Introduction

Welcome to the Fall 2007 session of one of the offerings of Tutorial from Grinnell College's Department of Computer Science. The title of this particular tutorial is Freedom and Authority on the Internet: Conflict, Community, and Control You can find out more about this particular tutorial from its official blurb and about Tutorial itself from an explanatory document.

In short, this semester we'll be working on building your skills in thinking, writing, reading, speaking, and finding sources while studying confict and reslution of conflict on the Internet from both social and technological perspectives.

Because of the skills/subject pairing, we will split many class sessions into two parts: for the first forty or so minutes we'll discuss some issue pertaining to academic skills (e.g., a particular aspect of writing or editing); for the last fifty minutes, we'll discuss some issue pertaining to freedom and authority online.

Although I am providing you with a wealth of printed information, some of that information may change. Hence, you should regularly check the course web, which you can find at http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Tutorial/ or http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/Tutorial/2007F/.

You will be sharing the work you create in this class more widely. In particular, you or I will post much of your work online, possibly using a form of Wiki. This requirement means that it will be accessible to your fellow students and to the broader Web community. If you have difficulty with this requirement, please discuss it with me.

Meets: TuTh 8:15-9:50 in Science 3815 (official) or Science 3817 (unofficial)

Instructor: Samuel A. Rebelsky, Science 3824. 269-4410 (office). 236-7445 (home). Office hours Monday and Tuesday 11:00-11:50, 1:15-2:05; Friday 1:15-2:05. Also available by appointment, for walk-ins, and via email. Tutee meetings Thursday 1:15-1:45, 3:30-5:15, Friday 8:15-9:00, 11:00-11:45

Grade Components:

• Class participation, including attendance and minor assignments (10%)
• Convocation attendance with corresponding reflections (10%)
• Introductory essay and followup essay (10%)
• Preliminary Bibliography and Annotated Bibliography (10%)
• Discussion leadership and Self-reflective discussion essay (10%)
• Discussion diagram (10%)
• Research presentation (10%)
• Research paper (20%)
• Introduction to or cover for Freedom and Authority on the Internet (10%)

To compensate for the occasional lapse, I will drop the lowest of those grades (excluding the research paper). To reward particularly strong work, I will count the best of the grades (excluding convocation reflections and class participation) as 10%.

Late Work: Because I have found that students who turn in work late tend to dig themselves into deeper and deeper holes and because many of our in-class exercises will require the work due that day, I impose fairly severe penalties for late work. All unexecused late work receives an immediate penalty of 20%. In addition, for every day late (beyond the first day), I impose another penalty of 10%. In case you can't tell, this means that you should always get your work in on time! If health or significant personal issues interfere with your ability to complete work on time, you should do your best to notify me in advance and arrange an approved extension.

Attendance: I use a fairly straightforward technique for grading attendance and participation. I begin with the assumption that everyone deserves a 90 (on a 100 point scale) and then make modifications as appropriate. Particularly good participation leads to a higher grade. Less good participation (which can be inappropriate or too much participation as well as too little participation) leads to a lower grade. Students who miss two classes receive a 10 point penalty. Students who miss three classes receive a 15 point penalty. Students who miss four or five classes receive a 25 point penalty. Students who miss six or more classes receive a 50 point penalty.

Contract: In my experience, some of you will be concerned about your ability to pass this Tutorial. Although I think you shouldn't be concerned, I also do my best to alleviate this concern by providing a form of contract. If you (a) miss no more than one class; (b) turn in all your work on time; (c) participate regularly in class; and (d) try hard on everything, then I will guarantee you at least a C in Tutorial.

Disabilities: I encourage those of you with disabilities -- particularly hidden disabilities, such as learning or psychological disabilities -- to come see me about what I can do to make it easier for you to learn. In addition, if you have not already done so, you should discuss your disability with academic advising. Our academic advising staff have a lot of experience helping students with disbilities figure out the best way to learn (and helping faculty help those students learn), and you should take advantage of their experience and expertise. Some students are just discovering their disabilities (particularly learning and psychological disabilities). If you think that you may have an undocumented disability, please speak to both me and to academic advising.

Note that I find that the changes that I make for those with learning disabilities are often appropriate for all students. Hence (although it does not pertain in Tutorial), I rarely give timed exams and I tend to allow my students to use computers during exams.

As you may note from the bottom of my Web pages, I do my best to have these pages meet the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines. If you notice places in which I have failed, please let me know.