Review and Social Issues (if time) 6 December

Final Exam Coverage  Classroom presentations Mine Students  Readings  External Speakers

Final Exam  Largest question: privacy. Why people should be worried about privacy Several different SUPPORTED arguments  Questions on presentations What is the controversy? 2 or 3 arguments for each side Can NOT do your own topic  Additional questions Scenarios (a la midterm) General, large principles

Cheat Sheet  Expanded to 2 pages  Specific topics Identify controversies and arguments Capture enough detail of specifics for concrete essays  General topics Capture the big items

Group exercise  What lessons have you learned?  Write full sentences until I tell you to stop.  Examples: Code can affect behavior as much as – possibly more than – laws. (Lessig) We are a culture of simulation, which can often cause problems. (Turkle) Not all gamers who experience compulsive internet use came to the game with psychological problems. (Ward) We cannot always predict the effects of a new technology, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try. (Kling)

Topics Morality Theory How computers work Reliability issues Enabling technologies eGovernment eInformation Privacy Social issues Digital divide Genetics and privacy Games Digital rights Anti-trust eVoting Workplace Medicine

Class Statements  Games can restrict or enhance social interaction for people with phobias.  Enabling technologies use computers to help people with disabilities.  Even though Internet voting is very convenient, people are worried about hacking and security.  Employer access to genetic information can cause discrimination in the workplace.  Privacy is becoming an increasing concern due to the growing number of online databases and personal info online.  Digital divide is the gap that exists in regards to computer use between races and socio-economic groups.  Games can be so addictive to cause people to drop out of school; they can also do significant good and teach people.

Class Statements (cont.)  Digital divide is not limited to third-world countries.  E-voting will increase participation in our generation.  Anti-trust legal cases must rely on both technology experts and legal experts.  Use of e-government may imply a computer literacy test.

Social Issues  Social networking  Multiple personae  User as consumer  Internet addiction

Social Networking

6 Degrees of Separation: the Legend  Stanley Milgram (Harvard) 1967 asked each of several volunteers in the Midwest to get a letter to a stranger in Boston Could send a letter only to someone they knew Median number of intermediaries was six  Hence “six degrees of separation”

6 Degrees of Separation: the Reality  Milgram experiment Initial experimant: only 3 of 60 letters (5%) made it Later experiments only achieved 30%  First proposed in a 1929 short story Chains by Karinthy Frigyes

Pretending to be someone else

Multiple personae and avatars  Having multiple personalities in the real world is considered an illness  Is it okay in cyberspace?  What’s the difference? Awareness Choice of focus  Second Life Second Life

Exploring Personailty Options  Get control of your life  Try new techniques  Opportunities that you would not otherwise have  How is this different from lying? Pretending that you are someone that you are not

Internet Addiction  Is it real?  What is an addiction?  Discussions Yee  Internet Addiction Center Internet Addiction Center