Computers in Society

Diverse Views

Teams

Team 1: Skyler, Austin, Julian, Jordan

Team 2: Rory, Jill, Cameron

Team 3: Bobs, Ryan, Stephen

Team 4: Cresta, Matt, Tyler

Please create a wiki page for your team and give yourselves a name and a logo.

Team Projects

You need to do two team presentations.

The first is on an application of computer technology. I want a proposal in the wiki by Thursday on the general area you are interested in. Talk to your teammates today! This CAN overlap with term papers.

Team Projects

The second presentation is on one of the topics in the last 3 weeks of class:

• Copyright• The software industry • The open source business • Free Speech and Online Rights• Computer Crime• Monitoring and Censorship

Quiz

What is NPOV?

What technical aspects of Wikipedia are important to its success?

Diverse Voices

We are interested in social issues:• How can we determine the “truth” in remote

situations?• How can we get our message out effectively?• Are we being understood?• How can we interact at a distance?• How can we be credible?• Who is credible?• How can the Internet be used for the public good?

Diverse Voices

We are interested in technical Issues:• How can we prove that someone is who

they say they are?• Can we track the real author of Internet

material?• How can we be anonymous?

Reporting

• All of these articles concern the authenticity of various points of view. Explain this!

• What is the difference between “blogging” and “reporting”?

• What technical aspects of a blog make these an attractive way to communicate?

• How do we find blogs?

State Department Bloggers

• When was this written? By whom?• What is the purpose of the State

department supported bloggers?• Do they write their own blogs?• Where do they go on the Internet?• Who are these bloggers trying to reach?• Do they identify themselves as being

operatives of the US Government?

State Department Bloggers

• What sorts of sites do the avoid?• Are they welcome at the sites they visit?• Do they identify their background and personal

details?• What sort of situations do they react to?• What do some analysts see as the benefit of this

effort?• Do they discuss religion?• Do you believe that the Internet is an appropriate place

for the government to discuss policy with other nations?

State Department Bloggers

• What advantages are there in outreach via the Internet?

• Are other points of view – radical Islamic groups – well represented on the Internet?

• How do the US bloggers avoid making the situation worse?

Blogging by Soldiers

• What sort of rules does the military have regarding blogging?

• How has the relationship between the press and the military in Iraq compare to other wars?

• Do soldier blogs give us an opportunity to see the “real” Iraq?

The Baghdad Diarist

• Where was this published? When?• What sort of reputation does this

newspaper have? What other stories has it made famous?

• What did the Baghdad Diarist do?• What is the crux of the issue being

debated?• What did the military do when the identity of

the diarist was revealed?

The Baghdad Diarist

• What is “The New Republic”?• What are its political leanings?• What sort of things did TNR publish in its

stories?• Did TNR report directly out of the blog or

was it in direct contact with the diarist?• Did they fact check the story? If so, how?

The Baghdad Diarist

• Where was the TNR story refuted?• Is the diarist also a blogger?• What is the current state of this affair?• What (if anything) does this tell us about

the difficulty of believing what is written in a newspaper or on a blog?