Technologies for democratic society

Weekly outline

• Overview

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  Lecture: Mondays at 15:15 - 17:00 in CM 1 3
  Lecture Recordings: Available here
  Exercise Session: Mondays at 17:15 - 18:00 in INM202
  Unsupervised collaboration: Thursdays, 08:15-10:00, BS160 and BS170
  This course is highly interactive, and your active participation in lectures is essential.

  Course Staff

  Professor: Bryan Ford
  TAs: Shailesh Mishra, Yi Jiang
  AEs: Grace Ledin, Nicolas Khamis, Srushti Singh
  The CS-234 staff can be reached by email, on Ed, and during exercise sessions.

  Assessments

  Assignments make up 50% of the final grade, and the Final Exam accounts for the other 50%.

  Assignments (Grade Weights & Deadlines)
  

  HW #1 (5%): Usenet

  • Released: Sep 15
  • Due: Sep 22 @ 23:59

  HW #2 (15%): Peer Review

  Part 1 (6%): Write Up

  • Released: Sep 22 (entire HW#2 is released)
  • Due: Sep 29 @ 23:59

  Part 2 (6%): Peer Review

  • Due: Oct 6 @ 23:59

  Part 3 (3%): Metareview

  • Due: Oct 13 @ 23:59

  • HW #1 (5%): Graded
    • Usenet (due Oct 13 @ 23:59)
  • HW #2 (10%): Peer Review Assignment: Graded.
    • Part 1 (5%): Write Up (due Oct 18 @ 23:59)
    • Part 2 (3%): Peer Review (due Oct 26 @ 23:59)
    • Part 3 (2%): Metareview (due Nov 1 @ 23:59)
  • HW #3 (20%): Collective Problem Solving
    • Problem Proposal due Nov 7 @ 23:59
    • Comment on Assigned Proposal due Nov 9 @ 23:59
    • Comment on other proposals due Nov 10 @ 23:59
    • Responding to Comments due Nov 13 @ 23:59
    • Proposal Voting due Nov 14 @ 23:59
    • Team Assignments due Nov 16 @ 12:00
    • Final Presentations Poll closes at Nov 21 @ 23:59 (not graded).
    • Information Gathering & Solution Proposals due Friday Dec 1 @ 23:59
    • Discussion & Feedback due Tuesday, Dec 5 @ 23:59
    • Presentations due Thursday, Dec 7 @ 7:00
    • Oral Presentations: Dec 7 (8:15 - 10:00) & 8th (13:15 - 14:00).
      
    • Final Approval Voting + Peer Evaluations due Thursday, Dec 21 @ 23:59
  • HW #4 (5%): Ethereum Smart Contract
    • Part 1: Dec 11 @ 23:59.
    • Part 2 & 3: Dec 21 @ 23:59.

  Quizzes:

  • Quiz #1: Oct 13th
  • Quiz #2: Nov 3rd
  • Quiz #3: Nov 24th
  • Quiz #4: Dec 22nd

  
  

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    Announcements Forum
  • 

    Ed Discussion External tool

• Week 1: Introduction

  This week: 1. Course introduction

  ***No exercise session this week***

  Next week: 2. UseNet, Internet, and "Democratization"

  
  

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    Assigned reading: "The Computer as a Communication Device" File

    By J.C.R. Licklider and Robert W. Taylor, April 1968.

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    Assigned reading: "A Theory of the Democratic Process" File

    Excerpt: Chapter 8 from "Democracy and its Critics", Robert Dahl, 1989

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    Optional reading: "Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet" File

    By Michael and Ronda Hauben, April 1997.

    Reading assignment: chapters 1-4 and 18.

    
    

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    Optional reading: "Democracy - Council of Europe" URL
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    Optional reading: "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" URL
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    Lecture recording URL

• Week 2: Usenet, Internet, Democracy

  This week

  This week: 2. UseNet, Internet, and "Democratization"

  Video: https://mediaspace.epfl.ch/media/CS-234+Week+2/0_oy5akiib

  Next week: 3. Social influence and choice

  • 

    Instructor's notes - before lecture Page
  • 

    Instructor's notes - during lecture File
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    Assigned reading: "The PageRank Citation Ranking: Bringing Order to the Web" File
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    Assigned reading: "Measuring User Influence in Twitter: The Million Follower Fallacy" File
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    Assigned reading: "Piketty’s Inequality Story in Six Charts" File
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    Optional reading: "PageRank Beyond the Web" File
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    Optional reading: "Measurement and Analysis of Online Social Networks" File
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    Lecture recording URL

• Homework
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    HW #1: "A leap into the past: Using Usenet" Assignment
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    HW #4: Collective Problem Solving Final Grade Assignment