Important Links
Class Forum: https://forum.cs.umd.edu/forumdisplay.php?f=128
Document Upload: http://www.cs.umd.edu/class/spring2009/cmsc818g-media/php/
End of the Semester Activities
- Final Exam:
- It will be given on May 12th in class. It will be sent to remote locations on the evening of the 11th. The exam requires essay type answers and requires you to share your thinking on some topics. As the time is limited, you have to express your thoughts carefully.
- Maryland students may write their answers in an exam book or prepare your answers using a computer and send them to me by e-mail after the exam.
- Remote locations should be sending their answers by e-mail.
- Projects:
- All projects require a report to be submitted by the end of this week (May 15th)
- All software developed should be made available so that others can build on it. Please contact us about the logistics of this step.
Assignments
All groups who have not presented in the last two weeks must present their final update on either May 5th or May 7th.
All groups must prepare a writeup (either documentation or online Wiki) regarding their project.
Schedule
| Date | Topic | Presenter | Slides / Video (>500mb each) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 27 | Class Introduction | - Dr. Agrawala | - [ppt] [pdf] |
| January 29 | Introduction to Information Dynamics (1) | - Dr. Agrawala | - [ppt] [pdf] |
| February 3 | Introduction to Information Dynamics (2) | - Dr. Agrawala | - [Video] |
| February 5 | Initial Project Discussions (1) | - Groups | - [Video] |
| February 10 | Titan against Titan ...who's technology will win? | - Dr. John Waclawsky (Motorola) | - [ppt] [Video] |
| February 12 | Initial Project Discussions (2) | - Groups | - [Video] |
| February 17 | Exploring Context | - Christian B. Almazan | - [ppt] [Video] |
| February 19 | Project Discussions | - Groups | - [Video] |
| February 24 | Visual Link Analysis | - Christopher Westphal (Visual Analytics) | - [ppt] [Video] |
| February 26 | Project Discussions | - Groups | - [Video] |
| March 3 | Information Dynamics (3) | - Dr. Agrawala | |
| March 5 | Project Discussions | - Groups | |
| March 10 | Titan Against Titan ... (2) | - Dr. John Waclawsky (Motorola) | - [ppt] |
| March 12 | Project Discussions | - Groups | - [Video] |
| March 24 | Context-Aware Computing Healthcare | - Jari Multisilta (Tampere University of Technology, Finland) - Mary Lee Kingsley | - [Hyperlinking Reality Video] [Image Space Video] [Indoor Positioning Video] [Sports Tracker] - [Slides] - [Video] |
| March 26 | Project Discussions | - Groups | - [Video] |
| March 31 | The Future of Information | - Dr. Agrawala | - [Slides] [Video] |
| April 2 | Project / Quality of Life Discussions | - Groups | - [Video] |
| April 7 | e-Governance | - D.N. Gupta (ISID, New Delhi) | - [Slide Set 1] [Slide Set 2] [Video] |
| April 9 | Project Discussions | - Groups | - |
| April 14 | Time in Systems | - Prof. Agrawala | - [Slides] [Video (1)] |
| April 16 | Time in Systems (2) | - Prof. Agrawala | - [Video] |
| April 21 | Information Organization | - Neha Gupta | - [Slides] [Video] |
| April 23 | Project Discussions | - Groups | - [Video] |
| April 28 | Microsoft Unlimited Potential Initiative | - Anoop Gupta (Microsoft) | - [Slides] [Video] |
| April 30 | Project Discussions | - Groups | - [Video] |
| May 5 | End of Semester Discussions | - Everyone | - [Video] |
| May 7 | End of Semester Discussions | - Everyone | - [Video] |
| May 12 | Final Exam | - Class |
Description
It has been stated that in the history of mankind no technology has had such a rapid growth, such a rapid deployment and such a far reaching impact on mankind on a global scale as the information technology since its inception about 5 decades ago. Nearly all aspects of this technology have shown an exponential growth and the impact of the ready access to world-wide information through the Internet has been felt in the remotest corners of the world. Clearly, this technology is impacting most aspects of our life today. However, as most of the growth has been driven by the economic aspects, there has not been any comprehensive look at the technology and its impact on mankind. It seems that the full potential of what can be done with information technology to improve the quality of life has not been realized. At least that is the premise of this course in which we intend to study the question of how the information technology can be used to improve the quality of life of mankind. We propose to explore the answers to this question through a deep understanding of the nature of information itself and its relationship to our daily functions/operations/requirements, etc.
While information technology has to its credit many major achievements, it has not been able to replace man in the loop for many problems. We intend to study the fundamental limitations of the information technology and address the question of what all can be done within the limitations of this technology.
Expectations
The methodology we intend to follow is that of lectures, group studies, research and exploration, building of proof of concept systems using available test beds and other facilities, etc. The participants will be organized in groups of 3-4 and each group will undertake a specific area to explore with specific assignments each week. Typically one of the two sessions each week will be devoted to a lecture and the other session will be used for groups to report the findings of the previous week.