Course Projects
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Ongoing Project
Blogging (20pts) You are going to blog this course, using your blogging platform of choice (e.g., WordPress, Tumblr, Posterous). You may opt to keep your blog private (though you must, of course, give access to the instructor). Be sure to make sure that the blogging platform you choose (or self-host) enables restricted access, if that is a concern to you.
You may post about anything that you like, as often as you’d like, so long as 1) it’s in some way related to the course and 2) you’re posting in the neighborhood of 500 words a week (1000 words for COM580). Because of privacy matters relating to FERPA, do not blog about other students in the class, even if you keep your blog private.
At least one post per week should be about the Seven Languages in Seven Weeks book for the weeks that you are reading and working through it (see the Calendar). Tracking and reflecting on your own research and learning is a key goal of this course.
Note: if one of our reading discussions in class is not as active or lively as it should be, you may be called upon to read aloud one of your blog entries from the week leading up to that class. Therefore, think about your blogging activity as a way to get fired up about talking with others about the course work and topics.
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Project 1
Communicating Technology (25pts). For this project, you will write about some issue related to humanizing technology for a specific technology publication (think: Wired, Read Write Web, Mashable, etc.). You will have to research your topic, and present an argument. And because you’re writing about technology, keep in mind that “writing” can be as much image, video, and sound as it is standard text-based writing.
You will begin this project by finding three Web-available pieces of technology writing that you find compelling because of how they are written. (In class on 1/17, we will have a discussion of what makes for ‘compelling’ technology writing.)
You will also need to establish a topic to write about; we will talk about specific strategies for that in class, but the topic should be something that you are eager to research--rather than something you could write from your pool of expertise. You can write about a specific device (though you should have access to it), a language, a design method, a particular technological/design phenomenon, or anything else that you find intriguing.
Finally, the piece that you write should engage a broad public. It should not, in other words, be written for an audience of hardcore tech-heads (nor should it be written for a group of second-graders). (In class on 1/17, we’ll talk a bit about audience regarding the Jacobson interview on Fresh Air.)
Deliverables:
- Three compelling pieces of Web-available technology writing (email links to instructor by January 24)
- Draft of your project (emailed as a link to your blog or as an attachment to instructor by January 31)
- Final project presentation (max 7 minutes) on February 14
- Final project (emailed as link to your blog or as an attachment to instructor by noon on Friday, February 17)
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Project 2
Humanistic Design/Redesign (25pts) Working in teams lead by a graduate student who will serve as a mentor/guide as well as a collaborator (not, however, as a boss), you will work to design or redesign a technology that solves some particular problem for some specific group of people. This might be an interface, a physical object, or an entire web application; it’s up to your group to propose a specific project.
Goals:
- Engaged collaboration: Oftentimes collaborative projects like this become about as collaborative as a vegetable tray. Tasks are divided up and accomplished, and no one works or talks with anyone else. Your collaboration should be much more involved and engaged; instead of a veggie tray, think vegetable soup. Each contribution impacts another, and all of the contributions must be coordinated together--not just thrown in individual slots.
- Virtual meetings: Students in this class live throughout the city, and many of them work full-time jobs. Coming up with an online, virtual meeting/work strategy (perhaps mediated through something like Basecamp or Google Groups) will be an important learning goal, in addition to coordinating work with a group that may not be able to meet physically often.
- Design as a process: Whether your group is building an interface, a Web application, or a new way to access public transportation, you will look at design as a process: great ideas don’t just happen. They’re gradually worked out and refined over time. Your sketchbook deliverable is an important piece of achieving this goal.
- Theory into application: This project is your opportunity to apply the more theoretical material we’ve been reading on an actual piece of work.
Deliverables:
- Quick-Fire Challenge: A design challenge done in class on February 21 to help identify ideas and interests to establish the groups for this project (there will be 4 groups of 4 people--3 undergraduate students and one graduate student). To the extent possible, students will be responsible for getting into their own groups.
- Sketchbook: This can be a paper sketchbook or a digital one (or both), but it should be something that you are comfortable turning in on April 3. (Meaning, don’t mix this up with your own personal diary/journal or something else where you store ideas you don’t want to share.) Bring this to every class; if you or your group gets stuck, you’ll be asked to share what you’ve been working on. (Due April 3)
- Project Management Site: This can be a wiki, a Google Group, a Basecamp site--or anything else that your group agrees upon to coordinate the work of your project. Instructor must also be given access & will check in weekly on the group’s progress. (Due weekly; final on April 3)
- Project Proposal: A single, group-authored document (hint: try composing on a Wiki or in Google Docs) that outlines in detail your project deliverable, your anticipated schedule of completing the work, and materials/languages/technologies that you’ll need to complete the project. Minimum 5 pages. (Another hint: use the week of February 28 to get some of this work done during our regularly scheduled class time.) Due March 6.
- In-Progress Presentations: Every week, each group will give a 5 to 10 minute presentation on the state of their projects. Everyone should respond to each group with useful feedback and questions. (Due weekly)
- Design/Redesign Deliverable: The big-biggie, obviously. Must be the deliverable that you outline in detail in your project proposal. (Due April 10)
- Project Report: A maximum 5-page document, authored by the group, that discusses the technological problem addressed, the design methods employed to humanize the technology, and future work required to make the proposed redesign a reality. (Due April 10)
- Group Evaluation: Written independently by each group member and submitted directly to the instructor; your opportunity to discuss what worked, and what didn't, in your group, and if there were any problems with the distribution of work (note: the instructor will only consider reports of problems regarding the work of other members if, and only if, the matter was discussed with the instructor as a group or privately while the project was in progress). (Due April 10)
- Final Presentation: A 25-minute presentation by the entire group of your final deliverable. Should include a demonstration and/or walk-through of the design/redesign deliverable. (April 10)
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Project 3
Position Statement on Humanizing Technology (10pts) For this project, working alone or in small groups, you will create some kind of position statement on humanizing technology. This could take the form of a position statement on behalf of a group to which you belong at school, work, or in your personal life; or it could be a personal manifesto of sorts, articulating your views on the design, implementation, and/or use of technology. However, it should not just be a simple document; the statement should enact, technologically, the values your statement articulates. For example, if your statement calls for beautifully designed interfaces, you should create it as a beautifuly designed interface. Deliverables: Your position statement. Due 5/1.
OR:
Seven Thoughts on Seven Languages (10pts) Working individually, but consulting with everyone else who chooses this option for Project 3, you will come up with seven thoughts about the experience of working through the Seven Langauges in Seven Weeks book in the context of a class in the humanities and humanizing technology. Seven is just a convenient number; you would not necessarily have to talk about each of the seven languages. For interested/motivated students, there is a possibility of a jointly-authored publication of this work, after the semester has ended and grades are turned in, etc. Deliverables: Your seven thoughts, preferably in HTML form. Due 5/1.
The Course.
- COM380/COM580: Humanizing Technology
- Instructor: Dr. Karl Stolley; @karlstolley on Twitter
- Office Hours: Tuesdays 3:00 to 5:00 and by appointment in SH208
- Class Meetings: Tuesday nights from 6:25 to 9:05