Group projects


Group homepages: A B C D E F G H I J

Groups of 5-6 students:

Projects summary:

There will be two projects:

The outcome of each project will be a Web-based report. The second project will also include an in-class debate. Note that the projects are not sequential, they overlap one another, although the milestone deadlines are phased.

Group organization

Each project group should designate two people and inform the instructor as to who they are:


First Project

There are two issues in the choice of this project: style and specific case. Our goal is to get a diversity of both styles and cases. Therefore, please choose three styles, and associate with each of them a specific cases, and send to the D.G. Messerschmitt. He will then try to give you your top choice, while maintaining a good diversity of projects.

Styles:

1. Analyze one industry product category w.r.t. how complementary/competitive products relate to one another and the various factors in the success/failure of terms of considerations covered in this class.
Example case: workstations -- Apple/Mac, PCs, UNIX workstations

2. Analyze a group of companies with complementary products, in terms of how they collaborate to maintain compatibility etc., whether their cooperation is fair or anti-competitive, and whether it is effective in terms of the considerations covered in class.
Example case: Intel/Microsoft/Compaq

3. Analyze an industry consortium or standardization body in terms of its effectiveness and its impact on the industry it serves.
Example case: OMG or IETF

4. Analyze one important patent or group of patents in terms of the effectiveness with which it has been protected and the impact it has had on competition in the industry.
Example case: TI basic IC patents

5. For one product category, examine the major patents relevant to that category (say using the IBM patent database) and analyze how easy or difficult it would be for a new company to compete in this category without licensing arrangements.
Example case: Internet telephony

6. For a standards war currently being waged, analyze the strategies of the competing approaches and predict the outcome based on considerations discussed in this course.
Example case: CDMA vs. TDMA vs. GSM for digital cellular telephony

7. Define yet another style not listed, with associated case, that is of more interest to your group.

Outcome:

Analyze the case drawing upon resources like trade magazines, scholarly journals, Web sites, and of course the course reader and lectures, adding your own understanding and initiative. It would be welcome if you wanted to talk to people in industry about the case.

The projects will result in an approximately 15-page written report on the WWW. Each report should have references to other resources, such as trade magazine articles (with WWW links where available), company or product homepages, etc. Your report will be graded mostly on substance, but style and organization will count for something too. All group members will receive the same grade.

Deadlines:

Milestone 1 due Feb 10: Choose your list of three project styles/case combinations and send to instructor.

Milestone 2 due March 8: Post on the Web an outline of your project to solicit feedback and suggestions from the instructors.

Milestone 3 due April 5. Post the final report on the Web for grading. 75% credit will be given for reports up to one week late, and 50% credit for reports more than one week late.


Second Project

The second project will be a debate about a public policy issue.

Each group should pick three debate topics from the following list and send their choices to Hal Varian. He will then (try to) assign each group a topic from the set it chose, while also ensuring that each topic has two groups assigned to it. (Please note: this may not be possible! In cases of ties, the earlier email takes precendence.)

Each group should prepare a 5-10 page background paper outlining the background and issues involved in its case that can be posted on the Web. Please do not discuss this research with the other group working on your project; we want these to be independent. Finally prepare two one-page outlines, one for the affirmative and one for the negative position and be prepared to defend either position in a class debate.

  1. The EC Database Directive (Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament) offers intellectual property protection for compilations of data. Resolved: the EC Database Directive should be approved by the U.S. Congress.
  2. Analyze the market-share data for Internet routers. Are effects such as lock-in and network externalities important? Resolved: The market for Internet routers is in danger of being monopolized by a single firm.
  3. GSM might be perceived as an example of a triumph of a standardized government-driven approach over a chaotic market-driven shakeout. The Internet vs. ISO networking standards might be perceived as the opposite. Resolved: the United States Federal government should take a more activist role in setting technology standards.
  4. In the US, and in many states, information compiled by governments is generally made available to users at the cost of reproduction. Examples in include census data, patent data, court decisions, geographic data, etc. In England, the Crown holds a copyright on such data and licenses its use. Resolved: the US model of is superior.
  5. Domain name registration for com, org, and net, is currently managed by Network Solutions International. Describe how this came about and outline the current debate surrounding the Domain Name System. Resolved: the private market will provide a better solution to domain name registration than a not-for-profit regulated firm.
  6. Intel recently issued a new CPU (Pentium III) with a unique ID number that could be used for intellectual property protection, marketing, etc. The ID number can be configured to be visible or invisible to applications, including Web browsers. Resolved: the chip should be shipped with with the ID number visible as the default.
  7. Resolved: Software patents are a good idea and should be encouraged by both industry and government. (Note: you may propose variations on the current patent policies.)
  8. Resolved: Business process patents are a good idea and should be encouraged by both industry and government. (Note: you may propose variations on the current policies.)
  9. Resolved: Internet stocks are fairly valued.
  10. Resolved: Appropriate levels of computer and network security are best achieved by marketplace, and not government action.
  11. Resolved: Broadband Internet services to the home provided by cable or telecom companies should be required to offer a choice of ISP.

Deadlines:

Milestone 1 due March 17: Choose your list of three project styles/case combinations and send to instructor.

Milestone 2: The white paper will be due and posted on the web before the debate, and assigned as reading to the class. The purpose of this white paper is to describe the background information (nature of the issue, history, etc.) to inform the class before the debate, so you dont have to spend time on this in class.

Milestone 3: An outline of the arguments on both sides of the issue should be sent to the instructors, but not posted to the class. In this outline, indicate which side of the issue you would prefer to represent.

Milestone 4: The actual debate. This will be in class during the last three class sessions. The format will be 10 min for each side to present their position, 5 min for each side to respond, followed by questions and discussion.

The following is the schedule.

Date of debate Whitepaper due Ouline of positions Side chosen Groups Topic
3-May @ 9:30am 28-Apr 30-Apr @ 10am 30-Apr @ noon D,F Internet routers
3-May @ 10:15am 28-Apr 30-Apr @ 10am 30-Apr @ noon J,G Pentium ID
5-May @ 9:30am 30-Apr 2-May @ 10am 2-May @ noon A,I Internet stocks
5-May @ 10:15am 30-Apr 2-May @ 10am 2-May @ noon C,H Government and security
10-May @ 9:40am 5-May 7-May @ 10am 7-May @ noon B,E Choice of ISP

Each debate will consume half a class period (45 minutes). The first debate listed will start promptly at 9:30am in order to give sufficient time for both debates. All students please show up on time to avoid dissruption. Project groups will be graded based on both white papers (covering background information) and performance in the debate (advocating one side), the latter graded by peer review as well as by the instructors. There will be no winner and loser, but rather each side will be graded by the quality of their arguments taking account of the intrinsic strength of their side of the issue.

Note the due date for your whitepaper (to be posted on the Web) and outline for each side (to be sent to the instructors). Insofar as possible the instructors will try to assign groups to the side of the debate in which they prefer. In cases of ambiguity or doubt, a coin will be tossed. The assignment of the groups to each side will be made on the date and time shown.