Transcript CHC60 - Oakland University

CHC60
Computer Society History Competition
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BACKGROUND
The inspiration behind the Computer
Society’s 60th anniversary Computer
History Competition, CHC60 is the CSIDC,
the Computer Society’s computer design
competition that stresses teamwork in the
design of a computer system.
The Computer Society has devised CHC60
to achieve the following goals:
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BACKGROUND
To
encourage students to work together as a team to design,
research, and implement a high-quality website.
To stress the importance of transferable skills such as time
management and the division of a task between a group of people.
To make students aware of the rich and exciting history of the
computer and to encourage them to carry out research into computer
history.
To teach students all aspects of the design of a website including,
usability, navigability, and robustness.
To strengthen the creative skills of students in the areas of writing
and visual design.
To promote the use of the Web as a research and design tool for
students.
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BACKGROUND
Computer Society’s 60th anniversary Computer
History Competition, CHC60, requires a team of four
undergraduates to construct a website that covers a topic
in the history of computing. Students may select their
own theme.
Teams should assume that their website will be viewed
by computer professionals or students of computing.
The competition will be judged on the basis of a team’s
ability to create a high-quality website and to present an
interesting and exciting history lesson.
The
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Prizes
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The first-prize in the competition is $10,000.
The prize will be a financial award made to the
winning team.
 The top ten teams will each receive a
certificate of merit from the IEEE Computer
Society.
 The Computer Society is actively seeking
further sponsorship in order to increase the
number of prizes available.
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Timetable
The application deadline for CHC60 is 6
February 2006
 The final date for the submission of
URLs is 14 July 2006.
 The winning team will be announced on
1 October 2006.
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Selection Process
CHC60 will be restricted to 200 teams.
 If more than 200 teams register before 6
February 2006, teams will be selected at
random.
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Instructions for Mentors
A team’s faculty mentor must be at the same university
as the students.
 A team's mentor exists to provide a focal point for the
team and to help the team come together and work
together.
 The faculty mentor does not materially participate in
the design and implementation of the project.
 The faculty mentor certifies that the team members
were the ones who actually carried out the design and
implementation of the project.
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Instructions for Teams
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Each team consists of four undergraduate students.
Undergraduate means students receiving their first
baccalaureate university degree or equivalent.
Team members should be enrolled during the
academic school year they register for CHC60;
however, it is accepted that some team members may
graduate before the final submission date.
CHC60 strongly encourages an interdisciplinary
approach across departments. It is not necessary that
all students come from a computer-related
department.
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Rules
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Teams should take great care that the materials created for use in
the website do not contain any malware (e.g., viruses) or perform
harmful actions.
Students from any country may take part in the competition.
The rules of CHC60 have been devised by volunteers on behalf of
the computer society. The interpretation of these rules lies with
the CHC60 organizing committee and the CHC60 judging panel.
The judges have the right to resolve any inconsistencies in the
rules of the competition and to resolve issues unanticipated by
the organizers of CHC60.
Each team taking part in CHC60, by completing the application
form, accepts that the IEEE Computer Society’s only obligation is
to submit entries from eligible teams to the judges and to award a
prize to the winners, subject to the terms and conditions of this
competition.
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Web Etiquette
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A team’s website must not use plagiarized material. The web
must be composed of original material created by the team. Any
other material must be referenced and, if necessary, have the
copyright owner’s permission to use it in the competition.
The material used in a team’s website must, as far as possible,
be factually correct and must not be offensive or abusive. Any
entry deemed offensive by the judges will automatically be
disqualified.
A team must display intellectual honesty.
Teams are expected to use appropriate web design standards.
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Judging Criteria
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CHC60 competition is open-ended and teams are encouraged to
be innovative. Judges will be instructed to reward innovation –
whether it is in the construction of the website or in the telling of
the history of computing.
Some teams will make extensive use of animations - for
example, the operation of a historic machine or the operation of
storage devices.
The website will not be judged by the tools used to create it but
by its appearance, usability, and content.
Website’s should comply with W3C standards and teams must
ensure that their website runs on widely available browsers.
Your website should include a section on the way in which you
approached your project and how you allocated tasks between
team members.
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FAQs
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What is the role of the faculty mentor?
The faculty mentor should provide overall guidance, helping
ensure that students don't overlook some critical detail.
Why was the competition schedule set up as it is?
The schedule was designed to accommodate academic
calendars. It is also influenced by the needs and timetables of the
volunteers and the judges involved in the competition.
Our university doesn't offer an undergraduate degree; can
we still participate?
Not all colleges and universities use the terms undergraduate or
baccalaureate. We will accept applications if the team members
are pursuing their first university degree. Students in two-year or
community colleges are eligible to participate.
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FAQs
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What if several teams at our institution are interested in the
competition?
More than one team may enter from each university.
When you talk about a high quality website, what do you
mean?
It’s difficult to define exactly what is meant by quality – however, a
well designed website should be: easily navigable by all users,
robust, up-to-date (no broken links), fast, hacker-proof, and so on.
The website should also be interesting to use.
Can students on co-operative education assignments
participate?
If co-op is a formal part of the program of study, or is otherwise
formally recognized by the university, then students on co-op may
participate in the contest.
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FAQs
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Does entering the competition mean that the Computer
Society gets all future rights to develop my team's work?
Absolutely not! The Computer Society makes no claims on a
team's work.
What is the target audience for the website a team is to
design?
