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B20.2317 Class project |
Index
Description
Content
Guidelines
Deliverables
Vote
Grading
General description and goal
The purpose of the project is to give you
the opportunity to relate the concepts that we learning in class with the
marketplace and practice of Information Technology. Your task is to identify
a specific company, product or technology (related to IT – software, hardware,
network), which has not yet "crossed the chasm" into the mainstream marketplace
but, in your opinion, is likely to play an important role in the near
future (1-2 years).
Projects will be done in groups of 2-3
students. Each team will pick a company, product or technology and write
a report explaining and championing both the technology (behind the product
or the company) and the business potential. Each team will defend its choice
by making a brief (10-15 minute maximum) presentation in class during the
last class session, which we have set aside for student presentations.
Finally, the entire class will vote on which of the presented technologies/products/companies
is most likely to have the largest impact in the near future. The class
vote counts for 25% of the project grade.
What should be in the project?
Every project should provide both
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Good explanation of the technology and the
technological landscape it is a part of.
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Lucid evaluation of the business potential
of the company/product/technology.
Guidelines for the class project
Here are some guidelines that should help
you make project decisions.
This is an IT class: The product/company
you choose should be relying substantially on an non-mainstream
(or non-commoditized) information technology. Making the case for the importance
of the technology is a requirement for the project report.
What's new: Companies with capitalization
larger than $300million, or products with more than $20million in sales
(at the time when the topic is chosen) do not qualify as project topics.
Information retrieval: It is your
responsibility to track down information about your choice, both the business
and the technology part of it.
The bigger it is, the bigger it'll become:
The bigger the company or product you picked already is, the higher the
bar for how important its role should be in the future (to make a compelling
case).
Time horizon: We are looking for
technologies that can make an impact in the next two years. It is important
to substantiate that claim, especially for technologies that have not made
it out of the lab yet.
Stealth fighters: We need to be
able to verify your claims and check your sources. Please do not rely on
non-publicly available information in your report.
Importance is more than profits: That's
why you can select a technology instead of a company or a product. Also,
if you think a company will have a lot of impact by "paving the road,"
but you don't think it will be the one to reap the benefits, you can argue
that.
Name dropping: Do not rely too heavily
on quotes to substantiate your claims - it'll adversely affect your grade.
Miscellany: In addition to the above,
your project grade will take into account factors such as teamwork, overall
effort, timeliness, answers to questions about the project, and project
reports.
If you think your topic should be considered,
despite not adhering to these guidelines, talk to me before the submission
of your proposal.
Project deliverables
1. Groups Formed: February 13
One member from each group must send an e-mail
to the instructor with:
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The members of the group.
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The group name.
2. Proposals: February 27
Students must email their proposal (this should
only be a page or less long).
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What is the product/company/technology?
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What state is it now?
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Why is it going to be important?
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Other, more specific comments if appropriate.
It is permissible for 2 or more teams to make
the same choice. Proposals that do not follow the guidelines will be rejected
and the team(s) will be asked to submit a new proposal within 2 days.
3. Project report: April 29
Each group must email a project report containing
their analysis. Project reports should be 5000 words or less. The word
limit is strict: going over it will adversely affect your grade.
4. Presentation slides: April 30
Each group must email their presentation slides
to the instructor. The presentation should make a case for the team's company/technology/product
of choice, addressing all the important issues.
5. Individual reports: May 1
Each student is required to email the instructor
with the following information:
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How long did you work on the project?
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What did you like the best about the
project?
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What did you like the least about the
project?
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What helped you learn the best in the
project?
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What distracted from your learning in
the project?
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If you could change the way that the
project was organized, what would you change?
Answering these brief questions will help
us make the project better.
Class vote
Each student will rate each presentation on
a scale of 1-10. The relevant factors for the class vote are the choice
of product/company/technology and the quality of the presentation. The
weight of each factor will of course be decided by each voter.
Grade
The project grade will consist of two parts:
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Part A: the project will be graded on the
completeness and the compellingness of the analysis, and other factors
as mentioned above, by the instructor, for 75% of the grade.
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Part B: the other 25% of the grade will be
determined by the class vote in a straightforward fashion: The numeric
grade is the average rating gathered. For example, if there are 3 voters,
a team garnering 10, 9, 8 would get a 9, ie 90% of the maximum Part B grade.