Handout 4: 9/12/02

CPSC 689/603--Special Topics in Digital Libraries
Fall Semester 2002--Term project

Proposal due by Tuesday September 24, 2002
Literature review due by Tuesday, October 22, 2002
In-class presentations on Thursday, December 5, 2002 and Tuesday, December 10, 2002
Written report due by Thursday, December 12, 2002

In the term project, you are to locate a problem of relevance in the domain of digital libraries, propose and design a solution, and implement the solution in prototype form. You have wide lattitude in choosing a problem--for example, you can propose to build a small digital library around some collection, you can investigate interesting aspects of digital documents, or you can propose to investigate a particular issue in digital library infrastructure.  The easiest problems to work on will be those with an identified client group (i.e., problems that someone needs to have solved). The term project may be an individual or group project--the larger the group, the more ambitious the project should be. In the case of a group project, all members of the group receive the same grade.

The proposal is to be a short, written, statement indicating the following:

  1. identify and discuss the problem to be investigated
  2. identify the source of materials to be used
  3. identify and locate the computing and other resources needed to implement the prototype
  4. identify the team members
An appropriate length for the proposal is one page or less, single spaced or equivalent.

The literature review is intended to survey the "state of the art" with regards to what others have done addressing your problem or similar problems. The review can be as long as needed. A literature review might run around five pages (single spaced or equivalent) in length. It should include accurate and complete literature citations.

The in-class presentation is to provide a demonstration of your prototype, either interactively (if facilities are available) or by pre-prepared slides.  You will have to make advance arrangements if any equipment is required for the presentation.

The written report is likely to be at least 6000 words and is to cover the following

  1. Problem statement and review of other solutions (I would expect that this would be derived from the earlier proposal and literature report.)
  2. Users and use environment; collection information if relevant
  3. Solution description
  4. Prototype: design and presentation of implementation
  5. Evaluation, if any
  6. Discussion, analysis, future work, etc.
The written report serves as the archival report on your project. It should be self contained and should serve as a complete description without reference to presentation, other reports, etc.
Richard Furuta

September 11, 2002