Censorship in Germany

World Fact Book on Germany



By: Matthew Giannini, Alex Kochmar, William Luebke, Cao Nguyen, Rob Orifici, and Scott Preddy


International support from: Stefan Oertel of Dresden, Germany



General Information
Abstract
Goals for the Activity
Knowledge / Skills / Attitudes to be Developed
Procedure
Assessing Outcomes
Additional Remarks
Author Contact Information


General Information



Topic Area:

Comparing the U.S. and German response to the case of censorship.

Target Audience:

Mature people with an open mind on the topic of censorship and those who wish to learn how the topic differs in another country. No additional knowledge on the topic is needed.

Activity Type:

Pre-class reading followed by an in class discussion/open debate on the topic of censorship between the two nations.

Time Required:

Pre-class readings -- about an hour. In class discussion and debate -- 40 minutes.

Attachments:

Censorship Worksheet
Debate Scenarios/Discussion Questions
A case of Academic Censorship

US Response
Germany Response

Additional Materials:

All that is needed is a print out of the Pre-class assignment. For extra emphasis you may want to print out any writings that you find to contain evidence that supports your views of the debate issues posted.

Background Needed to Complete the Assignment:

Before coming to class it would be useful to read up on German views of censorship. You should also have a good understanding of censorship in the US. It would also be useful for you to read up on other country's views of censorship.

References:

Books: WWW Articles:

Last Modified:

2000/08/01

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Abstract



           The issue of censorship, government and otherwise, has become a part of both the public and government agendas in many countries, considering the increased popularity of computer networks such as the Internet. This project develops the lesson plans and active learning scenarios to support the teaching, learning, and understanding of students in computer science courses that compares the local attitudes, laws, and cultural approaches to censorship between America and Germany.


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Goals for the Activity



           The goals for this activity are to have students comprehend what the differences in policies on censorship between the United States and Germany are, therefore providing a realization as to the international differences of censorshipand censorship policies.


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Knowledge / Skills / Attitudes to be Developed



           Students should be able to compare and realize international differences on policies such as censorship and should be able to realize why these differences exist. Students should be able to determine if something should be censored in a certain country given that country's policies on censorship.


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Procedure



           The purpose of this assignment is to compare and constrast censorship in America and Germany. Students should take into consideration the ideas presented in the classs on censorship in America while they are reading about the laws and associated events pertaining to censorship in Germany.

The pre-class activity should include two parts:

  1. Complete the Censorship Worksheet on censorship in the US (to be brought to class the following meeting).
  2. Study the constitution and laws of Germany relevant to censorship.
  3. Read the story of academic censorship.
The information provided by the worksheet will be valuable during the in-class discussion based upon this topic. One way to facilitate a meaningful class discussion would be for the students to take some time at the beginning of class and complete the Debate Questions. Then examine the US and German responses to the academic censorship scenario. After the initial discussion, answer the Debate Questions from the point of view of Germany. During the duration of this assignment students are encouraged to pay special attention to the differences (if any) between the level of government control (or lack there of) between Germany and America. These differences are the essence of this assignment.


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Assessing Outcomes



           We will collect pre-class activity and grade them for participation points. Participation points could be also awarded for participating in-class debates.


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Additional Remarks



           Many of the topics and issues discussed in this lesson plan can be paralleled and reinforced by a discussion on Freedom Of Speech. These concepts on censorship are also relevant to certain courses in political science, philosophy, law and English courses with a technological emphasis.


           The translated text of the "Ethical Guidelines issued by the Gesellschaft f,r Informatik (GI)" contains more information on ethical guidelines for computing in Germany.


           For information on other topics related to professionalism in computing (such as privacy, freedom of speech and "whistle blowing"), check out the Digital Library provided by the Computer Science at Virginia Tech CS3604 course web site.


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Author Contact Information



Matthew Giannini's Email Address: Alex Kochmar's Email Address: William Luebke's Email Address: Cao Nguyen's Email Address: Rob Orifici's Email Address: Scott Preddy's Email Address:
mgiannin@vt.edu akochmar@vt.edu wluebke@vt.edu cnguyen@vt.edu rorifici@vt.edu spreddy@vt.edu


With international support from:
Stefan Oertel
stefan.oertel@gmx.net


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