Computers and Society: Computing for Good (Chapman & Hall/CRC Textbooks in Computing) - Softcover

Kaczmarczyk, Lisa C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1439810885 ISBN 13: 9781439810880

Publisher: CRC Press, 2011

Synopsis

Since computer scientists make decisions every day that have societal context and influence, an understanding of society and computing together should be integrated into computer science education. Showing students what they can do with their computing degree, Computers and Society: Computing for Good uses concrete examples and case studies to highlight the positive work of real computing professionals and organizations from around the world.

Each chapter profiles a corporation, nonprofit organization, or entrepreneur involved in computing-centric activities that clearly benefit society or the environment, including cultural adaptation in a developing country, cutting-edge medicine and healthcare, educational innovation, endangered species work, and help for overseas voters. The coverage of computing topics spans from social networking to high-performance computing. The diversity of people and activities in these profiles gives students a broad vision of what they can accomplish after graduation.

Pedagogical Features
Encouraging students to engage actively and critically with the material, the book offers a wealth of pedagogical sections at the end of each chapter. Questions of varying difficulty ask students to apply the material to themselves or their surroundings and to think critically about the material from the perspective of a future computing professional. The text also gives instructors the option to incorporate individual projects, team projects, short projects, and semester-long projects. Other resources for instructors and students are available at www.computers-and-society.com

Visit the author’s blog at http://computing4society.blogspot.com

About this title

About the Author:

Lisa C. Kaczmarczyk is currently an external evaluator on National Science Foundation-funded research projects. She has over 18 years of experience teaching and researching applied learning theory in computer science education. Dr. Kaczmarczyk is a member of the ACM Education Council and an associate editor of ACM Inroads. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, master’s degrees from the University of Oregon and Northeastern University, and a B.A. from Tufts University. You can access her blog at http://computing4society.blogspot.com

Review:

One of the most challenging topics to teach in the undergraduate computing curricula is the social and ethical implications of computing. ... Kaczmarczyk’s book is a great help in answering these questions. ... many well-crafted, open-ended questions and projects at the end of the chapters guide student work and discussion. The case studies are carefully researched and presented at an appropriate level for students to study any time after their freshman year. ... What can one do with a degree in computing? What opportunities are there to use such a degree for good? The book is unique and successful in pulling together answers to these questions. It shares the stories of people who have used their technical skills to positively affect the lives of many people, both directly and indirectly. I know of no other book like this one.
―Anthony J. Duben, Computing Reviews, May 2012

Computers and Society: Computing for Good contains in-depth case studies with extensive, thought-provoking end-of-chapter questions and is appropriate for a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate majors in areas such as Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Information Science, Information Technology, Health Information Science, Business Management, and Political Science as well as many other areas. The complex nature of the case studies allows them to be used in a stand-alone social and professional issues course, a capstone issues course, or as individual case studies that may be woven into a variety of computing or business courses.
Kaczmarczyk’s book contains a unique and fresh look at how people from a variety of disciplines use computing and how the use of computing impacts these individuals as well as society.
Kaczmarczyk’s book should be a ‘must have’ book for all college or university libraries.
―Carol L. Spradling, PhD, Associate Professor, Northwest Missouri State University

About this edition

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1439810885
• ISBN 13: 9781439810880
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 314