The Schubmehl-Prein Prize for
Best Essay on Social Impact of Computing
See Below for Announcement of Winning Entries for 2007!
The Competition. The Schubmehl-Prein Prize for best analysis of the social impact of a particular aspect of computing technology will be awarded to a student who is a high school junior in academic year 2007-2008. The first-place award is $1,000, the second-place award is $500, and the third-place award is $250. Winning entries are traditionally published in the Association for Computing Machinery’s Computers and Society online magazine.
Topic for the 2008 Competition. The topic for the 2008 competition is – What should be the ethical and legal responsibilities of the providers and the users of resources such as Facebook, YouTube and blogs?
Eligibility. Students who are in their junior year of high school in the 2007-2008 academic year and in the top one-fifth of their class are eligible to enter. A letter from the school principal or other appropriate administrator certifying the junior standing and academic rank should be submitted with the essay.
Entry Guidelines. An essay should be organized as a title page, main body, and list of references. The maximum length of length of the main body of an essay should be limited to approximately 2,500 words, or ten pages. A figure or table taking one page should be counted as 250 words. The essay must be the original work of the entrant. All sources and quotations must be appropriately documented. The language for the competition is English.
Judging. The essays will be judged for accuracy of technical concepts, quality and clarity of expression, logic of argument, originality of ideas, and conformance to the entry guidelines. The decision of the judges is final.
Timeline. Essays should be submitted by midnight, Eastern Standard Time, 31 May 2008. Submit your entry as an attachment to an email to essay@cse.nd.edu. Your email should contain contact information for a school administrator who can verify eligibility. If the attachment is not in standard word or pdf format, then the email should identify the format. Within a few days after the deadline, you should receive an acknowledgement that the essay was received. The target date for announcement of the judging results is 1 August 2008. The competition web page is www.cse.nd.edu/EssayContest and updated details are announced there.
The Review Panel. The members of the review panel are: Professor Kevin W. Bowyer, Schubmehl-Prein Professor and Department Chair, Computer Science and Engineering, The University of Notre Dame; and Professor C. Dianne Martin, Computer Science and Engineering, The George Washington University, on leave 2005-2007 to serve as Dean of the College of Information Systems, Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The Award. The prize for this essay competition is made possible by the endowment for the Schubmehl-Prein Chair at the University of Notre Dame.
Suggested Background Reading List. A starter reading list for this topic is given below. However, authors will almost certainly want to use additional sources as well.
The Great Blogging Ethics Debate.
The Hidden Dangers of FaceBook.
Academia and the Dangers of Facebook.
Facebook Pages Concern Parents of College Freshmen.
Protecting Privacy in a Web-Searching World.
Video clip on Google’s acquisition of YouTube.
Facebook subpoenaed over user safety.
Civilizing the Web’s Ethical Wildness.
Facebook Allows Limited Public Searches.
College President Deletes Off-Color Facebook Profile.
Employers Under Pressure for Using Facebook.
Facebook Solutions: Not End All Be All For Net Safety.
Facebook Posting Gets Intern In Hot Water With His Boss.
Facebook users complain of new tracking.
Facebook hack fuels Web 2.0 concerns.
Facebook disables Bhutto profiles, says not genuine.
Facebook phenomenon latest legal obstacle, say critics.
Facebook tightens app development platform to curb abuses.
Facebook settles text-messaging suit.
Facebook revamps new advertising system.
Experts Discuss Facebook Advertising.
Facebook privacy – issues to consider (video).
MySpace Bug Leaks 'Private' Teen Photos to Voyeurs.
Drunken College Girls Immortalize Their Nights on Facebook.
Security lapse exposes Facebook photos.
Suit accuses Blockbuster, Facebook of privacy law violations.
MySpace Announces New Safety Measures.
Hacked MySpace profile disguises Trojan as Windows update.
CIA turns to facebook for new talent.
Minnesota high schoolers suspended for FaceBook photos.
Hackers: social networking sites flawed.
Facebook, states set bullying, predator safeguards.
A few social networking privacy tips.
Winners of the 2007 competition.
The winners of the 2007 Schubmehl-Prein Competition for the Best Essay on Social Impact of Computing are:
First place: David Martinez, Damien High School, California (link to published essay in Computers and Society)
Second place: Tunlewa Soyinka, Damien High School, California (link to published essay in Computers and Society)
Third place: Maria Lee, Hillsdale Academy, Michigan (link to published essay in Computers and Society))
Entries to this year’s competition again came from throughout the United States, including schools in Indiana, California, Michigan, New York, and Florida. As happened in the first year, the top two prizes went to students at the same school. This year it is Damien High School in California, whereas in 2005 it was Greenwood High School in Indiana. As is the case each year, there were a number of good entries and a broad variety approaches taken by the authors. We thank all of the students who entered, and all of the teachers who worked with them, for their time and effort.
Winners of the 2006 competition.
The winners of the 2006 Schubmehl-Prein Competition for the Best Essay on Social Impact of Computing, appearing in the December 2006 issue of ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, are:
First place: David Amurao, Damien High School, California (link to published essay in Computers and Society)
Second place: Joshua Gaines, West Branch High School, Ohio (link to published essay in Computers and Society)
Third place: Alexa Linton, Central Bucks High School, Pennsylvania (link to published essay in Computers and Society)
Entries to this 2006 competition came from throughout the United States, including high schools in Arizona, California, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. The judging was quite difficult, due to the number of good entries and the diverse approaches taken by the authors. We thank all of the students who entered, and all of the teachers who worked with them, for their time and effort.
Winners of the 2005 competition.
The winners of the 2005 Schubmehl-Prein Competition for the Best Essay on Social Impact of Computing, appearing in the March 2005 issue of ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, are:
First Place – Jennifer Fujawa, Greenwood High School, Indiana (link to published essay in Computers and Society )
Second Place – Amanda Woodcock, Greenwood High School, Indiana (link to published essay in Computers and Society)
Third Place – Patrick Kosciuk, Lakeshore High School, Michigan (link to published essay in Computers and Society)
Congratulations to each of Jennifer, Amanda, and Patrick! And thanks to all those who submitted entries to this year’s competition. Revised versions of the winning essays have appeared in ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, a publication of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computers and Society. Links to essays appear above. Information about the Computers and Society magazine can be found here.