Explore Computing Innovations

Introduction

Computing innovations impact our lives in ways that require considerable study and reflection for us to fully understand them. You will explore a computing innovation of your choice. Your close examination of this computing innovation will deepen your understanding of computer science.

View the Moral Machine website and see different scenarios and how ethics plays a part in developing tech.

A. Review Innovations in Computer Science

Your task is to pick a computing innovation you are interested in learning more about.

A computing innovation is something that uses a computer and utilizes data in some way.

A partial list is provided below, you are not limited to innovations on this list. Except self-driving vehicles, you are not allowed to use self-driving vehicles as your chosen innovation.

  • Medical Technology

    • Medical Apps and websites

    • Surgical Robots


  • Transportation Technology

    • Self-driving Vehicles

    • Flight Instrumentation


  • Networking and Connectivity

    • Telecommunications

    • Data Structures


  • Artificial Intelligence

    • IBM Watson and how the program is used now

    • Computer Identifying Imagery

  • Graphical 3D Worlds

    • Video Games

    • Movie graphics and animations

    • Special Effects Software


  • Criminal Justice Technologies

    • Computational Biology (such as DNA related technologies)

    • Data Analysis Technologies


  • Computer Science Theory and Security

    • Cryptography

    • Quantum Computation

B. Research your Computing Innovation

Search for your innovation using two authoritative sources (some examples), research the topic/innovation you chose.

Record the URLs you choose to read. You must use at least 2 sources.

Note: TClark will let you use Wikipedia as your third source.

C. Add an Explore Page to your Google Site Portfolio

Create a page on your Google Site Portfolio that demonstrates the innovation you chose. Do not create a new Google Site.

It must include:

  1. Title of the innovation.

  2. Innovation's intended purpose/function. 1+ sentence.

  3. 4+ pictures or videos.

  4. A paragraph, 3+ sentences, describing one beneficial effect the computing innovation's purpose/function has had or might have on society.

    • What is the beneficial effect?

    • Who does it impact?

    • Explain why it's beneficial.

      • can be economic, cultural, or impacting only a specific group of people

      • can be hypothetical, especially if the innovation hasn't been released yet

  5. A paragraph, 3+ sentences, describing one harmful effect the computing innovation's purpose/function has had or might have on society.

    • What is the harmful effect?

    • Who does it impact?

    • Explain why it's harmful.

      • can be economic or cultural, or impacting only a specific group of people

      • can be hypothetical, especially if the innovation hasn't been released yet

      • cannot be "it can be hacked" or effects when it is not working as intended

  6. A paragraph, 3+ sentences, describing the data the computing innovation uses or creates.

      • What does the computer do with that data to let the innovation work?

      • Note: data is not the sensors or cameras, but the values measured.

          • Cameras are not data → images captured by camera are data

          • Sensors are not data → temp/humidity in numbers are data

          • Fingerprints are not data → bitmap of fingerprints is data

          • GPS is not data → longitude and latitude are data

  7. A paragraph, 3+ sentences, describing a concern over the data used/created. The concern may be about one of the following:

      • storage - i.e. not enough hard drive space for this innovation

      • privacy - i.e. using this innovation allows companies/governments to have more access to info should maybe stay private

      • security - i.e. is the data easy to hack and what happens if it is maliciously accessed

  8. 2+ sources. You must also give credit/link to any images or videos you used.