The Responsible Computer Science Challenge is an initiative that aims to integrate ethics and social responsibility into the undergraduate computer science curriculum. The grant award provides the means to leverage existing resources to support and encourage curricula that incorporate ethics into the field of computer technology.
These experiences will provide future technologists with the social context to better understand their work’s impact and provide them with frameworks to build responsible and trustworthy technologies. Many technologies have enabled new forms of connection and creativity, but the benefits and harms of these technologies have yet to be distributed equally. Increased digital surveillance and recommendation systems that heighten misinformation are examples of how existing injustices become implanted within and boosted by computing technologies and harm the most vulnerable.
These technologists will bring comprehensive thinking to design new technologies. The Challenge supports developing and piloting curricula that empower students to think about the social and political use of computers. The Challenge will provide innovative coursework implemented at the participating home institutions and scaled to different colleges and universities around the globe.
The Challenge is expanding globally to leading universities and awarding institutions to design course materials incorporating social, political and technical perspectives in introductory computing courses. This expansion talks about the global nature of computing and the ethical dilemmas and geographic mistreatments that often result from a narrow focus on technology. This new curriculum will empower undergraduate students to mark on a multidisciplinary tool kit to identify and address systemic inequities and power asymmetries embedded in computational systems. Using these skills, graduating technologists will drive a culture change in the tech industry and build a strong internet locally and globally.
