Technologies for democratic society

Section outline

• Select section Overview

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  Overview

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  Note: attendance of and participation in the lecture sessions are expected, and will include graded activities!

  Lecture: Mondays at 15:15 - 17:00 in CM 1 3
  Exercise Session: Mondays at 17:15 - 18:00 in INM202
  Unsupervised collaboration: Thursdays, 08:15-10:00, BS160 and BS170

  Course Staff

  Professor: Bryan Ford
  TAs: Ant Srikanth
  AEs: Sanem Sarioglu, Nikita Karpachev, Srushti Singh
  The CS-234 staff can be reached by email, on Ed, and during exercise sessions.

  Assessments

  In-semester coursework make up 50% of the final grade, and the Final Exam accounts for the other 50%.

  • 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

  • Select activity Ed Discussion

    

    Ed Discussion External tool
• Select section Week 1: Introduction

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  Week 1: Introduction

  Current week

  This week: 1. Course introduction

  ***No exercise session this week***

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

  Please read all of the primary readings for next week and at least one of the secondary readings.

  • Select activity Primary reading: "The Computer as a Communication Device"

    

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

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

  • Select activity Primary reading: "A Theory of the Democratic Process"

    

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

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

  • Select activity Primary reading: handout "UseNet and Democratization"

    

    Primary reading: handout "UseNet and Democratization" File
  • Select activity Secondary reading: "Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet" (excerpts)

    

    Secondary reading: "Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet" (excerpts) File

    Assignment: chapters 1-4 and 18.

    By Michael and Ronda Hauben, April 1997.

  • Select activity Secondary reading: "The Virtual Community" (excerpts)

    

    Secondary reading: "The Virtual Community" (excerpts) URL

    Assignment: read at least the Introduction, Chapter 4 "Grassroots Groupminds", and Chapter 10 "Disinformocracy".

  • Select activity Secondary reading: "Remembering Netizens"

    

    Secondary reading: "Remembering Netizens" URL

    2022 interview of Ronda Hauben and retrospective on the Netizens (1997) book.

  • Select activity Secondary reading: "You Are Who You Talk To: Detecting Roles in Usenet Newsgroups"

    

    Secondary reading: "You Are Who You Talk To: Detecting Roles in Usenet Newsgroups" File
  • Select activity Secondary reading: "Picturing Usenet: Mapping Computer-Mediated Collective Action"

    

    Secondary reading: "Picturing Usenet: Mapping Computer-Mediated Collective Action" URL
  • Select activity Optional reading: "Democracy - Council of Europe"

    

    Optional reading: "Democracy - Council of Europe" URL
  • Select activity Optional reading: "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace"

    

    Optional reading: "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" URL
  • Select activity Lecture recording

    

    Lecture recording URL