Creating a Poster for a Fundamental Computing Problem and Its Implications

Learning Outcomes Assessed

The following learning outcomes will be assessed:

1.Demonstrate an appreciation of the role of computing and technology in today’s society

2.Discuss how social, ethical and legal issues are relevant to the subject of computer science    
Important Information

You are required to submit your work within the bounds of the University Infringement of Assessment Regulations (see Programme Guide).  Plagiarism, paraphrasing and downloading large amounts of information from external sources, will not be tolerated and will be dealt with severely.  Although you should make full use of any source material, which would normally be an occasional sentence and/or paragraph (referenced) followed by your own critical analysis/evaluation.  You will receive no marks for work that is not your own. Your work may be subject to checks for originality which can include use of an electronic plagiarism detection service.

Where you are asked to submit an individual piece of work, the work must be entirely your own.  The safety of your assessments is your responsibility.  You must not permit another student access to your work.

Where referencing is required, unless otherwise stated, the Harvard referencing system must be used (see your Programme Guide).

Please ensure that you retain a duplicate of your assignment.  We are required to send samples of student work to the external examiners for moderation purposes.  It will also safeguard in the unlikely event of your work going astray.

 

Your task is to create a poster illustrating an example of a system and or problem that has been solved using computer science. You should draw on the example that you have been working on through the activities in weeks 1 – 5. The poster will reflect the discussions, research and evaluations that you have undertaken into a fundamental computing problem. The poster will provide background to the problem and demonstrate how the computing subject in that problem domain has evolved in order for that problem to be solved. You should illustrate the societal, ethical and legal impacts as a result of the issue / resolution of the issue.

Student Information

The computing environment is a wide and complex one. For the first assignment you are required to choose a subject / topic from computing and produce a poster (1 page) outlining the issues and how computer science has been used to resolve the issue. The design of your poster is left to you to decide but you should consider visual impact, key messages, data to support, examples and any underpinning research. 

Suggested topics to cover in your poster

Rationale for subject choice – a brief overview of the system and / or problem being addressed
Target audience – those impacted by the system (the stakeholders)
Importance of Issue – you should identify the key issues – the problem to be resolved, why it is important, who will benefit from a resolution
Opportunities to solve the problem with computer science – the approach to solving the problem, any algorithmic thinking that has been considered, examples of algorithms
Data or metrics to show success – any measurements of success that are pertinent to the system being discussed, for example (you don’t need to cover all of these) money saved, time saved, skills developed, improvement in access to information 
Impact on society – this could also be a measurement of success but trying to think about the impact from a different lens
Consideration of legal and ethical issues – examples of legislation being considered and any ethical issues or dilemmas
Professional considerations – any professional aspects that come to light in considering the problem

Submission Guidelines
You must agree the title of your essay with your local tutor before submission.
Your poster should be spell checked and contain references.  You must use the Harvard style of referencing, both for citations within the text and your reference list.  You should expect to use 3 - 5 references.  
It is important that you read thoroughly the information on the cover sheet regarding the university assessment regulations, including those regarding plagiarism and collusion.
Assignment hand-in requirements are specified on the front cover sheet.  The approximate time you should spend on this assignment is 15-25 hours.  Your assignment must be handed in before the time specified.
Your assessment will be assessed according to the University’s Postgraduate Generic Assessment Criteria, which are provided on the following pages.