taylor@hplabsc.UUCP (Dave Taylor) (06/25/86)
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Computers and Society Digest, Number 18
Tuesday, April 8th 1986
Topics of discussion in this issue...
Administration
social classes
Computers & Society Digest 17 (ballot stuffing)
Computer Illiteracy
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Date: April 8th, 1986
From: The Moderator (taylor@hplabs)
Subject: Administration
Well, I've made it to my new home in Sunny California - for those that
don't know, my new email address is "taylor@HPLABS" (or hplabs!taylor)
and I'm now working for -- you guessed it -- HP Laboratories. My new
assignment is to work on (fix) the electronic mail systems here and to
help with the systems to be released with our AI Workstations in the
future!
I've tried to change everyones addresses in my master mailing list,
but I might have made some mistakes! PLEASE look at address I used
to send this to you and let me know if there is a 'better way' to get
to you.
Take care, everyone,
-- Dave Taylor
taylor@HPLABS -or- hplabs!taylor
PS: I'd also like to welcome the about 20 new members! Please feel
free to submit articles (etc) on any relevent topic!!
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Date: Sat, 15 Mar 86 17:47:49 EST
From: David Vinayak Wallace <GUMBY@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU>
Subject: social classes
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 86 14:15:21 -0200
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 86 14:15:21 -0200
From: Eyal mozes <ihnp4!wisdom.bitnet!eyal>
From: Eyal mozes <ihnp4!wisdom.bitnet!eyal>
I think your concept of an "elite class" is confused. The defining
characteristic of an elite class is LEGAL power - an elite class
has the government on its side, and can use it to oppress others.
_ _ '
elite \a-'let, i-\ n [F elite, fr. OF eslite, fr. fem. of eslit, pp. of eslire
to choose, fr. L eligere] 1 a : the choice part; esp : a socially superior
group b : a powerful minority group 2 : a typewriter type providing 12
characters to the linear inch and 6 lines to the vertical inch -- elite adj
I presume we can ignore the second definition! Any powerful minority
is by definition an elite.
People with access to computers may have the power to cause damage
to other people; so do people who are physically strong, or who
own knives, or who drive cars. This doesn't make them an elite
class.
Your analogy of the hackers and the feudal rulers just doesn't
fit. The hackers didn't have the law on their side, they were
criminals. A more accurate analogy would be the mafia sending a
goon to beat up someone who criticized them; do you regard the
mafia as an example of an "elite class"?
Apart from the fact that hackers are not a priori criminals (though
some criminals are hackers just as some lawyers are shysters), their
very power is what defines them as an elite. It's becoming more and
more difficult to pinpoint whence originates the power in modern
bureaucracy, with those "at the top" able to make policy but unable to
control the whole organisation. As a result, elites arise around
areas of specific interest. For more on this, see Roger Fisher.
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Date: Sun, 16 Mar 86 09:12 EST
From: T3B%PSUVM.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu
Subject: Computers & Society Digest 17 (ballot stuffing)
In C&S Digest 17 Brian M. Godfrey writes:
>Once a paper ballot box is stuffed, it would be hard
>to detect.
Perhaps, but in Pennsylvania my impression is a ballot box would be
hard to stuff, because voters' names are entered in a register when
they come to vote, and paper ballots (with removable receipts) are
issued to them serially. This process is executed by voting officials
and poll watchers, making cheating at that stage virtually impossible.
At the closing of the poll, the registration book is signed off on.
Any discrepancy between number of recorded voters and number of ballots
in the box would be immediately evident.
A virtue of the system is its simplicity and openness: poll watchers can
follow every step of the process. Computerized voting, which is sure to
come, will make such openness very difficult, if not impossible, to
achieve.
I agree with Brian Godfrey's suggestion, though: an electronic ballot
should have a paper backup, deposited in a ballot box in the traditional
manner, thus allowing for both secrecy and a re-count.
Tom Benson Penn State University T3B @ PSUVM (BITNET)
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Date: Tue, 1 Apr 86 05:54:58 pst
From: weemba@brahms.berkeley.edu (Matthew P. Wiener)
Subject: Computer Illiteracy
I do not know if this is more appropriate for mod.risks or the computer
and society mailing list. I've sent it in to both.
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I'd like to relate a phenomena that happened when I computerized my grading
system some years back. It used to be I did everything involving grades by
hand, and one summer I finally wrote the software to do it all on by machine.
>From my point of view this was wonderful. I thought it was useful from the
students' point of view: I now passed out individualized summaries of what
my records had, giving them a chance to correct any mistakes I made. But
one subtle hitch occurred.
Traditionally, I let the students come in at certain appointed hours after
the grades have been computed but before they have been submitted to correct
any last minute errors. I also take the time to explain their grades and how
they were computed. It doesn't always make them happy; I cannot be budged
when it comes to my judgement calls. This last chance office hour can be
quite unpleasant at times--so many students take their grades seriously to
the most ridiculous degrees, and make all sorts of irrational/emotional
appeals to get the better grade.
When I switched over, the following happened. I was teaching calculus for
non-technical students for the third year in a row, so I was expecting the
same student reactions at grade time--especially from the pre-meds. Instead,
as soon as a student began his/her complaint, and I said, "OK, let's check
the records here," I'd show them the computer printout and he/she would then
acquiesce immediately. "Oh, so that is why I only got a B+." They were, of
course, the exact same numbers that I could have written down by hand on the
specially lined paper provided by the department.
At the time I was elated at this easy solution to the pesky student problem
that I had just found. But looking back, I find this reaction disturbing,
with possibilities that the new computer illiteracy is actually dangerous
to its victims.
Since then, the only students I've had who aren't put off by the computer
printouts are the ones with actual computer experience and/or actual human
intelligence, which usually occurs in the more advanced math classes.
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To have your thoughts included in this digest, please mail them to either
taylor@HPLABS.CSNET, taylor%HPLABS.CSNET@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA or
..hplabs!taylor as appropriate. This journal is published about every
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End of Computers and Society Digest
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