Assume that the audience will be people like yourself –
undergraduates and other computing professionals. They can be
assumed to understand the basics of computing and typical
computing terminology. However, they will not be experts in the
history of computing. Consider your website to be an educational
tool for use in universities and similar institutions. You are not
pitching it at the absolute beginner or naïve user.
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FAQs
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What is the target audience for the website a team is to
design?
Assume that the audience will be people like yourself. They
understand the basics of computing and its terminology. However,
they will not be experts in the history of computing. Your website
is an educational tool for use in universities and similar
institutions.
Can I send in a video clip instead of a website?
No! A website must be submitted. A single page or, for example, a
video clip, will not be acceptable. A Macromedia Flash site is
acceptable provided it runs in a browser. Similarly, a PowerPoint
file is not acceptable, although a PowerPoint file may be part of
the overall website.
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FAQs
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What do you mean by computer history?
CHC60 does not impose a narrow definition of computer history.
Teams may illustrate any thread in computer history. For example,
one team may look at the development of the microprocessor,
another team at the role of Augusta Ada King in programming,
another team at the history of information representation, and yet
another team may look at the role of the Soviet Union in computer
history. A website that gives the histories of the PC and the Atari
ST computer and then explains why the PC was successful and
the Atari failed, is another example of the type of a possible
project. Some teams may even look at legal battles between
people and organizations in the computer industry.
Computer history will be interpreted and may include computer
hardware and peripherals, computer software, operating systems,
networks, the use of computers, people in computer history, the
economics, social, or political history of the computer.
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FAQs
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Do you have any suggestions that would help me win the
competition?
The following paragraph is from one of the CHC60 competition
advisors.
“Arrange links and information on the chosen aspect of computer history
to facilitate finding information of interest. For example, if you pick the
history of FORTRAN, don’t provide a search engine that spews out
40,000,000 references to FORTRAN -- Google and Yahoo already do
this just fine. Instead, show that you've thought about the subject
enough to provide an interesting, helpful presentation. For example, you
might have a page on FORTRAN history showing what new capabilities
were added by each successive version of the language, a page on
contributors to the history of FORTRAN with their main contributions,
both to FORTRAN and to other areas of computing, a page on seminal
articles in the literature that refer to FORTRAN (e.g., GoTo Statement
Considered Harmful), and perhaps a page on major bugs or problems
that have been discovered in FORTRAN over the years.”
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FAQs
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Can you suggest some of the aspects of the submitted
website that the judges will be looking for?
One of the advisors suggested:
accuracy of statements
some indication you have done more than just read one article or
book and take the information from there
some evidence that you have used primary source material (and
not just reported what others said about that material)
some indication that there are two or more sides to every story
and human memory is often not the best thing to rely on
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FAQs
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Is the purpose of the website that we are designing to
provide:
(a) a place with accurate historical facts for archival purposes?
(b) a place for teaching computer history with pedagogical
features such as simulations, embedded .avi files, etc?
(c) a place for entertainment with jokes, factoids, artwork, pop
culture, news etc.?
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“All of the above!” The competition does not require the
construction of a specific website. However, a successful entry is
likely to contain aspects of all the three above websites. Its
primary purpose is to teach students about some aspect of
computer history. This should be done in an imaginative way as
possible.
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FAQs
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Are the judges looking for quantity or quality?
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Quality, quality, quality! This is not an exercise in simply gathering
a large amount of information and just dumping it on to a website.
We are not looking for a potted history of computing from the
abacus to Windows. The intention of the competition is to
encourage students to perform in depth-research into a single
topic (or a relatively narrow range of topics) and to present the
information in an interesting, informative and lively fashion.
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FAQs
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Why is the duration of this competition so long?
Quality, quality, quality. This is a prestigious competition that
encourages a team of students to work together for an extended
period to create a first-class website that illustrates a topic in
computer history.
Why is there such an emphasis on quality?
Because the competition is organized by the IEEE Computer
Society. This is the world’s oldest and largest computer society
whose members and periodicals are responsible for a large
fraction of the world’s research into computer science.
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FAQs
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.Why has CHC60 been implemented this year?
The IEEE Computer Society is celebrating its 60th anniversary in
2006 with a year of special events. This competition is part of the
60th anniversary celebrations.
What are the obligations of the Computer Society?
Each team taking part in CHC60, by completing the application
form, accepts that the IEEE Computer Society’s only obligation is
to submit entries from eligible teams to the judges and to award a
prize to the winners, subject to the terms and conditions of this
competition.
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FAQs
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Do you have any advice on the website?
The website must be easy to use. Instructions should be provided
and the navigation should be intuitive.
The website should convey information clearly.
The website should be robust and not crash or freeze. It should
be browser neutral and run on different types of browser.
The use of multimedia is not a specific requirement. However, it is
anticipated that most teams will make use of commercial
multimedia components to animate particular aspects of their site.
Although the theme of the competition is not computer simulation
as such, some teams may create a simulator to illustrate some
aspect of computer history. Such an approach to the competition
is welcome provided that the simulator will run on a typical PC.
There are no restrictions on the use of web programming
languages such as XML. PHP, ASP, JSP.
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FAQs
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What’s the best way to fail to win this competition?
If you really want to fail to win this competition, the best two ways
are
(a) Plagiarism – just copy other people’s work; treat it as your
own, and do not reference other contributions.
(b) Lack imagination – just provide a website with an endless list
of facts and dates with no interpretation of their meaning, or
relevance.
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