New Reports

Since the tutorial is studying Computers: Facts [and] Misconceptions, some class time will be devoted to identifying popular images of computing.

• What is reported in the popular press about computing?
• What images do these reports present?
• To what extent are these images true, misleading, false?
• What are the practical, social, cultural, and ethical implications of the events reported?

Examples

Here are three examples of possible news stories, all retrieved on Saturday, August 24.

• Wireless recharging one step closer to reality from CNN.com/technology, updated 8:59 am EDT on August 22, 2008 (source: Associated Press).
• Guerrilla Ad Campaign Pushes Boundaries from National Public Radio, August 23, 2008, reporting on the exploits of Donnie Hoyle working with Photoshop (interview of Troy Hitch with reporter Scott Simon).
• Gartner Tech Forecast: Cloudy and Getting Cloudier from the New York Times, 5:30 pm August 19, 2008 by Steve Lohr.

Presentation of News Stories in the Tutorial

Most Thursday tutorial meetings will begin with the presentation of a few news stories.

• Groups of 2 or 3 students will present 1 news report/group on Thursday, August 28.
• Each student is expected to present 1 additional news report before the mid-semester break.
• Each student is expected to present 1 additional news report after the mid-semester break.

Notes:

• Each news report should have appeared within the last week (i.e., after the presentations of the previous Thursday).
• Each student report should be planned for about 5 minutes, as follows:
  • presentation of the story itself (about 3 minutes)
  • a few comments on possible perspectives the story presents regarding "facts, misconceptions, and ethical issues" (1-2 minutes)
  • a few questions for class discussion (1-2 minutes, but maybe longer)
• Students may work in groups of 2 or 3 on the identification of news reports.
  • Each person on the team must be part of the oral presentation
  • If the presentation is by a group of n students, then the presentation counts as 1/n toward the 1 required presentation before and after break. Thus, if two students present a news article, they each get credit for 0.5 news stories (and would need 1 more 2-student presentation to fulfill the 1 full report before or after break).
• Since students do not have to sign up for news presentations ahead of time, we can expect class time to be sporadic. Some days we may have several reports, other days none at all. If it turns out that many students want to present on the same day, it is possible that the discussion may need to be continued on the following Tuesday.

This document is available on the World Wide Web as

http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~walker/courses/tutorial.fa08/news-reports.shtml

created 24 August 2008 last revised 24 August 2008
For more information, please contact Henry M. Walker at (walker@cs.grinnell.edu)