This is your Midterm 2 exam. Your exam is due on Tue Apr 7 by 11:59 pm on Late submissions are allowed but will be assessed a penalty as described in Late Work on syllabus.

There are two questions on this exam. Both are Personal Essays so the same guidelines apply to these exam questions as we have been using for our Personal Essay assignments. Please review the Personal Essay guidelines before starting this exam to make sure you are clear on these policies and expectations. 

Each question is worth 10 points and will be graded as follows - 3 points for your Notes, 2 points for your Outline, and 5 points for your ESSAY. Grading of the ESSAY portion  will follow the Personal Essay grading rubric. NOTES and OUTLINE grading will be based on clarity, completeness, and adherence to the specifications given. If you are curious as to why the questions are structured this way please see the more detailed explanation at the bottom of this exam.

Please compose all of your answers entirely in a single Google Doc. Make sure that you have the Doc set so that anyone with the link is an editor. Your version history must show the complete evolution of your answers from start to finish (Notes first, Outline second, Essay third), so please do not start your answers somewhere else and then cut and paste them. Do not use tabs, links, etc. to separate different questions or different parts of a question. You will submit a single URL of your doc to Canvas.

You will see that the first question is based on MTAG and the second on a podcast - in the case of the podcast please simply take notes as you listen and do not attempt to automate that process with a note taking app of some kind (unless the use of such tools is a documented accommodation you have for note taking from Disability Resources). You can take notes directly into your Google Doc or you can take them by hand on paper and then type them into your Google Doc. In the latter case please also include photos of your notes after your essay for that question.

If you have questions about the exam, please post those to this thread on the discussion list on Canvas so that  everyone gets the same information about the exam. Please allow up to 12 hours for a response.

START OF MIDTERM 2 QUESTIONS : 

1. [10 points] This question asks you to review Chapters 1 - 5 in More Than a Glitch (MTAG).

NOTES : For each chapter in Chapters 1 - 5 of More Than a Glitch, make notes on two stories that stood out to you. By story I mean a series of events that are described that have a specific impact on a named individual or group of individuals. Your notes should include the key people (by name) in the story, the main events in the story, who was impacted and how, and what was the role of technology or an algorithm in this story?

Your notes should be in bullet point form and not written out as paragraphs as they are just your notes. Make sure your notes are clearly organized where each chapter is identified both by its number and title (e.g., Chapter 2 Machine Bias). There are five chapters so you should describe a total of 10 stories in your notes. Please provide the page numbers from MTAG where each story occurs.

OUTLINE : Once your notes are finished, create an outline for your essay. For each of the three stories you are going to focus on in your essay, you should clearly explain how you will address each of the following elements described in the ESSAY prompt below.

• Story 1 : Brief description of the story including the chapter and page numbers where it occurs.

  • Why did it stand out to you? 

  • Who was involved?

  • What are the key events in the story?

  • Who was impacted and how?

  • What was the role of technology or an algorithm?

  • How will you connect this story to race or racism in your conclusion?

Repeat the same for Story 2 and 3. Each of your three stories must come from a different chapter.

Please be brief in these points, these should be more like bullet points than paragraphs of text. You should complete both your notes and outline before writing your essay. Please start  your essay after your notes and outline so that all are immediately visible in your submission. Please do not use tabs to separate them. 

ESSAY : From the ten stories you made notes on, pick three (each from a different chapter) to focus on. Tell each of these three stories in your own words clearly enough so someone who has not read MTAG can understand. Who was involved in each story, what events make up the story, and who was impacted (and how)? What was the role of technology or an algorithm in this story? Why did it stand out to you? Conclude your essay with a discussion about the role of race and racism in each of your selected stories. Do you think the harms caused by each of the three stories you selected could be avoided? If so, how? If not, why not? You should not have a summarizing introduction to this essay given its relatively brief length (minimum 500 words) so please just start with the first story. Make sure that your conclusion is specific and focused as described above. 

