MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

EECS Spring 1998 Catalogue Supplement

6.967 Computing Public Policy

MW 1-2:30, 36-372
Marjory Blumenthal, Visiting Scientist, National Academy of Sciences
3-0-9

Computers seem to be everywhere, so why is it so hard to find their place in public policy? How have computer scientists shaped public policy to date, and what can they do in the future?

Students will examine the public policy landscape--issues, players, and key processes--arising around computer science and engineering. They will explore the boundary between public and private sectors and interactions among academica, industry, and government in order to understand how the public interest in computing is evolving, where lie disagreements about what that public interest is, and how to make progress. They will examine opportunities for applying computer science expertise, the consequences of its absence, and the challenges of integrating computer science with perspectives from economics, law, business, and other fields.

The convergence of telecommunications with computing and the rise of the Internet as a public policy concern will be discussed, along with such topics as information security and privacy, export control and international competition, employment and education, and usability and equitable access to computing and communications. Reading material will feature reports from the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council. In addition to laying out various technology-policy issue spaces, those reports--co-authored by computer scientists--will be used to illuminate both challenges experienced in engaging computer scientists in the policy process and the impacts they have had from their engagement.

Students will build toward discussion and analysis of emerging issues in computing and communications policy, and they will examine or derive policy issues associated with their areas of research.