New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)
Computer and Information Science Department (CIS)
CIS677:
Information System Principles, Spring 2000
Professors: Michael
Bieber and Catherine
Campbell
The purpose of the semester project is to get deeper exposure to how information technologies really are used.
You will work in project teams of 3 classmates (Mt. Laurel) or 8 classmates (Newark).
Your team must choose one theme, and then within that theme, must form a particular topic. You may choose from the themes below. You must clear your topic with your professor. No team should do the same topic. All teams and projects and teams will be listed separately on the class Web site for Mt. Laurel and Newark.
For a particular IT (or set of related ITs), contrast its use in 2 (Mt. Laurel) or 3 (Newark) segments of society, as well as its current and potential impact. Segments of society include business, industry, education, government, military, non-profits, etc.
Discuss the similarities and differences across the segments. The technologies and segments you choose must be "interesting." (E.g., word processing and business graphics probably would not prove an "interesting" technology.)
Examples of topics would include:
Study the IS/IT structure of a particular segment of society. How is IS/IT used in and how does it impact the organizations (and organizational structures) in the segment? How should it?
Examples of topics would include:
Describe how a particular organization uses (and should use) Information Systems and IT. Choose an organizational unit of sufficient size (more than 50 people) and complexity that its IT use is both "interesting" and non-trivial. Similarly, it should have a significant amount of IT in place or being planned. (These restrictions rule out most, if not all, departments at universities.) If your organization is of considerable size, you most probably should choose a department or functional team to study. No class member may currently be employed by the organizational *unit* he or she is studying.
This project will involve several hours (+/- 12) of observation and discussion with several different employees; when contacting your organizational unit make sure you can get a commitment to this level of support. If the organization is hesitant to grant you this time commitment then beware: you probably will have trouble getting enough information later. In your first interviews try to get a good feel for the organization and make sure this is the right place for you to do your study. The organization has to have enough IT or a non-trivial design and implementation project (e.g., not just implementing an "off the shelf" package). Essential personnel has to be available - willing to give you enough time, and not out-of-town during a large part of your project. Also you need to be able to get started soon&endash;you cannot afford to wait a couple of weeks for them to be ready. If these conditions are not available then do not be afraid to look somewhere else (either within that organization or at another). If you decide to bail out, be honest with your organizational contact. Give him or her your reasons, and thank him for his time and willingness so far.
Describe the IS/IT infrastructure of a particular country or region in the world. How does the IT infrastructure affect organizations and society? What effect do national and international companies have concerning the IS/IT infrastructure? How do government policies affect the progress of IS/IT development and use?
We will choose semester project teams in class on Tuesday 2/8.
Write a 1-2 paragraph initial topic description. State which theme and topic your project will concern. Include the names and email addresses of all group members. Post it in conference "On Campus: Semester Project Topic Check" by 2/15 and also please give us a copy in class.
Professors Bieber and Campell will post our comments to your topic checks as replies to your WebBoard entry.
Write a full 2-page project abstract describing your topic and referencing at least three professional articles. We will use this to evaluate, give permission to and make suggestions for your topic. Include the names and email addresses of all group members. Also say who will be serving as project leader, editor, analysis leader and scheduler (see the Roles section below). Post it in conference "On Campus: Semester Project Topic Check" by 2/29 and also please give us a copy in class.
Professors Bieber and Campell will post our comments to your abstracts as replies to your WebBoard entry.
Everyone in the class will read a summary of your project before your presentation. We also will be chunking these summaries for the last two weeks of class. Prepare a 3-6 page overview that summarizes and repeats the most important points of your report. Post it in conference "On Campus: Semester Project Summaries" by 4/25, and also please give us a copy in class.
Your project summary should also give a link to a graphical overview of your project using "TheBrain" tool. More details will be available later in the semester.
Your group will have 12 minutes to present some facet of your project to the class. Because everyone has read and chunked your project summary, everyone will be familiar with your report. Therefore do *not* present your entire report; do *not* repeat what is in the summary you post on-line. Instead focus on the most interesting aspects.
You could do a regular presentation, a short skit or role acting, a mock panel discussion, a mock interview, or anything else you can imagine. (If you do decide to do a regular presentation, periodically display an outline of your presentation on the board, overhead slides or on PowerPoint to keep the audience oriented.)
Not all team members have to participate in the presentation.
Because we will not grade your presentation - just your final report - have fun and don't be nervous!
Following your short presentation we'll have 23 minutes for class discussion.
