School of Information Systems and Technology
Faculty of Informatics
MCS9201 - Information Technology & Citizens’ Rights
Subject Outline
Autumn Session 2007
Head of School –Associate Professor Peter Hyland, Student Resource Centre, Tel: (02) 4221 3606
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Mrs Holly Tootell |
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Telephone Number: |
4221 5603 |
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Email: |
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Location: |
39.150H |
Mrs Tootell’s Consultation Times During Session
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Day |
Time |
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Thursday |
10:30am - 12:30pm 10:30am - 12:30pm |
Subject Organisation
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Session: |
Autumn Session, Wollongong |
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Credit Points |
6 credit points |
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Contact hours per week: |
1 hour lectures, 2hours tutorial |
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Lecture Times & Location: |
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Tutorial Day, Time and Location can be found at: |
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ELearning resources are an essential component of this course. You will need to be committed to participating in online discussions and checking the website at least every second day.
Lecture Schedule
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Theme |
Week |
Topic |
Assignment Submission |
Chapter |
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1 |
Introduction |
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Networks & Security |
2 |
Spam, Censorship |
Case 1 |
3
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3 |
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4 |
Hacking & Viruses |
Annotated Bibliography Case 2 |
6 |
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5 |
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Regulatory |
6 |
Intellectual Property |
Essay Case 3 |
4 |
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Mid-Session Break |
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7 |
Privacy |
FYI Deliverable 1 |
5 |
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8 |
Public Holiday |
Case 4 |
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Work Issues |
9 |
Automation & change |
Case Study Final |
8 |
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10 |
Computer Reliability |
FYI Deliverable 2 |
7 |
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11 |
Professional ethics |
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9 |
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12 |
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13 |
Subject Overview |
FYI Final |
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Students should check the subject’s web site regularly as important information, including details of unavoidable changes in assessment requirements will be posted from time to time. Any information posted to the web site is deemed to have been notified to all students.
This subject covers the body of ideas and commonly held principles that broadly apply to ethical behaviour in the information technology environment. IACT201 will examine the social and ethical implications of information technologies as they apply to citizens and information technology professionals. It will present legal, regulatory, social and ethical perspectives on the use of such technologies through topics of intellectual property, privacy, networking, security, reliability. The inclusion of a professional ethics is to prepare students for careers in the information technology industry. The extent to which technological advancements have altered societal expectations is also examined.
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
1. identify the privacy, legal and security issues related to the introduction of information and communication technologies;
2. explain solutions to security and privacy problems arising from the introduction of technology;
3. evaluate the impact of information technologies through the application of ethical frameworks
4. Explain the role of professional ethics codes of conduct
Attendance Requirements
It is the responsibility of students to attend all lectures/tutorials/labs/seminars/practical work for subjects for which you are enrolled.
It should be noted that according to Course Rule 003{Interpretation Point 2 (t)} each credit point for a single session subject has the value of about two hours per week including class attendance. Therefore, the amount of time spent on each 6 credit point subject should be at least 12 hours per week, which includes lectures/tutorials/labs etc
Satisfactory attendance is deemed to be attendance at approximately 80%* of the allocated contact hours. Attendance rolls may be kept for lectures, and TUTORIALS. If you are present for less than 80%* you need to apply for special consideration, otherwise a fail grade may be recorded. Your group members depend on you being there each week.
Students MUST attend their allocated tutorial unless they have the written permission of the subject coordinator.
This subject will have 1 hour lectures and 2 hours tutorial.
Subject Materials
Textbook: Quinn, Michael J., 2005, Ethics for the Information Age, 2nd Ed International, Pearson/Addison-Wesley
There will be other materials in reserve and in ereadings. You are encouraged to make use of these.
These readings/references are recommended only and are not intended to be an exhaustive list. Students are encouraged to use the library catalogue and databases to locate additional readings
This subject has the following assessment components.
