CSE 190 is a unique opportunity for top juniors, seniors, and graduate students at UCSD to investigate and discuss the impact of computing on society at a level beyond anything in the rest of the CSE curriculum.  In debate with faculty and other top students, participating students will expand and sharpen their understanding of the computer industry and the impact of computers on society.  As a result, participants will be exceptionally well-placed to help shape the future of computing and society.

The seminar will meet Mondays and Wednesdays during the spring quarter (2001) from 1:30 to 2:50pm in APM room 4882.  If you are interested, please contact the instructor at elkan@cs.ucsd.edu.

Each student enrolled in the seminar will choose two or three important books and write two papers that include an an analysis and critique of the observations and arguments of one or two related books.  She or he will make a presentation to the entire or class, and then lead a discussion on the questions raised by the book.  The instructor will help all students individually to write and revise their papers, and to prepare their presentations.

Here are guidelines for writing the term papers.  All papers will be evaluated carefully using these grading criteria.

Some examples of specific topics that may be investigated and debated in the seminar include:

• lessons to learn from IBM's past dominance of the computer industry
• the economics of the software industry today
• the Microsoft antitrust case
• the impact of the Internet on the U.S. and world economy
• how startup companies are founded, financed, and managed
• whether software engineers should be state-licensed like physicians, lawyers, and other engineers
• professional ethics for software and hardware engineers
• computerization and privacy
• cryptography and national and world security
• past and future changes in the law on software patents
• why hardware technology appears to advance faster than software technology
• the human aspect of managing large software or hardware projects
• the open-source software movement
• the "digital divide" in the U.S. between those who are computer-literate and those who are not
• whether computerization is increasing the gap between wealthy countries and underdeveloped countries
• and others!

• High Stakes, No Prisoners : A Winner's Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars by Charles H. Ferguson
• High Tech Start Up : The Complete Handbook for Creating Successful New High Tech Companies by John L. Nesheim (2nd ed.)
• Competing on Internet Time : Lessons from Netscape and Its Battle With Microsoft by Michael A. Cusumano and David B. Yoffie
• In the Beginning...Was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson
• Findings of Fact on Microsoft by Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson
• Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace by Lawrence Lessig
• Republic.com by Cass Sunstein
• The Control Revolution: How The Internet is Putting Individuals in Charge and Changing the World We Know by Andrew L. Shapiro
• Database Nation : The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century by Simson Garfinkel
• After the Gold Rush : Creating a True Profession of Software Engineering by Steve M. McConnell
• The Mythical Man-Month : Essays on Software Engineering by Frederick P. Brooks Jr.
• Secrets of Software Success : Management Insights from 100 Software Firms Around the World by Detlev J. Hoch, Cyriac R. Roeding, Gert Purkert, Sandro K. Lindner
• Computer Power and Human Reason : From Judgement to Calculation by Joseph Weizenbaum
• Computers Ltd : What They Really Can't Do by David Harel
• Computation and Human Experience by Philip Agre
• The Invisible Computer : Why Good Products Can Fail, the Personal Computer Is So Complex, and Information Appliances Are the Solution by Donald A. Norman
• Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity  by Jakob Nielsen
• The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid
• Questioning Technology by Andrew Feenberg
• Digital Capitalism : Networking the Global Market System by Dan Schiller
• Consilience : The Unity of Knowledge by Edward O. Wilson
• Sorting Things Out : Classification and Its Consequences by Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star
• Understanding Media : The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan
• Avatars of the Word : From Papyrus to Cyberspace by James Joseph O'Donnell
• Inventing the Internet by Janet Abbate
• A History of Modern Computing by Paul E. Ceruzzi
• Aramis, or the Love of Technology by Bruno Latour
• The Challenger Launch Decision : Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at Nasa by Diane Vaughan
• The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
• Regional Advantage : Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 by Annalee Saxenian
• Digital Divide : Computers and Our Children's Future by David Bolt and Ray Crawford
• The Internet Edge: Social, Technical, and Legal Challenges for a Networked World by Mark J. Stefik
• The Great Disruption : Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order by Francis Fukuyama
• End of Millennium by Manuel Castells
• The Virtue of Prosperity: Finding Values In An Age Of Techno-Affluence by Dinesh D'Souza
• The New Renaissance : Computers and the Next Level of Civilization by Douglas S. Robertson
• Consulting Demons : Inside the Unscrupulous World of Global Corporate Consulting by Lewis Pinault
• The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
• Blown to Bits : How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy by Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster
• The Economic Laws of Scientific Research by Terence Kealey
• Information Rules : A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy by Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian
• Friction-Free Economy by Ted Lewis
• The Gorilla Game : Picking Winners in High Technology by Geoffrey A. Moore, Paul Johnson, Tom Kippola
• The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary by Eric Raymond
• The Hacker Ethic by Pekka Himanen, Manuel Castells (Epilogue), Linus Torvalds
• Free for All: How Linux and the Free Software Movement Undercut the High-Tech Titans by Peter Wayner
• "The New Yorker" Looks at the Age of Affluence by David Remnick

The instructor is Charles Elkan, Associate Professor.  If you are interested in taking this seminar, send email or telephone (858) 534-8897.  The seminar will have a final examination only if required by UCSD regulations.  Otherwise, each participant will be evaluated 1/2 on his or her written papers, 1/4 on his or her spoken presentation, and 1/4 on participation in discussions.  Since students will be carefully selected, it is expected that all will do well and receive a good grade.

CSE 190 will count towards graduation as a technical elective, because participants will apply their technical knowledge of computer science to analyze aspects of the impact of computing technology on society.
 
 

MAIN PRESENTATIONS

If you have a conflict on the day you are scheduled to make your presentation, please arrange a time swap with another student and let the instructor know as soon as possible.

All students are expected to attend each presentation and to complete an evaluation form, which will be published here.
 
 

SHORT PRESENTATIONS

Bring a handout containing one review or other relevant document for each book.  Bring one copy of the handout for each person in class, and also publish the handout on your web page.

Each presentation will last exactly ten minutes.  It is your responsibility to plan and pace your presentation correctly.
 
 

Most recently updated on April 12, 2001 by Charles Elkan, elkan@cs.ucsd.edu