final paper and presentation

final paper

The final paper is a report of the development of your project, which emphasizes its research contribution. It should be prepared in the format for the target venue you have selected. Make sure to read a bunch of other papers from that venue, so you can understand what is expected there, as well as what has been done there. The expected length is 10 pages of tiny conference type with the appropriate small margins, or an equivalent length for a journal. Use of the Writing Center is strongly encouraged.
Research paper components include:
  • ABSTRACT: focus on the contribution. Tell me what you did. Make me want to read the paper. This is an elevator pitch.
  • INTRODUCTION: What is the problem/need you are addressing? (You may use a scenario here.) What is your motivation to do this work?
  • APPROACH: What is the basis for your solution? How are you working? How are you developing your contribution?
  • DESIGN PROCESS: Describe your design process, including ethnographic data, storyboards, lo-fidelity prototype, and design feedback. How did you conduct this process? What were the results? What is your analysis of them? What lessons were learned? How do you synthesize from the analysis to next steps? What are the social proxies for contextual state and social interaction? How are they represented (i.e., feedback, affordances)? Why?
  • IMPLEMENTATION: Describe your functional prototype. Include design and systems architecture. Also address issues of technology, context and the environment. What are the specific characteristics of use context, interface, semantics, design, and technology that are important? How and why?
  • EVALUATION: What evaluation method are you using? How does this relate to your project's goals? What data have you collected? Make methods clear. Present data (use graphs and statistical tests, as appropriate). Develop clear analysis.
  • PRIOR WORK: Identify the relevant prior work -- needs, ingredients, and precedents. Tilt your selection to prior work published in the target venue. Clearly state how each citation contributes to what you are doing, and how your work differs (builds on it!). Note, some of this should have come up in Approach and elsewhere above, but you can go into more detail here.
  • DISCUSSION: an interpretive analysis of the research contribution, based on all that has been done. What are the implications of the results? How can these implications be contextualized?
  • CONCLUSIONS: a boiled down statement of research contribution, in context.
  • FUTURE WORK: what to do in the future. May be longer here than would be allowed in most papers. Include how you would proceed in building a full implementation (unless you happen to have done that already).
  • REFERENCES
Use screen shots, diagrams, and flow charts to help show what is going on. When you do so, make sure to refer to them directly in the text, and explain their relevance and function, in context.
Draw from your prior class deliverables as appropriate in putting this final paper together. Make sure to incorporate feedback you've gotten (from me and others) along the way. Also make sure to carefully edit the entire document, emphasizing consistency and clarity.
Additionally, each member of the group should independently turn in a one page sheet that concisely states the name of the project, what your role in the project was, and what the role of each other member of the team was.
due midnight, wednesday 5/7

final presentation

The final presentation session will be held in room 907. There may be a few outside guests. Each group will have 15 minutes to present. There will be 5 minutes for feedback and discussion. These times will be strictly enforced.
Time is a major constraint. You will not be able to present all the ideas from your paper. Carefully choose the most important ones. Create a powerpoint deck (or similar artifact) that supports your presentation. Use images liberally in the deck. Do not put all of what you will say into your deck. As a medium, the deck should complement the speech, not repeat it. NEVER PRESENT BY READING YOUR POWERPOINT!
Include a demo in your presentation. Figure out how to integrate the demo with the deck. Remember: a demo is a performance. Be clear about exactly what you are emphasizing. Make sure to rehearse your presentation in advance, so you know exactly how long it is. It is better to know the ideas clearly than to memorize an exact text to speak.
presented wednesday 5/7, 3:30 - 6:30 p.m., PSS Lab
designed for mozilla 1+ and ie 6+
an interface ecology lab production