Student-designed projects can be either research-oriented (leading to an academic paper) or operationally oriented (leading to a working system with some novel capability). Students who elect to design their own project should schedule a 30-minute skype or phone call with the instructor that is completed by no later than September 24 (and preferably much earlier) to discuss their ideas. They will then be required to prepare a detailed project timeline with milestones comparable to those specified for team projects and to submit it by the due date for this assignment. An (optional) online chat session is scheduled for 5 PM (Eastern Time) on Thursday September 17 on ELMS to discuss options for student-designed projects and to provide an initial opportunity for discussion between like-minded students about forming project teams.
Instructor-designed projects will include two components: (1) comparative evaluation of several text retrieval systems using the same test collections, and (2) a user study of an existing information retrieval system. Students who elect to be assigned by the instructor to a project team will need to turn in answers to the questionnaire below by the due date of this assignment. Project teams for the instructor-designed project will typically include two or three students. Project team assignments will be posted on ELMS (and by email) by October 1.
If you choose to participate in an instructor-designed project, please answers the following questions:
Please also include with your assignment a ranked list of which additional readings you would be interested in doing for Modules 6, 7, 8, and 9. Please select at least 5 readings, include at least one from each module, and list them in most-preferred-first order. You should refer to readings by module number and reading number using the numbering on the assigned summaries page. I will send out summary assignments by Saturday October 3 so that those who will be doing readings in Module 6 will have time to prepare.
Submit your project plan or your answers to the questions using ELMS.