CMSC 295 (CTZN 110): Inquiry into citizenship—Inhabiting and constructing an ethical digital world
Fall 2017
Prof. Blaheta
The study of ethics is as old as ancient Greece, but still has the power to help us inform ourselves on how we can act, how we should act, how we must act, and how we want to act. Technologists sometimes imply or even explicitly state that their work is independent of ethical analysis or constraint; but our disciplines of mathematics and computer science give us many examples of ethical questions, some of which are old questions wearing new hats, some of which are entirely new, and some of which are long-discussed hypothetical questions that are rapidly becoming concrete.
In this course, we will learn several frameworks with which to explore ethical questions, and we will investigate case studies and policy questions with relevance to the disciplines of mathematics and computer science.
This class meets at 9:30am on TR in Ruffner 352. The book for this course will be Michael J. Quinn's Ethics for the information age, 7e. ISBN 978-0-13-429654-8.
Course materials
- Syllabus
- Collaboration policy
- Menu of case study topics
- Case study presentation schedule
- Menu of discussion articles
- Menu of theses for paper/debate
- Article discussion schedule
- Paper thesis assignments
- Debate stuff
In-class posts and scenarios
- 29 Aug: Discovered child pornography
- 21 Sep: Equifax data breach
