Assignments Due
Week 3 checkpoints should be submitted by Monday, 01/22/2018 at 11:59 PM PST.
Perform
Group 1: Capstone Critique (100%, 10 points)
What are the ingredients to data science quality? It is often easier to answer this question through a critique of existing work than to come up with a list off the top of our heads. This assignment asks you to look at MIDS Capstone Projects from the past several semesters to learn from the efforts of recent MIDS graduates. You will apply your own critical eye toward what you think works and does not work about their data science concepts and their presentation styles.
This week you will finish the slides you have started, and most importantly, actually rehearse and record your presentation as a group. Each and every team member should present for about 1:30–2:00 minutes, for a total of 6:00–8:00 for a four person team. Smaller teams should still aim for 6–8 minutes; each member’s segment can be longer but should be roughly equal to the others. These are guidelines and reasonable deviations are ok, but always aim for concision and balance across team members.
When considering how to balance what you put on the slide and what you say out loud in the script, keep the trusty old place of interest symbol in mind (yes it meant something before Apple):
Figure 11: Place of interest!
Think of four points as the main ideas you want to hit. The square represents the slides, and the loops represent the script. Slide and script should intersect on the critical elements, and the script should primarily provide elaboration to paint a picture and deepen our understanding of each critical take-away. Slide and script should not be redundant (i.e. don’t just read the slide); rather they should reinforce each other. To judge whether your slide contains the critical takeaways, just read it directly without the script. Will the audience know what is important?
How to submit
Follow the pre-recording instructions to learn how to prepare your submission. It is not an easy process, but neither are live presentations. Pre-recording produces superior work, allows us to provide more granular feedback, and gives us the option to view the recordings in class.
Your slide deck and pre-recording should be submitted as three documents to be uploaded here.
- A Google Slides presentation (not an uploaded
.pptor other file, fully editable and with your instructor having commenting permissions, including speaker notes) - A PDF of the presentation slides (no notes)
- An MP4 recording of your presentation
The name of each file should follow the format of the slide deck template. File names should differ only by extension.
Compose
Individual 1: Big Idea 1 (50%)
How should you develop and explain a data science idea? It is as simple, and as difficult, as writing it down. Give your idea a beginning, a middle, and an end. Introduce a problem and whose problem it is. Propose a solution. Describe the difference it makes. A beginning, a middle, and an end. A problem, a solution, and a difference. It’s a structure that is easy to learn but hard to master. So sit down and write, and try to pour your creativity into that simple mold.
You task is to take what you started last week and expand it into a 300-500 word essay. Aim to balance your text like this:
- Beginning: ~25%
- Middle: ~50%
- End: ~25%
Do not let yourself be too distracted with the technical details of Markdown or git. You can draft your ideas on pencil and paper if you wish and transcribe them into plain text at the last moment. Let yourself concentrate on what you want to say about data science. There will be plenty of time to learn about the technical workflow later, which will be fun and will end up looking something like this, but first things first.
How to submit
Just as last week, your submission should be made as a commit to your GitHub.com repository remote. Feel free to make commits as you go along; the most recent commit before the deadline will be treated as the submission.