Week 22

Course progress/check-ins

Our next class (after break) is the halfway point for this semester. Before then, we will be completing our (joint) feedback/grading for your first projects, and will share those on Canvas.

We’d also like to schedule brief, 1:1 (well, 2:1) check-ins with each of you, sometime that week. We’ll have a few minutes each to talk about how you are doing in the course—and you can let us know how you’re feeling about it, too.

To have time with both of us, and not cut into class, we’ll be doing this off-hours, on Zoom. We’ve made a sign-up sheet:

Spring check-ins

If none of these slots work for you, let us know and we can figure something out. But let’s try to make these work! There are a lot of you, and this will be tricky.

Project proposals

We’re going to spend most of today going over your proposals for Project 5: Functions. We think it is important to thoroughly refine your concepts here, in order to work well with them for the rest of the semester.

We’ll break into groups—and also will shuffle at the halfway (break) point so you get a new set of your peers. We’re going to go longer on this, so both of us can meet with each of you together, and hear what you are thinking.

You will have about 45 minutes among your group, and then about 15 minutes with us. In your 45 minutes, take turns introducing your problem and how you might try and solve it. Take notes, feedback, and suggestions from your peers. Also be sure to walk your classmates through your other ideas—it is entirely possible one of those could become your proposal. If you have extra time, use this to refine, research, and start sketching on your topic (our next project phase).

When we get to your group, give us a one-minute “elevator pitch” version of your proposal. Literally, one minute—we want to have time for a conversation about it. We’re going to focus on its scope and feasibility.

We will meet with Groups 1–4, take a break, you will shuffle, and then we’ll meet with (new-to-you) Groups 5–8. Let’s see if this works!

Here are our “first half” groups:

• Group 1: Chi, Dusha, Bobby, Keren

• Group 2: Mariia, Sarah, Tanvi, Sushanto

• Group 3: Amaya, Lucine, Dayna, Caroline

• Group 4: Jocelyn, Dhruv, Hamza, Kinjal

• Group 5: Madhura, Shivi, Kendall, Abhishek

• Group 6: Andre, Myriam, Shanshan, Vasu

• Group 7: Ina, Vidushi, Giselle, Azra

• Group 8: Fahila, Sandra, Sanjana

We’ll take our break here, when we have gone through Groups 1–4.

And now we will change up our groups for the “second half”:

• Group 1: Chi, Mariia, Amaya, Jocelyn

• Group 2: Dusha, Sarah, Lucine, Dhruv

• Group 3: Bobby, Tanvi, Dayna, Hamza

• Group 4: Keren, Sushanto, Caroline, Kinjal

• Group 5: Madhura, Andre, Ina, Fahila

• Group 6: Shivi, Myriam, Vidushi, Sandra

• Group 7: Kendall, Shanshan, Giselle, Sanjana

• Group 8: Abhishek, Vasu, Azra

Examples?

Some folks have asked for example sites for this project. Since the concept (and its execution) are entirely up to you, there aren’t direct examples—but here are some sites that we feel either have the right kind of scope or certain flavor for what we are looking for:

• Glyphy
  There are a million of these; this one is decent-looking. Solves a problem thoroughly.

• Artist Ipsum Generator
  Not quite “enough” for our project, but we use this all the time—normal “ipsum” breaks better than academic/museum text.

• How Many People Are In Space Right Now?
  Question and answer. An example of a “single-serving site“ but made more robust/useful, with content down the page.

• Just Flip A Coin
  Another “SSS” that adds some info. A bit on the “light“ side.

• Is the L Train Fucked?
  NYC classic, here as an example of API use. Too “light,” outside of that.

• Let Me Google That For You
  Another classic. Also “light,” but it has the spirit.

• Labelmaker
  Eric made this when he was young(er).

To be clear—none of these should overly color your concept, which is your own. Look to these more for their feeling and utility.

For next week class

• Sign up for your check-in meeting:

  Spring check-ins

• We will pick up our first reading for the fifth unit:

  What Is Code?
  Paul Ford, 2015

  This is very good, but it is also very long—leave plenty of time for this one. If you hit the paywall (or love irony), there is also a scanned PDF of how this ran in print.

• Add your reading synthesis, as we have before:

  Unit 5 reading synthesis (Code)

  If it is easier, these can take the form of bullets for your questions/thoughts. We will remind everyone these are evaluated for your participation and the quality of your response. Also, Google Docs has timestamps.

• You will also be completing the next phase of your project, Refinement, research, and sketching—based on the input from your classmates and us, here today.
   

• When you are done, submit links to your revised proposal and initial sketches:

  Assignment submission

  Again… though we shouldn’t have to—but we will reiterate that these milestones are part of your project’s evaluation. We expect to see your continued progress!