Computers in Society Google The Digital Divide Communication and Collaboration

Computing in the US Does the government guarantee access to computing? What services does the US government consider important enough to subsidize and guarantee to citizens? Why would access to the Internet matter? Should the government accommodate those that don't want to use computers? How can the government influence computer access for the disabled?

US Education What common educational background should students have in computing? Is computer access a necessary part of K- 12 education? How should the government address the problem of training educators?

What is E-Democracy? Does the Internet give people a greater voice in government? Can the government deliver services better and at less cost using computing? What are the risks?

A Digital Divide Story * A substitute teacher, unfamiliar with computers, comes into a classroom of middle school students * While attempting to send , adware begins to pop up pornography * The teacher has no idea why this happens or how to stop it * Calls for assistance are ineffectual * The teacher tries to shield the students from the computer screen

A DD Story * The teacher is charged with risk of injury to a minor * In court, the teacher argues that she didn't understand how to work the computer and that she had been told not to turn it off or "mess with" it. * The school acknowledges that the adware was already on the computer. * The teacher was convicted and faces up to 40 years in jail. She will appeal.

Why is this a DD issue?

* A person "uncomfortable" with technology is put at risk by devices she cannot understand * Bringing technology into the classroom leads to unforeseen problems * A lack of technical literacy in the court system * If parents who accidentally exposed their kids to indecent websites are risking 40 years in jail something is really out of whack! * Technology is far more complex than we think.

Communication and Collaboration Human to human communication is one of the main ideas in computing. How can computers facilitate and structure communication? * * Voice / video * Message boards * Wikis and group collaboration

What's Interesting How does adding computing affect the collaborative process? * Permanence * Transparency * Linkage * Voting / rating / evaluation * Tagging * Searching / Classification * Multi-lingual support

Technical Aspects * Identity * Encoding * Collaboration models * IP issues * Archiving * Translation * Character sets and language-specific editing tools