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Social Issues in Computing Social Issues in Computing Exploring the Ways Computers Affect Our Lives Colin Edmonds June 2009 Social Issues in Computing Istanbul, Turkey June 2009 This text is a work in progress – at this time, a “beta” version. Special thanks to John Royce @ the Robert College library for his suggestions based on a first reading. The general idea for this book is based on my experience teaching an International Baccalaureate course about Social Issues in Computing called Information Technology for a Global Society. It was initially used as the textbook for a one semester course in the Spring of 2009. A series of slide presentations, one for almost each chapter was used as in-class lecture notes and this was accompanied by a large collection of videos from a variety of sources online. For my family - the social issue above all others. Cover photo: Colin Edmonds Images, unless otherwise specifically identified are also the (Creative Commons) work of Colin Edmonds. Other images are GNU Free Documentation available online from Wikimedia Commons which states: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. Subject to disclaimers. Social Issues in Computing (Exploring the Ways Computers Affect Our Lives) 2009 Colin Edmonds (check www.cedmonds.net for updates) Table of Contents Chapter 1 – The History of Computing Page 7 Chapter 2 – How Computers Work Page 26 Chapter 3 – Networking Computers Page 44 Chapter 4 – Computers in Business and Finance Page 51 Chapter 5 – Privacy and Security with Computers Page 66 Chapter 6 – Government and Computers Page 79 Chapter 7 – Forensics and Computers Page 91 Chapter 8 – Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Computers Page 102 Chapter 9 – Art, Entertainment and Leisure with Computers Page 114 Chapter 10 – Computers in Education Page 123 Chapter 11 – Online Communities Page 130 Chapter 12 – Mapping Data Page 135 This work is Creative Commons licensed – Free to Share and Remix provided that you attribute the original author. Some of the source material (images and research) is Wikipedia Commons licensed. Before We Get Started … Since 1984, I have spent a majority of my waking hours at a computer – these days, often at more than one computer at the same time. Back then, I volunteered to create a course that would act as the Lab Component of an EFL/ESL program for 7th graders. To run the program, we inherited a lab of 48K ZX Spectrum computers and no software. With close to zero experience using computers, (I had used a time share terminal once or twice in college in the mid 1970s), I ended up writing nearly 100 “drill and kill” exercises covering language skills such as past tense verb forms, word order, plural forms of nouns. (some are still online at cedmonds.net) In the ensuing years, my teaching experience and tools moved to Apple IIes, then to Amiga 500s, early Macs and then to the first PCs. In the early 1990s, when my school bit the bullet and agreed to build a network, I was given the job. Those were the days of Windows 3.x and our Network Operating System was Novell Netware 3.x and then 4.x. I got myself certified as a CNA, and later picked up a slew of certificates from Microsoft. I continued teaching the EFL course, which by now had morphed into a “Basic Computer Skills” program for our entering class. I also taught entry level Programming, Web Technologies in addition to do stints as Computer Center Director, Educational Technology Coordinator and head of the Computer Sciences Department. I began with 1200 bps dialup access to local BBSes and then, when the school worked out a special deal with the nearby university, graduated to text-based access to the Internet. For my international online presence, I created an account at the WELL and another at Compuserve. I recall concurrently also having access to TURPAK, the X.25 communications link from these parts before the Internet arrived. I don’t care an awful lot for TV, or even for watching movies. I would much rather be creating than consuming (and this goes for my other hobbies of cooking, playing the guitar and gardening as well). Most of my reading, I do at a computer or my PDA. I get my news primarily from the Net. We each have our online favorites; below are some of mine. They have provided (and continue to do so) me with a great deal of the background that I have tried to include in this textbook. While some of them pop up here and then in the pages of the text, I include them here as suggestions for places that you might go for filling in the gaps. In no particular order: Craphound.com – When I first learned of Cory Doctorow, it was through a news article about how he had discovered the hard way what happens when you write a book and make it available online “for free” – I recall that he ended up getting charged a large sum for the excess bandwidth the public consumed while downloading his book Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Wired.com – Before this corner of the world had acceptable download speeds, it was the print version of Wired magazine, and now it is a daily visit. bOINGbOING.net – BB has to speak for itself – and of course, Cory Doctorow is a major contributor. Rheingold.com – I first came across Tools for Thought when I was building my own skills for the ITGS course I taught for a few years. His is a great mind and the site is one of those like the above that leads to more and more and more knowledge. Edutopia.org – The George Lucas Educational Foundation site that, again, leads to all sorts of additional chances to learn more. The MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning resources at macfound.org Less so now than before, but still, ISTE at iste.org Hall Davidson, who I belatedly discovered, at http://www.halldavidson.net/ From Now On – Jamie McKenize’s site dedicated to educational technology at fno.org I make some use of youtube and would probably make more of it if it were not filter-blocked at the national level in Turkey. We can get there from here using anonymizers/proxies but the bandwidth is seriously degraded as a result. (At least one benefit has occurred as a result: everyone under the age of 25 here knows how to set up the software that allows this!) If and when I have the time to try to learn something new, one of the first places I have gone to since the days it was backed by Intel, is the collection of free online computer learning resources at intelligentedu.com The Internet Archive at archive.org – for its books, music, videos and the WayBack machine. I have also been on Cathy Schrock’s mailing list for some time and before that made frequent visits to her earlier online presence (now at http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/) One of the main reasons I have for writing this book is inspiration from Cory Doctorow. You’ll find lots of his writings are in my suggested readings at the end of each chapter. Lots more of his work is not included, but you should find the time to read it all. Another reason is that I would like the students of my course to have a free textbook. Two commercial texts that are similar that I am aware of are Computer Confluence and Gift of Fire, both good books and filled with content that at this point in my writing, I can only aspire to. You can get a digital copy of this book online at cedmonds.net and I have plans to continue refining and editing it. Probably the best place to pick up the latest version is there. Feel free to use the contact link at the site to make suggestions or for general contact via email. I. The Mechanics of Computers 1. The History of Computers 2. Hardware and Software 3. Networks Social Issues in Computing Chapter 1 6 Why Social Issues? There isn’t much these days that doesn’t involve the use of some form of Information Technology: shop at your supermarket, and you will notice that the cash register is a POS (Point of Sale) computer with an Ethernet connection to the store's automated inventory and accounting systems. When it is time to register your child for school, you will have to do it online. Airlines have moved exclusively to e-tickets, telephone assistance is a computer controlled, automated system, city traffic is controlled via a network of traffic cameras, and most of the legal paper- work a citizen is faced with will require you to provide a national ID number that is part of a huge government database. Even in the less technologically-advanced developing world, the rapid proliferation of the use of cellular phones means that more and more people are a part of and consequently affected by the Information Technology revolution. In short, the world as we know it would just about come to a standstill without effectively operating Information Communications and Technology (ICT) systems. With each passing year, the components that make up a computer system are getting smaller, faster and more capable. At the same time, these devices are being embedded in more and more of our appliances: a modern automobile includes more computer technology than the Apollo astronauts had when they went to the moon.
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