To do
When your group is formed you will be given a team number, so your team directory will be something like "team8". You can access your directory by logging into the leland systems using putty or some other ssh client. Perform the following commands, which will copy our template directory into your directory:
cd /usr/class/cs147/WWW/teamscp -R template/* team8 Alternately, you can install the Stanford Desktop Tools (PC or Mac) to mount the directory /usr/class/cs147/WWW/teams/ . This way is probably easier, so then you can work on it using an editor you understand like notepad (or vim or emacs). Either way, you can can edit the index.html file in /usr/class/cs147/WWW/teams/team8 using whatever means you like. You should be able to look at the template
webpage by looking at: http://cs147.stanford.edu/teams/template/.
Remember to use relative links in all your html editing so that if the directory is moved, links don't break. The permissions to your website will be set up by your TA, so send them a message if you are unable to edit the directory. You are well advised to keep a local copy of all of the files you put on your website, just in case.
Note that all your team assignments have to be located in the the same directory (in the example, team8).
The first stage of developing the project idea is to come up with a user group, a need that you will address, and a point of view on how you could address it. For example, you might choose "A system for amateur gardeners to figure out where, when, and how much to water, using online plant information and moisture sensors." You can suggest some ideas (the more the better) for solution directions (e.g., "Use a tablet computer with a map of the garden as the main interface, and a cellphone-camera to snap photos of particular plants to look up in the database"). Don't try to develop them in detail. You'll need to learn more in the observation and exploration phases of the proejct to come up with that, and you don't want to get locked into a specific solution too early.
It is important to note that you will need to conduct some user interviews and tests during the course of the project, so make sure you will actually have access to members of this target group (e.g., if your project is meant for doctors to use, make sure you have some connections at the med school, or if your product is aimed at children, make sure you have called some local schools to get permission to interview and work with the kids, etc.).
For inspiration, we have provided some suggested user groups and interactive techniques that could be interesting. Although you are allowed to assume the existence of technology that may not quite exist yet (such as super-small GPS sensors on dust motes, or high-quality speech recognition), please keep in mind that your eventual project will need to be mocked up using a programming language, so don't just make your whole system dependent on far-future technology.
Here are some examples of user populations and possible areas of need:
You can find some past project examples here.
Some of the top projects from 2005 were:
In addition, this year, we have the opportunity for teams to participate in the student design competition for the ACM CHI conference, which will be held in San Jose at the end of April. They invite student teams to design a service to promote or encourage the use of public transit. Entries must be submitted by January 15, so you'll have time to do some further improvement after the course ends. Any number of teams can apply. Twelve teams from around the world will be selected to present their designs at the CHI conference. We'll be glad to pay the conference fee for any team that is accepted. For more details see the competition description.
For the deliverable, we want 250 words (a few short paragraphs) which describes:
Look back at the project overview for an idea of the qualities we are looking for in a project.