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Assessment Items & Format |
Percentage of Final Mark |
Due Date |
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1.Annotated Bibliography |
20% |
Online submission Vista Week 4 Wednesday 9am |
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2.Essay |
20% |
Online submission Vista Week 6 Wednesday 9PM |
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3. Case Studies |
5 x 4% |
Online submission Vista Week 2 Wednesday 9am Week 4 Wednesday 9am Week 6 Wednesday 9am Week 8 Thursday 9am Week 9 Wednesday 9am |
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4. FYI group report |
40% |
Online submission Vista Week
7 Situation Analysis 500 words Due WEEK 8 FRIDAY 27/04/07 at 9PM Impact Assessment
Report 2000 – 3000 words due WEEK 12 FRIDAY 25/04/07 at 9PM Week 13 Personal Memo 500 words Wednesday 9am |
1. Annotated Bibliography – individual work
You are required to source 20 articles from four types of resources related to your essay question. These articles need to be fully referenced and annotated. Further instruction is available on the elearning site and will be given in Week 1 Lecture. Each annotation should be between 200 – 300 words.
2. Essay – individual work
Voice over IP (VOIP) technology has the potential to change the landscape of voice communications. Discuss each of the four issues below with regard to the SWOT component you assign it. (Further instruction is available on the elearning site). 2000 – 2500 words. 20 references.
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STRENGTH |
WEAKNESS |
OPPORTUNITY |
THREAT |
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Call security |
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VOIP Technology |
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Voice quality |
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Cost of calls |
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3. Case Studies – group and individual work
For the four case studies, you will work in a group (automatically assigned across subject) to work on the given case within a specified ethical framework. The group discussion will happen online through a discussion/blog tool.
The submission will be your response to the group posting for each case study. You do not necessarily need to follow the ethical theory that their group presented for that case. Instead this is an opportunity for you to form your own views to help you determine your ethical viewpoint for the final individual submission.
The final submission is a report which asks you to choose and justify an ethical theory that you could or do use for your own ethical decision making. You are required to include evidence from at least 2 of your discussion postings/ group submissions to justify your position. The second part of the individual report will be for you to evaluate how you’re your group worked together.
Each individual submission 200 words.
Final submission 1000 words.
4. ‘FYI - Fountain of Youth’: Security and theft in an international company – group and individual work
This assignment uses Problem Based Learning. You will be instructed on detail in the Week 6 tutorial.
Deliverable 1: 500 words
Deliverable 2: 2000 – 3000 words
Deliverable 3: 500 words
Students must refer to the Faculty Handbook or online references which contains a range of policies on educational issues and student matters.
Please note that if this is your last session and you are granted a supplementary exam, be aware that your results will not be processed in time to meet the graduation deadline.
Plagiarism
When you submit an assessment task, you are declaring the following
1. It is your own work and you did not collaborate with or copy from others.
2. You have read and understand your responsibilities under the University of Wollongong's policy on plagiarism.
3. You have not plagiarised from published work (including the internet). Where you have used the work from others, you have referenced it in the text and provided a reference list at the end ot the assignment.
4. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
5. Students are responsible for submitting original work for assessment, without plagiarising or cheating, abiding by the University’s policies on Plagiarism as set out in the Calendar under University Policies, and in Faculty handbooks and subject guides. Plagiarism has led to the expulsion from the University.
This outline should be read in conjunction with the following documents:
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Code of Practice - Teaching and Assessment http://www.uow.edu.au/handbook/codesofprac/teaching_code.html |
Key Dates |
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Code of Practice - Students http://www.uow.edu.au/handbook/codesofprac/cop_students.html |
Information Literacies Introduction Program |
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Acknowledgement Practice Plagiarism will not be tolerated |
Student Academic Grievance Policy http://www.uow.edu.au/handbook/codesofprac/cop_supervision.html#8 |
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Special Consideration Policy http://www.uow.edu.au/handbook/courserules/specialconsideration.html |
Code of Practice-Honours |
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Non-Discriminatory Language Practice and Presentation |
Intellectual Property Policy http://www.uow.edu.au/research/researchmanagement/1998IP.html |
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Occupational Health and Safety http://staff.uow.edu.au/ohs/commitment/OHS039-ohspolicy.pdf |
SISAT Internet Access & Student Resource Centre http://www.sitacs.uow.edu.au/info/current/internet_access_and_resource.shtml |
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SISAT Computer Usage Rules http://www.itacs.uow.edu.au/info/current/support/labs/rules.shtml |
SISAT Style Guide for Footnotes, Documentation, Essay and Report Writing |
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SISAT Student Guide |
Informatics Faculty Librarian, Ms Annette Meldrum, phone: 4221 4637,ameldrum@uow.edu.au |
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SISAT Subject Outlines |
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