Syllabus

As human beings, we create artefacts and technologies to safeguard our well-being and advance our society; it is therefore critical that these artefacts and technologies actually reflect our human values. In this course, students will learn about how philosophers, psychologists and designers think about human values, and systematic ways we can examine technology to ensure that it is beneficial for human life and society.

During the first week of class, teams will select a particular human value that they want to fous on throughout the term. The first part of the course provides a primer on HCI research methodologies, engages students to read, assess and present papers about the design of technology for fostering human values. In the second part of the course, students will work in groups to imagine (i.e., conceptualize, design, prototype, etc) a piece of technology for fostering human values, and analyze the technology using different methodologies, such as value sensitive design, critical theory and ethical arguements. Students will also learn about nascent frameworks and methodologies for AI ethics through readings and presentations. The main deliverable of the course is a final presentation, where students present their proposed technology for fostering a human value and a multi-faceted argument for why such technology may (or may not) be justifiable.

The main components of the course are as follows.

1. Paper Critique

During a "Primer on HCI Research Methodologies" session, students will learn about a particular type of HCI methodology. Students will use the ACM SIGCHI Digital Library to select a paper related to the human value their team selected to focus on. Students will complete readings that explain a given methodology, work in groups to come up with a rubric for assessing papers that use that methodology, and use that rubric to evaluate the paper they selected. There will be 4 paper critques in total.

2. Presentations

There are two sets of paper presentations that students will do in groups. The first set of presentations is based on the paper critiques. Students must present the paper, i.e., describe the motivation, research questions, connections to theories, methodologies, results and design implications), and provide an assessment of the methodological rigor of the paper based on the rubric that they developed in class. Non-presenting teams will be assigned a presenting team; they must read the paper of the presenting team and lead a discussion after the team's presentation. The second set of presentations is about AI ethics methodologies. Students will choose a paper from the reading list, present the ideas from the paper, explain how those ideas can be applied to their project, and have a discussion with a non-presenting team.

3. Project

All the activities throughout the course cumulate in a project writeup and presentation, where students present the design of a piece of technology for fostering a particular human value, analyze the technology from multiple disciplinary angles, and propose a follow-up HCI study. The project will involve a final paper (minimum 15 pages) in the SIGCHI Latex format, and a final project presentation. The paper will be judged by the novety of the proposed technology, the quality of the arguments, and the soundness of the study design. Students are encouraged to submit their work to conferences as a short or full paper.

Communication Protocol

Students are expected to attend class. Special consideration can be made for a few exceptions (e.g., academic travel, illnesses and family emergencies). However, students must discuss their anticipated absence with the instructor. In the event of illness due to COVID, please stay home.

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated on the quality of their participation, presentations and project deliverables.

Policies

Deliverables and Late Penalties

All deliverables are due 5:00 pm on the due date. Late penalties for all deliverables: -5% for each additional day (5:01 pm to 5:00 pm).

Academic Integrity

In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See http://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity for more information.

Grievance

A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Discipline

A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity (check https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity/) to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration, should seek guidance from the course instructor, TA, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, see the Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Appeals

A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 (Student Petitions and Grievances) (other than a petition) or Policy 71 (Student Discipline) may be appealed if there are grounds. A student who believes he/she has grounds for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 (Student Appeals).

Note for Students with Disabilities

AccessAbility Services (formerly the Office for Persons with Disabilities), located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities, without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.