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Week 9 and 10 Case Study III

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Full Case III#

This is the last of the three two-week cases, and it runs the same way as the first two: pick a domain, settle on one specific, documented case, complete the Update at the end of Week 9, and complete the Full Case at the end of Week 10. The domains for this round are:

  • Agriculture
  • Transportation
  • Retail & Consumer
  • Entertainment & Gaming
  • Environmental & Climate Science
  • An undiscussed area of your choosing — any domain not covered in Full Cases I or II

For a refresher on how the two weeks work, see Weeks 5 and 6 and the Two Week Case Analyses Explainer.

Two things are different this round:

  • Week 9 is short. There is no class on Monday, Oct 26 (Fall Break), so you have two class meetings before the Update is due. Settle on a case by Wednesday.
  • Scaffold 2 of your Case Design is due Fri, Nov 6, in the same week as the Full Case. Plan for both. See Case Design: Scaffold 2 below.
WeekIndividuallyAs a group
9Review one domain below; summarize; write preliminary DTPA questions → Forum PostPick a domain, narrow to a case, find sources → Update (Sun Nov 1)
10Review a different domain below; summarize; write preliminary DTPA questions → Forum PostComplete the full DTPA analysis → Full Case (Sun Nov 8)

Prep reading & resources#

You only need to review one domain per week, and we expect you to spend at least 90 minutes with the materials in that domain. If your group chooses an undiscussed area, your individual review can still come from the domains below.

🌾 Agriculture#

Farming is one of the most data-intensive industries in the country, and Michigan farmers are part of the story. Many cases in this domain turn on who owns the data and the machine: the farmer who generates the data, or the company that sells the equipment.

Equipment, data, and the right to repair#

Forecasts and advice for farmers#

  • 📖 AI-based monsoon forecasts help 38 million Indian farmers make planting decisions (University of Chicago Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, 2025) — researchers combined AI weather models, including Google’s NeuralGCM, to forecast when the monsoon would arrive up to a month ahead. India’s agriculture ministry sent the forecasts by text message to 38 million farmers.
  • 📖 Beyond the Chat: AI-Powered Advice for Women Farmers (CGAP, 2025) — Farmer.Chat, a generative AI advice tool from the nonprofit Digital Green, answers farmers’ questions by voice and text in India, Kenya, and Nigeria. The article reports early quality-of-life gains and names the barriers for women farmers: digital literacy, language accuracy, data costs, and bias.

Livestock and labor#

  • 📖 The dairy farm of the future could employ robotics (Wisconsin Public Radio, 2024) — Wisconsin farms and a new $55 million research center use robotic milkers, sensors, and automated alerts to track each cow’s health and production. The article says robots “save a lot of labor” but doesn’t say whose.

🚗 Transportation#

Michigan built the car industry, and the debate over who is responsible when a car drives itself is happening now. Read for the difference between driver-assist systems, where a human is supposed to be watching, and driverless systems, where no human is. Many of the failures happen in the gap between those two.

Self-driving and driver-assist#

Ride-hail pricing#

  • 📖 Uber’s Algorithm and Driver Pay (Columbia Business School, 2025) — researchers analyzed about 31,000 trips from one experienced driver and found that after Uber switched to algorithmic “upfront pricing,” riders paid more, drivers were paid less, and Uber’s share of each fare rose from about 32% to about 42%.

🛒 Retail & Consumer#

These are the systems you use every week, often without noticing: what you are shown, what price you are charged, who watches you in the store, and who answers when you complain. Several of the strongest cases ended with a regulator stepping in or a company reversing course.

Pricing#

Stores, surveillance, and “automation”#

Customer-service chatbots#

🎮 Entertainment & Gaming#

This domain overlaps with Art & Creative Industries from Full Case I, so focus on what is different: platforms that run on algorithms (matchmaking, moderation, recommendation) and the performers whose voices and likenesses those platforms use. Many of you are users of these systems, which makes you a source too.

Performers and synthetic content#

Moderation, safety, and matchmaking#

🌍 Environmental & Climate Science#

AI is both a tool for understanding the environment and a growing burden on it. In Week 3 you looked at the energy and water costs of data centers. This domain also includes cases where AI forecasts and detection systems may be saving lives.

Forecasting and early warning#

Monitoring emissions#

AI’s own footprint: a Michigan case#

🧭 An Undiscussed Area of Your Choosing#

Any domain not covered in Full Cases I or II is fair game. Examples include housing and real estate, religion, social services and child welfare, dating and relationships, sports betting, libraries, insurance outside of healthcare, or accessibility and disability. The standard does not change: a named tool, a named organization, and a documented deployment.

Name your domain and case in Question 1 of the Week 9 Update so the instructional team can confirm it. If you are unsure whether a domain counts as “undiscussed,” ask by Wednesday, Oct 28.

