Presentation

Presentation Rules

The most important rule is that you stay under 5 minutes. There is no lower limit.
Your presentation must include the following:
- A figure (drawn on Learning Glass using the paint markers)
- A clearly articulated goal
- An explanation of a technical idea that supports our goal
- A reference to your sci-fi story to support your goal

Outline

To prepare you for your recording, your first assignment is to submit an outline by Monday, November 22. [submission link]

The outline should be in bullet-point format. It does not have to be a full script. Here's an example:

Goal: we should learn from the past, but not dwell on it.
Picture: sketch of a timeline with a 'wormhole'
Open: have you ever stayed up at night regretting a poor decision? Do you ever wish you could go back in time to fix it?
Scifi connection: drawing on the physics of hypothetical wormholes, Ted Chiang's The Merchant & The Alchemist's Gate imagines a universe where you can do this.
Technical idea: sci-fi often depicts wormholes as connecting different points in space. However, if wormholes exist, then our theory of gravity tells us that they must also connect different points in time.
So maybe you can go back in time?
But Chiang's short story had a caveat: in his universe, individuals could visit the past, but were unable to change future events.
Instead, the events of the past helped them understand the present.
The next time you are visiting past regrets, rather than wishing for a wormhole, you should focus on those reflections can help you move forward.

Once you have your outline, I suggest reading it out loud and timing it. You have to be under 5 minutes. You may not have as much time as you think. :-)

Learning Glass

On Week 10 we will meet in the Learning Glass studio to do our recordings. You may choose to opt out of learning glass (please indicate on the outline submission form) and instead record your presentation on Zoom.

The Learning Glass studio is in Olmstead Hall A139 (in the basement). Prof. Tanedo will send out more information on which students will be recording on which days.

Here's a sample presentation from 2019 student Ema Vo. (Only accessible to members of this class.)

Zoom Alternative

I personally suggest that you take the opportunity to use Learning Glass. I suspect that recording your talk may end up taking significantly more time. However, there will be no penalty for opting to do your own recording. If you choose to record on Zoom, you should submit your recording by Friday, Dec 3.

Submission link (only if you're not using Learning Glass)
The guidelines are the same as for your introductory video from Week 1.
Instructions if you choose to use Zoom to record your presentation.
You may upload to YouTube or your own Google Drive space. Make sure the recording is viewable to the members of the class.

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