In this assignment, we would like you to start by first re-specifying your research or design problem and its justification in light of our discussions and your own work.

The rest of the assignment is a progress update — tell us the scope of your project (what domain, what specific CMC system, what research tradition, etc.), what you are doing to address your problemm and how you are doing it. You may have done some of this on your first assignment, but we know that your projects may have changed since Assignment 1.

We are grading these based on your efforts to work through your problem, so we highly encourage you to be as specific as possible. What we want you to do is make a strong effort to define the scope and expected outcome for your project, given that you have more time ahead to work on it.

This kind of assignment can be deceptive in its simplicity. It is often hard to see just how many assumptions we are making in such projects until we try to write it out. As you write out your expanded description of your project, try to look for things that you are assuming but may not be saying explicitly.

Please be sure you address each of the following:

1. State your problem clearly and concisely, in one paragraph.
2. In one paragraph, justify why your problem is worth investigating: Who will care about or benefit from your findings or your product? Why? Think about who your intended audience is (aside from Coye and Andrew!).
3. Identify and define the key terms you use in your problem and justification -- that is, what words or concepts need to be clarified or specifically defined in order to understand your project? (e.g., concepts like "community," "reputation," "trust"; terms like "performance," "improvement," "best" -- relative to what and assessed how?)
4. Specify what literature you are drawing from to frame your problem and your approach to it. Give full citations for papers, chapters, books, etc., from the CMC syllabus, our recommendations, and what you have found on your own. You can cite as many items as you'd like, but please include a minimum of 5 references in this assignment.
5. What is your solution or approach to solving the problem? Be specific about how you are, e.g., designing a system or studying behavior in such a way that it addresses your problem.
6. Finally, briefly indicate how you are dividing the work among your group members.

We aren't specifying a page length for this. You should strive to address all of the above clearly, completely, and concisely. You can include whatever material is most relevant for your specific project, including text, design sketches, screen shots, if applicable. At this stage, the more content you are able to provide, the more useful feedback we can give you.

Each group need only do ONE assignment, with all authors listed on the assignment. However, you should turn in TWO stapled copies of your paper in class on Thursday, Nov. 13th.