Honors Think Tank On Transparency & Privacy in a Web 2.0 World: Learning Objectives

By the end of the Think Tank, the students will have:

1. Obtained an in-depth and thorough understanding of the policies, values and rationales underlying the concepts of transparency and privacy.
2. Learned the historical origins of privacy and transparency and how the legal and constitutional standards governing the concepts are evolving.
3. Gained an appreciation of the relative value other countries places on transparency and privacy and how they have reconciled the concepts when they are at odds with one another.
4. Explored how society has weighted and balanced privacy vs. transparency in specific areas such as government, the media, the education system, the financial industries, the military and/or the internet.
5. Obtained a basic working familiarity with social media and other new Web 2.0 communications platforms.
6.   Explored how social media, with its emphasis on sharing and inter-connectivity, unavoidably fosters both personal and institutional transparency and undermines the concept of privacy.
7. Been exposed to the thinking of the leading commentators and advocates of the transparency and privacy movements.
8. Developed a personal philosophy and analytical approach as to how they will balance the interests of privacy and transparency when confronted with real life situations in the future.
9.  Participated in a collaborative, self-directed, group oriented learning experience in a transparent environment.
10. Developed a work product addressing some contemporary aspect of privacy and/or transparency which will have educational value and/or social utility beyond the course.