTube time stamp on that day. We don’t know what time zone they
operate on. Don’t push this.
We need to get
the videos on time so that we can put together a coherent play list for all of
us to watch. However, we recognize that in some cases, your video will not be
completed on time. And if you
don’t turn in a video at all, it will be hard to pass the class. Therefore, we will allow late
submissions, but with a fairly hefty penalty as follows:
Up to 2 hours late: - 5%
Up to 24 hours
late: -10%
Up to 48 hours
late: -25%
Up to 72 hours
late: -50%
If you plan to
submit your video late, please, however, turn in the video submission form on
time. You just won’t have a
YouTube url.
We need to have the other information to help us set up the playlist.
Note 5: The late policy for the paper is the
same as the late policy for the video, as shown above.
Grading:
We have posted
the evaluation sheets that we will
use in grading both papers and videos.