COGS 200 Project Description (FALL 2021) PDF

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Project Description of the group project that is due at the end of the term...

Description

COGS 200 GROUP PROJECT The COGS 200 group project will see you working in your teams to put together an interdisciplinary COGS project, along with a video abstract. Along the way to the final product (the written proposal and video abstract), there are some milestones in place to ensure you produce a quality product in a timely manner: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Group contract – hand in by October 12, 2021 Group project proposal paragraph/Pitch day - due November 2, 2021 Group project outline and annotated bibliography - due November 4, 2021 Project Write-up/Video abstract - due December 7, 2021

The point of the final project is to propose an innovative way at least two of the four COGS disciplines (psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and computer science) can be integrated to produce an interesting product that contributes to both disciplines. In other words, it should make a real contribution to our knowledge, technologies, or understanding in the disciplines you have chosen. Such contributions include, but are certainly not limited to: developing a computational or robotic system, testing an empirical hypothesis, or articulating novel viewpoints and/or arguments relevant to a philosophical theory. You don’t have to create something that has never been seen before, but if you are going to make existing technology a main part of your project, we want to see it being used in a novel way, or solving a problem that hasn’t been solved before. What we are absolutely not looking for are reiterations of conclusions of existing research and literature. If you are unsure if your project is adequately contributing to either or both fields, please ask one of the instructional staff as early as possible in your project planning. The relation to the two COGS fields should be immediately relevant and discernible. We should not be guessing at which field your project is contributing to. Tip: Often in research papers, there will be a section devoted to ‘further research’ or similarly titled, which will identify the gaps in the research paper that future research could take on. This is a great starting point to see what hasn’t been done yet in the field, or what needs to be improved upon. You have access to mysterious sources of funding -- the cost of your project should not matter, so long as you can justify it. Be sure to do sufficient research on methods or equipment/technology you are using of a particular field, demonstrate adequate understanding of them to the extent necessary of your project, and justify why you are using that particular method/equipment/technology. The project should be feasible, within the limits of what we know to be possible. It would, for example, be legitimate to design an experiment, or a device, that makes use of fMRI/EEG or existing machine learning technologies, but not to design one that makes use of magical mind-reading brain scanners (unless these exist in a philosophical thought experiment you are including in your project). Know what you are using in your project, do the research, and justify it. The detail necessary in your projects should be up to the point of doing it, without actually doing it. In other words, logistics, feasibility, experimental methods, and effort (Is this something people actually want/need that is worth the effort?) should all be taken into account.

The final presentation of your project will take the form of a video abstract that you pre-record and turn in on Canvas on December 7. On this day you will also submit a written version of your project, which will be written collaboratively with your group, and handed in on Canvas. Below you will find guidelines for each of the milestones of the final project:

Group contract - due October 12, 2021 By this point, you should have already turned in a group contract on Canvas laying out expected responsibilities from your team members, such as, but not exclusively: When you plan on meeting, proposed time to be spent on the final project, desired final grade for the group project, strengths and weaknesses of different team members, etc. If you have not yet done so, please e-mail the TA’s immediately at [email protected] to discuss what to do.

Group project proposal paragraph/Pitch day - due November 2, 2021 A paragraph to be submitted online by November 2. The paragraph should summarize the what, why and how of your final project. During class, each group will pitch its idea to several other groups, and maybe to an instructor or a TA. You will give and get feedback to sharpen your ideas and your project. Optionally, you might want to create and bring some kind of visual aid or graphical presentation of your project to class on this day to assist your group in making its pitch. On November 4, each group must submit an outline of their project taking into account the feedback you received on Pitch day, and an annotated bibliography. Note that this is due the next class. There is not enough time to find ALL of your research, draft a WHOLE outline, and create an ENTIRE annotated bibliography in these two days, so we suggest you do not leave all of that work the night before November 4.

Group project outline and annotated bibliography - due November 4, 2021 On November 4, each group must submit a proposal outline taking into account the feedback you received when pitching your ideas to other groups on November 2, and an annotated bibliography. As with your assignments, please submit these online on Canvas.

Group project outline: For the outline, you will have chosen an idea for your project and now draft an outline for it. This should include information on what you plan to do, why you plan to do it, how you plan to do it, and why it is worth doing (and more specifically, why it is worth doing in the way that you propose). You must also clearly explain how your proposal will be multidisciplinary (cutting across at least two COGS areas) and contributing to both. Your outline should also make reference to prior literature and/or your annotated bibliography wherever relevant. Format for outline: Maximum of up to 1 page; 12 point Times font, (1 inch margins on all four sides). Annotated bibliography: The annotated bibliography you will hand in gives an account of the prior research that has been done on your topic. The annotated bibliography contains a list of resources (peer-reviewed papers, journal articles, book chapters, etc.) related to your project. The bibliography should also contain a one- or two-line summary of what the researchers did/found and why it is relevant for your project. Format for annotated bibliography: up to 2 pages; 12 point Times font, (1 inch margins on all four sides) This milestone is worth 10% of your final grade.

