Course Format

The course material will be delivered in two formats: (1) asynchronous preparation; (2) class meetings.

Preparation. Preparation will entail: (1) readings; (2) a video (or sequence of short videos) on technical content, which will be prepared in lieu of a synchronous lecture. The intention of asynchronous videos will be to reserve class meeting time for more interactive activities: discussion, data analysis activities, etc.

Class meetings.The course will meet twice a week for 90-minute class meetings.

Each class meeting will have one of the following activities.

1. Student presentations: Summary technical presentation on the topic of class.
2. Group work: A short hands-on lab activity.

Recommended Background

Prerequisites: There are no required prerequisites, although some background in computer networking, network security and privacy, and machine learning will be helpful to understand some of the concepts covered in the class.

A prior course in computer networking is recommended for some background, but not required. Technical pre-requisites will largely be covered in class.

Additionally, the labs will involve basic exploratory data analysis; some experience with Python and Pandas may be useful, though it is not required.

Grading

Grading is based on:

• Reading Responses (25%). Each week, you will write a 500-word reaction piece on the topic of the assigned work. You must address the following in your writeup:
  1. What is a summary of the reading?
  2. What questions did you have after reading?

  Writeups are due before the topic is covered for that week, to allow for others to read, summarize, and comment. (Grading is 0/1.)

• Presentation (25%). Each student (or group) will present to the class concerning the topic of the week. The presentation can be short, but it should be informed and teach the class something that is not on the syllabus. It can be a technical primer, current event overview, paper summary, etc. You should clear your presentation topic and slides draft the end of the week before you are due to present. Group order will be signup-based, then at random among remaining topics and slots.
• Group research project (35%). You should complete an original research project as part of the course, addressing an open question related to Internet censorship or online discourse. You should have a goal of eventually preparing and submitting a research paper. Papers and presentations will be due the final day of class. More details on the project can be found here.
• Participation (15%). Participation has three factors:
  1. Show up. Come to class prepared to discuss the assigned readings and any preparation as posted on the course website.
  2. Participate in the in-class hands-on/lab exercises.
  3. Submit pull requests on the (in-progress) book, where each week corresponds to a chapter, also counts towards participation.

Late Policy

We understand that sometimes life events occur and that it’s not always possible to meet every deadline. As such, we are willing to accept late assignments according to the following policy:

• You start the term with a grace period “balance” of 96 hours.
• Each assignment will be due at 5:00 p.m. (Chicago Local Time) on the due date.
• For each assignment, every hour late (or fraction thereof) that you turn in the assignment will subtract one hour from your grace-period balance. For example, if you turn in your assignment at 6:02 p.m. on the due date, we will count this as two hours against your grace period.
• As long as your grace period balance is positive, you can turn in any assignment late without penalty.
• Once your grace period balance reaches zero, you will receive half credit for any assignment that you turn in, as long as you turn it in within one week of the due date. If your grace period balance is zero and you turn in an assignment more than one week late, you will receive no credit for the assignment. Important: You must still turn in all assignments to pass the course, even if you receive zero points on an assignment. Turning in all assignments is a necessary condition for passing.

Excuses with medical documentation are a legitimate exception and will not count against your late period. Any other reasons for lateness—including but not limited to interviews, conferences, etc.—are not legitimate excuses and any resulting lateness will count against your grace period.

Reading and Videos

All readings will be posted on the schedule page of this webpage. Readings will comprise popular press articles, draft book chapters from Prof. Feamster’s forthcoming book, notes, and published research papers.

Academic Honesty and Integrity

You are taking this class to learn. My goal is to teach you new concepts—any attempts to circumvent that deprive you of the process of learning. To that end, you are responsible for doing your own work in this class.

You may talk to the course staff and to other students (past and present) about any assignments in this class. You can work together in discussing how you approached a particular problem, as long as you acknowledge who you worked with.

“Modern” coding indeed involves a lot of copy/paste/adaptation of existing code blocks, and such adaptation is permissible, within reason. If you find approaches and solutions on the Internet to various problems in this class, you are welcome to borrow ideas and approaches (and even copy code snippets, with acknowledgment and links). Please acknowledge all collaborators and sources.

The primary activity that is not permitted it copying a solution verbatim; if you find yourself running code that has been copy/pasted from anywhere, pause and think. Ask the staff if you have questions about this policy.

The University of Chicago has formal policies related to academic honesty and plagiarism. We abide by these standards in this course. Depending on the severity of the offense, you risk being dismissed altogether from the course.

No collaboration is permitted on quizzes or exams. All work submitted for the project must properly cite ideas and work that are not those of the students in the group.

Kindness, Respect, and Free Expression

Topics in this course, particularly those that touch on ethics, policy, the law, and society, may touch on topics that challenge your existing thinking, and certain discussions may make you feel uncomfortable or challenged.

To this end, we seek to make this class an inclusive environment, one of mutual respect for others. The University of Chicago is committed to the principles of free expression, and part of my duty as your instructor is to help foster that environment.

To achieve the vibrant intellectual atmosphere we aim for, an environment of respect for each other is of utmost importance. Every person should conduct themselves with integrity, compassion, and thoughtfulness so everyone feels comfortable participating and benefits from a collective learning experience.

Think not only of what you say but how you say it.

Participation and speaking up is critical to the vibrant intellectual environment we all want to create among ourselves. I may not always be clear in my own presentation (and I also make plenty of mistakes), but I will not know that unless you speak up. If you have a question, there’s a good chance half of the class is probably thinking the same thing. Be bold.

Finally, think about when to step back, so that everyone can have a chance to speak. To that end, I typically make a concerted effort to step back from discussions myself—viewing my role as more of a facilitator—so that you can feel free to speak. If I announce (or allude to) my opinion on a matter in front of the class, that may make some of you less eager to share your own viewpoints, which is also a fail.