Hello!
How are you? Here is our 1st writing & presentation topic assignment for the second semester.
Before we begin, here are the board notes for our class from two weeks ago on 10/15:
Now let's look at the assignment!
Task & topics
The picture above is a scan of the original ARPANET packet switching network layout, which was the basis for what later became the internet.
While there is no set theme I have selected for the semester, the internet is an example of a technological achievement that has had a great impact on our social and economic lives, and is shaping human culture in ways that are both positive, and not so positive. In that sense, you could think of this as a loose theme - the impact of scientific & technological achievements on society.
While all of you are free to go with any topic, the goal is to develop one (1) topic that all of you present and write about, with argumentation, step-by-step over the whole semester that will result in a final semester composition, with an abstract, plus the same topic also developed at the same time as a final presentation.
NEW - because this is a new kind of writing for all of you, and all of you are also developing short presentations on your same topics at the same time, I will allow you to work in pairs or groups throughout the whole semester on a collaborative basis.
If you choose to work in a group, it cannot be more than three (3) members. In groups of more than three members, someone often does more work than the others - so I will ask that you collaborate equally.
Either way - if you work in pairs or groups, you also have to stay with the same partner or group for the whole semester.
So here is a list of topics that you can choose from. Choose one (1) of these with your partner or group that you you like and agree on. To help you keep track of these topics, I have numbered each one:
1.
The reliability of Wikipedia as an information source for academic presentation and
writing preparation.
2.
The reliability of Google and other search engines in helping people stay
attentive in learning and studying.
3.
Any technology that people can (and perhaps should) live without.
4.
Levels of safety and risk in payment systems that require people’s eye or face
scans.
5.
The ethics of facial recognition or touch ID technology.
6.
The ethics of air travel in climate change.
7.
The ethics of implanting microchips in animals.
8.
The ethics of extending human rights to robots and other highly-developed forms
of artificial intelligence.
9.
The ethics of robots and other programmed machines to give medical treatment in
hospitals.
10.
The ethics of robots and other programmed machines to serve as teachers or
professors.
11.
The purpose of space travel and/or planetary exploration.
12.
The purpose of Japanese space exploration and technology.
13.
Inventions or discoveries that have been made possible by space technology.
14.
Comparing and contrasting the Sputnik versus Apollo space programs and which
had the greater impact.
15.
The cultural and social impact of marriages with robots
or high-tech dolls.
16.
The level of safety in military technology and what it means for society in
general.
17.
Possible connections of science and technological activity to natural disasters.
18.
The legality of restricting certain kinds of technology.
19.
The ability of humans to contact and understand possible other forms of life in
different galaxies.
20.
Advantages or disadvantages in technology that allow people to feel and touch
objects in virtual reality.
Abstract writing
For this Topic 1 assignment, write a short abstract of between 200-250 words showing a one-sided position - one that your pair or group will make an argument for, or one that your pair or group will make an argument against.
This is a new kind of writing for all of you, so I have made this short. But it is important that you aim for a one-sided argument from your reactions to the issues you will write about this time with your partner(s). So you can state an opinion – but you have to go beyond only saying what you believe, to develop as much of a methodology as you can to support the position you take, with researched proof to support your argument.
For example, if your pair or group believes that the internet does not need to be regulated by local or national governments, state an opinion about it – but do not stop there. Exactly why, in you and your partners' views, does it not need to be regulated? Are things about the web fine the way they are? Or is self-regulation by the general public, where people simply make promises not to post fake news or spread misinformation, good enough to keep the internet a safe area? What evidence is there to support your position that the internet is still socially safe?
Short presentation
Along with the written abstract, develop a short, 3-4-minute presentation with your partner(s) based on the abstract about the same topic – not a reading in front of others, but a separately developed presentation of you and your partner('s) topic.
Guidelines
I would like the abstract typed up. For the presentation, you have a choice of making an A3-sized poster or short Power Point display, as those of you who have taken AE2Y I from me have done before. We will also use the same guidelines as we have done before.
Deadline (締め切り)
NEW - there will be two (2) different deadlines for this assignment:
11/19 - first mini-presentations on pair/group topics for semester
11/26 - first drafts of abstracts of same pair/group topics
Good luck! I look forward to reading about, and seeing, your arguments to your choices of topics.
Image: By ARPANET - The Computer History Museum ([1]), en:File:Arpnet-map-march-1977.png, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9990864
