Conferences will be held every other week. I am open to almost any computer-science related topic, including programming projects. We will be studying the Python programming language for a few weeks this semester, and you are welcome to delve more deeply into Python or explore other computer languages for your project, if you wish.

On the other hand, if you prefer writing a more traditional research paper, here are just a few of many possible topics I can think of:

• The history and future of the Internet
• Computers, the brain, and artificial intelligence
• DNA computing
• Logic, computability, and science fiction
• Computer programming for the Web
• Social interaction via the Internet (chat rooms, blogging, on-line dating, etc.)
• Legal issues (Microsoft anti-trust suit, Napster, etc.)
• The erosion of privacy in the Internet age
• Computer security issues (viruses, cybercrime, cyberterrorism, etc.)
• Robotics and artificial life
• Quantum computation
• Advances in computer hardware (3D memories, nanotechnology, etc.)
• Music performance or composition with computers

Your research should focus on references within the past 2-3 years, and must include a significant number of non-Internet sources of information, such as books, newspapers, or magazine articles.

Learning how to make a Web page does not by itself qualify as a conference topic. However, if you wish, you may present your final conference work as a series of Web pages instead of a traditional paper, in order to take advantage of the multi-media capabilities of the Web. If you do not yet know how to build Web pages, part of your conference work can be devoted to learning how to do so.