GEN1000 for students admitted to Year 1 before AY2025/26, Year 2 before AY2026/27, or Year 3 before AY2027/28, except with the permission of the Module Coordinator
Nil
The module examines the relationships between cyber technology and society. The module explores the history and development of cyber technology, and its challenges and opportunities to the society from a cultural perspective. This module explores how cyber technology affects the modern society in various aspects. It focuses on the causes and consequences of the change in cyber technology towards the society, and then examines the responsibilities of cyber world participants in a wide range of daily life issues. It analyzes the nature and social impact of computer technology and the corresponding formulation and rationalization of codes for the proper use of cyber technology. It aims to develop students with scientific mindset and methodology to deal with daily life problems, some of which could be caused by misuse of cyber technology, through proper use of cyber technology.
Upon completion of this module, students should be able to:
a. identify the relationships between cyber technology, cyber world and society, with consideration of the ethical principles and social responsibilities involved;
b. explore the history, development and impact of the cyber technology towards human civilization, including both its benefits and potential risks;
c. analyze the impact of cyber technology on the contemporary view on freedom of expression, privacy and intellectual property right, and how to balance these ethical considerations;
d. use of scientific mindset and methodology to discuss the impact of cyber issues to daily life.
1. Introduction and overview
1.1 The nature of cyber world
1.2 Defining cyber technology and its social impact
1.3 Definition of ethical principles and examples of ethical theories
1.4 Definition of computer ethics
2. The changing process of cyber technology
2.1 The history and development of cyber technology
2.2 The diffusion of cyber technology
2.3 Humanistic and ethical considerations of cyber technology
3. Social networking
3.1 Definition of social networking
3.2 Impact of social technology towards the modern world
3.3 Ethical challenges and social responsibilities in social networking: Perspectives of Users, Platform Developers, and Authorities
4. Impact of cyber technology on freedom of expression
4.1 Controlling access to information on the cyber world, e.g., content moderation, censorship, paywall
4.2 Achieving anonymity using technology
4.3 Anonymity on the cyber world and its humanistic impacts
5. Privacy in the Internet age
5.1 Definition of privacy
5.2 Perspectives on privacy
5.3 Online privacy concerns, e.g., cyber surveillance, data breaches
5.4 Technologies for safeguarding online privacy
6. Intellectual Property in the cyber world
6.1 Protecting intellectual property – ethical and legal frameworks
6.2 Challenges to intellectual property due to new technology
6.3 Case studies, e.g., NFT, training content of AI models, AI-generated works
7. Proper uses of cyber technology
7.1 Social problem: Cyberbullying
7.2 Trustworthiness of information on the Internet, e.g., misinformation, fake news
7.3 The social-cultural challenges of cyber technology and the importance of ethical considerations, e.g., digital divide, social media algorithms, Internet addiction
7.4 Use of scientific mindset to deal with other Cyber technology-induced social issues
1. Class activities (e.g., individual exercises and group discussions) (20%)
2. Project (25%)
3. Presentation (15%)
4. Test (40%)
