INFO 314 & IMT 546  -  'Data Communications & Networks'  etc.- Spring 2024

REQUIREMENTS:  ASSIGNMENTS, DELIVERABLES & GRADING:  

I. The requirements, and deliverables for this graded class, and the factors used in grading, are as follows:

1. For all students there is a required "Course Presentation" which will count for 70% of your final grade. It's based on a (salient) topic you choose which has also been approved by me. Please note that these are individual, not group or team, projects.  See below for some possible topics. For both IMT 546 and INFO 314 students the Course Presentation's final form will be a voice narrated powerpoint slide deck, (i.e., slides that will have a prerecorded 'voice over' by you). Grading of the final presentations will be solely on the quality of the subject area content. Great design or graphics will not count (though it's always appreciated! :-).

Everyone's (i.e. students in either INFO 314 or IMT 546) final prerecorded narrated "Course Presentation" is due on Tuesday June 4th by 9pm (Pacific Time) 

The other 30% of your grade will be based upon salient and constructive class participation that demonstrates that you have read (or viewed) and understood the assigned materials, and listened to your colleagues in class (see section 8  ("General") below).  

2. By March 27 (before 9pm) Respond to the Poll/Survey which I sent out before the 1st class meeting,  I need this information to finalize course content!

3. By March 30 (before 9pm)  indicate areas of any Special Interest(s) you have - if any - by sending me via email  your input on any topics that you would like to see covered during the quarter.  This is intended to help me select or deselect topics from among those possible, If you do not have any specific interest that is fine too (and you don't have to send me the email).

4. By April 15 (before 9pm), at the latest, send me an email sketching or outlining TWO topics you are considering for your Course Presentation (see below).  I will send you feedback. See below for a description of the Course Presentation, and examples of appropriate topics.

5. By April 22 (before 9pm) Choose and get my approval of your Course Presentation topic. See below for a description of the Course Presentation, and examples of appropriate topics.

6. By May 3 (before 11pm)  send me a DRAFT Preliminary/Work-in-Progress, voice narrated  outline Powerpoint presentation of what will eventually become your Course Presentation.  This powerpoint should include a slide that cites some of the sources you are using, or will use, in doing your study and presentation. 

7. On May 6, May 8,  May 13, May 15, May 20, or May 23, as will be randomly assigned at the time of each class meeting,  during class give a roughly five (5) to seven (7) minute 'in progress' overview powerpoint version of your Course Presentation in class on your chosen topic that reflects the state of your Course Presentation at the time you give the 'in progress' presentation. The deck should include a slide with some citations of materials you are, or will.  be using. The format will be you standing on the front of the class just speaking from your slides. Please be sure that you have tested your ability to present the slides using the system we have in our classroom.

Please also be prepared to respond to questions, comments and suggestions from the class and me during up to five (5) minutes following your five - seven minute presentation.

If you are either absent when you are randomly selected (and have not previously notified me of that forthcominh absence), or you are unprepared to make the presentation, that will significantly diminish your class particpation grade.

8. By Tuesday June 4 (before 9pm) Turn in your voice narrated final Course Presentation  in powerpoint format to me via via email sent from your UW email account to me @ ronj@uw.edu . [If that proves to be a problem for you then both: a) email me about the problem and after you do that; b) upload the file to the folder @  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ncRmvS7vmVy23YwlcBg3pSjcWkU3o_2l?usp=sharing ]

9. GENERAL 

   • Do the reading & video watching assignments on time.  For each class meeting read and/or watch the reading and/or video watching assignments prior to class and be able to cogently recount and discuss those assignments in class.  All assignments and related materials for class will be described in a previous class session, and also emailed to students.

   • Attend class and constructively participate in class discussions as professional colleagues & team-members with shared interests, but possibly diverging views.  Networking, as well as modern business and professional life, is an inherently collaborative, interdependent endeavor in which people necessarily collaborate and often build on and/or depend upon one another's work. It is a world in which facilitating and/or enhancing others contributions can be as important as making one's own. 

