Project One:It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

The information superhighway has a language all its own--FTP, gopher, WWW and so on and so forth. And, even though the U of M has lots of computers, experts, and support systems, finding your way around the computers, the networks, and the software options can be quite confusing.

The purpose of this first assignment is to work collaboratively to learn as much as we can about the key terms, tools, and parts of the U-M computing community.

During this project, you will be teamed up with a partner. Your team will receive from me a word, acronym, or phrase. Your team's task is to scour the campus, conduct a scavenger hunt, and otherwise do research on the word, acronym, or phrase you've received. Your goal is to learn all you can about it, collaboratively write a "brochure" that you will share with your classmates, and lead a demonstration for your classmates on how to do whatever it is you learned how to do.

Your brochure is for an audience of novices--keep the needs of this particular audience in mind.

The brochure should include:

1. A definition of the term or phrase.
2. An explanation of the function of the term or phrase.
3. A description of the software available here on campus.
4. Quick tips sheet on how to do X.
5. Advice on where to find more information about X (a bibliography of books, magazine articles, U-M documentation, etc.)

20 copies of the brochures are due on the day of your presentation.

Presentations will begin on Tuesday 1/17, with approximately 3 team presentations per class period.

The teams, tasks, and presentation dates:

• Team I: Mirlyn-1/17
• Team II:e-mail-1/17
• Team III:usenet-1/17
• Team IV: IRC-1/19
• Team V: FTP-1/19
• Team VI: gopher-1/19
• Team VII: WWW- 1/24
• Team VIII: IFS-1/24
• Team IX: MUD/MOO- 1/24

To return to Part One page, click here.

Modified: 3/4/95