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Ask Slashdot: High-School Suitable Books On How Computers Affect Society?

Posted by timothy on from the novelization-of-wargames-is-all-you-need dept.

An anonymous reader writes "We are teaching an introductory class in computer science for high school students. We have the technical aspects of the course covered, there is a lot of information on the internet on designing that aspect of the class. We also want to cover some aspects of how computers affect society, privacy, expectations, digital divide etc. We were suggested Blown to Bits, which covers a lot of this but I'm not sure high school students are really going to enjoy it or even take away the right implications ... any recommendations for anything else ? Movies, Fiction, Non-Fiction Books and any other media are all welcome. Students are expected to read no more than 200 pages (that's all the time they have)."

95 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Lessig's Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace by JonZittrain · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How about Lessig's Code 2.0? It's cyberlaw's pathbreaking book, and it's written in a very accessible way. It's free online at http://www.codev2.cc/.

    1. Re:Lessig's Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace by BenEnglishAtHome · · Score: 1

      The submitter explicitly asks that suggestions be limited to works of 200 pages or less, so you suggest something that's ~400 pages long.

      Yeah, that'll work.

    2. Re:Lessig's Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace by JonZittrain · · Score: 1

      It has chapters -- I trust the submitted can assign a subset, especially since it's a modular book.

    3. Re:Lessig's Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      The submitter explicitly asks that suggestions be limited to works of 200 pages or less, so you suggest something that's ~400 pages long.

      1) Cut the book into two roughly same-sized pieces.
      2) Read piece one.
      3) Read piece two.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    4. Re:Lessig's Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace by LienRag · · Score: 1

      Actually, I'm supposed to make a small presentation about "code is law" (the concept, not the book) and I found that Lessig's conference is not really relevant to my public (too much stress on privacy, which we haven't here anyway, and nearly nothing on how code embeds decisions that are not democratically discussed). Is there some other text or video or book about this question?

  2. Stanislaw Lem - The Cyberiad by sandbagger · · Score: 2

    True, too true.

    --
    ---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
  3. Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky by tebeka · · Score: 2

    I haven't seen anyone as good as Clay Shirky in studying and predicting the effects of the internet on society.
    http://www.amazon.com/Here-Comes-Everybody-Organizing-Organizations/dp/1594201536

    --
    -- Miki Tebeka The only difference between children and adults is the price of the toys.
    1. Re:Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky by Two99Point80 · · Score: 1

      This would be a good one - students could see the further changes which have happened in the five years since it was written.

  4. computer power and human reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    start with http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Power_and_Human_Reason

    although it's 37 years old it's concise and still applicable.

  5. Perhaps some Gibson, or Effinger, or Moran? by RedLeg · · Score: 2
    My first thought is Neromancer, but that may bust your page limit.

    You might also look at selecting a story or two from Gibson's Burning Chrome, but as I don't have a copy handy at the moment, I can't make a hard recommendation.

    Another consideration might be George Alec Effinger's When Gravity Fails. READ this one before you assign it, as it touches on some racy subject matter.

    Finally, consider Daniel Keys Moran's The Long Run. Not as well known as the others, but a great read.

    Hope this helps....

    -Red

    1. Re:Perhaps some Gibson, or Effinger, or Moran? by fermion · · Score: 1
      Neuromancer is ideal science fiction. It investigates how technology has and might effect the way we live. Unlike the classic and wonderful pulp books, if does not have many of the assumption of the 40's and 50's.

      The Difference Engine, although a bit racy, would lead to wonderful discussion about ideas, production, and mass production of technology. Why was the difference engine never built? What were the technological innovation that allowed the Enigma machine to be produced in quantity, the digital computer to be developed, and then mass market components to be produced. What were the technological developments that let us use incredibly wasteful higher level languages instead of flipping switches or assembly?

      Virtual Light and that trilogy allows a more contemporary view of how technology effects our privacy, and how our dependency on technology means that we may know less than we think.

