Overview

Project presentations count for 25% of the final grade. They must be created in Google Slides. You can use your UMB Google account if you don’t want to use a personal Gmail account, but personal accounts are fine too. Projects are completed as a group but graded individually, and each member of a group must meet all of the requirements on this page. That said, you should be cognizant of what each of your group members are doing and work together with them. Don’t assign roles and then have everyone work completely individually with no future group sessions or checkins. That’s a recipe for redundancy in your project, which will lead to preparation deductions and potentially other issues (multiple people using the same term, etc).

Format

Projects are presented in class but must be submitted on Canvas. Each student should submit a “anyone with the link” and “editor” permissions URL to their Google Slides on Canvas for this assignment by 9am on their presentation day. A screenshot of the correct settings to upload is below; a video tutorial is here.

In your slides:

On Canvas:

Uploading by the correct time is a crucial part of project preparation. Not uploading by the specified time will result in a 10 point deduction, regardless of what you present in class.

Time

Projects should last between 9 and 12 minutes. If you have a group of 4 people, that means that each person should present for no more than 3 minutes. It is almost impossible to time the presentation well without practicing beforehand; going over your allotted time will result in a deduction from the “preparation” portion of the rubric. Time taken by audience members answering discussion questions will not count against your time limit. When a group is over the time limit, the instructor will take your discussion questions into account (make sure they meet the criteria below) but may limit the amount of time the audience has to answer, or in severe time overages, not let them answer it at all. In that instance, the preparation portion of the rubric will absorb the deduction rather than the question portion (just remember that you have a separate rubric for the question quality and setup). 

Timing is the one portion of the rubric that is graded holistically rather than individually. It is your responsibility to practice this presentation with your group in order to ensure adherence to timing requirements. Even if your portion is on time, if others go over time, that will affect your score since I conclude that there was insufficient group practice. If you feel you are doing your best to facilitate such practice but your project partners are not contributing, please refer to the “unhelpful partner?” section below.

Topic

Research a highly specific current social or ethical issue with ties to technology. Note that the issue must be current, but the details of the topic are not required to be recently published. For example, you could do a project comparing the original Turing test (from the 1950s) to current AI assistants, even though the main part of the topic is many decades old.

As a group, you should highlight all opposing viewpoints and relevant aspects. You must use applicable terminology as learned in class wherever appropriate.

You are not expected to be an expert on the topic, but rather to conduct in depth research that makes you well-versed by the end of your project. There should be cohesion amongst group member content presented: if the project title is “Exact arguments, details, and results of a lawsuit against Google in which a self-driving car struck another vehicle,” all group members should present different facets of that exact topic. No group member should present on privacy issues with recordings in those cars, for example, or the economic impact of self-driving cars on taxi drivers. Everyone should be focused on the same hyper-specific topic. Branching out renders your topic more broad, which means you will take a hit in the “preparation” portion of the rubric that emphasizes specificity in topic selection.

Presentations should be devoid of profanity and obscene content. Focus on ethical issues and ramifications; do not share a “how to” guide or a general overview of a broad topic. See suggestions about topic selection below.

Keep in mind that you are speaking to a group of mostly CS and IT majors. There is no need to dedicate large amounts of time to explaining, for example, how social media or encryption works in general, etc. You should also not re-explain class content without adding your own specific analysis of how those terms apply to your particular topic. Playing videos that have already been played or assigned to be watched in class is prohibited (Stuxnet, Snowden interview, etc.). You should also review upcoming class topics, and slides to make sure we are not about to talk about your exact topic or show a video you plan to show. Videos are allowed, but may not take up more than 10% of the total presentation time. For example, in a 10 minute presentation, you can play a video up to one minute long, but not longer.

Topics do not have to be discussed with the professor ahead of time. For this reason, topics should be extremely specific in nature. When it comes to topic selection, avoid the left side of this table. Of course, don’t copy the topic on the right side exactly either. Rather, use it as inspiration to choose your own topic.

