CS 795/895 - Web Archiving Forensics Spring 2019 CRNs: 31866 and 31867 Instructor: Michael L. Nelson http://www.cs.odu.edu/~mln/ Office Hours: W, 3:00-4:00 and by appointment Time: W 4:20 - 7:00 pm Place: ECS, r. 3102 The veracity of information on the web and social media is of increasing concern, especially in light of recent developments in foreign disinformation campaigns to influence elections and questions about whether public figures actually said what may be attributed to them*. Digital information is easy to manipulate, copy, and delete, but web archives offer a trusted method for timestamping the appearance of web pages and their contents. We will investigate how web archives can be used to establish the priority of information, as well as how they can be hacked or used to obfuscate the provenance of falsified content. The class will consist of exploring web archiving mechanics and protocols, reviewing prior research, and class projects that implement and and replicate current issues involving web archives. The class will consist of a mix of presentation and review of the research results of others, as well as original, project-based work. Prerequisites: Graduate standing or instructor permission, familiarity with Unix Attendance Policy: Attendance is required for class participation, presentation, and discussion. Absences must cleared with the instructor prior to class. You are responsible for everything that is said, discussed, and presented during class. Grading: The class grade will consist of 8 Assignments of 10 points each, and the remaining 20 points will be based on class and online participation. Each assignment will be presented/demoed in class. Late assignments lose 3 points for every 24 hours they are late unless prior arrangements are made with the intstuctor. Readings and assignment descriptions will be released on a rolling basis during the semester. Grading Scale: A = 100-94 A- = 93-90 B+ = 89-88 B = 87-84 B- = 83-80 C+ = 79-78 C = 77-74 C- = 73-70 F = 69-00 Class Web Page: https://phonedude.github.io/cs895-s19/ Class Email List: http://groups.google.com/group/cs895-s19/ You need to register yourself to this list. Class Textbook: None. Class readings will be posted on the class web page. ODU Honor Code: Please familiarize yourself with the ODU Honor Code: https://www.odu.edu/about/monarchcitizenship especially resources pertaining to plagiarism and academic integrity: https://graduate.cs.odu.edu/resources/academic-integrity/ The following statements apply to this class and come from: https://odu.edu/facultystaff/teaching/conduct-integrity Old Dominion University is committed to students' personal and academic success. In order to achieve this vision, students, faculty, and staff work together to create an environment that provides the best opportunity for academic inquiry and learning. All students must be honest and forthright in their academic studies. Your work in this course and classroom behavior must align with the expectations outlined in the Code of Student Conduct, which can be found at www.odu.edu/oscai. The following behaviors along with classroom disruptions violate this policy, corrupt the educational process, and will not be tolerated. Cheating: Using unauthorized assistance, materials, study aids, or other information in any academic exercise. Plagiarism: Using someone else’s language, ideas, or other original material without acknowledging its source in any academic exercise. Fabrication: Inventing, altering or falsifying any data, citation or information in any academic exercise. Facilitation: Helping another student commit, or attempt to commit, any Academic Integrity violation, or failure to report suspected Academic Integrity violations to a faculty member. Academic dishonesty will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct & Academic Integrity and may result in sanctions up to and including expulsion from the University.