In this section, we will all meet and get to know each other and have a broad overview of what we want the discussion to look like this quarter. We discuss the high level goals of this course:

• To explore the impact of technology and computer science concepts on society.
• To explore computer science and its applications as an academic field.
• To preview what a career as a professional computer programmer or researcher is like.
• To look more in-depth at how we apply computational thinking to our daily lives.

We emphasize that 122 is about how to program computers while computer science (and computational/algorithmic thinking) is a much large scope than just programming. As a group, we discuss:

• What computer science even is.
• Who studies or gets to study computer science?
• Why should we study computer science?
• Is computer science good or bad?
• What computers can and can't do

Interesting Links

• What is Computer Science?
• People Assumed I Was A Tech Whiz Because I'm Asian
• Notes from today's seminar.

Assignment Due Today:

• None! Just show up and it will count for attendance!

Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 PM:

• Read Stuck in The Shallow End (pages 1-25) and answer the reflection questions on Canvas for the week.

In this section, we conducted an overview of Stuck in The Shallow End and do a few activities to better understand the works's goal and how it fits relative to computer science then and now:

• Entry Task: What is the author's main motivation to explore and connect the histories of swimming and that of computer science? How do stereotypes and harmful assumptions create barriers for minoritized students in entering the field of computer science?
• This or That: Index card acitivity of identifying/discussing scenarios that may or may not be barriers to entry into computer science.
Follow-up Question: How do you define a barrier to entry?
• Sticky Notes: Write suggestions geared toward the adminstration, teaching faculty, and fellow students on how to increase minoritized student participation in computer science.
• Then and Now: What has changed between the time of publication of Stuck in The Shallow End and now? Does the authors' thesis still hold?

Interesting Links

• Notes from today's seminar.

Assignment Due Today:

• Read Stuck in The Shallow End (pages 1-25) and answer the reflection questions on Canvas for the week.

Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 PM:

• Read the following articles and watch the videos linked:
  • Read The Quiet Way Advertsers Are Tracking Your Browsing
  • Read I tried Getting My Name Off People-Search Sites. It Was Nearly Impossible
  • Watch Senator Richard Blumenthal Asking About Ending Finsta
  • Watch Senator Ted Stevens' Series of Tubes Speech>
  • Watch Marck Zuckerberg vs. Congress
• Answer the reflection questions on Canvas for the week.

In this section, we discuss online privacy, both within a public setting and within a legal standing. We also discuss the current state of policy makers' knowlege—something useful to consider in the coming weeks!

Interesting Links

• Notes from today's seminar.
• Stored Wire and Electronic Communications Act
• The History and Law of Wiretapping
• Pegasus Spyware and Citizen Surveillance
• The Athens Affair

Assignment Due Today:

• Read the following articles and watch the videos linked:
  • Read The Quiet Way Advertsers Are Tracking Your Browsing
  • Read I tried Getting My Name Off People-Search Sites. It Was Nearly Impossible
  • Watch Senator Richard Blumenthal Asking About Ending Finsta
  • Watch Senator Ted Stevens' Series of Tubes Speech
  • Watch Mark Zuckerberg vs. Congress
• Answer the reflection questions on Canvas for the week.

Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 PM:

• Read the following article:
  • Woman's Arrest in Carjack Case Spurs Call to End Detroit Police Facial Recognition
• Answer the reflection questions on Canvas for the week.

In this section, we will watch Coded Bias and have mini-discussions!

Interesting Links

• Many Facial Recognition Systems Are Biased, Says U.S. Study

Assignment Due Today:

• Read the following article:
  • Woman's Arrest in Carjack Case Spurs Call to End Detroit Police Facial Recognition
• Answer the reflection questions on Canvas for the week.

Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 PM: None!

In this section, we discussed how LLMs and graphics interplay!

Interesting Links

• Test Yourself: Which Faces Were Made by A.I?

• Generative AI and Stereotypes

• We Asked A.I. to Create the Joker. It Generated a Copyrighted Image.

• Fake and Explicit Images of Taylor Swift Started on 4chan, Study Says

• The High Stakes of Deepfakes: The Growing Necessity of Federal Legislation to Regulate This Rapidly Evolving Technology

Assignment Due Today: None!

Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 PM:

• Read the following article:
  • He Died in a Tragic Accident. Why Did the Internet Say He Was Murdered?
• Answer the reflection questions on Canvas for the week.

In this section, we discuss text-based generative AI and what it means with respect to society!

Interesting Links

• AI Dungeon

Assignment Due Today:

• Read the following article:
  • He Died in a Tragic Accident. Why Did the Internet Say He Was Murdered?
• Answer the reflection questions on Canvas for the week.

Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 PM:

• Think of all the technology you have owned in your lifetime. Of the make and models of all the phones (smartphone and non-smartphone), computers (laptops, desktops, etc.), and tablets (kindle, ipad, ipod, etc.) you've owned so far in your life.

In this section, we stayed home because Elba was sick :)

Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 PM:

• Same as last time: Think of all the technology you have owned in your lifetime. Of the make and models of all the phones (smartphone and non-smartphone), computers (laptops, desktops, etc.), and tablets (kindle, ipad, ipod, etc.) you've owned so far in your life.

In this section, we go down memory lane about the technology we've used an experienced and what it means to society and the environment.

Interesting Links

• Toxics in the ‘Clean Rooms’: Are Samsung Workers at Risk?

• The Health Impact Impacts of Semiconductor Production: An Epidemiologic Review

• Samsung Spills Toxic Water, Wins Texas Environmental Prize

• American Chipmakers Had a Toxic Problem. Then They Outsourced It

• The Race to Produce Rare Earth Elements

• Not So Green Technology: The Complicated Legacy of Rare Earth Mining

Assignment Due Today:

• Think of all the technology you have owned in your lifetime. Of the make and models of all the phones (smartphone and non-smartphone), computers (laptops, desktops, etc.), and tablets (kindle, ipad, ipod, etc.) you've owned so far in your life.

Assignment Due Next Tuesday @ 3:00 PM:

• TBD