   • Throughout the quarter serve as part of a defacto class working peer-review/feedback team/panel to provide feedback on each other’s presentations and ideas. This mirrors the best practices of the worlds of both research & practice. While it doesn't take a lot of work, it does mean one has to show up, listen with an 'open mind' to, and give thoughtful and constructive feedback/debate/dialog regarding others' work and interests.

10. FINAL SUBMISSION of your Course Presentation

• • • • By Tuesday June 4 (before 9pm) turn in your voice-narrated final Course Presentation  in Powerpoint format as a .pptx file to me, by using your UW email account & UW email address to email a copy of it to me @ ronj@uw.edu  [Note that if it is a large file, it will be sent as a link to me]. 

If (and only if), for some reason emailing the .pptx file to me doesn't work for you, then both: a) send me an email explaining that; and, b) then upload the .pptx file to the folder @  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ncRmvS7vmVy23YwlcBg3pSjcWkU3o_2l?usp=sharing

II. GRADING:  

Students who are enrolled in INFO 314 will be graded in relation to normal expectations of undergraduates. 

Students enrolled in IMT 546 will be evaluated with respect to iSchool expectations of graduate students. 

Your Final Course Presentation will count for roughly 70% of the final grade, with the remaining 30% being based upon: 

• your development, by the end of the quarter, of a basic understanding of network technology (as reflected in your course Presentation and class discussions); 

• evidence of timely completion and understanding of the reading and viewing assignments;

• meeting the deadlines for submitting assignments (with work that is >= adequate/'pass') 

• constructive class participation that includes: 

  • • salient feedback to, and dialog with, classmates, their presentations and ideas; 

    • respectful, professional conduct. 

For more information on grading policy please see the section below.

III. ABOUT THE COURSE PRESENTATION:  The required final course presentation will count for approximately 70% of the course grade. The topic needs to be approved in advance by me. The Final Course Presentation needs to cover your topic well in a no less than 20 minute, nor more than 35 minute Powerpoint presentation in which you voice narrate the slides using the built-in Powerpoint tool that does that.

The presentation should be of a nature suitable for presenting your findings and/or recommendations and/or analysis of the chosen topic to an audience of fellow professionals. As such, it should not be overly formal, but as its final slide should be a 'bibliography' citing sources used.

While it must be a topic directly related to computer/telecommunications/sensor or other such 'physical' networks, it can address any of a very wide range of technical, policy, strategy, ethical, regulatory, standards, tools, security, outsourcing or other issues or subjects. 

It can be a survey of an issue or topic that is intended to inform others of a relevant technology, or approach to an issue etc.  

It can be an analysis of the efficacy or a technology, a policy, a regulatory regimen, a technology strategy or architecture etc.

It can be an opinion piece, but if it is, then it must also be well researched, well evidenced ,and also fairly/factually present at least a sketch of the, or an, opposing opinion. E.g. students have explored and taken sides on  the issues such as:  whether public distributed blockchains will be able to scale to high transaction rates,  how to best allocate communications spectrum, whether broadband should be treated as a basic human right even if that comes at the expense of other pressing needs  like clean water and electricity;  whether network neutrality is good or bad or both etc the (arguable); the need (or not) for municipal networks; the importance of user/community readiness & education in programs to address the digital divide.;  etc.    

It can be a report on the relative effectiveness of a project, a program (e.g., eRate in the USA), regulations (e.g. pole attachment regulations and fees), or a policy, or a technology (e.g. the effectiveness and limits of residential broadband internet over telco twisted pair technologies), or a network related standard etc.  It can be an explanation of a well formulated project. E.g., a student came up with a design with budgetary cost numbers for a library network that split the public patron network, from the private library internal network. It does not need to be original research, but it can be. 

It can be an technical analysis; e.g. of the issues involved in updating software and/or data throughout a network of sensors or other networked devices; or the network and computational latency inherent in distributed, public and/or private  blockchains 

It can propose a new use case for a network based app. or network sourced data etc.  E.g. a few decades ago a UW student formulated a project to use the network to 'crawl' websites (and that turned out to be an excellent idea that worked out well for Google and others :-)

In any case, whatever the topic and presentation is: 

it must be approved in advance 

it must provide evidence/facts (even - maybe especially - if it is an opinion piece);

it can not do violence to facts (or people); 

it must be clear, coherent and communicate well to the audience, which you should assume to be a group of knowledgeable technology professionals, or perhaps CTOs,  who are not experts on your specific topic .

