CS 197 Computers in Society

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CS 197Computers in Society

• Professor John Peterson

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Introductions

• An now, please tell us about you!
• Background and interests
• Experience with computers
• Why you took this class
• Expectations

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Why I Teach CIS

• Computing has in impact on every field everyone
  has something they need to know to work more
  effectively.
• People need to understand how computers work to
  make informed decisions
• Social and legal issues abound in computing
  these arent just geek concerns.

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The Educated Person

• What should an educated person know about
  computers and computing?
• We will try to answer this question in the next
  15 weeks.

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Textbooks

• The best information source for this class is the
  Internet we will not need any other text
• Much of this class is about Current Events in
  computing the latest technology, problems, court
  cases, and opinions.
• Another aspect of this class is making sure you
  know how to find things out in computing.

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Rules of CS 197

• No dumb questions if you dont understand,
  speak up. You shouldnt need any background in
  computers to handle this course.
• No hype be skeptical about claims involving
  computers and avoid a wow isnt that cool way
  of looking at the field
• Participate this class is a shared
  investigation of computing all of us need to
  talk, investigate, and present information
• Specialize everyone should find some specific
  area to investigate in detail. Follow your
  interests!

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Computers

• I've explicitly requested a classroom without
  computers! This is because I want you to do your
  computer work OUTSIDE of class. Here, I want
  attention focused on the presenter, not on your
  email or catching up on the required reading.

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Syllabus Website

• Let's dive into the syllabus there's a lot
  there.
• The we'll go to the class wiki and see what's
  there.
• http//wiki.western.edu/mcis

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Unleashing Your Inner Geek

• This is not a class for computer geeks! The
  skills you will need are mainly written and
  verbal.
• You will have to translate from geek
  language into language we all can understand.
  Treat this course like a foreign language.
• I will always attempt to tell you WHY an
  Informed Individual should want to know
  something.
• We will do a little bit of programming but
  this isnt a programming class

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Computers and Magic

• Magic is something we dont understand. How can
  google manage to find the web page you want out
  of the billions out there? Magic? How does data
  move through the air? Magic?
• Our job is to find the man behind the curtain
  and see whats really going on in computing.
  Its not as hard to understand as you think.

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Wiki

• Our class will be conducted in a wiki.
• Whats a wiki? A wiki is
• A shared place to present and edit information
  (web pages)
• A way to organize information
• Something that keeps track of history so
  nothing is forgotten
• a form of computer-assisted collaboration

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What is a Wiki?

• A wiki is a website where anyone can edit the
  pages in the website.
• Depending on the wiki, you may have to identify
  yourself (login). Ours will require this.
• Anyone with a web browser can access our wiki
  dont put anything there you wouldnt want on
  your own web page.

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Wikis

• The wikipedia is an encyclopedia that is
  published as a wiki. Were using the same wiki
  engine.
• Our wiki is at http//wiki.western.edu/mcis
• The unofficial text of this class is the
  wikipedia
• Lets have a look www.wikipedia.org

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Wiki Skills

• Demonstrate
• The home wiki and links
• How to create an identity
• How to edit a page
• How to add a page
• Basic wiki markup
• Pictures

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Homework 1

• Let's look in the wiki

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Background

• What is it that you find important or fascinating
  about computing? What impresses you?

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Basic Questions

• What is a computer?
• What can computers do?
• Can we trust computers?
• What is information?
• What can we do with information?
• What is the Internet?
• What is IP (Intellectual Property)?
• How should society use computers?
• How can you use computers in your work?
• Are you aware of computing dangers?