v CS 492 - Social Implications of Computing

CS 492 - Social Implications of Computing

Schedule and readings

This course will have weekly readings covering a variety of topics. These will be from the academic literature and from the popular press. Some also include short videos. Every week, there will also be a "from the news" reading, responding to very recent current events.

The full details of citations for the course readings are available on the course reading list, which is here.

Several of the articles in this course are not freely available due to paywalls. In the table below, you will find both direct links to the articles on the websites of their publishers, and (in many cases) links to licensed versions of the articles, which will often require you to log in with your UW credentials to either your account on UW Learn or the UW Library.

Please come to class prepared to discuss the week's readings. Most weeks there will also be a writing assignment, shown on the weekly assignments pane, for which students must write a 500-1000 word paper, due at 11:59 PM on the Monday night before our Tuesday lectures.

For example, before the first lecture, on Tuesday, January 9, please read the introductory material for week 1; at that class, we will give the prompt for that week's writing assignment, which is due on January 15.

# Date Topics Readings "From the News" reading Third hour plan Writing assignment
1 9 Jan Introductions, case studies
  1. Introduction: article #1, article #2.
  2. Case #1: Monseigneur Burrell: article #1, article #2, article #3 (alternate LEARN link).
  3. Case #2: biased HR system at Amazon: article #1, article #2 (read at least the abstract).
none Elise Vist from the Writing and Communication Centre; subject is crafting thesis statements for essays Assignment 1, due 15 Jan
2 16 Jan Definitions of discrimination, case studies
  1. Definitions of discrimination: article #1 (focus on Section 2), article #2 (focus on Section 3).
  2. Case study: fintech and algorithmic discrimination: article (focus on abstract and introduction).
  3. Case study: housing and AI: article #1, article #2.
  4. Fairness and values: blog post, article (focus on overview and key insights)
NYT article about smart cars and surveillance None this week Assignment 2, due 22 Jan
3 23 Jan Racial discrimination and criminal justice
  1. Case study: COMPAS: article, online game feature.
  2. Facial recognition and racial bias: article #1, article #2 (LEARN link to article #2), article #3.
  3. Bias in healthcare algorithms: article #1, article #2.
ArsTechnica article: cameras in operating rooms? Rebecca Hutchinson, from the Library; subject is identifying good information in research Assignment 3, due 29 Jan
4 30 Jan Indigenous people and technology
  1. Digital divide: article #1, article #2, article #3, article and YouTube video.
  2. Indigenous approach to design: article (Read Suzanne Kite's essay, from pages 75-84, not the 200+-page report!)
  3. Case study: search and indigenous languages: article
  4. Case study: AI and indigenous languages: article, video.
Harvard Magazine article on authoritarian regimes and AI technology None this week Assignment 4, due 5 Feb
5 6 Feb Gender discrimination and violence against women
  1. Structural gender discrimination: article #1, article #2.
  2. Gender-inclusive design: article
  3. Abortion and privacy: article #1, article #2 (LEARN link to article #2).
  4. Technology-based violence: report (the whole report is excellent; if you don't have time, please focus on pages 5-20), article.
AI interfaces for paralyzed people, and what happens when they're made obsolete Course Instructors; subject is editing your own writing No assignment this week. Project milestone #1 due 16 February
6 13 Feb Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity; deepfakes and porn
  1. Sexual orientation and facial recognition: article #1, article #2, article #3
  2. Trans people and digital surveillance: report (long, read overview at minimum, but all is important), article.
  3. Deepfake porn: article #1, article #2.
Vox Future Perfect article on open-source AI models Project proposal finalization with TAs Assignment 5, due 26 Feb
Reading week Feb 20
7 27 Feb Discrimination against disabled people
  1. Life as a disabled person: article.
  2. Accessibility by default, design for disability: article #1 (read the linked article, not the lesson plan!), article #2, blog post, tips for inclusive design, article #3.
  3. Mental health and privacy: article #1, article #2.
Law and LLMS: ArsTechnica article about California lawsuit with OpenAI, CBC article about bad Air Canada chatbot advice no third hour this week Assignment 6, due 4 Mar
8 5 Mar Privacy and the right to be forgotten
  1. Surveillance capitalism: article, video (long; maybe read the article first?)
  2. Privacy or not? article, blog post.
  3. Case study: healthcare deals: article #1, article #2.
  4. Right to be forgotten or not? report, article.
  5. Case study #2: newspaper archive: podcast episode.
  6. Case study #3: queer porn archive: blog post #1, blog post #2
CBC article about cameras in vending machines at Waterloo; River Stanley to visit both sections Group project milestone work with TAs No assignment this week. Project milestone #2 due on 15 March.
9 12 Mar Global issues, including government surveillance
  1. Police surveillance: article #1, article #2, article #3.
  2. Data colonization: blog post, report.
  3. Case study: facial recognition data from Africa: blog post.
  4. Choose your own adventure: game, examples of corporate privacy abuses.
2 papers about LLM misuse: #1, #2. (You may need to use your UW credentials to access #2, as Nature is behind a paywall.) Group project milestone work with TAs Assignment 7, due 18 Mar
10 19 Mar Fixes: inclusivity in education and tech
  1. Impostor syndrome in tech professionals: article #1, article #2.
  2. Workplace culture in tech: LA Times article (this is particularly good!), blog post, article (LEARN link to article).
  3. Educational culture in tech: article #1 (LEARN link to article #1), article #2 (optional: this is pretty old, and the authors' later work, which is the next article, somewhat contradicts this article's conclusions!), article #3, article #4 (which is about something completely different!).
McKinsey article about generative AI and job loss, Washington Post article about the McKinsey study that focuses on gendered nature of projected job loss (see course Slack for link to .pdf) Group project milestone work with TAs Assignment 8, due 25 Mar
11 26 Mar Fixes: law, regulation, and other approaches There a lot of these approaches. Pick some of them, and read all articles in those groups. We'll cover both case studies.
  1. Politics of technology: article #1 (proxy link to article #1), article #2 (note: this is much shorter than the paper from these same authors in week 2; read the whole thing!), article #3.
  2. Soft law and self-regulation: article #1, article #2.
  3. Hard law and governmental regulation: report (read sections IX and X), article, blog post.
  4. Other governmental approaches: article #1, Government of Canada webpage, article #2
  5. Case study: bug bounties: report.
  6. Case study: let AIs identify problems? report.
None this week Group project final deliverable work with TAs Assignment 9, due 1 Apr
12 2 Apr Wrap up and student projects N/ATBD None Possibly no assignment this week. Final project milestone due 8 April.