Reflection

After a series of related readings from the lectures, you will be given the opportunity to reflect on the readings and discussions for each week by writing a few short responses to given prompts. In this course, the reading responses are typically due by 5pm on Tuesdays of the following week they are assigned, after we have discussed the issues and explored the topics in class. This reflection is due on 2/17 at 5pm.

Note that the course staff are looking for your own thoughts on these topics. Writing in the first person, taking divergent viewpoints, and bringing in ideas from outside of class are what we are looking for. Write as if you are targeting a public audience. Particularly insightful or convincingly contrarian statements might be shared with the entire class in lecture or in the course slack.

For this week, you are to consider the following questions related to the ideas from the lectures Asking Good Questions and Tech Ethics Today:

1. According to Aristotle, one must go through the exercise of practicing the virtues if one wants to become virtuous. In a technomoral sense, how might you do this as a computer programmer in order to respond to ethical dilemmas in tech development?

2. Luciano Floridi writes in his chapter "Ethics After the Information Revolution" that it has become progressively more difficult to understand what life was like in pre-digital times, with an end state approaching where "the very distinction between online and offline will become blurred and then disapear." You, dear student, are a digital native, having never known life before the Internet. Do you think this has distorted your perspective on anything in the physical world? Why or why not?

Grading

Each reflection should be between 500 - 1000 words. It will be graded in terms of:

• Does the reflection address the prompt?

• Does the reflection reference the readings, videos, and/or class discussions to support the writing?

• Does the reflection exhibit thoughtfulness, creative expression, and an authentic voice?

• Does the reflection utilize proper grammar and a concise style?

• Is the reflection an appropriate length?

Review the grading criteria in the rubric for this assignment.

Submission Instructions

1. (For this first submission) Share a Google drive folder for this class with our TA Louisa (lconwill@nd.edu) and give her editor privileges.

2. Prepare a doc in that folder named using this convention: lastname_firstname_duedate. Example: Conwill_Louisa_021726

3. Submit a link to the doc in Canvas.