Writing Problem: Tech Spotlight

This course’s philosophy on academic honesty is best stated as "be reasonable." The course recognizes that interactions with classmates and others can facilitate mastery of the course’s material. However, there remains a line between enlisting the help of another and submitting the work of another. This policy characterizes both sides of that line.

The essence of all work that you submit to this course must be your own. Collaboration on problems is not permitted (unless explicitly stated otherwise) except to the extent that you may ask classmates and others for help so long as that help does not reduce to another doing your work for you. Generally speaking, when asking for help, you may show your code or writing to others, but you may not view theirs, so long as you and they respect this policy’s other constraints. Collaboration on quizzes and tests is not permitted at all. Collaboration on the final project is permitted to the extent prescribed by its specification.

Below are rules of thumb that (inexhaustively) characterize acts that the course considers reasonable and not reasonable. If in doubt as to whether some act is reasonable, do not commit it until you solicit and receive approval in writing from your instructor. If a violation of this policy is suspected and confirmed, your instructor reserves the right to impose local sanctions on top of any disciplinary outcome that may include an unsatisfactory or failing grade for work submitted or for the course itself.

Odds are, at some point in your life, you’ve used the Internet. In fact, more likely than not you use it many times a day, every single day, and have done so for as far back as you can remember. Given that level of real-world Internet experience, it won’t surprise you to know that the Web contains a lot of very useful data…​ and also some data that might not be quite so useful:

Good luck getting that out of your head.

In this writing problem, we’re going to try to home in on some of the corners of the Internet to keep your eye on as we begin to explore computer science in more depth.

The great thing about living what is commonly (mostly in non-tech circles) called the Digital Age is that there is always some new device or technology emerging that promises to revolutionize the way we live our lives. Some of these technologies do.^[1] Some…​ not so much.^[2]. Also fortunately for us, despite the Internet being a pretty big place, there are plenty of sites that dedicate themselves to reporting the latest tech-oriented news, product reviews, and commentary on how technologies impact our lives.

Sites like TechCrunch, Wired, Gizmodo, Mashable, and TechRadar are just a few of these websites that we at CS50 keep bookmarked in our browsers so we can always stay on top of the latest developments. Frequently these articles inform our understanding of new products, make us rethink previously-held opinions, or cause us to think about some of the implications of the technology that might not have seemed apparent at first glance. It’s particularly the last item that we’re focusing on in this assignment.

Pick some piece of technology with which you are familiar and that you might use everyday. It needn’t be a piece of hardware; software, websites, and the like are perfectly fine too. Explore it in depth. Find some articles about recent developments (i.e., within the last three months) in this technology that have been posted on sites like the ones described earlier. Specifically, you should read a minimum of three (3) articles about the technology you’ve chosen, and include your list of sources at the end of your paper.^[3]

Open a text editor and create a file called ‘tech’ (be sure that the file extension is either .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .txt). Then, in no more than 600 words, expound on this technology. Assume for the purposes of this assignment that your audience is someone who has no prior knowledge about the technology you are describing, and so your objective is to provide them with a well-rounded, unbiased summary. In writing your response, you should consider this (non-exhaustive) list of questions a good starting point:

It’s worth mentioning here that other than reporting on some technical specifications, which you may not have previously known but which may be listed in the articles themselves, you shouldn’t be using text from your sources in your assignment directly. Rather, the articles you read will hopefully provide slightly different perspectives on the technology you’ve chosen, and you should synthesize those perspectives to comment on the technology more broadly.

To be clear, you’re not standing in the role of a salesperson. Make sure to speak factually for the most part, and if you do cite or offer an opinion on the product (e.g., "I think this product is great because…​"), be sure that your paper is balanced by offering the opposing opinion too (e.g., "Some people might dislike this product because…​").