====== Blown to Bits ======

As a final exam, you will submit an essay on a topic of your choice related to one of the chapters in the book //Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion// by Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen, and Harry Lewis.
This book is available online as a pdf for free at http://www.bitsbook.com/excerpts/ and the related website with additional material is at http://www.bitsbook.com/.  In particular, you may find [[http://www.bitsbook.com/blog/|their blog]] interesting and relevant to your work.

To help you navigate the book, the following table summarizes which lecture topics //loosely correspond// to which chapters. You are of course free to select any chapter (or related sections from multiple chapters), regardless what was covered in class.

^ CS 190 Topic          ^ Blown to Bits ^
| The Internet          | Appendix: \\ The Internet as System and Spirit |
| Social Networking     | Chapter 2: Naked in the Sunlight: \\ Privacy Lost, Privacy Abandoned |
| Security              | Chapter 5: Secret Bits: \\ How Codes Became Unbreakable |
| Ethics                | Chapter 7: You Can’t Say That on the Internet: \\ Guarding the Frontiers of Digital Expression |
| Intellectual Property | Chapter 6: Balance Toppled: \\ Who Owns the Bits? |
| Digital Divide        |  |
| Gaming                |  |
| History & Computation | Chapter 1: Digital Explosion: \\ Why Is It Happening, and What Is at Stake? |
^ Other Topics          ^  ^
| Digital Documents     | Chapter 3: Ghosts in the Machine: \\ Secrets and Surprises of Electronic Documents |
| Search Engines        | Chapter 4: Needles in the Haystack: \\ Google and Other Brokers in the Bits Bazaar |
| Censorship/Regulation | Chapter 8: Bits in the Air: \\ Old Metaphors, New Technologies, and Free Speech |

Specific instructions and guidelines:
  * Select one chapter (or several sections) in //Blown to Bits//. Please state which one(s) you selected in your essay.
  * Write a critical response containing "new" material. This should be a contribution based on your own experience and/or an angle/view not covered by the authors.
  * You should also draw upon the points discussed in lectures, on the team blogs, and in the course wiki pages.
  * The required length is 2 to 3 pages (500 to 750 words). Your document should be formatted nicely (e.g., double-spaced with reasonable margins).
  * This assignment must be your individual work; you may not collaborate with other students other than discussing the book or course issues in general.

Please submit your essay to the TA via email ([[cmayfiel@cs.purdue.edu]]), **preferably as a PDF attachment** (see below).  You will receive a reply confirming the receipt of your document.  The deadline is **Friday March 12th at 5:00 PM**.  Late work will not be accepted; enjoy your Spring Break!

====== Creating PDFs ======

Note that one should be cautious about sending .doc (or .docx) files: besides not being fully portable, .doc files often contain hidden information that one may not want the recipient to know (see [[http://www.electronicevidenceretrieval.com/molisani_meta_data.htm|here]], [[http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP051901021033.aspx|here]], and Blown to Bits chapter 3).

There are many ways to create (or, print) a PDF file:

  * [[http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatpro/|Acrobat Pro]] is available in any of the [[http://www.itap.purdue.edu/tlt/lab/standard_software.cfm|ITaP Instructional Labs]].
  * You can also download free software that installs a "pdf printer" on your own computer:
    * http://www.pdfforge.org/ (recommended)
    * http://www.cutepdf.com/
  * [[https://docs.google.com/|Google Docs]], [[http://www.openoffice.org/|Open Office]], and other office suites have the ability to import Word documents and export PDFs.

Feel free to contact the TA if you have any questions regarding this process.