Task
Summary: Your small team of IT professionals has been tasked to prepare a submission for potential investors that allows them to understand the potential social, ethical and legal opportunities and risks of a technology, selected from a list of topics provided on the Moodie site.
Details: You have graduated from your degree and now work in a small tech start-up company with a small team of like-minded IT professionals. Potential investors are excited about the technology you are developing, and see significant opportunity for financial growth. However the investors also place high importance on social responsibilities: although they want to make money, they also want their investments to make positive contributions to society (in fact, some investors may be prepared to lose money if the social contribution is significant).
Your submission should consist of two main parts. First, you should produce an infographic or other graphical piece explaining the technology being developed, the stakeholders in this technology, and the intellectual property protection you think is best for the technology. This infographic should convey this message using images and diagrams and should be quick and easy to read.
The second part of your submission will be a report on the social impact of the technology. It will detail the opportunities/benefits that the technology may bring. It will also discuss potential risks/drawbacks of the technology. For both opportunities/benefits and risks/drawbacks, you should identify which stakeholders are involved, and should discuss at least two issues related to topics discussed during the term (e.g. privacy, censorship, employment, fake news etc), for a total of four topics. Your report should end by summarise the pros and cons of the technology and indicating how it makes a positive contribution to society.
Assume the potential investors are the audience for the report and that they already have financial information about the development (that is, do not include financial opportunities/risks in the report). Focus on social, ethical or legal considerations, such as those covered in the unit, e.g. privacy, censorship, employment, cybercrime, information overload. References must be used to support the discussion.
Format
There is no mandatory format for the infographic, however consider the following guidelines:
• Include your name, student ID and the selected topic title.
• Break the graphic into sections that guide the reader.
• Have a flow between the information, leading to a conclusion.
• Focus on conveying the message graphically, rather than with large blocks of text.
There is no mandatory format for the report, however consider the following guidelines:
• Include your name, student ID and the selected topic title.
• Use section headings to guide the reader.
• There are no suggested or mandatory word limits. However as a guide, the opportunities/benefits and risk/drawback sections may about 1 to 2 pages of text each. The final summary may be about 1/2 page. Focus on the quality of writing and providing clear and detailed explanations, rather than the quantity.
• You may use pictures if necessary (e.g. explaining the technology), however either draw your own picture or clearly acknowledge the author if using someone elses picture.
Submission
You must submit one (1) Microsoft Word document (docx or doc) and one (1) image file on Moodie. You may embed your image as an appendix in your word document if you wish. Late submissions will be penalised at a rate of 5% per part of day.
Marking Criteria
A marking sheet is available here.
Topic List
The technology you select must be one of the following topics. If you want to consider a different technology you must ask the Unit Coordinator at least two weeks before the deadline, and if they agree, they will add the new technology to this list. Any reports on technologies not listed below will be penalised.
1. Auto Boats. A cheap kit that can be added to any boat, allowing that boat to be self-navigating.
2. Social Networking. Social networking website that will attract a large percentage of Internet users under the age of 18.
3. Traffic Decryptor. USB dongle that can be inserted into common network equipment (routers, switches, servers) that automatically captures and decrypts data passing through that equipment.
Submission
You must submit one (1) Microsoft Word document (docx or doc) and one (1) image file on Moodie. You may embed your image as an appendix in your word document if you wish. Late submissions will be penalised at a rate of 5% per part of day.
Marking Criteria
A marking sheet is available here.
Topic List
The technology you select must be one of the following topics. If you want to consider a different technology you must ask the Unit Coordinator at least two weeks before the deadline, and if they agree, they will add the new technology to this list. Any reports on technologies not listed below will be penalised.
1. Auto Boats. A cheap kit that can be added to any boat, allowing that boat to be self-navigating.
2. Social Networking. Social networking website that will attract a large percentage of Internet users under the age of 18.
3. Traffic Decryptor. USB dongle that can be inserted into common network equipment (routers, switches, servers) that automatically captures and decrypts data passing through that equipment.
4. Cryptocurrency. A cryptocurrency that provides complete, secure transaction records, anonymity of users, and has support of large banks to convert to cash.
5. People Detector. Al software that has extremely high accuracy of identifying people using face and gait detection.
6. Auto Lecturer. Software that can -watch- online videos and -read- books in specific domains, and then produce high quality interactive videos (including answer questions) that can be used for university lectures.
7. Intelligent Advertising. Electronic billboards or advertising signs in public places that can direct targeted advertising to passers-by based on analysing audio and video recordings. E.g. the sign -hears- (via speech recognition) you asked your friend about a restaurant and -sees- (via computer vision) your age, gender, dress, emotional state, and then produces an ad of a nearby -relevant- (based on its algorithms and data) restaurant.
8. Robot Nurse. A robot that can perform physical activities, make decisions and provide emotional support equivalent to that of a human nurse.