      A more straightforward look at technology and privacy and security is Bruce Schneier Liers and Outliers, Certainly suitable for the upper level students. Unlike the other books which I would assign outside of class and then use the topic to drive discussion, this book might be used in class. Break it up into reporting groups that would then lead discussions based on what they read and researched.

      Also, Dr. John Lienhard has a series of radio programs called Engines of Our Ingenuity. Which this is a broader selection that what is called for here, there are many engaging selections that would apply. There are programs on the difference engine, Lady Ada, the census computer, Turing, and others.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
  6. The Silicon Jungle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The silicon jungle is an interesting read about the effects of wide-spread collection of data by the large email/social sites.

  7. How about something more useful? by Kohath · · Score: 2

    Why not spend the time you have teaching them some practical information they can use? How are they going to benefit from hearing someone's social agenda? Are the students there for your benefit, for you to use to advance your societal goals? Or are you there for their benefit, to help them learn things and improve their future lives?

    My suggestion: skip these "society" lessons and use the time to teach them how to search text with regular expressions.

    1. Re:How about something more useful? by Seumas · · Score: 1

      And here I am without mod points . . . damn.

    2. Re:How about something more useful? by Kohath · · Score: 2

      How about teaching social science topics in social science classes?

    3. Re:How about something more useful? by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Maybe he'll teach them that mass surveillance is good and that only paranoid wingnuts oppose it. Either way, he's using the students to further his own agenda when he should be trying to give them knowledge that they can use.

    4. Re:How about something more useful? by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      How about we attempt to encourage kids to become responsible participants in society by getting them to think critically about society through having them read and discuss social topics?

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    5. Re:How about something more useful? by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      Because the real world is not as neatly compartmentalised as you would like it to be, and these are high school kids, not grad students?

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    6. Re:How about something more useful? by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Why not focus on serving the kids instead of serving your own notions of becoming "responsible participants in society"? What if a kid wants to be a successful and knowledgeable individual rather than merely a tool to bring about whatever societal goals you might have?

    7. Re:How about something more useful? by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      Begging your pardon, but you appear to have confused "discussion of social issues" with "dissemination of propaganda".

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    8. Re:How about something more useful? by Kohath · · Score: 1

      Which one is computer science? Which one is more useful than learning how to search text with regular expressions?

      Different people call different things "propaganda" depending on what agenda they're pushing.

    9. Re:How about something more useful? by Kohath · · Score: 1

      All the more reason to stick with teaching them useful knowledge instead of trying to groom them for whatever societal role you have in mind for them.

    10. Re:How about something more useful? by Nukky+Cisbu · · Score: 1

      Because the real world is not as neatly compartmentalised as you would like it to be, and these are high school kids, not grad students?

      If you're teaching high school auto shop, does their class need to include the social and economic impact of the automobile? Hint: The answer is no. It's a course on a specific subject. It's supposed to be compartmentalized.

      They can and will hear all about social issues in all the classes that don't actually prepare them for real jobs. No, they're not grad students, but they're old enough to complete a course that focuses purely on the technical. Previous generations somehow managed it.

    11. Re:How about something more useful? by hutsell · · Score: 1

      Why not spend the time you have teaching them some practical information they can use? How are they going to benefit from hearing someone's social agenda? Are the students there for your benefit, for you to use to advance your societal goals? Or are you there for their benefit, to help them learn things and improve their future lives?

      My suggestion: skip these "society" lessons and use the time to teach them how to search text with regular expressions.

      Are there any humanities or social science topics that aren't a useless liberal plot?

      Not sure myself. Social and Political Studies were never considered a science. Although some of it is responsibly rigorous enough to give it the appearance of being science, it still falls into being observational best practices determined by a committee occasionally subject to group-think. The educational community made the change in the late nineteen sixties for personal gain. Unfortunately, although it probably was an unexpected side effect, by eliminating from the vocabulary studies and transferring the fields into a science, the definition of science has been diluted, confusing some people as to what it actually means and has allowed for personal agendas to increase the politicization of all science.