Here are a few  examples of topics that have been successfully done and could be done again with more current information. 

• Survey of the state of the art in networked implanted and ingested medical devices/instruments. 

• Overview of the software in networks and/or cell phones and/or wifi sites and/or other location etc sensors that compromise privacy. 

• Overview of the needs for home network device compatibility issues and the Connectivity Standards Alliance 

• Monetizing fitness tracker data

• Analysis of the network as a limiting factor in public blockchain, 'distributed ledger' applications

• an account of the status of two projects to provide Wi-Fi access beyond library walls to a larger community. 

• Limitations of the Matters standard for IoT 

• The challenges of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites in meeting the needs of consumer and/or business network users

• A survey/overview of sources of geolocation data that would be useful for mining for various business decision or other uses

• Using RFID for smart packaging

• A presentation of security issues relevant to using an Amazon AWS cloud for hosting a health care application

• Proposed which level requirements/specs.  for a project to develop a blockchain approach to ensuring internet addresses are properly documented and authorised by internet address owners.

• Report on the status of, and prospects for, 2 different approaches to a municipal network.  

• Networked Smart watches as sources of medical information 

• Tradeoffs of 5g vs WiFi for entertainment venues.

• Use of open LTE technology to provide broadband to users who are members of a tribe in a mountainous rural area

• Requirements for post quantum public key encryption approaches.

• a model of providing realtime cross country and/or alpine ski conditions based on networked grooming machines and sensors

• a presentation, and evaluation of,  a specific smart city project. 

• an explication of and argument for (or against)  following Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) practices.  

• Vehicle to Vehicle Network Standards - Possiblities & Challenges

• Survey of current funding opportunities for providing broadband in underserved rural areas. 

• Main barriers to providing broadband to underserved rural communities

• Network technologies for remote environmental sensors

• a survey of the opportunities and challenges of 'open  LTE' . 

• Should Internet Access be a Human Right? Why and at what cost?

• an overview of the security challenges in networked IoT

• What "Infinite Jest" teaches us about the internet

• Smart Electrical Panels & Appliances

• an analysis of a prospective agricultural IoT product. 

• a presentation on the difficulties of deploying fiber optic networks in East Africa. 

•  a presentation on cultural issues and prohibitions regarding the adoption of smart phone technologies and the internet in an area of India. 

• a report comparing broadband deployment in the USA vs South Korea and the Netherlands

• Bar codes and RFIDs in networked marketing.

• a report on the role of network technologies as an accelerant in surveillance regimens 

• a report (by a student with strong CS & economics backgrounds) sketching a potential game theory model of network peering aomg ISPs and CDNs

• Networked sensors in supply chain management

• RFID vs Nearfield (NFC) vs QR codes for smart distribution management.

• Optimizing vehicle traffic flow with network sensors and data

• Network challenges in Cloud architectures 

• A case of network redlining

• 'Fog' or 'Mist' perimeter compute/data models & networks

• Agricultural applications of network technologies 

• Ultra-Low power networking technologies for sensors. 

• 'Body Area Networks' of medical  biomechanical, or other sensors etc.

• BYOD /CYOD

• Net Security  - e.g. Zero Trust models

• Examples of using network derived data in retail customer interactions.

• How networks are used to grab and reinforce your attention.

• Spectrum allocation - What should the priorities be?

• Digital Divide – Definitions of broadband and their consequences

• Using Blockchain to track and ID parts in airplane manufacturing

• How moving to cloud based services changes an enterprises network security needs.

• What is the internet doing to us?! Individually, metlally, collectively, culturally . . .

• Network related 'Standards Wars'

Etc.

So overall there is a very broad range of possible topics. I strongly suggest you pursue one that is of interest to you. 

IV. GRADING POLICY:  This class will use the Standard UW Grading system.

General grading information for the University of Washington is available here. The iSchool has adopted its own criteria for grading graduate courses. The grading criteria used by the iSchool for graduate courses are available here.

