Presentation Topics

Ideas for Presentation Topics

Choose a topic by Monday of 7th Week. (Presentation Guidelines)

Possible presentation topics are listed here in the following categories:

Social and Ethical Issues
Hardware Topics
Human Computer Interaction
Artificial Intelligence
Safety and Security Issues
Computing and Other Disciplines

This list is not exhaustive; see me if you want to propose a topic not on this list.

Are We Becoming a World of Computer Haves and Have-Nots?
Women and Computers (could focus on women computer scientists or women users)
Minorities and Computers (could focus on underrepresented computer scientists or users)
Computers as Tools for People with Disabilities
Are Computers (or Computer Games/MUDS/Web Surfing) Addictive?
Other topics related to technology, society, and social justice, with specific reference sources:
- Movie:
- The Social Dilemma (available on Netflix): the manipulative effect of social networking on individuals and society
- K has these in e-book format:
- Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, from the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter. By Charlton Mcilwain
- Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. By Safiya Noble
- Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us And Undermines Democracy. By Siva Vaidhyanathan
- Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media. By Sarah Roberts
- Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing. By Marie Hicks
- Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change. By Ellen Pao
- It's About Damn Time: How to Turn Being Underestimated into Your Greatest Advantage. By Arlan Hamilton
- K has ordered print copies of these books:
- Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. By Ruha Benjamin
- Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. By Virginia Eubanks
The book Blown to Bits may give you other ideas.

Hardware Topics

Cloud Computing
Transistors to Integrated Circuits
"Cheap" Computing: smartphones, tablets, embedded devices, Raspberry Pi
Moore's Law, Physical Constraints
Biological Computing
Quantum Computing
How does a mouse work? A trackpad? What other accessories provide "physical" user interaction?
How does a computer produce and process sound?
Graphics cards
Virtual reality
Google Glass and the MIT Media Lab

Human Computer Interaction

Accessibility
Gender and Cultural Considerations
Information Visualization
Techniques, e.g., progressive disclosure, zooming interfaces
Look and feel
Smartphone/tablet user interfaces
Wearable computing
Usability testing
Virtual reality
HCI in popular media (e.g., 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dr. Who, Iron Man, Lost in Space, Minority Report, Star Trek, Terminator)

Artificial Intelligence

AI: solutions to specific problems or simulating how humans think? (interesting recent article: The Man Who Would Teach Machines to Think)
The Turing Test (Progress So Far and Controversy Concerning the TT)
Machine Learning
Natural Language Processing (i.e., understanding human language)
Pattern or Image Recognition (i.e., recognizing pictures)
Recommender Systems (e.g., filtering systems for the web, recommender systems for books, movies, etc.)
Computer Chess, Go
Watson: How does it work? What is it being applied to?
Robotics
AI in science fiction (literature & film) vs AI fact
AI in video games
Self-Driving Cars
See class presentation on AI for more ideas

Safety and Security Issues

Software Patent and Copyright Protection
Computers and Privacy
Cryptography
Security threats: Botnets/Viruses/Phishing/Trojans/Rootkits
The book Blown to Bits may give you other ideas.

Computing and Other Disciplines