www.cs.amherst/~ccm/fys-internet/paper1.html
FYS 22 Internet Controversies
First Paper Assignment
Your assignment is to write a paper describing some proposed
modification to the Internet (or its use).
Include as much technical detail as you can, and discuss
the implications and the merits of the proposal.
Avoid the temptation to argue passionately for one side or the other (you
will be invited do that in a later assignment). The purpose here is
to educate someone (a fellow student) on what the controversy is all about,
and to present the implications of adopting (or rejecting) the
proposal, from both a technical and social viewpoint.
If a full discussion of all implications would take too much space, it
is ok to restrict your attention to smaller categories. For example,
you might discuss the proposal from an economic or legal standpoint, or its
effect on civil liberties, privacy, or the social order.
Mention any technical reasons why it could or could not work.
Here are some suggested topics. (If you have an idea for an alternative
topic, it is probably fine, but ask me first.)
- It has been proposed to establish an .xxx top-level domain. Provide
a more specific version of this proposal that you believe would really
work (answering some objections raised to previous proposals),
and discuss its implications if adopted.
- It has been proposed that we to move away from Net Neutrality and towards
prioritized packet service and/or virtual circuits. Write down a specific
proposal (being as technical as you can), that you think could really be
viable to implement. Explain why you think it would work, and discuss
the implications.
- Propose a strategy -- a social campaign, legal action, new marketing
models, architecture, or a combination -- that better prevents children from
seeing pornography on the Internet. Explain why or how you think it
would work better than what we have now, and discuss some drawbacks as well.
- Some schools have banned students from using and
citing Wikipedia in student papers. Write the text of such a proposal
for Amherst College (including any other similar resources that you
think should be banned). Discuss the implications and the merits of
your proposal.
- The Google PageRank system has been criticized in various ways.
Propose a way to apply more ``human judgement'' to the page
ranking system. This could be something resembling the Library of Congress
numerical subject system, or perhaps something like Yahoo (where
categories designed by humans). Discuss the merits of your proposal.
The First Draft of this paper is due on
Tuesday, September 25th, in class. I will give the paper
to another student, together with a questionnaire, for comments (and
of course you will receive somebody else's paper). Peer responses are
due on Thursday: the idea is to use those comments to improve your paper.
If you prefer, you can make your first draft anonymous by omitting
your real name; but you do have to provide some sort of fake name
so I know who to return it to.
The final paper is due Tuesday, October 2nd. Turn in the paper
together with your first draft and the comments from the other student that
you received. The final paper should contain at most 2500 words.
It will be graded on syntax, structure, and style, as follows.
- Syntax: Your final paper should contain no spelling or grammar errors.
You must provide full citations for any sources that you use, and you
must use quotations and citations correctly.
- Structure: The overall organization and structure
of your paper should be clear and coherent. Paragraphs should be
well-structured internally, and well-placed with respect to one another.
Provide transitions where appropriate.
- Style: Your paper should be interesting and compelling. It should
be thoughtful and nuanced, not glib and shallow. You should
include information found in the class readings, but do not be afraid to
include new ideas as well.