CS47N: Computers and the Open Society

     Technology and the U.S. elections
        

Team presentation in Class Monday, October 22

You will be put into a team of 3. Each team will choose an issue regarding the use of computers in the campaigns and upcoming election. The presentation should describe the most pressing issues and controversies, what events have best illustrated them, and what problems we face.

First, get your team together and decide on a topic of interest. Do initial research on your own, and then get together with your team some time before the class session on Wednesday, to plan a unified presentation.

Each group will have ten minutes including presentation and discussion. Plan the presentation to go for less than five minutes. When in doubt, brevity is best. Identify the key points, not all the details

Some potentially relevant topics:

• The use of social media in campaigning (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• The use of sophisticated computer analytics to target voters
• The benefits and dangers of electronic voting machines
• The role of on-line transparency (e.g., youtube videos) in shaping opinion
• The promise and perils of on-line voting
• The role of bloggers, as compared to traditional journalists, in shaping political discourse
• ...