Your written work will be graded based on its clarity, organization, balance, amount of pertinent detail included, depth and clarity of evaluative and analytical comments, and preparation. It will also be graded on the extent to which a good understanding of the material presented in the course is shown and on the extent to which directions are followed. If evaluative or analytical comments are required, they should be supported by factual evidence, either from readings or other documents. Other aspects of individual assignments may also be included in the grading.

Written work that shows a lack of understanding of subject matter, is unclear or poorly organized, contains few or irrelevant details, does not follow directions, contains little or unsubstantiated evaluative commentary, or is poorly written, prepared (e.g. typos, grammatical errors), or documented will receive low grades.

Class participation and constructive and collegial interaction will also be a component of grading in this course.

Late assignments are not accepted unless submitted to the professor no more than 24 hours after the due date. A late assignment will incur an automatic .5 deduction for its grade. If there are any extenuating circumstances, please notify the professor BEFORE the day that the assignment is due.

Students are encouraged to take drafts of their writing assignments to the Odegaard Writing and Research Center for assistance. Information on scheduling an appointment can be found here.

VI. EVALUATION OF STUDENT WORK:  You may expect to receive comments on and evaluations of assignments and submitted work in a timely fashion. 

VII. COURSE EVALUATION: The end-of-quarter course evaluations will be provided.  You will have opportunity to evaluate the course and your work in the course. Please do it (!), as it is one of the few mechanisms I have for improving the course. Thank you!

IMPORTANT NOTICES 

The following paragraphs discussing academic integrity, copyright and privacy outline matters governing student conduct in the iSchool and the University of Washington. They apply to all assignments and communications in this course!

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:  The essence of academic life revolves around respect not only for the ideas of others, but also their rights to those ideas and their promulgation. It is therefore essential that all of us engaged in the life of the mind take the utmost care that the ideas and expressions of ideas of other people always be appropriately handled, and, where necessary, cited. For writing assignments, when ideas or materials of others are used, they must be cited. The format is not that important as long as it is consistent, the source material can be located and the citation can be verified. In any situation, if you have a question, please feel free to ask the instructor or teaching assistant. Such attention to ideas and acknowledgment of their sources is central not only to academic life, but life in general.

Please acquaint yourself with the University of Washington's resources on academic honesty.

COPYRIGHT:   All of the expressions of ideas in this class that are fixed in any tangible medium such as digital and physical documents are protected by copyright law as embodied in title 17 of the United States Code. These expressions include the work product of both: (1) your student colleagues (e.g., any assignments published here in the course environment or statements committed to text in a discussion forum); and, (2)your instructors (e.g., the syllabus, assignments, reading lists, and lectures). Within the constraints of "fair use," you may download or copy slides, recordings or notes for your personal intellectual use in support of your education here in the iSchool. All of these examples are copyrighted expressions, and fair use by you does not include further distribution by any means of copying, performance or presentation beyond the circle of your student colleagues in this class. If you have any questions regarding whether a use to which you wish to put one of these expressions violates the creator's copyright interests, please feel free to ask the instructor for guidance.

PRIVACY:  To support an academic environment of rigorous discussion and open expression of personal thoughts and feelings, we, as members of the academic community, must be committed to the inviolate right of privacy of our student and instructor colleagues. As a result, we must forego sharing personally identifiable information about any member of our community including information about the ideas they express, their families, life styles and their political and social affiliations. If you have any questions regarding whether a disclosure you wish to make regarding anyone in this course or in the iSchool community violates that person's privacy interests, please feel free to ask the instructor for guidance.

Knowing violations of these principles of academic conduct, privacy or copyright may result in University disciplinary action under the Student Code of Conduct.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES:    To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services: 448 Schmitz, 206-543-8924 (V/TTY). If you have a letter from DSS indicating that you have a disability which requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to the instructor so you can discuss the accommodations you might need in the class.

Academic accommodations due to disability will not be made unless the student has a letter from DSS specifying the type and nature of accommodations needed.

STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT:   Good student conduct is important for maintaining a healthy course environment. Please familiarize yourself with the University of Washington's Student Code of Conduct, here.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:  The University of Washington acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.

# # #