Introduction

Welcome to L&I SCI 120 - Information Technology Ethics for UWM Spring 2012 semester. 

Students must submit reading response blog entries three times over the course of the semester.  

Each submission must be 350-700 words, properly cited, and use correct grammar and spelling.  These entries are meant to keep your reactions, questions, perspectives, surprises, disappointments, etc., to the readings and to class discussions. I encourage you to comment on each other’s posts.  The following are some guide questions to approach in yourl entries:

What in the readings engaged you the most? The least?

• What happened in class this week surprised you the most? Why?
• What did you learn this week from the readings and/or class discussion?
• How will you take what you learned this week into your everyday life?
• Will anything you learned this week cause you to change your technology behaviors?
• Have you discussed anything from this week with your peers, family, friends, etc? If so, describe your conversation.

In order to receive credit for your posts, they must be complete, thoughtful, and on time. Your writing should demonstrate that you have a thorough understanding of the week’s topic and readings.

Due dates:

February 19 (must discuss material between weeks 1 and 4)
March 18 (must discuss material between weeks 5 and 8)
April 22 (must discuss material between weeks 9 and 13)

 

Below I've provided an introductory prezi-tation to get us oriented.  I will also do video lectures throughout the semester. 

Intro L&I SCI 120--Spring 2012 on Prezi

Orientation Lecture

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Course Communication

Part 3: Textbooks and Materials

Part 4: Assignments and Grading

Part 5: First Week of Class and Conclusion

Writing, Critical Thought, and Analysis Lecture

Part 1: Introduction; critical thought and analysis defined; validity and soundness; necessary and sufficient conditions




Part 2: Fallacies


Part 3: Fallacies (cont.)


Part 4: Writing and conclusion

Things to Do on Your Final Blog Post

Hi folks.  For the most part, the blog 2 posts were pretty good.  I have some additional requirements for your final blog entry.  I will try to remember to send a reminder of this message before blog 3 is due.   

1) You need to put your full name somewhere in your post if your username on blogger isn’t your full name.  You will not get credit for your post unless you do so.  Think of this like a paper: you need to provide your name, a proper title (subject line/indicate it is blog #3), and document structure (paragraphs).  

2) Do not start off your blog saying “we covered a lot of material the past 4 weeks.” This is a waste of space.

3) Do not give a list of the topics we covered.  This too is a waste of space.

4) Focus on one topic or at most two related topics.

5) If you give an opinion, justify it.  Use critical thought and analysis and source material to support your claim.

6) Type your entry into a word processing software, use spell and grammar-check, and proofread it before you post it.

-Brad

Leisure at the Cost of Someone Else's Misery

Are Consumers of Apple Products Contributing to Global Genocide? on Prezi

The Notoriously Muddy Term

Chapter 10 in Tavani spoke of the Digital Divide and I found the ethical arguments surrounding this issue to be the most interesting read.

  I agree with Jeremy Moss’ argument that access to knowledge is significantly lessened or prevented for people without access to cybertechnology. More and more information is directly found online and not in print. I hear more and more radio contests being done on Facebook and Twitter and a majority of advertising directs users to the businesses website and/or Facebook page. This would not be available to the people without access to the Internet. There is also the lack of broadband coverage in rural areas which affects the availability of information.

  Moss states with his second argument that participating in politics is becoming much more difficult for people without cybertechnology. The new White House page is one of the most instantaneous and transparent means of communicating with the public that the government has ever done. I know that a majority of political correspondence I’ve received in the last 2 years has been digital and I no longer receive the usual flyers in the mail like I used to. I can see how people without Internet access or members of the rural population would fall behind on important political issues and election information.

  In terms of the title of this post, I meant that primarily in regards to the nebulous nature of the ethical dilemmas surrounding the Digital Divide and that is really an off-shoot of the already-established “perceived gap” (Tavani, 301). I believe the Analog Divide will prevent most of the attempts at bridging the Digital Divide as long as sociodemographic issues like class and race are still a factor the accessibility and availability of information.

Prezi by Morris Thompson

Information Privacy on Prezi