      Although my preferences and priorities are deeply involved with all of the aspects of the sciences and its philosophy, I'm also aware of how the Sciences originated from the Humanities, its importance in life and how it can make life livable, even if it had failed to achieve science. However, subsidiary "relevancy" classes are a trap. It attracts laziness and is a time wasting distraction that's a disservice to the concrete skills the class should be learning (in an "Introduction to Computer Science"). If the student's societal awareness of technical subjects is that important to the educational institution, such as one focused on the original idea of Liberal Arts, then an interdepartmental arrangement with the syllabus seems more appropriate.

      It probably shouldn't be called a liberal plot, but .... why did the definition get simplified? It was done so that people in these fields would be taken seriously by the government, getting the same respect science originally got when it came to public funding and getting a draft deferment to avoid visiting Vietnam. The local draft boards gave little leeway with exemption requests by students taking classes the board considered to be easier than the practical arts.

      I'm still trying to decide which was the real motivator — lack of money or the fear of death.

      --
      Yesterday's Weirdness is Tomorrow's Reason Why
    12. Re:How about something more useful? by ppanon · · Score: 1

      I think there's a lot of merit to describing the risks of computer science in a course, from exploitable security vulnerabilities in applications and operating systems, to bugs/failures in life-critical systems. Having students understanding that bugs have consequences and that there is a potential downside to computer use should be part of any introduction to computer science. It doesn't have to veer off into sociology, but lack of risk awareness is at the root of many current problems with computers, so some awareness that it isn't all fun and video games, is important. If that discussion happens to touch on current events like NSA spying and digital voting machines to make the subject relevant to students, so be it.

      --
      Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
  8. One of legimate roles of Hollywood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    is to provide fodder for discussion on topics like these, which are simultaneously too staid and too confusing for the classroom. It reminds me of an old economics textbook I once had that started with the sentence "Government is big and important in our society." Well, computers are even bigger and more important.

    You can look at sci fi flicks for glimpses of what might be in store for us. But given the ages of your students, it might resonate more to assign them programs that show how people lived in the past:

    "Leave it to Beaver", "I Love Lucy" - life before the computer age
    "All in the Family", "Mary Tyler Moore Show" - only mainframe computers
    "Family Ties", "Dallas" - personal computers and client/server computing, but no Internet
    "Friends" - Internet and mobile phone era begins, but no social networking

  9. Re:1984 by RedLeg · · Score: 3, Informative
    Surely you mean nineteen eighty-four, by George Orwell published in 1949?

    -Red

  10. Ob by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://lmgtfy.com/?q=books+computers+society

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:Ob by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      When the thread you're posting in is in the top five hits, I'm not really sure a LMGTFY is appropriate.

  11. Re:1984 by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

    1984 has always been written by Orson Welles.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  12. 'We' - 1984 was a ripoff of it. by briester · · Score: 1

    A russian woman wrote a work called 'We' about the changes that science (including political) was making to society. 1984 is a pretty unabashed ripoff of the book, and since you're studying the effects of tech, copyright issues are at the forefront. Making that read uniquely suited to the modern dialogue. Anyway, We can feel dry before you realise what the author is doing, which is another good reason for students to read it. The voice is mathematical to the point of lunacy, so statements like 'we fired the engine test precisely on time. We'll need to replace 20 engineers,' feel matter-of-course. And to me that did a wonderful job of communicating the dehumanization wrought by industry.

    1. Re:'We' - 1984 was a ripoff of it. by colinrichardday · · Score: 1

      A russian woman wrote a work called 'We'

      You do know that "Yevgeny" is a man's name, don't you?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel)

  13. The title by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    Sounds like an autobiography of a Muslim

  14. gift of fire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/giftfire/

    Used this in university, but should be easy enough of a read for HS students.

  15. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's fiction, it's exciting, the protagonist is a high schooler, and it talks about crypto. Neil Gaiman approved.

    1. Re: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow by FuzzNugget · · Score: 2

      I'll second this recommendation. I read it a few years ago when I was in my early twenties and it was still a good read. It's absolutely captivating and it's message will not be lost on high school students. Oh, and it's a friggin' *free* eBook, what have you got to lose?

