CSCI 190 Sections 1 & 2

Goals

From the catalog:

Reading, discussion and presentation of research papers in an area of computer science. Each student will write a survey paper and must regularly attend the Computer Science Colloquium.

For sections 1 and 2 in particular, I hope we can also achieve these outcomes:

  • Interpret the workings of computational systems from perspectives outside of engineering: for example, in terms of expressiveness, computational creativity, arts practice, politics, poetics, or sustainability.
  • Critique computational research, especially AI research, on both technical and ethical grounds.

As a CS major in a liberal arts college, you have a unique opportunity to "connect the dots" between the product-oriented technology industry, the research community, and the world at large—and a responsibility to problematize, reinvent, or rebuild popular computing if need be.

Meetings

Tuesday (Section 1)

Week Date Topic Tuesday Presenters Notes
1 08/31 Paper Selection, How to Read Academic Papers    
2 09/07 Producing Wrong Data Without Doing Anything Obviously Wrong! Samuel  
3 09/14 Expressive AI Michelle, Steph Ranked list of project topics/advisors due 09/17
4 09/21 Software Engineering Code of Ethics, Dragonfly, and 747 MAX Nirali Latex exercise due 09/26
5 09/28 Evaluating Large Language Models on Code (up to page 15) Jared, Oliver Survey paper topic and 10 refs due 10/03
6 10/05 Software Aspects of Strategic Defense Systems and Unfalsifiability of Security Claims Samuel, Zintan  
7 10/12 Your Buddy, the Grandmaster Mercy, Michelle Annotated bibliography due 10/17
8 10/19 Fall Break No Class  
9 10/26 Towards a Critical Technical Practice Pei Pei Survey paper outline and intro due 10/31
10 11/02 The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work Zintan, Steph  
11 11/09 Feminism and Procedural Content Generation Mercy, Pei Pei  
12 11/16 Imagination, Computation, and Self-Expression Abdul Survey paper draft due 11/21
13 11/23 Human-Computer Insurrection: Notes on an Anarchist HCI Nirali, Abdul  
14 11/30 Human-Level Reinforcement Learning through Theory-Based Modeling, Exploration, and Planning (up to page 20) Jared, Oliver  
15 12/07 No Class No Class Final survey paper due 12/10

Thursday (Section 2)

Week Date Topic Thursday Presenters Notes
1 09/02 Paper Selection, How to Read Academic Papers    
2 09/09 Producing Wrong Data Without Doing Anything Obviously Wrong! Adam, Salih  
3 09/16 Expressive AI Evan, Max, Jett Ranked list of project topics/advisors due 09/17
4 09/23 Software Engineering Code of Ethics, Dragonfly, and 747 MAX Allison, Evan, Kevin Latex exercise due 09/26
5 09/30 Evaluating Large Language Models on Code (up to page 15) Simon, Kevin, Antonio Survey paper topic and 10 refs due 10/03
6 10/07 Software Aspects of Strategic Defense Systems and Unfalsifiability of Security Claims Salih, Jett  
7 10/14 Your Buddy, the Grandmaster Adam, Elaine Annotated bibliography due 10/17
8 10/21 Towards a Critical Technical Practice Joe, Antonio  
9 10/28 The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work Naomi, Joe Survey paper outline and intro due 10/31
10 11/04 Feminism and Procedural Content Generation Khadija, Claire  
11 11/11 Imagination, Computation, and Self-Expression Allison, Claire  
12 11/18 Human-Computer Insurrection: Notes on an Anarchist HCI Khadija, Naomi Survey paper draft due 11/21
13 11/25 Thanksgiving Break No Class  
14 12/02 Human-Level Reinforcement Learning through Theory-Based Modeling, Exploration, and Planning (up to page 20) Max, Simon, Elaine  
15 12/09 No Class No Class Final survey paper due 12/10

Presentations

I'm not super committed to any presentation format (prerecorded slides, live slides, live coding, whatever), but presentations must cover the following points:

  1. What is this paper about?
  2. What are some key limitations, shortcomings, unintended consequences, or other problems with or identified by the paper?
  3. What should a curious person read next? Provide two specific followup papers or important background papers.
  4. Have three discussion prompts ready (these don't need to be in the slides but should be ready to hand for discussion).

Students not presenting have the following obligations:

  1. Read the paper! Really read it.
  2. Write down three facts, two questions, and one opinion about the paper.
  3. Identify one follow-up paper to read which is related (a paper citing this one, or another one you've found which feels relevant).