Computers and Society Computing for Good

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 FeaturesEncouraging 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

Poverty Alleviation in the Remote Peruvian AndesSystemic poverty and health problems in the villagesA software engineering project as a response to povertyThe many challenges of requirements gathering in the AndesHow was trust established and the requirements gathered?Organizing and itemizing final requirementsConfirming the accuracy of the requirements with all stakeholdersNon-traditional specification development in the AndesSpecifications: social, cultural, technical implementation intertwinedRequirements that led to customizationRapid results and concrete outcomesProblems and challengesTestimonials about the poverty alleviation projectLives changed: reports and assessmentFuture and global effects of the Andean project Improving Patient Care with Digital Image ManagementDevelopmental challenges for premiesProblems for patients when digital images are not effectively managedThe primary technical reason for the human problems — single vendor systemsA typical single vendor PACS system architectureInitial analysis of CHOP’s single vendor system problemThe solution is clear if you know your computing historyWhat is a vendor-neutral archive?Chris Tomlinson advocates for a vendor-neutral archiveData input to the vendor-neutral archiveRetrieving data from the vendor-neutral archiveData storage redundancy and a design to respond to system failureThe project timeline and challengesImplementation: Initiation and designImplementation: VNA implementationImplementation: Migration and go-liveThe changes as viewed by stakeholdersThe current system status and plans for the future Internet Voting for Overseas CitizensVoting: A right guaranteed by the United States ConstitutionDisenfranchisement in the United StatesOutdated ideas and technologies?Internet voting: Why not?Security and privacy: Critical technical challenges for Internet votingComplexity and performance: Top-down and bottom-up challengesPolitical challengesInitial efforts to aid overseas votersPrototype Internet votingStrategy changes: Operation BRAVO foundation and Okaloosa projectDesign and architecture of Okaloosa voting projectSpecial technical considerationsSuccessful outcomes of human and technical measuresKeeping pace with Internet voting progressFinal thoughts Social Networking and Computer Modeling Aid Sea TurtlesLimited resources and a seemingly limitless missionThe challenge of gathering data and digesting itComputer assisted modeling supports informed decision makingTracking turtles by satellite to learn how they behaveGetting the word outSocial networking technology changes "business as usual"Developing effective web pages comes firstWhy STC websites are successfulA blog on the sceneYouTube!Who could ignore Facebook?Twitter — A work in progressThe overall impact of social networking on the cause of sea turtle protectionWhat next? Challenges and new initiatives Best Practice Recommendations in Children’s Medical CareData is needed for pediatric best practice recommendationsThe Children’s Hospitals neonatal consortium is formedThe Child Health Care Corporation of America partners with the CHNCThe CHCA development teamDesign and implementation strategy of the neonatal databaseWho are the CHND users?What is the CHND data?There are unique challenges to collecting medical record dataThe user data flow layer: The abstractor’s perspectiveThe application data flow layer: A level belowThe transport data flow layer: Additional securityThe rational for the architectural frameworkSpecial security and privacy concernsBeta release of the CHNDA perspective from one of the application developersNearing the end of phase 1 implementation of the CHNDGearing up for phase 2: Analytics development and quality improvement initiativesLonger range technical plans and challenges for the CHNDMoving ahead and looking backFinal thoughts from the system architect Protecting Lives Using the Results of Earthquake ModelingThe techno-socio challenges of earthquake scienceScientific computing is at the heart of earthquake scienceSCEC: A techno-socio responseComputational projects to advance earthquake understandingComputational simulation projects and support platformsEducation and outreach effortsConcrete results of SCEC supported researchFuture challenges and plansConcluding thoughts When Following Your Passion Means Forming Your Own BusinessDiscovering the potential of the iPod in educationMobile devices leverage learning style preferencesThe first iPod touch application: 5 pumpkinsKeeping up with the latest mobile devicesMobile devices support how people learn effectivelyThinking like a business owner strategicallyCritical first business decisionsBecoming an Apple developerFirst software application officially launchesMore applications followDevelopEase: Behind the scenes at a start-up companyThe challenges of introducing new software into the public schoolsConcrete accomplishments for DevelopEaseFuture plans for DevelopEase Exercises and Activities appear at the end of each chapter.

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