School of Engineering and Applied Science Department of Computer Science CSci 110 -- Technology and Society http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~mfeldman/csci110/summer10 Prof. Michael B. Feldman, course instructor mfeldman@gwu.edu

The Social Impact Analysis Project on Broadband (High-Speed Internet) for All Americans -- 32% of grade, due in Stages

Every year, the term project in this course considers the social impact of a technological issue that is "hot" that year. In 2009 we studied electronic health records, in 2008, election technologies; in 2007 the RealID Act; in 2006 the identity theft question, etc.

This year, one of the "hot" technology subjects in providing high-speed Internet service across the country, to all Americans. In February 2010, a Commerce Department report estimated that 40% of Americans currently have no broadband access and 30% have no Internet access at all; this lack of access is an aspect of a social situation known as the "digital divide", separating us into digital "haves" and "have-nots". The American Recovery and Reinvestment ACT (ARRA, the so-called "stimulus package") is providing some funding for expanded broadband, but there's a long way to go.

In March 2010, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) -- at the direction of Congress -- published a plan to "ensure that all Americans have access to broadband capability." Like any major government initiative, this one has sparked controversy across the political sphere and the industry, especially the telecommunications companies (phone, cable TV, etc.) and the Internet content providers. The "network neutrality" concept plays an important role here.

The general state of broadband -- including its advantages to society, the FAA plan, and reaction to it, are our subject of study in this course.

In this course we're interested not so much in the technical details of broadband Internet, but rather in the overall impact on society of its adoption, including public perception. Your assignment is to research the topic as individuals, discuss it as a class, and design a survey to examine public attitudes about broadband. Each student will be assigned to one of several groups; each group will develop its own survey, and deploy it on the zoomerang.com survey website. You will collate and analyze the data, and each group will write a report of its findings. ONE final project paper per group is expected.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

• All assignments for this course must be completed under the George Washington University Code for Academic Integrity. Read the section there on plagiarism!
  
• You may use the Internet as a source of information, but others' work must be acknowledged! A quotation from the Internet is just like a quotation from a book, and be written in quotation marks, with a citation (in-line or footnote) to the URL of the site you used.
  
• If you include material from other sources, including the Internet, in your own work, and fail to cite your sources properly, you are risking an Academic Integrity charge of plagiarism!

PROJECT STAGES:

Because of the compressed course schedule, this project must progress at the rate of one stage per week! Sorry about the fast pace, but this is the only way to get it done in 6 weeks overall!

Week 2 -- Research report (8%, due Sunday, 5/30): Each student will gain some background in the subject and write an individual report (approximately 1000-2000 of your own words) that will discuss the overall subject, including the general state of adoption of broadband, the recent Federal emphasis, and your personal assessment of the costs and benefits.

The Commerce report and the FCC plan are good starting points for your research, but you might also want to look into how the U.S. stands relative to other countries. Also check out the Universal Service concept (try wikipedia) to see how the government promoted universal telephone service in the early 20th century and how the concept might be extended to broadband. For another analogy, check out the efforts that began in the 1930s, to bring electrification to rural parts of the U.S.

The Blackboard Discussions area for this course has a forum you can use to discuss the subject, suggest references, and so on. You're encouraged to use the forum for discussion, but your actual research report must be your own work.

Week 4 -- Survey Instruments due and deployed (due Sunday, 6/13): Each group will deploy its survey on Zoomerang (www.zoomerang.com). One member of each group will create a FREE account (good for ten days) and enter the survey questions, etc. EMAIL PROF. FELDMAN THE URL FOR YOUR SURVEY so he can help "advertise" your need for data. Be sure you also recruit your own family, friends, etc. to take your survey! :)

Week 5 -- Preliminary Report on Survey Results (8%, due Sunday, 6/20): Each group will collate, examine, and analyze its survey data and submit a report providing preliminary results. As in the draft, one member of each group will submit the report via Blackboard; all members of a given group will receive the same score (out of 8 points).

Week 6 -- Final Social Impact Analysis Report (8%, due SATURDAY, 6/26 -- NOT Sunday - Saturday is the last day of class!): Each group will write a report based upon the data that contains an abstract, introduction to the subject, discussion of the research protocol, presentation of the findings, conclusions and bibliography. Once afain, one member in each group will submit the group's report.