CIS2: 3. Encryption and Interception of Communications

• explore the topic of Encryption and Interception of Communications from textbook readings and related activities
• facilitate a discussion
• investigate virtual lectures available as web resources and report on their applicability to online learning
• experience online publishing by telling a story related to an image

• Should the government or police have the right to intercept communications? Under what circumstances is communication interception okay?
• What security issues concern you personally?
• Is privacy a concern for you? There are a number of privacy advocacy organizations with various points of view? Do they represent your interests?
• What would be an acceptable use of encryption key access?
• Digital cash can be designed to allow transactions to be made securely and anonymously. Considering the privacy benefits and the potential for use by tax evaders and criminals, do you think fully anonymously digital cash should be made illegal?
• Is tracking people's location a significant risk? How could this information be used for good and bad purposes? Which do you think is more important?

• Harvard @home Program List http://athome.harvard.edu/archive/archive.asp Harvard @home provides access to special lectures, talks, and public addresses. Topics include the current affairs, arts, social science, events, history, math, and more. You can choose between 3 different media players: Quicktime, Windows Media, or Real player. The clips can be quite long so plan ahead and test. Can be used in class or for personal development.

• Atoms Family (Miami Museum of Science) http://www.miamisci.org/af/sln/ The Atoms Family exhibit is currently on display at The Miami Museum of Science. This resource contains lessons and activities relating to different forms of energy. Each is presented by a famous gothic horror character. The Mummy's Tomb: Learn about energy conservation, kinetic, and potential energy. Phantom's Portrait Parlor: principles of atoms and matter. Dracula's Library: properties of light, waves, and particles. Wolf Man's Ghostly Graveyard: fuel conservation and energy transfer. Frankenstein's Lightning Laboratory: different forms of electricity and electrical safety. Requires javascript.

• Reporting Civil Rights (Library of America) http://www.reportingcivilrights.org/ Reporting Civil Rights presents the reporters and journalism of the American Civil Rights Movement and the efforts of various journalists, activists, and others to secure civil freedoms and liberties for African- Americans. An interactive timeline that chronicles the years 1941 to 1973. The Library of America companion site is a two-volume anthology that brings together nearly 200 newspaper and magazine reports, book excerpts, and features by 151 writers. (Use the Table of Contents to efficiently navigate the anthologies -- http://www.reportingcivilrights.org/loa/toc.jsp)

• President Calling (American RadioWorks) http://www.americanradioworks.org/features/prestapes/index.html Three of America's most compelling presidents - Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon - bugged their White House offices and tapped their telephones. They left behind thousands of secretly recorded conversations, from momentous to mundane. In this documentary project, American RadioWorks eavesdrops on presidential telephone calls to hear how each man used one-on-one politics to shape history. Includes photographs and recordings.

• University of Washington Information Technology Course http://courses.washington.edu/benefit/ allows students to upgrade their knowledge of Information Technology, skills, concepts and capabilities. Students learn through web pages, short streaming videos and online assignments without an instructor.

• ECHELON: America's Secret Global Surveillance Network http://home.hiwaay.net/~pspoole/echelon.html

1. Read the 3. Encryption and Interception of Communications information for an overview for the topics that will be covered this week.

2. Read text book - Chapter 3: Encryption and Interception of Communications

3. Facilitate a discussion in the forum Encryption and Interception of Communications based on your reading in the textbook. Post a critical thinking question and facilitate your discussion. Participate in at least 2 other discussions in this topic.

4. Attend a virtual lecture at a college or university that offers public access to course materials, preferably one with audio or video lectures. MIT, Stanford and CSU Chico are some examples of schools where you can visit archived class videos or audio files. Why is this interesting? Post the link to the session you visit and 2-3 sentences describing the course and your experience to the Virtual Lectures discussion.
   Discussion Tip: Change the Subject for your discussion reply message to something appropriate to your posting. The Forum automatically fills in the Subject from the message that you are replying to. Remember to change the Subject each time you reply to a discussion.

5. Last week, everyone was assigned to a Group based on your Brain Color. This week, you will work with the same group of students and exchange ideas and questions about online group work. Your group can work in the Forum discussion topic for your group. If you can arrange a time for the group, you can also use instant messaging. After the discussion, prepare a summary of the group discussion and post it to Online Groups - Whole Class discussion topic. Please include a description of HOW you discussed your topic (discussion Forum, email, instant messaging) and how well that worked.
   Group leader - the first person in the group to post can decide to be the group leader or not. Otherwise the second person to post in the group is the group leader. The group leader will summarize the discussion and post the the summary to Online Groups - Whole Class discussion topic. (Students in previous classes suggested that the group leader be assigned by the instructor. If you have a better suggestion for how to "assign" group leadership, please let me know.)

6. Read the Online Groups - Whole Class discussion postings. Respond to one of the summary statements with a 2-3 sentence comment. You can add additional information or take a different point of view. Now that you have participated in an online group project, do you have suggestions or comments about your experience? This is your opportunity to provide feedback. What did you learn about working in online groups? Were the assignment instructions clear? Did you know what you were to do? Did others do what you expected them to do? Would you suggest any changes to the group project requirements? In addition to posting to the discussion forum, submit your response to assignment Group Project 1 Feedback.

7. Technology in our lives - How are you using technology in your life? Web sites? Cell phones? Notebook computers? What improvements would you like to see? What would make your technology experience better? Do you consider yourself GenerationTech or NetGen? Include a link to a web site that you access frequently and describe why this site is important to you. Post your comments to the Technology Experience discussion forum.

8. Review these web search tutorials. Many of the assignments in this course require finding and discussing current web articles related to the chapter topic. You need to be able to find web resources that apply to the topics being discussed. Based on the reading, take the quiz Research Process and Citing Sources. Answer these questions based on your review of Research Process at http://www.openc.k12.or.us/citeintro/secondary/process/ and Citing Sources information at http://www.openc.k12.or.us/citeintro/secondary/ and Recommended Search Strategy: Analyze your topic & Search with peripheral vision at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Strategies.html

9. Digital storytelling is an important and powerful form of expression. Find an image on the web that has a special meaning for you. Include a link to the image and write a brief "caption" for the image. Post your image link and caption to Digital Storytelling discussion.
   Review the images and captions of 3 other students and ask a question about their images. Check back to the discussion topic over the next week and answer any questions about your posting.

10. Work through the exercises in the textbook. Think about how you would respond to these questions and situations. These will not be graded.

11. Reflection - Read Things You Really Need to Learn http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2006/08/things-you-really-need-to-learn.html What is the best advice? What is the worst advice? This should be 1-2 paragraphs. Use the I Think... 3 assignment to submit your note.