The classroom setting is a seminar format with an emphasis on close readings of texts and discussions of the various topics. Your participation in the course will be in the form of face-to-face discussions in the classroom and computer conferencing. Some of the class time is devoted to discussing the ideas presented in lectures, in the readings, or of particular concern to you. These discussions provide an opportunity to share our ideas, and think aloud.

In this course, we study some controversial topics which do not have a simple set of commonly accepted conclusions or "`facts." Rather, many ofour discussions conclude with a richer and possibly more complex and ambiguous view of the topics we started to discuss. Thus, the process of reasoning through some of the situations we study is more important than the conclusions we reach. (In this way it is like a design course where exercising the skills is more important than the particular system which is designed and built.)

These complexities don't mean that these topic discussions are just bull sessions. But they do yield a different kind of understanding than that which is emphasized in most science and engineering courses. I will sometimes take specific stands; but most often, I am presenting different ways of viewing a particular issue and underlining significant social aspects of computing developments. I want you to understand some of the key positions about these issues and to develop your own point of view.

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