Not good	Better  (just make sure to come up with your own unique topic)
TOR	A comparison of the use of TOR by specific federal agents in the Silk Road cases
Drones	An analysis of drone use by the European Union targeting Yemen in 2013
The NSA or Government Surveillance	An explanation of the court case Jewel vs. the NSA
AI	Detailed analysis of a timeline of Anduril’s public statements and policies about ethical decision-making in its products.
Censorship	An in-depth explanation of Youtube takedown notices and the elements of Fair Use in two specific videos
DeepFakes	Comparative analysis of two specific DeepFake videos: purpose, methods, ethical issues, applicable laws, end result.
Bionic bodies	Ramifications of military use of “super” prosthetics: specific cases in which soldiers benefit from and/or regret bionic limbs
Online Gambling	Fantasy Sports vs. the stock market: a legal and ethical comparison
Privacy: How to protect yourself online	Comparison of liability analysis for two or more specific privacy breaches in the private sector
Bitcoin	Currency scandals: the effect of volatile markets on the dollar and Bitcoin between 2018 and 2021
Virtual Reality	Using Oculus Rift in schools: why the benefits of full immersion in learning environments outweigh the drawbacks (or vice versa) – an analysis of the research literature
Self driving cars	Exact arguments, details, and results of a lawsuit against Google in which a self-driven car struck another vehicle.
Net Neutrality	A comparison of internet speeds, price, and legislation among specific countries… or a breakdown of SPECIFIC arguments for/against net neutrality with evidence supporting or disproving them
Facial Recognition	An in-depth analysis of the IBM/NYPD initiative that enabled skin color to be incorporated into facial recognition software used by officers to prevent crime.
Loot Boxes	A comparison of how two different games with an audience that includes children implement gambling-like mechanisms. Be extra careful with this topic since the Gambling lecture comes relatively late in the semester, and you are not allowed to use terms from the list that we haven’t discussed in class yet.
AI taking jobs	Could the UBI work in America? A comparison of various economic and social markers between the United States and Finland as they pertain to the UBI experiment there

Question

Each student must engage the audience with a question. It should be well-framed, not yes/no or binary in nature (“Should this happen or not? Why or why not?”), and lead to interesting discussion. Avoid generalities like “What do you think about XYZ?” or “What should the government do about this?” Those answers will be very broad and far-reaching, hence hard to answer at a moment’s notice. 

Keep in mind that the audience will have just heard your presentation and will not have time to reflect deeply or broadly on answers. A good question has a very specific answer that can be factual or personal. Multiple choice questions can also work well here. Such a question can be achieved in multiple ways:

Each student separately engages audience with questions like “Who can remind me what law might apply in this situation?”*

or

“With everything I’ve told you about Amazon’s ecological impact, ordering from them definitely generates cognitive dissonance. Think about your last order from Amazon. How exactly do you justify it to yourself? What does that mental process look like for you personally?”

*Careful! Having the answer to a question be your only class term means that you must then define, cite, and apply the term after a classmate answers your question. Otherwise, you will meet the question requirements but not the term requirements. See below.

Terms

EACH STUDENT in the group must correctly use a class term in their portion of the presentation. Each student is graded separately, and term usage is a significant part of the grade. The term used must have already been discussed in class, and it must be explicitly defined, cited, and applied to the topic. The term citation should be in URL format on the same slide on which the definition appears, with the entire hyperlink visible (but it can be small). Make sure you explicitly connect the term’s definition to what you’re presenting for the application.

You can use a multi-part term across partners. For example, one person can use Fair Information Principles focusing on informing users about collecting information, and another person can use Fair Information Principles focusing on providing a way to opt out. The same part of the same definition of the same term, or two or more members using a term with a short and basic definition, will not earn credit for anyone after the first person to use it.

Citations

Outside sources should be cited on each slide, not at the end. Citations should be just a URL – you should not include full APA references. The full hyperlink text should be viewable in your slide (but it can be small). Be especially careful when using information or images taken from the internet – not citing these in-slide can lead to plagiarism issues.

