Phenomenological Foundations of Cognition, Language, and Computation
Stanford University, Winter 2006-2007
Course Staff
Class meets Thursdays, 1:15-4:05, Nora Suppes Hall, Room 103
Course Description
Critical analysis of theoretical foundations of the cognitive approach to language, thought, and computation. Contrast of the rationalistic assumptions of current linguistics and artificial intelligence with alternatives drawn from phenomenology, theoretical biology, critical literary theory, and socially-oriented speech act theory. Emphasizes relevance of theoretical orientation to the design, implementation, and impact of computer systems as it affects human-computer interaction. test
Course Objectives
The course is structured as a seminar in which students will be required to do a good deal of reading, to do written assignments, to work in small groups, and to actively participate in discussion. The main text is Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design, by Terry Winograd and Fernando Flores. Other readings will serve as background to that work (going more deeply into the sources it presents) and as contrasts or extensions to its approach. In this course we will explore core texts and ideas which help us to shape new visions and discourses for our thinking and practice of computer science, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, philosophy, and design. Our hope is that students will learn how to read, write, think, and speak critically about core ideas and assumptions underlying current computational and humanistic disciplines, and that through this process they will learn new skills, which will inform their practice of designing, building, and talking about human-computer artifacts.
Readings will be assigned for each meeting, and the class time will be a combination of presentation and discussion.
The course does not require a technical background in computing. There are no formal prerequisites, but we assume that students have a general familiarity with the basic ideas of computation and with simple concepts in formal logic. Previous background in philosophy will be useful but not necessary.
Course Requirements
Weekly Reading Responses
Each week you are required to write a brief response to the assigned readings.
- Pick one of the readings for the day (other than Winograd & Flores).
- Write about a page on:
- a point you would like to see better explicated
- an implication you draw from the reading
- a critical response to the reading
- some other response
- Please write thoughtfully. Write something worth your classmate's time to read.
- Send it by email to cs378-win0607-staff@lists.stanford.edu by 9:00am on Wednesday.
- Responses will be available to the whole class on the wiki after all are submitted
Small Group
Sometime during the course you will work in a small group to examine and discuss one of the sets of readings, prepare questions and thoughts about them, and help lead class discussion. The group will be expected to read further reading, as well as the main readings that everyone in class will read. As part of this assignment you will also add material (questions for the discussion and further thoughts on the readings) to the course Wiki.
Weekly Wiki Comments
Each week after class, you are required to post at least once to the wiki. You can comment on a point raised in class, add a reference to related material you know about, draw connections to past or future class topics, etc. This doesn't have to be anything big. Fodder for your comment will include:
- Required and additional readings for the week
- In-class presentation and discussion
- Your and other students' reading responses
- Addiditional material added to the wiki by that week's small group.
In addition to these assigned entries, students are welcome to add material to the Wiki as they read and think about the issues. We are trying it out in place of a discussion list, to see how the collaborative editing features can be helpful in working with the kinds of material in this course. We'll talk more about this in class and welcome your ideas on how to make best use of it.
Term Paper
This will be your major project for the class. It can be in textual or other form and will deal with your choice of theoretical and design issue from the course. In this project you will have a chance to examine a particular application of the ideas of the course and to assess it in theoretical and practical terms. A draft/spec of the project will be due before the final due date and will be critiqued and handed back for revision in the last week. Sample topics will be provided, and you are free to draw on those and come up with your own. See details.
- The topic proposal will be due Monday, February 5
- The draft paper will be due on Thursday, March 1
- The Final paper will be due on Monday, March 19
Grading
Your performance in this course will be graded according to the following criteria:
- Class Participation - 25%
- Term Paper Draft - 25%
- Term Paper Final Version- 50%
The course can be taken for a grade or pass/no-credit, for either three or four units.
Please Note: Since 25% of your grade and a significant portion of your educational experience depend on active class participation, take risks, speak up, and join in the fun.
Required Texts
- Winograd, Terry and Fernando Flores. Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publication Corp., 1986. Paperback issued by Addison-Wesley, 1987.
Additional readings will be made available on line in the course directory (restricted to students in the course): http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs378/restricted
Editing this wiki is restricted to students taking the class and requires a password - please email Jeff at cs378-win0607-staff@lists.stanford.edu to obtain it.