  16. Re:1984 you mean... by briester · · Score: 1

    Surely you mean We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, published in 1921?
    -B

  17. Cory Doctorow's Little Brother by psergiu · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

    FREE BOOK. 136 Pages PDF. Other formats also available.

    --
    1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
    1. Re:Cory Doctorow's Little Brother by YoungManKlaus · · Score: 1

      huge +1 for this, I am currently reading it and it is fucking awesome (though he has to work on word repetition sometimes ;))
      Not to forget, if the students like it there is "Homeland" as a sequel, though I didn't read that one yet.

    2. Re:Cory Doctorow's Little Brother by CastrTroy · · Score: 2

      Also, the sequel, Homeland, and other books by Cory Doctorw, including Pirate Cinema, For The Win, and Makers (maybe not highschool appropriate).

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  18. The Future Does Not Compute by michaelmalak · · Score: 1

    Written in 1995 at the dawn of the Internet, The Future Does Not Compute: Transcending the Machines in Our Midst by Steve Talbott (and it's also available free online!) is even more applicable now with the arrival of texting and the smartphone. It's about the reductionism enforced by computers, and how while initially luxuries, every new device soon becomes a necessity to compete and survive in the modern world, and how each additional technological dependency reduces our humanity and severs our rich connections to each other and to the complex natural world around us.

    It's 500 pages long, but reading 200 of those pages will convey Talbott's philosophy and point of view.

    1. Re:The Future Does Not Compute by bmo · · Score: 1

      how each additional technological dependency reduces our humanity and severs our rich connections to each other

      And then you read "Life On The Screen" by Sherry Turkle, written about the same time, which says just the opposite.

      --
      BMO

    2. Re:The Future Does Not Compute by kfogel · · Score: 1

      +1 on "The Future Does Not Compute". One of my favorite books on this topic; IMHO it didn't get enough notice when it was new -- would be nice to see it get some now.

      And Chris Daw, if you're out there: I still have your copy! I bought my own long ago; I've been trying to track you down ever since to return yours.

      --
      http://www.red-bean.com/kfogel
  19. Re:1984 by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

    I was indeed doubleplusungood on the author.

    --
    Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
  20. Bradbury's take by Mryll · · Score: 2

    Fahrenheit 451 might be too long, but germane.

  21. Re:Bradbury's take :KINDLE 451 by Bob_Who · · Score: 1

    Or Nook 451?

  22. Tips and Tricks by AkatSuki · · Score: 1

    Tips And Tricks For Windows

  23. Books? Why not newspapers? by russotto · · Score: 1

    _1984_ would be my book of choice, but a look at recent tinfoil-hatter screeds...err, wait, I mean legitimate and verified news stories... in newspapers about such things as metadata about all our phone calls and postal mail being recorded forever, license plate databases tracking our vehicle's (and therefore in many cases our own) movements, etc, would also be instructive.

  24. Amusing Ourselves to Death by jcolvin · · Score: 1

    Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by educator Neil Postman. Written about TV, but equally applicable to what the internet has become today.

    The book's origins lay in a talk Postman gave to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1984. He was participating in a panel on Orwell's 1984 and the contemporary world. In the introduction to his book Postman said that the contemporary world was better reflected by Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, whose public was oppressed by their addiction to amusement, than by Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, where they were oppressed by state control.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death

    1. Re:Amusing Ourselves to Death by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      Thankfully, the extraordinary productive power of division of labor and fossil fuels allow us to afford both amusement and repression! Take that, dystopian future!

  25. What "right" implications? by KalvinB · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It's really not your job to indoctrinate students.

    Since it's a computer science course, how about focusing on how computers work and making them do things instead of politics?

    People really should not be allowed to teach until they have at least 10 non-teaching years (full time, paid) of experience in the area they want to teach.

    If the students can't be bothered to read more than 200 pages about a subject then it really doesn't belong in school anyway. That's a little over 1 page per school day.

    --
    Work Safe Porn
    1. Re:What "right" implications? by Arker · · Score: 1

      I thought that remark showed a lack of respect for these students, as did the whole idea that blown to bits was too adult for them. It would actually be perfect for this.

