CSU Long Beach
ENGR 350
Computers, Ethics, and Society

Syllabus
Schedule
Grading
Portfolio
Homework:
  Guidelines
  Standards
  1 - Images
  2 - Risks
    -- example
  3 - Infobahn
    -- example
  4 - Dataveillance
    -- example
  5 - Worklife
    -- example
  6 - Killer Robot
Term project

Homework 3 ("The Information Super-highway")

Latest Update: Sat 23 Jan 99

In this assignment, you will look carefully at your own use of the Internet. You should start work on this well in advance of the due date, since you might want to keep notes for a week or two, rather than just trying to remember things at the last minute.

First, document as carefully as possible what you actually do on the Internet. I'm using this term very loosely -- to mean any electronic communications work such as email, newsgroups, chat rooms, game playing, surfing the Web, ftp, doing school assignments from home, and so on. Describe the types of things that you do, and try to figure out as realistically as possible how many hours (per day, per week) you spend in doing them.

Talk about each activity in terms of the class readings and discussions. Don't just say "I use email a lot," but tell what kind of email it is -- to friends, to family (maybe overseas) -- is it mostly personal, mostly schoolwork, or mostly job-related? Is it to people you know personally (face-to-face) or to people whom you have never met? Don't just say "I like chat rooms," but tell why -- and think about the difference between writing with an "alias" and writing with your real name. (But you do not have to say anything that you'd be embarassed to discuss in class!)

(New): In your analysis, use specific information from the class readings (or outside articles you've read). If your experience supports what you read, say so -- if what you've experienced is different from what you've read, explain how and why. (Remember to document sources carefully, even if they are from the textbook.)

Talk about any specific problems that you encounter with the systems that you use. Are these one-time problems (for example, configuring software) or continuing hassles (for example, getting a busy signal from your dial-up service provider or finding a free terminal in the school lab).

Finally, think about what additional or new capabilities you would want to have in order to use the Internet or other networks to do things that you want to do. Would these really "improve" things for you, or would they simply create additional problems?