Places to start looking for your own case#

The places listed in Weeks 5 and 6 and Weeks 7 and 8 still apply. These are also useful for this round:

WhereWhat you’ll find
AI Incident DatabaseStructured, cross-domain, sourced
FTC press releasesConsumer-protection cases that name the company and the tool
NHTSA Standing General Order crash reportsFederal crash data for driver-assist and automated vehicles
Planet Detroit and Bridge MichiganMichigan environment, energy, and policy reporting

Your Individual Domain Review#

This is the same assignment as in Weeks 5 and 6. Each week, pick one domain above (a different one in Week 10) and post to the Forum (~250 words, APA references):

  1. Summary. What is happening in this domain? Name at least two specific tools, organizations, or deployments, with a source for each.
  2. Preliminary DTPA questions. At least one question for each of Data, Tools, Practices, and Actions.
  3. A possible case. One specific, documented case you could imagine analyzing.

Class Meetings#

DayDateFocus
MOct 26🚫 No class — Fall Break (Mon Oct 26 – Tue Oct 27)
WOct 28Introducing Full Case III — Planning and Research
FOct 30Full Case III — Planning and Research; Complete Part A of Template
MNov 2Full Case III — Research and Drafting Case Analysis
WNov 4Full Case III — Research and Drafting Case Analysis; Case Design Scaffold 2 check-in
FNov 6Full Case III — Completing Case Analysis; Complete Part B of Template · 🎯 Case Design Scaffold 2 due
  • Week 9: You may select new groups for Full Case III, or stay in the same groups.
  • Week 10: You must stay in your groups for Full Case III and for the Case Design.

Focus for Weeks 9 and 10#

The standard is the same as for Full Cases I and II. All four DTPA sections and all four Pillars of AI Literacy are evaluated. See Focus for Weeks 5 and 6 for the full description.

By the third round, we expect your analysis to compare. Where it helps, connect your case to one from an earlier round, whether your own group’s or one from the readings. For example, compare Rite Aid’s facial recognition to Detroit’s, Waymo’s safety claims to Epic’s sepsis model, or Saline Township to Pavilion Township. Comparing cases is one of the clearest ways to show Critical Literacy.

Week 9 Update (due Sun Nov 1)#

Answer the same eight questions as the Week 5 Update in your group’s tab, starting with Section 0 (Your Notes/Research). Groups choosing an undiscussed area must name the domain and case in Question 1.

Week 10 Full Case (due Sun Nov 8)#

The complete Case Study, using the same template and DTPA framework. Where your group disagrees, write the disagreement down.

Looking ahead: starting in Week 11, groups may sign up to lead half a class by presenting one of their three Full Cases. If you think Full Case III might be that case, keep your sources and disagreements well organized.

Case Design: Scaffold 2 (due Fri Nov 6)#

Scaffold 2 expands your Scaffold 1 into Part 2 of the Case Design template: a revised Part 1, a full DTPA analysis, a design direction, and an annotated bibliography. Minimum 1,500 words across Parts 1 and 2, plus a separate response-to-feedback document (>250 words) that addresses your Scaffold 1 feedback.

A few reminders:

  • Revise in place. Update the Part 1 text instead of writing a second version, and point to each change in your response document.
  • Section 2.5 (Design direction) matters most. It must be specific enough that someone could disagree with it, and the feedback you get on it is the most useful feedback of the semester.
  • Use your Case Studies. You have now analyzed two full cases, possibly three. Any of them can supply evidence, comparisons, or models for your design.
  • Work through the “Before you submit Part 2” checklist in the template.

Use part of Wednesday’s class (Nov 4) to check in with your Case Design team, especially if it differs from your Full Case III group.

Turning In#

Same as before: one group member downloads the Word or PDF version of your tab and submits it on D2L to Week 9 Full Case III Update and then Week 10 Full Case III Complete. Each of you also submits an Individual Effort & Metacognitive Report (~250 words) each week. One Case Design team member submits Scaffold 2 and the response-to-feedback document on D2L.

Due dates:

  • Tuesday, October 27th at 11:59pm
    • Week 9 Forum Post (domain review)
  • Sunday, November 1st at 11:59pm
    • Week 9 Full Case III Update (Part A of Template)
    • Week 9 Individual Effort & Metacognitive Report
    • Week 10 Forum Post (domain review, different domain)
  • Friday, November 6th
    • 🎯 Case Design Scaffold 2 and response to Scaffold 1 feedback
  • Sunday, November 8th at 11:59pm
    • Week 10 Full Case III Complete (Part B of Template)
    • Week 10 Individual Effort & Metacognitive Report

Reminders#

Put your group’s names at the top of the page, and do not copy from or to other groups’ Case Studies.

Case Studies that do not meet the standard will be returned without credit, and your group will have one week from receiving it to revise and meet the standard.