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Implementing the Tenth Strand - Page 16 of 18
Gathering Resources for Implementing the Knowledge Units
The collection of teaching resources in computer ethics is growing as computer
scientists, engineers, ethicists, sociologists, and others become more interested in the
field. In this section we discuss some sources we have found particularly useful. Daily
newspapers, magazines, and Internet newsgroups and mailing lists routinely include articles
about the relationship of computers, telecommunications, and society. These articles can be
a rich source of examples, but we suggest two cautions:
(1) teachers (and particularly teachers
of ethics!) should be careful not to violate the law when using copyrighted materials in
their teaching; and
(2) articles from the popular press are used most effectively when they
contribute directly to the topics and techniques planned for the course.
Teachers should
avoid making the class a parade of superficial presentations of current events. Critical
analysis and reasoned arguments should be emphasized.
Some periodicals are dedicated to examining the social and ethical context of
computing. Two such periodicals are the Computers & Society Newsletter, published quarterly
by SIGCAS of the ACM, and the IEEE Technology & Society magazine. There are also a variety
of excellent videos available, including videos from the Freedom, Computers and Privacy
Conferences (ACM, New York), several videos produced by Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility (CPSR), and multimedia and video materials produced by the Research Center on
Computers and Society in New Haven, Connecticut.
The Internet offers a plethora of materials that can be useful in teaching in this
area. There exist mailing lists, newsgroups, ftp repositories, and World Wide Web pages
dedicated to topics of computer ethics, societal impact, legal issues, and the like.
However, any listing of these resources when given in a printed form (such as this report)
is obsolete long before it is printed. Instead of promulgating such a list, the ImpactCS
project is establishing a World Wide Web site for locating electronic resources for teaching
computer ethics and societal concerns. The ImpactCS Web site will contain links to documents,
lists of ftp sites, links to other Web pages, lists of gopher sites, and lists of mailing
groups. This information will be kept as current and as comprehensive as possible. The
information will be organized using the conceptual framework presented in Figure 1 of
Consequences of Computing [3]. The ImpactCS home page will function as a search engine that
will return a list of resources relevant to search parameters specified by the user.
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