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Diane Sieber |
John Bennett Professor of Computer Science Associate Dean, Engineering John.Bennett@colorado.edu Office: ECAD 101 Office Hours: Tues 3-4, Fri 2-3 |
An Important Note on the Readings
The readings for this course are password-protected
PDF files readable with the free-download Adobe Acrobat Reader (which is standard
on all university lab and kiosk computers). The readings are available only
to students in this course who enter the appropriate login and password. (Sorry,
lurkers, this is for educational use only). You may access the readings by clicking
on the reading entry in the course syllabus online, or by surfing the alphabetical
index on the "Readings" page online. Because IT changes all the time,
on occasion the readings will change to reflect new information or major IT
events. You will have advanced warning in class and the changes will appear
in the online syllabus. We recommend that you get used to checking the online
syllabus frequently for updates to the readings and course schedule.
All readings are in .pdf format and can only be read by Adobe Acrobat Reader. If it is not installed on your computer, you can download it for free.
Week 1: Introduction
August 26
Introduction and presentation of course themes
August 28
Acceleration, Technology, Values and Humanity
Reading: Mark Helprin, "The Acceleration
of Tranquility", from The Examined Life in the Digital Age.
(slide
contents)
Weeks 2-4: History of Information Technology
September 2
History of Technology
Reading: Ierley, "Prologue"
Optional reading: Ierley, "Telegraph"
Link of the Day: http://www.google.com
(slide
contents)
September 4
Telephony
Reading: Ierley, "Telephone"
Optional reading: Carlson, "The Telephone
as Political Instrument"
Link of the Day: http://blinkenlights.de
September 9
Sound, image and social transformation
Readings: Ierley, "Radio","Television"
Link of the day: www.hash.com
(slide
contents)
September 11
Impact of September 11, 2001 on IT
Readings: Edward Yourdon, "Byte Wars: The Impact of September 11th
on Information Technology" part
1 and part 2; selections
from the Patriot Act (Note: the
pdf file is the entire act. Students should read Sections 201,202,206,209,212,214,217,220,210,211,213,225,1016.
Optionally skim any others that look interesting.)
Timed reaction paper #1.
link of the day: September 11th archive
site
(slide
contents)
September 16
Becoming Digital
Reading: Ierley, "copier
and fax", "home computer"
(slide
contents)
September 18
Interactive computing and the origins of the Internet
Readings: Vannevar Bush "As
We May Think"
Optional readings: Ceruzzi, "An Unforeseen
Revolution: Computers and Expectations, 1935-1985"; Chronology
of Personal Computers.
Link of the Day: http://www.computerhistory.org/exhibits/highlights
(slide
contents)
Week 5: The Internet
September 23
The Internet
Readings: Berners-Lee, "The Founder’s
Message"; Himanen, "The Hacker
Work Ethic"
(slide
contents)
September 25
Internet: Open Source and the Ethics of Good Code
Readings: Himanen, "The Academy
and the Monastery"; Wired, "The
bugs in the machine".
Optional readings: Introduction
from Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution. See also The
Hacker Jargon File for definitions of hacker language; Gates, "An
Open Letter to Hobbyists".
Link of the Day: http://slashdot.org
Weeks 6-7: Industry convergence and IT policy
September 30
Open Source Development/Integrated Proprietary Development
Reading: Brate, "Sharing the Source"
Optional Reading: Shapiro and Varian, "The
Information Economy"
(slide
contents)
October 2: No class due to Fall Break
October 7
Phil Weiser: Antitrust and Government Regulation of IT
Readings: click
here
October 9
IP Law and Digital "sharing"
Readings: Mann, "All the World's a Bootleg";
Boucher, "Time to Rewrite
the DMCA"; "Key
Court Case Summaries on Fair Use"; "Checklist
for Fair Use."
(slide
contents)
***October 13. TAM at the Movies: Pizza and showing of movie “Startup.com” Movie is required viewing for the class of October 21st. 7-9pm in Humanities 1B90.
Oct 14
Privacy, Identity Theft
Readings: Lessig, “Privacy”
in Code; Wired, “Wired,
"How
to Disappear", “The
Surveillance Society.”
Optional reading: Hurley, "Security
and Privacy Laws: The showstoppers of the Global Information Society"
Links of the Day: http://www.junkbusters.com,
http://www.nettrace.com.au/
Other privacy websites
(slide
contents)
October 16
Security, protection of proprietary knowledge
Readings: “Statement
by Scott Charney” and “Securing
your computer”
Questions distributed for the midterm exam.