      But the 200 page limit would require the questioner to become thoroughly familiar with the work, so as to select the correct 200 pages to make a coherent course out of it.

      --
      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
      Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
    2. Re:What "right" implications? by melikamp · · Score: 2

      People really should not be allowed to teach until they have at least 10 non-teaching years (full time, paid) of experience in the area they want to teach.

      May be useful for vocational schools, where a particular trade is taught, but what does this mean for sciences? What would full time, paid experience in theoretical physics look like? Math? Computer science? Keeping in mind that the difference between programming an computer science is like that between writing a novel and methodically studying 1000 novels written by others. Understanding the nature and the laws of computation is not at all the same as churning out java script snippets, and no amount of coding alone will make one a computer scientist. A theoretical computer scientist, OTOH, does not have to know programming at all: she can produce a major impact with nothing but math.

      The only meaningful prerequisite for teaching fundamental science is doing research, which is what many graduate students do. And doing fundamental research is quite different from the full time, paid experience. For starters, it requires leisure, and nothing specific can be expected to come out of it.

    3. Re:What "right" implications? by KalvinB · · Score: 1

      Why are we teaching theoretical stuff in HS? A HS student isn't going to become a computer scientist. That's college level material. HS is about hands on exploration of the world. A theoretical anything doesn't belong in a HS. They belong in a university.

      An English teacher should have experience writing in some form. A math teacher should have experience in a career that makes heavy use of math. A science teacher should have experience in a career applying science. A computer science teacher should have experience programming for a living. A history teacher should have experience traveling the world.

      This is not hard.

      The current system brings in a bunch of people fresh out of college that have no experience in their content area but what's in the textbook.

      --
      Work Safe Porn
  26. Might I suggest... by Gadget27 · · Score: 2

    ... that you keep the course limited to the 'technical aspects' of the course?

    The students would likely be better served if the course focused on the computer science instead of those other sociological and/or political matters.

    I remember taking my first similar class in high school. Already being a very limited hobbyist programmer at the time, it was easier for me that most of my classmates. I did learn some better practices, and it was rewarding for me to be able to help out my classmates, some of whom found a few of the concepts fairly alien. The class focused on syntax, logic, and math. That was enough to keeps things moving forward, and by the end of the course, we were all creating simple programs and pleased to see what we can get the computers to do when we put what we had learned into practice.

    Looking back at that, I think we'd have been derailed if we were then forced to consider things like digital divide or privacy expectations. I'm not saying that those matters aren't things worth considering, but not in an introductory class. Leave that material for a later elective... let the kids get their hands dirty right out of the gate.

    1. Re:Might I suggest... by hurwak-feg · · Score: 1

      Mod this up.

  27. Such a broad assignment... by ring-eldest · · Score: 1

    You may be trying to cast your net a little wide looking for a single (or even a few) books, articles, and movies that illustrate technology and its impact on our lives, privacy, culture, etc. You might be better off giving them a laundry list of books (I would stick to books for a high school level course) and giving them the opportunity to answer that extremely broad question in the form of a 5 page paper, or something along those lines. Almost none of them are under 200 pages... You're well within "short story / novella" lengths there, and you REALLY need to rethink that, even if it means turning this into an extra credit assignment. Is it possible that you're vastly underestimating the amount of reading time your teenage students have?

    You've got a lot of material to potentially choose from, so why not let the students make their own choices? Besides, it makes reading 30 "original" responses that much more interesting when they're not all saying the exact same thing.

    Some of my choices would include:

    Gibson's Neuromancer
    Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties (actually the whole trilogy would be okay here)
    Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash
    Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age
    Neal Stephenson's Anathem (for the really brave students...)
    Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and probably Ender's Shadow too
    Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch
    Tad William's Otherland series, although this is probably too bulky to be feasible
    Daniel Keys Moran's Long Run and The Last Dancer
    Heinlein's Moon is a Harsh Mistress
    Heinlein's Starship Troopers
    Heinlein's Door into Summer

    If you open up your page limit the options are almost endless. If you don't, you'll never find a single work under 200 pages that illustrates the things you want to illustrate. Especially not in fiction.

