Adapted from Dr. Cynthia Lee, Stanford University

CS H195 Project 2: Technology and the Community

Table of Contents

  1. Timeline
  2. Overview
  3. Topic and Project Selection
  4. Checkpoint 1: Proposal
  5. Checkpoint 2: Meet with a TA
  6. Presentation

Timeline

All due dates are 11:59pm PT on the day listed.

Assignment Component Due
Topic Brainstorming and Group Selection During Class
Checkpoint 1: Proposal Document Thu 11/14
Checkpoint 2: Meet with a TA by Thu 11/28
Presentation Thu 12/05 (before discussion)

Overview

This project is (thematically) a continuation of Project 1. You are free to do “whatever you want,” as it relates to the themes of our class. While Project 1 focused on a discussion section for students, Project 2’s deliverable could accomplish some of the following goals for a community:

  • Raise awareness
  • Design an intervention
  • Engage the community in an issue

This project may be (and is encouraged to be) completed in groups. If you decide, you may even do the project as an entire class if the project is large enough.

Plan on doing something that takes about 4.5-7.5 hours per week. That number should be understood very generously–i.e., it’s understood to include time spent pondering what you want to do for your project, not just time actively typing.

Topic and Project Selection

In Week 11 (), we will do a “post-it” brainstorming activity in pairs or groups on possible topics and projects; and possibly form groups.

Some past projects from previous CS 195 Students:

  • Created a board game about becoming a billionaire, ethical hijinks included
  • Wrote and published Medium post about Meta charging for data privacy
  • Wrote Assembly Bill Proposal to require companies who offer spiritual services to one belief system but not others to offer equivalent services, or an equivalent level of compensation for those who are not part of that belief system
  • Interviewed plugin authors and server owners on the impact of the new Minecraft reporting system

Some past projects from students that have done a similar project at Stanford:

  • Write a paper gathering and analyzing information about something (e.g., look at the “Diversity” page on the website of major tech companies and analyze what it seems the companies want to communicate or what they want the audience to believe about them; how believable is this in practice?)
  • Create a website with profiles of Stanford CS/engineering students with a variety of backgrounds, sharing their stories and what excites them about tech
  • Make tiktok videos educating teens about issues with search engine and autocomplete results
  • Record a podcast episode talking about your own experience in CS/tech/Berkeley EECS classes, and connecting it to what research says about broader trends in how tech cultures affect individuals
  • Design a PSA about a particular technology, such as the effects it has on your chosen community

Note: We’d like you to do something that is somewhat different from Project 1.

Checkpoint 1: Proposal

The project proposal outlines what your project will be and is due via bCourses by , 11:59pm. The proposal spec is as follows:

Submit a google doc link with comment access for the TAs including a brief synopsis of what you plan to do for your project, and who are your partners if you have them.

This synopsis can range from 2-5 sentences in length, and can be (slightly) modified in the future. However, we want you to stay mostly committed to the project you describe in this submission.

We want to know about your topic, issue, intended/possible audience, and implementation. Specifics need not be included unless you know them at this point.

Checkpoint 2: Meet with a TA

Have a quick 5-10 minute meeting with one of the TAs about the progress of your project. You do not need to bring any materials, but a bulleted list of what you have completed and what you have yet to do might be helpful to have a useful meeting.

This is for us to make sure you are on track and to see if we can provide you with guidance.

Presentation

Target between 7-10 minutes (will changed based on the amount of groups vs. individuals), and cover the following:

  • Project goals. Who were you trying to reach? On what topic? Why?
  • What you did
  • How do you feel about how it went? What is the impact? What are you most proud of about regarding how your project unfolded? How did your project influence others or influence your own views?