October 21
Michael Braitberg: Lifecycle of an
IT startup
Reading: movie Startup.com (prior
showing at TAM at the Movies, 7-9 pm on October 13th in Humanities room 1B90)
Link of the Day: http://www.dataplay.com
Startup.com Glossary of Terms
(slide contents)
October 23
Convergence, acceleration and complexity
Readings: Prepare midterm exam questions
(slide contents)
October 28
In-class midterm (2 of 6 essay topics distributed 2 weeks prior)
Handout description of final web assignment
October 30
Deborah Keyek-Franssen: Gender and Information Technologies
Reading: Margolis and Fisher, 2002. "Computing
with a Purpose" in Unlocking the Clubhouse. Cambridge: MIT
Press. pp. 49-75. Potential reaction paper!
(no class slides)
November 4
Digital Divides
Readings: Castells, "The Digital Divide
in Global Perspective"; Investigate http://digitaldividenetwork.org
(class slides)
November 6
Guest speaker: Spectrum and Wi-Fi
Readings: Wired, "Hack";
"A New Spin on Wireless"; Business
Week, "All Net All the Time."
Optional reading: Werbach, "Monster
Mesh: Decentralized Wireless Broadband"
(class slides) and info
in intellectual property
***November 10. TAM at the Movies: Pizza and showing of movie “Gattaca” Movie is required viewing for the class of November 18th. 7-9pm in Humanities room 1B90.
November 11
Virtual Reality
Reading: Selections from Neil
Stephenson, Snow Crash.
Link of the Day: www.HabboHotel.com
(class slides)
November 13
Artificial Intelligence
Readings: "It's
Alive!" Wired Magazine summary of Artificial Intelligence (read each
1-paragraph subsection: adaptive learning, text parsing, pattern recognition,
expert systems, speech processing);
Optional reading: AI in recent computer games "Gaming's
Evolutionary Leap."
Links of the day: www.agentland.com ;
http://www.nik.com.au/alice/
(class slides)
***November
17. TAM at the Movies: Popcorn and movie snack night for showing of Animated
classic movie “Final Fantasy”
Movie is required viewing for the class of November 20th. 7-9pm in Humanities
room 1B90.
November 18
Bioinformatics, Biotechnology and Robotics
Reading:
movie Gattaca (prior showing at TAM at the Movies, 7-9pm on November 10th
in Humanities room 1B90.)
Link of the Day: Human Genome Project homepage http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/home.shtml
(Class slides)
November 20
Sonya Shannon: History and Future of Animation
Readings: movie Final Fantasy
(prior showing at TAM at the Movies, 7-9pm on November 17th in Humanities
room 1B90).
(no class slides)
November 25
Catch-up day
November 27
Thanksgiving: No class. Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels.
***December 1. TAM at the Movies: Pizza and showing of movie “Bladerunner”. Movie is required viewing for the class of December 4th. 7-9pm in Humanities room 1B90. If you cannot come to this showing, please try to rent this movie over the Thanksgiving break.
December 2
Cyberspaces
Primary reading: Mitchell, "Electronic
Agoras" and "Soft Cities"
from City of Bits
(class slides)
December 4
The Future of IT in Science Fiction
Reading: movie Blade Runner
(prior showing at TAM at the Movies, 7-9pm on December 1st in Humanities room
1B90.)
Distribution of questions for the Final Exam.
(class slides)
D. Sieber extra office hours:
Monday December 8th 8am-10am
Monday December 8th 1:30-4:30pm (normal hours)
Wednesday December 10 11-12:30
Monday December 15 1:30-4:30pm
December 9
Information Anxiety and Information Architecture
Reading: selection from Wurman, Information
Anxiety 2
(class slides)
December 11
The Digital Attic, conclusions
No required reading: finish up you web sites. If you have finished
your web work the optional reading is: "The
Digital Attic"
Last day to turn in web address and essays for
web production component of your grade.
December 12
Final exam. 4:30-7:00pm in HUMN 150.
Extra office hours, D. Sieber:
Monday December 8th 8am-10am
Monday December 8th 1:30-4:30pm (normal hours)
Wednesday December 10 11-12:30
Monday December 15 1:30-4:30pm