  28. 200 pages on how computers affect society by Megahard · · Score: 1

    Because they spend the rest of their time on Facebook, Twitter, and WoW.

    --
    I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
  29. Neuromancer! by AtomicDevice · · Score: 1

    It's got a ninja-lady in space!

    --
    Ze Atomic Device! It iz Ztolen!
  30. 200 pages? by cppmonkey · · Score: 1

    Okay, you may think you only have time for 200 pages. And you may have some students putting in only the minimum effort but you really ought to have more than 200 pages. One of the best teachers I had assigned 100 pages a week for 11 grade history. I haven't read Blown to Bits yet (downloading) but it looks good. I would stay away from fiction even near reality works like Little Brother and 1984 as the primary source but they are important if only in how they have changed how we look at technology. Put them on an additional reading list and have them handy for the student that resonates with the material. Also consider having at least an excerpt of Lessig or watch one of his presentations in class. Have it ready for a substitute, he is a great speaker and I use him as an example when teaching presentation skills. You might also consider Bruce Schneier's blog as a source. Bruce has essays about this material and links to scholarly and popular works in this areas all the time.

  31. Re:IBM and the Holocaust, and NSA books by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How about more recent events like Snowden v. NSA as proxy for US Government? Who needs history when we are living in dangerous times?

  32. Re:1984 by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    Orson Welles' masterwork "1984" will teach them all they need to know about how computers have changed their society.

    There were no computers in "1984". The book depicted a surveillance society, but it was all done manually.

  33. Re:1984 by RedLeg · · Score: 1
    Some of us have to forethought to do a little reference work before we crank out a posting calling someone a "nunce", whatever that is.
    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four. Please note the cover of the original British Edition.

      http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=5086&inst_id=13&term1=orwell. You might peruse the section titled "Administrative/Biographical history", particularly near the end.

    Since the later reference is the top-level catalog of his archived papers, including the original manuscript of the work in question, I would think that rather authoritative.

    -Red

  34. Re: 1984 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Double whoosh! missing both references.

  35. A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by gmuslera · · Score: 1

    Neal Stephenson's books are bigger than 200 pages, but is just hard to stop reading some them. The Diamond Age is a great start, essentially is how a poor homeless 6 year old girl becomes a superpower by herself and changes the world because got access to Wikipedia++

  36. The classics by Animats · · Score: 2
    • "The Machine Stops", by E. M. Forster. Covers the collapse of a technological society. Written in 1909, 12,000 words, copyright expired, and still relevant, readable, and worrisome.
    • Doug Engelbart's demo, 1968" Today, you can do this on your phone. This is where it all began - point and click, editing, search engines, the first mouse, hyperlinks, networks, online collaboration.
    1. Re:The classics by edwyr · · Score: 1

      The Machine Stops is also my first thought. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops http://manybooks.net/titles/forstereother07machine_stops.html

  37. Hackers by Steven Levy by bryanandaimee · · Score: 1

    Hackers by Steven Levy. It is not so much about the effect of computers on society as it is the effect of computers on early computing pioneers. It is very readable and makes the early history of the PC revolution both human and exciting.

  38. lotsa books - how about a movie? by redneckmother · · Score: 1

    Looks like there are several book suggestions. How about a movie? I suggest Terry Gilliam's "Brazil".

  39. Re: 1984 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    DoublePlus whoosh!

    (FTFY)

  40. How about teaching computer science? by Nukky+Cisbu · · Score: 1
    The kiddies these days already get enough social engineering in all their other classes. Why not actually teach computer science in a computer science course?

    I realize it's an introductory class, but surely you could actually teach them something useful where they end the course with some accomplishment, like enough html to make a simple hand-coded web page, or some other language that will end with a finished program of some sort. Even the old Commodore Basic I was taught gave me a foundation in the structure of programming.

    Keep a technical course technical.

  41. Weisenbaum, Virilio, Manovich by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Joseph Weisenbaim, "Computer Power and Human Reason"
    Paul Virilio, "The Information Bomb"
    Lev Manovich, "The Language of New Media"
    Dalai Lama, "Ethics for the New Millennium"
    Orson Scott Card, "The Memory of Earth" (sci. fi.)

