Q1AaronCephers

Document Q1AaronCephers

1. Your Name

Aaron Cephers

2. Your field of study?

Computer Science

3. In which semester of study are you?

8

4. Why are you interested in taking this course?

In general I'm interested in learning how this class will help me better understand how digital social systems effect society in both positive and negative ways. What changes we need to make to be able to use computers better as a learning and communication tools.

5. What courses / work activities / background knowledge do you have which might be relevant to this course?

I have taken a Writing in Science and Society course, If web skills help with this class I am a web administrator. I have also worked on the IT side for a few businesses. I do volunteer work with MESA (Math Engineering Science Achievement) a k-12 outreach program designed to get kids interested and excited about learning math and science. Another course that might prove relevant is Psychology.

6. Indicate your own digital literacy / fluency:
6.1. Describe your programming experience (languages, projects)

I'm an ambiguous programmer, I don't stick to one place. I have worked with C/++/#, Java, Python and even some LOLcode experimentation. I have worked with the internet as well in HTML,XML and some Javascript.

A few projects I have worked on were developing applications for the Android phone to help people with cognitive disabilities.

6.2. What applications are you familiar with (e.g. Photoshop, Canvas, Dreamweaver,...)?

I have used several IDE's and text editors like VisualStudio, Emacs, Eclipse, Notepad++,VI, Python Interpreter, Dreamweaver,SQL server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Office suite, Matlab also some Adobe Premier and Photoshop.

Windows OS(Server 2003,XP,Vista,7) Mac OS(X,9 and earlier) Linux(Ubuntu, RedHat) FreeBSD

7. Give a brief description of the most important book / article which you have read with respect to the topic of the course.

I haven't read any yet.

8. What do you hope and expect to learn from this course?

Find out the best ways to design and use technology to boost human creativity in general. Find out exactly why teaching computers to children isn't as good as it may seem, ways to fix this problem. A deeper meaning of human/computer interaction effects on society.