Do not simply list these items but rather create an essay where your three stories are discussed together. Identify any themes that link together the interesting points you have identified. Be specific as you discuss these different points, use content from MTAG to support your discussions and do not be overly vague or general as you want  your essay to be personal, specific, and clear (three of the rubrics for our Personal Essays). Note that the content you discuss in this essay must specifically come from MTAG.

INSERT PHOTOS OF NOTES (if taken on paper first and then entered above)

2. [10 points] Listen to the podcast Terms of Service with Clare Duffy on How are ICE Agents Using Facial Recognition. It is about 27 minutes long. You should be able to stream this from the link given or I have put an transcript of it in our Canvas Files in a folder called Midterm 2 that you could also use.

NOTES (3 points) : Take notes as you are listening to the podcast. Your notes should be relatively detailed and cover the entire podcast. Your goal is not to create a transcript or a summary, simply record points of information as they arise in the podcast.  Please format these one point per line. Insert timestamps every 5 to 7 minutes (formatted like 06:00 to represent minute 6). 

OUTLINE (2 points) : Once your notes are finished, create an outline for your essay. Your outline should mirror the bullet point format shown for the ESSAY below. You should briefly describe how you will address each item in bullet point form (not paragraphs, etc.)

You should complete both your notes and outline before writing your essay. Please start  your essay after your notes and outline so that all are immediately visible in your submission. 

ESSAY (5 points) : In this essay please discuss the following : 

• How is ICE using facial recognition? 

• What advantages and disadvantages are described in the podcast for using facial recognition? 

• Based on Chapters 1 - 5 in MTAG, what problems could exist in the technology of facial recognition as used by ICE, and what problems could they cause? 

• Based on Chapters 1 - 5 in MTAG, what problems could exist in the procedures or policies around the use of facial recognition by ICE, and what problems could they cause? 

• Conclude your essay by discussing whether you think ICE should be using facial recognition. Explain why or why not. If you think they should, what safeguards should be taken to ensure fair results? If you think they shouldn't, what specific problems do you think could be caused. 

Do not simply list these items but rather create an essay where related ideas are discussed together. Identify any themes that link together the interesting points you have identified. Be specific as you discuss these different points, use content from the podcast to support your discussions and do not be overly vague or general as you want  your essay to be personal, specific, and clear (three of the rubrics for our Personal Essays). Note that the content you discuss in this essay must specifically come from this podcast.

INSERT PHOTOS OF NOTES (if taken on paper first and then entered above)

END OF MIDTERM 2 QUESTIONS

No Use of Automated Writing / AI Tools (from our Syllabus)

You may not use automated writing / AI tools like Gemini, CoPilot, ChatGPT, Grammarly, Claude, Jasper, DeepSeek, etc. at any point in developing any work for this class. 

I follow this same policy. I do not use AI in any aspect of this class. I do not use it to prepare for class. I do not use it to create lectures, discussion questions, or exams. I do not use it for any part of grading. 

What Automated Tools Can I use? (from Personal Essay guidelines)

If you would like to use a spelling or grammar checker, please do not use AI for this (it's overkill and incredibly wasteful). You should instead use the spelling and grammar checker available in Google Docs. Please do not use any other automated tools in preparing your notes, outline, or essay.

Why Do Personal Essays Require Notes, an Outline, AND an Essay? (from Personal Essay guidelines)

The Personal Essays that are assigned are designed to assess not only your final written essay, but also the information gathering, organizing, and thinking process that leads you there.

• The NOTES show that you actively and carefully engaged with the source material for the essay. 

• The OUTLINE ensures that your ideas are well organized and that you have a clear plan of how you will respond to each part of the essay prompt before you start writing.

• The ESSAY allows you to bring your ideas together and then interpret and reflect on them in a thoughtful and well-supported way using your own words and ideas.

The goal of these Personal Essays is to assess both your understanding of the material and the process by which you arrive at your conclusions, not just the final written essay. If you are unclear about any aspect of this process you are always welcome to consult with the UMD Writers Workshop about any aspect of creating your notes, outline, or essay.