Week 6 Plan and Discussion - Projects

[evansuva]

Happy Break Day!

Tuesday, March 9 is a UVA Break Day, so we have only one class meeting next week on Thursday, March 11, and no assigned readings or discussion. Instead, we'll use the class on March 11 mostly to form ideas for projects. I'll talk some and suggest some possible types of projects, but please think on your own (or with your classmates) about things you would like to do. I will also ask for some feedback on how the course is going so far and suggestions for possible changes for the rest of the semester in class on March 11, but if you have any thoughts before then, I would appreciate if you send them to me (or if you want to make them public, post as comments on this discussion).

Quoting from the syllabus, here's the description of the project:

Projects/Papers

Students will work on a semester-long project that can take the form of a paper, video, or computing artifact. The project should have some connection to the goals of the class, but these are interpreted broadly. The project can be done individually or in a team, but team projects must have ambition commensurate with the team size. My hope is the students to do projects that will be valuable and worthwhile to them personally as experience, but that will result in something of value beyond just as a course project.

Some ideas for potential projects include:

• Select a software system deployed at UVA (e.g., SIS or anything used by this course) and evaluate it from an ethical viewpoint and considering how it could be designed to better serve some ethical goal.
• Select a research paper in a recent conference, and evaluate its ethical aspects.
• Write a paper that explores some ethical issue in computing.
• Develop a web or mobile application that illustrates something relevant to this class (e.g., White Collar Early Warning System).
• Consider a professional code of ethics (e.g., ACM Code of Ethics and Processional Conduct) and evaluate how useful it is in guiding difficult decisions as well as the ethical framework it assumes; evaluate how well the ACM (or other organization) actually follows its own ethics code.

There will be several intermediate project milestones during the semester, listed on the course schedule, and students will present their projects during the final week of class (May 4 and May 6).