CS 463 Project Proposals

The choice of "projects" for CS 463G is the following.

programming projects;
presentations in class of a technical paper on some aspect of AI;
book or movie reports related to AI;
software review of software using AI techniques;
written surveys or

class presentations of several technical papers on AI;

original short stories which use AI in some essential manner.

Each student must choose two different types of larger assignments. The proposal for the first is due by September 12th, and the assignment itself is due by October 15th. In the case of an in-class presentation, the proposal should include a (pre-negotiated) date for the presentation, which will occur by October 12th.

The proposal for the second is due November 7th, and the final talk or demo must be done before classes end; papers, reviews, and stories may be submitted by the time of the scheduled exam (December 15th, 1pm).

References to research papers and other sources may include URLs, but do not expect Dr. Goldsmith to follow links. They must include the who/what/where/when of the paper. That is, author, title, PUBLICATION VENUE, and date. That information must be in plaintext in the proposal. Do not expect Dr. Goldsmith to follow a link to look it up. You can use scholar.google.com to find inpapers, and the cite link to get bibliographic information, but please choose a format that does not include "et al.". You can also use dblp.org for (usually better) bibliographic information. And many professors post their papers on personal websites, or on ResearchGate.net or Academia.edu You can also use the latter two to request copies of papers.

Please make sure to look at the discussion of co-operation on projects and plagiarism.

Programming Projects

This is an opportunity for you to implement an AI algorithm \emph{from a paper in the AI research literature}. This means that Your proposal should include biliographic information for the source of the algorithm you are going to program, its pseudocode, the language you intend to use, and how you will demonstrate the success of your program.

In-Class Presentations

Your proposal should include a reference to the paper(s) you will be presenting, an outline of your presentation (in true outline form, not sentences/paragraphs, but with more detail that "introduction; technical details; conclusion"!), and a suggested date for a practice presentation with Dr. Goldsmith. Note that you may end up doing more than one practice presentation, and Dr. Goldsmith may ask for revisions of the outline before confirming a presentation date. Plan accordingly.

Also notice that you must do the practice talk in order to do the in-class presentation. Dr. Goldsmith's schedule is very very full, so planning on your part is necessary.

Sources of technical information

Your material should come from a reputable and refereed source, preferably a refereed journal or conference proceedings. Tech reports and random papers found on the web are not acceptable. If you do not know whether you are looking at a predatory journal or conference, try looking it up on Beall's list.

When a paper is submitted to a (non-predatory) refereed journal, it is read carefully for correctness and presentation by 2--5 experts in the field. It may be read by these experts in several versions before being accepted for publication. It takes anywhere from 4 months to several years from initial submission to publication.
When a paper is submitted to a (non-predatory) refereed conference, it is read for innovation, appropriateness to the conference, and sometimes for correctness by 1--3 experts in the field. These referees do not see the version that actually gets printed until it is published. It takes anywhere from 3 to 6 months from initial submission to publication.
The purpose of a tech report is to get a time-stamp on your work. They are not refereed. They "appear" within days of submission.
Anyone can post a paper on the web. Many do.

Reviews

You will list the book/movie that you will be reviewing, cite its dominant AI theme(s), and outline the review. Once you have chosen a particular aspect of AI, Dr. Goldsmith will ask you for a bibliography of recent technical papers that indicate the state of the art of that aspect of AI. Saying "there are lots of AI themes" and hoping to cover many of them will not work.

AI-Related Novels

Software Reviews

You will list the software that you will be reviewing, cite its dominant AI theme(s), and outline the review. Note that it is usually difficult to find out what techniques are used for, say, the AIs in a commercial game, as that is considered proprietary information. If you plan on reverse-engineering something, you will need to cite sources about the techniques you discuss.

Surveys

Your proposal for a written survey will list the technical papers you will be surveying and their commonalities, and outline the survey. Dr. Goldsmith may ask for revisions of the outline.

A survey should cover (for undergrads) at least 3 published sources. It should be organized around ideas, not around papers. Do not submit an annotated bibliography, and do not simply quote from the papers. Discuss the differences between the questions answered, and between the answers, as well as the similarities. Speculate on why, in papers with experiments, different test cases were used.

In as much as time permits, Dr. Goldsmith with look over drafts and give feedback.

If you are doing an in-class presentation, your proposal should also include a suggested date for a practice talk with Dr. Goldsmith. Leave time for additional practices, if Dr. Goldsmith believes they are necessary.

See Sources

Short Stories

Your proposal should be a story synopsis that makes clear (a) what the AI theme will be and (b) that you can write readable fiction.

Cooperation

Group programming or survey projects are possible with the consent of the instructor. Students may be encouraged to submit particularly good programming project write-ups or surveys for publication.

The usual applies: plagiarism, copying, or working together without crediting each other will be punished to the fullest extent of university regulations; assignments due in class will not be accepted after class begins. If this is a problem, they may be submitted before class. Late homeworks accepted only with the usual documentation for illness or family crisis, or in the case of documented hardware failures.
Always back up your work, if possible to another machine or system.