COMP
380-003 Spring 2008
ASSIGNMENT--INTEGRATIVE
PAPER
ASSIGNED:
Wednesday April 16
DUE:
Electronic copy due on Monday April 28 by 6 pm to pozefsky@cs.unc.edu and
cisarano@email.unc.edu
For obvious reasons, no late papers
will be accepted for any reason.
THIS IS AN OPTIONAL
ASSIGNMENT.
I will drop the low grade of the 4 short assignments: Privacy, Gattaca,
Virtual Worlds, and the Integrative paper. If you are happy with
the grades that you receive on the other papers, you do not need to
turn this one in. The Gattaca papers will be returned on Monday
and the Virtual world papers will be returned on Wednesday. Keep
in
mind that this paper would also serve as another useful study tool for
the
final exam.
Most
Significant Influence
At the beginning of the semester, I asked you to identify what aspect
of computers you considered the most significant influence on
society, and to write a personal essay.
The majority of you said the Internet
and that it was a positive
influence on society. Social networking came in a distant second,
data collection a long ways back, and games garnered no votes. Part of the reason for the
overwhelming response for Internet was that I was too vague on
the term. I expect that had I been more specific: Internet
as a source for information or e-commerce, the numbers may have been
more balanced.
You wrote the
paper as a personal essay. I would now like you to revisit the
topic in a more formal, philosophical essay.
The paper should be about 3 pages in length and should include proper
references. Specifically, I would like you to address the
following items within your essay:
- Have you changed your mind about what is the most significant
influence? Why? If you chose Internet, please identify the
specific aspect of the Internet that you are addressing. Discuss.
If you agree with your first answer but
have different reasoning, please discuss.
- For whatever you now consider the most significant influence,
identify both sides of the influences--that is, discuss both the
positive and the negative influences it has.
- Explicitly explain the dilemma and the ethical issues raised by
this particularly influence.
Be sure to use examples from
presentations, lectures, and class
readings.
Grading will be based on how
well you integrate the questions within your essay, on the enhanced
depth of your arguments, and on the significant evidence you
provide.
Last update: 16 Apr 2008