We asked in Assignments 1 and 2 that you pick a problem in CMC and explain why it is interesting and important. Your final project should address this problem in some meaningful, theoretically motivated fashion. (Note that this is not necessarily the same as definitively "solving" a problem, should the problem be such that a solution exists.) Furthermore, you should explicitly state how your solution, out of the universe of possible solutions, addresses this problem.

If you are designing a system or parts of a system, you might create detailed sketches, working prototypes, ideas described in text, or some combination of these. You don't necessarily have to make a working prototype, but if you are submitting sketches and descriptions only, they must be highly detailed — not hand-waving generalizations but a multitude of pieces showing exactly how your specific system would work. Think about what someone would need to know to fully implement your system and provide that level of detail. One tool that can be helpful for preliminary sketching is Denim.

If you are conducting research with an existing system or an existing group of people, you should explain why your methodology constitutes a reasonable lens with which to examine the problem. Document what you did and how you did it, and provide an analysis and discussion of the results that is appropriate to the scope and type of data you collect. Be intellectually conservative in your inferences. In particular, be careful not to overstate your findings — you will probably not, for example, survey a large national sample of people, so it is probably not appropriate to make claims about, say, what Facebook users do in general based on a survey of 20 or 30 of them.

We will evaluate projects on the quality and clarity of the ideas, not the technical quality of prototypes, sketches, or research designs assuming they work well enough or are clear enough to understand. (This is to say, those without extensive training in programming, design, or research methods need not shy away.)

We ask that you submit a paper:

• If your project is more of a design/prototype, give the background and description of your problem and discuss how your design or prototype addresses it. For these projects, where much of the content is provided separately in your sketches/prototype, your paper should be at least 10 pages, not including references or figures.
• If your project focuses more on research, you should describe the study and your results as indicated above. For these projects, where the paper is the primary deliverable, please write at least 20 pages, not including references or figures.

Remember in both cases to:

1. State your problem clearly and concisely.
2. 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 10 relevant references.
5. Indicate 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.

1. Presentations and posters will be split evenly over Tuesday 2 December and Thursday 4 December. You can sign up now for your poster/presentation timeslot on the wiki (login: cmc08@tresolini.org, password: the usual class password).
2. Each project team will give a 5-minute presentation the covers their problem, why it's a problem, and a very brief description of their solution or approach to solving the problem.
3. Each project team should create a poster that they can use to describe and present their project. After the short presentations, all teams that presented that day will stand with their posters to answer questions to the rest of the class. (Here is a useful guide to creating and presenting posters, and here is an example [warning, 9.5MB PDF] of one of Andrew's posters. We know that your work might be more preliminary at this point and less about presenting definitive results. Try to make a poster that invites questions and fosters discussion. It's fine to paste pages up on a board, too — you don't need to pay for poster printing!)

Your final project grade will consist of your grade for your presentation and poster (15%) and your grade for your final deliverables (85%).

• For Tuesday 2 December and Thursday 4 December in class:
  • Prepare a 5-minute presentation and a poster.
  • Sign up for a timeslot on the wiki (login: cmc08@tresolini.org, password: the usual class password).
• For Tuesday 16 December by 4 pm:
  • Please submit hard copies of as much of your work as is practical, including sketches, prototype screens, and of course the paper. (If you have interactive components or prototypes that don't make sense on paper, you can give us a URL for those instead or in addition to hard copies. Please do not email movies, executables, etc., to us. If you have very large files, please burn them to CD or DVD.)
  • The paper should be double-spaced in a 12-point font with normal margins (i.e., 1" to 1.5" all around). This ensures we have room to write comments.
  • Please deliver two copies of all materials to Coye's mailbox in 102 South Hall.