This section contains class assignments and instructions for the oral presentation of the project proposal.
Course assignments.| Assignments | DescriptionS |
|---|
| 1 | Familiarize yourself with the A780 Cellphone and Documentation; begin review of research papers at Relevant Papers; begin first of weekly posts to class blog |
| 2 | Project groups prepare oral proposal for Lec #3 |
| 3 | Written proposal, in hardcopy and designed for mobile display screen, due 3 days after Lec #4; First coding session using J2ME™ in Lec #3; Code sample application |
| 4 | Written proposal, in hardcopy and designed for mobile display screen, due 3 days after Lec #4; Prepare research questions for Motorola staff videoconference in Lec #5 |
| 5 | Use media capture features of the a780 to present media show next class |
| 6 | Create paper prototypes for your mobile user interface for usability tests in class, in Lec #7 |
| 7 | Project groups will share code they have written for their projects and discuss this code next class. Key programming problems discussed |
| 8 | Oral progress report and alpha demo of final project in Lec #9; Project groups demo solutions to the key problems in project implementation |
| 9 | Prepare for final project oral presentations beginning next class, Lec #10, continuing Lec #11 and Lec #12 (if needed) |
| 10 | Final written reports (10 pages) due 3 days after Lec #12 |
Oral Presentations of Project Proposal
Time: 10 minutes per group, followed by 5 minutes Q&A
Basic Format: You'll use Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides to help us follow along (see instructions for sending Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides to the course TA below). In general, keep your Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides concise and uncluttered. A good rule of thumb is no more than five bullets per slide. Rather than using complete sentences for text, use phrases and fragments. Use a sans-serif font; avoid distracting background colors and unnecessary graphic ornamentation.
State focus and motivation for project idea: What prior work has lead you to your project focus? What research questions are you hoping to answer (theoretical? technical? practical use? These are questions that Motorola engineers typically use to situate their research efforts? The Why of your project). What kinds of audiences are you aiming at?
State as specifically as possible your project objectives and deliverables.
State how your project group intends to implement the project and roles of project members. Be as technical as possible in stating implementation plans. Identify individual project roles and why these individuals have been assigned these tasks. The How of your project.
State any development you have already started, including research (papers Frank posted to the blog, others you may have discovered).
Show timeline for development for rest of semester. This is best shown as a graph in which the vertical axis shows tasks and the horizontal axis show duration in time (in weekly increments). Tasks rarely follow sequentially; it is more typical that several tasks go on at the same time.
Q&A
PLEASE NOTE: In addition to your fellow students in the classroom during Lec #5, Frank will have colleagues virtually present by videoconference, including the following: Frank himself, a research anthropologist, a user interface designer, a technical marketing person, and Frank's lab manager.
Written Proposals: Format above also relates to the written oral proposals, which are group authored (one document per group) and are due 3 days after Lec #3 by noon at my office. Leave three (3) copies of the written proposals. Written reports usually clock in around 10 pages, including figures. The online Mayfield guide for MIT students (certificates required) has useful information on style.
Finally, at our last class the course TA requested that you send your Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides to him so he can make them available to the folks following along at Motorola the night of the presentations. Here is his information on how to get him the files:
Email Microsoft® PowerPoint® slides to the course TA at least 24 hours in advance. The TA will put them in a zip file, and send them over to Frank.