Computers and Society: Computing for Good

Chapman & Hall/CRC Textbooks in Computing

by Lisa C. Kaczmarczyk

Since computer scientists make decisions every day that have societal context and influence, an understanding of society and computing together should be integrated into computer science education. Showing students what they can do with their computing degree, Computers and Computing for Good uses concrete examples and case studies to highlight the positive work of real computing professionals and organizations from around the world. Each chapter profiles a corporation, nonprofit organization, or entrepreneur involved in computing-centric activities that clearly benefit society or the environment, including cultural adaptation in a developing country, cutting-edge medicine and healthcare, educational innovation, endangered species work, and help for overseas voters. The coverage of computing topics spans from social networking to high-performance computing. The diversity of people and activities in these profiles gives students a broad vision of what they can accomplish after graduation. Pedagogical Features Encouraging students to engage actively and critically with the material, the book offers a wealth of pedagogical sections at the end of each chapter. Questions of varying difficulty ask students to apply the material to themselves or their surroundings and to think critically about the material from the perspective of a future computing professional. The text also gives instructors the option to incorporate individual projects, team projects, short projects, and semester-long projects. Other resources for instructors and students are available at www.computers-and-society.com Visit the author’s blog at

314 pages, Paperback

First published January 13, 2012

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very happy to see a book that directly addresses the lack of technical content in Social Implications of Computing like courses. I often spend much of my time in class bridging the gap between the societal issues presented in text books and the computer science understanding needed to analyze what issues a new technology might bring. Being more geared towards systems engineering, this text fell short of what I was hoping for but does provide a good view into the challenges of building computer systems for real world use. The typical items (lack of acronym lists, URL references missing access dates, figures present but not addressed in the text, etc.) that plague first editions can be found throughout. I would be surprised if they carried over to subsequent releases. It would make a very good addition to a graduate course, though may add too much reading to an undergraduate offering.