Each student must research and select their own citations for the content they present. 

Presentation

See rubric for the breakdown of the presentation score. Students may use notes when presenting, but the degree to which they use them will be reflected in the rubric value. Relying heavily on notes (reading verbatim) will result in a lower presentation score, while quickly glancing at notes and then maintaining eye contact and a conversational tone will align with “proficient” presentation value. The degree to which students meet these expectations is determined by the professor during the presentation.

Names

Students should introduce themselves before the presentation begins. The first and last names of the slide author should be visible on each slide, including the presentation of the discussion question. If a question is split between multiple group members (see Question section above), all names of relevant members should be on the question slide.

Connectivity for Display

Your classroom has HDMI and VGA plug ins; some rooms also have USB-C connections. I have an HDMI to USB-C adapter that I am happy to lend you. If your machine only has USB or other connectivity, you will need to bring your own adapter. Sound is less dependable – some rooms have sound that works every time and others don’t. I recommend using a device that has loud speakers in case you can’t depend on the aux or hdmi cables for sound. You may not use my laptop to present your project: I will be using it to grade as you present. Some classrooms have computers at the front desk, but they require extensive log-in processes. You should use your own laptop to present. Your group should agree on whose laptop will be used for the presentation and be ready with it at presentation time.

Unhelpful partner?

Each student is graded based on their presentation element. The entire rubric is applied to each individual student. There is no “group grade” for this assignment. Still, the “preparation” element of the rubric addresses some group elements such as delegation of tasks and on-time submission.

Remember that all students agreed, via the BOS assignment, to

a) choose a very specific topic for this assignment and

b) notify the instructor as soon as possible if project members are not pulling their weight:

The only way I can ensure fair grading is if you let me know about work delegation problems before the project is presented. That’s why I require 2 weeks notice and timestamped updates (in the form of one or more emails) before you present if your partners are not helpful. All students agree to this method at the beginning of the semester. Complaints about uneven workloads after the project is presented will not be taken into account.

LLM reminder

While issues connected to LLMs can be the subject of study for a project, the course policy holds: you may not use LLMs to complete any portion of this assignment that is assigned to you on this page. The planning, research, source selection, slide creation, content creation, discussion question creation, ethical analysis, and in-class presentation of each slide must all be completed by the student whose name appears on that slide.

Only individuals in the group should contribute the the project. Like all assignments in the course, you are expected to do your own work. Only if explicitly directed should you include other people’s contributions to your work. Friends, family, roommates, and others should not be helping you with this assignment or any assignment in this class.

• I will not read entire projects in order to “check” them or proofread them before you present. I will however, be happy to provide answers to targeted questions.
  • No: “Can you see what I have so far and tell me what to fix?”
  • Yes: “At the end of my second slide, I’d like to make sure I applied my term correctly. Can you confirm that my application is accurate?”

Here is the project rubric used for grading:

Examples of Covid-19 era projects:

During remote instruction from Spring 2020 to Summer 2021, students submitted their projects online, so we have a few easily accessible examples of good projects. Of course, if your course is NOT remote, you will present the project in front of the class during class time. No student may present online if the class is held in person.

A great project from Fall 2020: here. Note how specific the topic is: the students have identified a specific program in a specific location to analyze. The students share information that has not already been discussed extensively in class, but rather offer new details, insights, facts, and in-depth research that we would not get otherwise. Each student has a clear discussion question for which the answer is not simply yes or no (see rubric). Each student includes and explicitly defines at least one class term and applies it to their particular topic. Each slide includes the presenter’s first and last name, as well as any citations used for information on that slide.

Example of a project: here. Note how each student has a discussion question (either verbally or on their slide), each student uses a term, each slide has citations and the presenter’s name, the topic is specific, and the analysis is in-depth.

Another exemplary project: here. Note how each student has a discussion question (either verbally or on their slide), each student uses a term, each slide has citations and the presenter’s name, the topic is specific, and the analysis is in-depth.