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 their blog interesting and relevant to your work.

To help you navigate the book, the following table summarizes which lecture topics correspond to which chapters. You are of course free to select any chapter, regardless what was covered in class.

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!

Note that one should be cautious about sending .doc files: besides not being free software, .doc files often contain hidden information (see here or here) one may not want the recipient to know.

There are many ways to create a PDF file:

• Acrobat Pro is available in any of the 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/
• Google Docs, 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.