Group Project: Adaptive Personalized Information Environments

As we noted in the description for this class, our basic premise is that we must design systems for users who live in a personal information environment. The systems must work with the user's personal data and somehow enhance their interactions, be they work-related or personal. Because we believe these systems must also be adaptive, they should use the user's personal data and individual behavior to build models of where she is, where she goes, and what she does.

So, in short, your projects should:

• work with personal data
• be adaptive to individual behavior and needs
• span multiple (possibly heterogeneous) devices and computing environments

Furthermore, as you contemplate projects, realize that we require you to:

• build a working prototype
• live with and use the prototype you build for a significant period of time

To help you manage your time effectively, you will be required to show progress toward your project as various points during the semester.

• Informal sign-off on projects. Before presenting a full proposal, groups must get Jeff and Charles to agree in principle to the project idea. Dropping by office hours for a short chat fills this bill. After the chat, the group should send a one paragraph abstract to Charles and Jeff (this paragraph is due Monday, 1/27).

• Proposal. Each group will give a short oral presentation before the class. Expect the talk to last about fifteen minutes with an additional five minutes for discussion and feedback. The talk should give an overview of the problem at hand, the group's proposed solution, and a plan for building and evaluating a prototype.

• Proposal package. On the same day that proposals are given, groups will submit a proposal package, including: the presentation slides, a five-page report, and a pointer to the group's web page (which should include pointers to the slides and the report). The report should explicate the topics of the talk, and contain appropriate references.

• Group discussion session. Once during the term, each group will choose one to three papers for class discussion. The papers must be made available the week before the discussion, and be relevant to both the class in general and to the group's project in particular. The group will lead a discussion on those papers.

• Informal progress reports. Twice during the term, groups will give a very informal five minute update on their progress in class. Groups should be prepared to mention any interesting problems they have faced.

• Presentation. Each group will give a short oral presentation before the class. Expect the talk to last about fifteen minutes with an additional five minutes for questions. The talk should take the form of a short conference presentation, highlighting the interesting and innovative aspects of your work. As with a conference talk, you can assume that the audience is at least passingly familiar with the technical details of the problem (in this case, they've all been coming to class and heard you discuss your domain more than once).

• Demonstrations. Each group will demonstrate their working prototype. These demonstrations will be open to the research community, but will be informal. Please include a simple poster.

• Presentation package. On the same day that the demonstrations occur, groups will submit a final package, including: the presentation slides, an eight-page double-column conference-format report, a tarball of the prototype code with enough documentation to get it running, the poster, and a pointer to the group's web page (which should include pointers to the slides, the report, and the code). Also, each member of the group must submit a separate one or two page paper summarizing their experiences and contributions. Each individual report should be signed by all members of the group.