Draft Proposal

Due: 10/22

This assignment is for the proposal workshop on October 22nd. Ahead of then, please:

Join or start a group (more on that below) and mark that here
Develop a proposal (more on that below)
Sign-up for an in-person workshop time here

Propose three ideas for your final project. If you have one general idea you want to work with, then three different approaches to it. If you have existing work, or research in another class etc, feel free to bring that into this class.

The final project for Simulations, Models, Twins should be three things:

A simulation, a model, or a twin (a twin is a record, "this is how it is"; a model is a rule, "this is how it works"; a simulation is a run, "this is what happens, if").
A piece of representation, or any visual artifact that is crafting an argument, describing an observed process, building worlds, or testing how a proposal might perform in the "real" world.
Your piece of representation should not claim any kind of objectivity, and should acknowledge its limitations.

Final Project page has the rest of the semester.

Groups

Please use the sign-up page here to list your project idea ahead of class on 10/15. I will make sure to save some time at the end of class for people to ask each other about projects in case you don't have a group yet, or are considering joining someone's project. Whoever is not in a group at that point, I will randomly assign to a group at the conclusion of class.

My preference is that work in this course is done in groups. That will allow you all to take the projects further and be more efficient with your time in what I am sure is a busy semester. Also, basically all work you'll do in the future is group work and it is nice to become comfortable with that.

That said, I completely understand that many of you are bringing work from your other courses into this class, and that is a good reason to work on your own if you prefer that.

Requirements

For each of your three ideas, please include:

A title and a thesis statement. Your thesis statement should lay out the project's core argument, position or objective, with the expectation that this will change over time.
Expected outcome. Is this a twin, a simulation or a model? Say which, with a quick description of why. Then, what piece of representation are you hoping to make? Is it a map? A sandbox? A video? A video game? It's ok if this is a guess for now.
Datasets. A list of datasets, with links and descriptions. These must be real datasets, and not a description of a dataset that you assume exists. If you haven't found exactly what you want, link the datasets that are similar to (but not quite) what you would like to find, and we'll talk about it.
Mechanics. If it is something that is not based in data (like a game), a description of the core mechanics and interactions that drive it.
References. A list of reference projects, with a source link or an image, and one or two sentences saying what you like about each. The projects page could be very helpful for this.

I recommend spending some time on the datasets for each idea. It is very easy to pursue a project around the idea of a dataset that may or may not exist. Embrace the constraint of available data.

Submit:

the proposal, assembled as a multi-page PDF
a list of the people in your group

Submission

Submit your work below. It appears under Student Work.

On 10/22 we will have a proposal workshop, where we look at these in groups and in desk crits, and I will give feedback. Hopefully we settle on a direction then, but if not, let me know over email within a week. At the workshop, we will also assign which day you will be presenting on.