DS 5110 Project

Deadlines

1. Friday, 02/24, 11:00 am: Project bidding

2. Friday, 03/24, 11:00 am: Project checkpoint 1

   • Proposal phase: report any preliminary results that you have.

3. Friday, 04/14, 11:00 am: Project checkpoint 2

   • For system/tool building projects, you are expected to show prototypes.
   • For data analysis projects, you are expected to show general statistics of your datasets and concrete examples or case studies.

4. Friday, 05/03, 11:59 pm: Project everything due

   • For system/tool building project, you are expected to show primary results.
   • For measurement/study projects, you are expected to show your numbers and findings.

Reports and Artifacts (code, datasets, etc.)

Checkpoint #1: Proposal

Recommended structure for the checkpoint proposal report is:

• Title.
• Motivation + concrete problem statement (need not be formal, only concrete).
• Approaches/system_design/experiment_design proposed / planned to solve the aforementioned problems: Initial thoughts + what you have done in design/setups/experimental_tests.
• Timeline/Expected milestones for achieving your goals.
• Any preliminary results that you have collected so far if any.

Your checkpoint report should describe your progress on achieving the goals you included in your proposal. Clearly explain any changes you have made to the goal of your project based on your experience so far. Also, provide a concrete plan of what you will need to accomplish in the remaining weeks to complete your project. It’s OK to report any preliminary results that you have already collected if any.

Your checkpoint #1 report should use a shared Google Doc.

About 1-2 pages is fine. The end product of the proposal is a crisp problem statement. Please submit your report via a shared Google Doc in Canvas (so we can comment on specific lines).

Checkpoint #2: Primary results

Similar as Checkpoint #1. What’s more, you must include primary results (e.g., small-scale measurement results, examples that your prototype can already handle, etc). Please format your checkpoint #2 report using Latex and this Latex template; submissions formatted with other templates are invalid. An example PDF can be found here.

Latex is a software system for document preparation. When writing, the writer uses plain text as opposed to the formatted text found in WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) word processors like Microsoft Word and Google Doc.

You don’t need to install Latex locally. More conveniently, you should use hosted Latex service such as Overleaf for collaborative latex editing with your teammates.

UVA is providing Overleaf professional features for all students, faculty, and staff.

Overleaf is designed to make the process of writing, editing and producing your research papers and project reports much quicker for both you and your collaborators. Overleaf can also be linked to other services to best fit into your workflow.

Give it a try if you have not used Latex/Overleaf before!

Your checkpoint #2 report should be built atop your checkpoint #1 report, and will be about 3-4 pages is fine. The end product of this milestone is a description about:

1. your primary results and any insights/observations,
2. TODOs that you haven’t completed but plan to get done by the end of the semester.

Final report

Your final report should be written like a conference-quality paper that you read in class. Following are some example questions that may help you organize your storyline:

• Question 0: What is/are your main hypothesis/hypotheses in the project? This is a one-sentence summary of your paper. Position your paper w.r.t. other related work on the same or even similar problems (reuse relevant parts of your survey report here!). Show to the reader that your work is on a unique point in the design spectrum. Don’t overstate it, don’t understate it either. This statement is related to Question 5 below (yes, it’s a chicken and egg problem!)
• Question 1: What are your goals?
• Question 2: What is your design and implementation (for system/tool building)?
• Question 3: What are your research questions (for data analysis)?
• Question 4: What do your approaches gain and lose you? That is, what are the tradeoffs, if any?
• Question 5: What do your results tell you? (This is related to Question 0, 3, 4 above, and again, it’s an egg and chicken problem!) Show that your data supports your hypothesis, and show the gains, losses, and tradeoffs by using your techniques/analysis/measurements.

As well as pay attention to:

• Importance of problem,
• Novelty of solution,
• Evaluation of solution,
• Clarity of Presentation,
• Nits (grammar, references, etc.).

Your paper must be no longer than 6 pages and no shorter than 4 pages. The paper can have as many additional pages for references and for supplemental material in appendices. Please format your paper using the this template; submissions formatted with other templates are invalid.

Final project submission

Please prepare a 15-minute presentation and record your presentation.

Submit everything by 11:59pm on Wednesday, 05/03, including:

• your final project report (in pdf) using this template,
• code/data (add the code repository link in your final report – make sure your code repository is private and shared only with the teaching staff: if you choose to use GitHub, share it with this ID: tddg (which is the instructor’s github account),
• and video (add the video link in your final report). Check metadata.tex for detail about adding links.

Send the pdf of your final report on Canvas.

With your consent, we will post your recorded presentations (preferably a YouTube URL) on the course webpage as a final showcase of your achievement at the end of this semester! 😊