Project Write-up - due December 7, 2021 Here are some guidelines for the project write-up: You will write a written paper describing your research project. The primary goals of the paper are to describe what you are proposing to do, why you are proposing to do it, what related work has been done before, how you are proposing to do it, what the expected outcomes are of your proposal, and how it taps into multiple disciplines (at least two distinct COGS fields). You could include the following sections in your proposal (this is intended as a reference/source for starting points, rather than a checklist): 1. Introduction: In this section, you may address the following questions: What is your proposed project or hypothesis? Why is it important? Motivate your problem/hypothesis in this section with real-world examples. This is also a good section to identify a problem/difficulty/conflict that your proposal will attempt to address uniquely. 2. Background research: What related work have people done before? How does it fall short? What are some different approaches/useful tools that could be built on or elaborated? 3. Methods: This section will describe your approach to solve the problem or address the question laid out in the introduction. How do you propose to solve the problem/hypothesis? This could include the specific experimental or linguistic approach you will take to solve a psychological, computational, philosophical or linguistic issue. If you are designing an artificial system, you will discuss the modules and/or algorithms

that you will employ to solve your problem. If you are integrating philosophy, you will discuss your novel viewpoints on the philosophical issue and explain how they enrich/oppose existing literature. 4. Discussion: Why did you choose the method/approach that you did? Further, if your proposal includes an experimental approach, what are the anticipated outcomes? If you are proposing software/hardware systems, how will you evaluate the performance of your system? How will you know it works? How will your work potentially benefit/contribute to the existing literature of the fields you are combining? Why do you need to approach it the way you do? 5. Conclusion: What insights did you draw from this project? What did you learn from this experience?

Format for full proposal: The proposal can be a maximum of 5 pages, 12 point Times New Roman font (1 inch margins on all four sides). Proposals that exceed these length specifications may be penalized. References, figures and tables do not count towards your page limit. This milestone is worth 15% of your final grade.

Video abstract - due December 7, 2021 Due to the ongoing global pandemic, in lieu of giving a live presentation of your project, we will instead be asking each group to create a video abstract of their project. The video should be about 5 minutes long. You should organize your video as you would a poster presentation to a live audience. First introduce your chosen topic, why it is important, and what has been done before. You should then discuss what you are going to do, how you are going to do it, and any assessment measures you will use to determine whether you have achieved your goals. Finally, conclude with anticipated outcomes, and why your project is uniquely solving a problem that exists in the world. The video abstract supports creative presentation of your grant proposal. For example, you can create figures you would have put on a poster and instead animate them in your video (similar to a PowerPoint presentation), while a member of your group explains the figure. You can also find video clips that illustrate your problem or point to include. You are welcome to make animations, your own cartoon, or even a skit to demonstrate a particular idea. Please remember to include all the points mentioned above however. We encourage you to watch the following video on how to make a video abstract. It contains useful tips on how to organize your video, shoot footage, and edit the video on your phone in iMovie. How to Make a Video Abstract for Your Next Journal Article (links to an external site) Additional Resources: iMovie (Links to an external site): simple editing app (Apple only) Adobe Premiere Rush - Video Editor (Links to an external site): simple editing app (Apple + Android) ● Videoscribe (Links to an external site): a whiteboard video animation software, ● ●

free license for all UBC students ● Flaticon (Links to an external site): large database of free vector icons (useful for infographics, etc) ● Free Music Archive (Links to an external site): useful database if you decide to add background music ● Wetransfer (Links to an external site): an easy method of sending big files back and forth in your group Tips: ● Draft up a rough storyboard before you start. Having notes and a few simple sketches of how you want your video to look makes filming and editing much easier. ● Have a script for your video and practice it a couple times before filming. If you’re not comfortable in front of a camera, it helps to do a trial run first! Watch your trial run back to see if you should make adjustments for your final filming. ● Film in a quiet location. Excessive background noise can be distracting, and it’s much harder to edit out in post-production. If we can’t understand you due to background noise, we may deduct marks because we simply won’t know what you have said. ● If you want to do voice-over, film the voiceover first. Syncing visuals to audio is straightforward, but syncing audio to visuals can be really tough and time consuming. ● Don’t get too caught up on the aesthetics! We’re grading you on the quality and clarity of your content, not production quality ☺ When grading your project, we will consider the interest and value of your proposed research (were it to be carried out), your appreciation of the difficulties that your research might face, your success in building on existing theories and resources, and your skill in presenting your ideas as a team. We will provide more assessment criteria for the video abstract presentation as the deadline approaches. This milestone is worth 10% of your final grade.

Good luck!...