Comments to instructors
In addition to the assignments below, some of the Class Discussion Exercises in the text on pages 191-192 are suitable for student presentation assignments.
General instructions given to students
The presentations should analyze the situation, use analogies and similar cases where possible, mention various possible risks or consequences, etc. Include some discussion of how the technology involved affects the situation. What advantages or problems result from using it, compared to previous way of doing things? Present the group's proposals and/or conclusions, supported by arguments.
Presentation assignments
Asmt. 1: Policy for violent videos on the Web
Someone posted a video on a popular video site showing a group of men
with clubs enter a building and beat unarmed people. The site's
policy prohibits posting videos with graphic violence. When a
viewer complained, the video was removed. The removal was appealed by
others who said
the video documented abuse of prisoners in a Russian prison camp.
Group 1: You are a committee of managers at the site. Develop
a plan for dealing with such videos. Will you repost the video?
Explain the issues you considered.
Asmt. 2: Internet access in high schools
The local school board is meeting
to adopt policies for use of Internet terminals in the public
high schools. (The Supreme Court ruling on the Children's Internet Protection
Act did not explicitly address filtering software in schools).
The policies should address the issues of access by students to
pornographic, violent, and extremist political material, and any
other issues that the public or the board members consider relevant.
Representatives from the groups will present their suggested policies
and give arguments for them. The groups are
Group 1: the American Library Association and the
American Civil Liberties Union.
(References:
Library Bill of Rights adopted by the American Library Association
and the
ALA resolution on the Use of Filtering Software.)
Group 2: an organization that lobbied for the Children's Internet
Protection Act (CIPA)
Group 3: an organization of high school students
Group 4: an organization of high school teachers
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