    Films:
    "Surviving Progress"

  42. Wrong question. by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    "High-School Suitable Books On How Computers Affect Society?"

    What's that 'book' thing you're talking about?

    I think that has already been affected in Society.

  43. The Cuckoo's Egg by chiefloko · · Score: 1

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Espionage/dp/1416507787

    Historical and a fun read. Also teaches you what a PhD. in Astrophysics got you ;-)

    "On the Edge; The Rise and Fall of Commodore Computers" is another good read, albeit business centric.

  44. Player piano by dkmeans · · Score: 2

    Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut....

    --
    Dan Means
  45. Networked Life: 20 Questions and Answers by Aphonia · · Score: 1

    Networked Life: 20 Questions and Answers is a new book by Mung Chiang at Princeton which picks a few major features of our modern technological society and explains them in some detail. Doesn't require math, very clearly written and also relatively cheap.

  46. The Transparent Society by David Brin 1998 by shmorhay · · Score: 1

    David Brin's 1998 book "The Transparent Society" (ISBN 9780738201443) is cogent and still timely -- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/transparent-society-david-brin/1100622841 and see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transparent_Society -- consider mentioning it as supplementary reading at least.

  47. Stallman by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

    You can't go wrong with "Free as in Freedom 2.0" and "Free Software, Free Society". Both are just a little over 200 pages, and available as free PDFs.

    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.
  48. Re:IBM and the Holocaust, and NSA books by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 2

    One of the reasons we live in dangerous times is due to the fact that those who ignore history tend to wind up repeating it.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  49. Extrapolation by smprather · · Score: 1

    Greg Egan - Diaspora, Ray Kurtzweil - The Singularity

  50. Get media matter known by edis · · Score: 1

    I would want them to be introduced to things like media theory by Marshall McLuhan, so they could grab whole picture, not just load of detail.

    --
    Servant of karma
  51. Crypto-Gram Newsletter by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    There's still some cryptography news, but so much of it lately is the very best insight and analysis on the intersection of technology, privacy, security, government, and society that is available.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  52. Consider a movie as well? by Jstlook · · Score: 1

    How about the new documentary, Terms and Conditions May Apply: http://tacma.net/

    --
    ---jstlook ---For that is the way of Elves, for they say both yes AND no, and mean every word of it. --- J.R.R.T.
  53. "Ypsilon minus" by Herbert W. Franke by SchroedingersCat · · Score: 1

    "Ypsilon minus" by Herbert W. Franke. It touches upon prism controversy, hacker ethics, singularity...

  54. Re:1984 by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Perhaps he's a foreigner. In my country, the vernacular translation has a name expressed in Western numerals, as in, you guessed it - 1984.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  55. PLEASE STOP by Motard · · Score: 1

    You're teaching an introductory class on computer science. Not sociology. Teach them computer science.

    1. Re:PLEASE STOP by grahamlee · · Score: 1

      Ethics and social implications are an important part of the discipline of computer science, just as they're an important part of other science disciplines like biology and neurology.

    2. Re:PLEASE STOP by Motard · · Score: 1

      So include ethics and sociology classes into the degree curriculum. If Computer Science faculty start to take over everything that involves a computer, there will be nothing Computer Science doesn't cover.

  56. First half of novella _Manna_ by WillAdams · · Score: 1

    available here:

    http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

    --
    Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
  57. Future Shock by ccanucs · · Score: 1

    Alvin Tofler's take on societal future written in 1970 is still a revealing read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Shock

    Also (not sure how many of these are in print currently - but - still may be available 2nd hand if not):

    What will be: Michael Dertouzos: 0062515403
    Release 2.1 A Design for living in the Digital Age: Esther Dyson: 0140266623
    Interface Culture - How new technology transforms the way we create and communicate: Steven Johnson: 0062514822
    The Technological Society: Jacques Ellul: 0394703901
    Computer Ethics: 2nd Ed: Deborah G Johnson: 0132903393
    The Cult of Information: Theodore Roszak: 0520085841
    Megatrends 2000: John Naisbitt & Patricia Aburdene: 0380704374
    Composing Cyberspace: Richard Holeton: 0070295484
    Technics and Civilization: Lewis Mumford: 015688254X
    Case Studies in Information and Computer Ethics: Richard A Spinello: 013533845X
    Slaves of the Machine: The Quickening of Computer Technology: Gregory J.E. Rawlins: MIT Press 0262681021
    Beyond Calculation: The Next Fifty Years of Computing: Peter J. Denning & Robert M Metcalfe: 0387985883
    Literacy, Technology and Society: Confronting the Issues: Gaile. E. Hawisher, Cynthia L. Selfe: 0132275880

    No - these are not from a University reading list - I own each of these, and others that I don't have to hand right now, and read most of them some years back as I was researching writing a book of my own on the subject (which - I never got round to - oh well). Not all the information in these is focused on the subject evenly but is thought provoking in any case and relevant overall.

    Kind regards

    W.

  58. Two Faces of Tomorrow by JPHogan; Skills of Xanadu by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 1

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ylee/The_Two_Faces_Of_Tomorrow
    "An artificial intelligence system solves an excavation problem on the moon in a brilliant and novel way, but nearly kills a work crew in the process. Realizing that systems are becoming too sophisticated and complex to predict or manage, a scientific team sets out to teach a sophisticated computer network how to think more humanly. The story documents the rise of self-awareness in the computer system, the humans' loss of control and failed attempts to shut down the experiment as the computer desperately defends itself, and the computer intelligence reaching maturity."

    However, the 1950s movies "Invisible Boy" and "Forbidden Planet", both featuring "Robbie the Robot" would also be good. The first is about AI out of control, the second is about augmented humans out of control.

    But lots more on these themes. Brave New World and 1984 are classics. Norbert Weiner's (founder of Cybernetics) "The Human Use of Human Beings" is great, as is Vannevar Bush's original "Memex". Reading "The Pleasure Trap" and "Supernormal Stimuli" might show them what they are up against.

    Vernor Vinge's stuff is great, including about high school in the near future.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collected_Stories_of_Vernor_Vinge#Fast_Times_at_Fairmont_High

    But together all more than the time of reading just 200 pages...

    Theodore Sturgeon's short sci-fi story from the 1950s called "The Skills of Xanadu" is something maybe better than all of these on how computers could affect society, because it provides hope, and it sparked Ted Nelson's Xanadu work on Hypertext that contributed to the Web. It is online here and short:
    http://books.google.com/books?id=wpuJQrxHZXAC&pg=PA51&lpg=PP1

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
  59. Re:1984 by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    Orson Welles' masterwork "1984" will teach them all they need to know about how computers have changed their society.

    Marked as off topic I feel it dead on,

    Chapter 2: Naked in the Sunlight: Privacy Lost, Privacy Abandoned

    1984 Is Here, and We Like It Footprints and Fingerprints Why We Lost Our Privacy, or Gave It Away Little Brother Is Watching Big Brother, Abroad and in the U.S. Technology Change and Lifestyle Change Beyond Privacy

  60. Re: 1984 by khelms · · Score: 1

    Forget it. He's on a roll.

  61. quickest way to drive youngums away by peter303 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Start reminiscing about the days of punch cards and teletypes. Few peopel are interested in last years technology much less decades ago.

  62. Something by Douglas Rushkoff by Woodie · · Score: 1

    "Program or be Programmed". "Present Shock".

    It really depends on what you're trying help the students get out of the reading. While some aspects of Sci-Fi (Gibson, et. al.) would be interesting - and many things explored in some of those novels became in some ways, science fact... their primary purpose is one of imagination. Possibly selected a few chapters as excepts for that sort of content? In the realm of non fiction - you could do a lot worse than some of Rushkoff's titles, or "In the Beginning was the Command Line" by Neal Stephenson. It's a bit dated at this point - but still interesting. A possibly better source of inspirational writing might be "The Diamond Age" by the same author.