As an experiment this semester, the distance section will be creating synthesis sites with a detailed analysis around the class topics. They also will be creating a graphical depiction of this analysis using TheBrain. Each semester project team should ensure that their projects and TheBrain overviews are mentioned in all the appropriate places within these synthesis sites.
More details will follow later in the semester.
Your report should have the following sections.
This is the main part of your report.
In your analysis be sure to use the frameworks we introduce in class, as well as other conceptual and analytical models/guidelines we discussed or you found in the readings. We shall be grading based on the focus, significance, conceptual analysis, and depth of your project, as well as on your practical creativity.
Compare and contrast the findings across different segments or technologies in your project. For example, theme 1 teams should contrast how their chosen IS/IT is used differently within their chosen segments. Theme 2 teams should contrast the different uses of various IS/IT in their chosen segment. Theme 3 teams should contrast the different uses of various IS/IT in different parts of particular organization. Theme 4 teams should contrast the different parts of the region they choose.
You may choose to do this comparitive analysis as part of your detailed study sections. If so, in this section you should put a review, summary, overview or table of the comparitive analysis found elsewhere in your report. One team in the past even came up with its own framework that it used in the comparitive analysis!
Be creative and include an entire section of speculations. Give your thoughts on the future of the topic: ideas, forecasts, issues, etc. In other words, go beyond the data and beyond the facts. What do you think is really going on with this topic?
Plan on taking at least 2 pages to discuss your speculations.
In this section, describe 4 significant and practical recommendations concerning your topic. Include:
Plan on taking at least 2 pages to discuss your recommendations, and quite possibly more.
Please do not give a summary repeating what you have already written. Instead provide us with an insightful set of final thoughts about your topic. Leave the reader inspired about your topic and analysis. For example, you could end with a vision of what could your segment, technology, organization or region be like if IS/IT were deployed properly...
Any detailed information that would clog down the main report.
This section lists all references you cited in the rest of your report. (Be sure to use citation markers (e.g., [Daft & Lengel, 1986]) inside your report whenever you refer to a reference, just as in the professional articles we've read. Do not list references you have not referred to.
Your report should be based upon at least 5 research-oriented professional references per group member. Appropriate peer-reviewed journals include Communications of the ACM, Interfaces, MIS Quarterly, Journal of MIS, Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems, IS Research, ACM Computing Surveys, as well as research journals in functional areas. For certain topics you might have to use conference proceedings from peer-reviewed IS research conferences, such as HICSS and ICIS. A good rule of thumb is that the journal's articles contain good-quality professional references.
Don't forget to use class articles as part of your analysis. These count as part of your references.
Also consider using professional articles from other disciplines that you find in your library search. For example, if you are doing decision support in the automobile industry, you might find some interesting articles on decision support in the aircraft or advertising industries that may be relevant to your study. Thus, professional articles in other areas could be helpful for you.
Note: Trade press and periodicals (Computerworld, Business Week, etc.) will also be very useful for your report and will help you understand what's currently going on in practice. So you should definitely look at them as part of your investigation. However they are above and beyond the 5 base references per group member. Be sure to include a full citation for each trade article in your reference section.
Remember the IS-focus of this class. Always consider the use and impact of IS and IT. Technology-oriented papers must focus broadly on its use and impact.
You must justify your findings in your written reports. Readers should be able to ask "why" at any reasonable point and find a satisfactory answer.
Explicitly refer to each of your references within your paper. Do not simply mention them, but write at least 2 sentences explaining why each reference is relevant as part of your paper.
I take the following very seriously and grade accordingly. Consider arranging with another group to review each other's work for both content and style.
The main body of your report (i.e., excluding figures, graphics, lists of items copied from references, appendices and references) should be at least 5 full pages per person (when printed at Times Roman size 10 font, 1.5 line spacing). Newark campus reports may be 10 pages shorter than 5 pages per person.
Remember that this length includes your introduction, comparative analysis, speculations, recommendations and conclusion, so everyone does not have to write a full 5 pages on the topic they research.
Your paper should flow as if it were written by a single person. Do not have separate sections by each person in your group. The editor will be responsible for ensuring this smooth flow (see the roles below).
I shall be grading based on the focus, significance, conceptual analysis, and depth of your project, as well as on your practical creativity.
All group members will receive an equal grade. if the group feels that a member has not done a fair amount of work, the project leader (see below) should talk to the professor separately, so we can resolve this issue.
Please do not put your project report in a special folder. Please either staple it together or use a binder clip. Please use black and white, unless you absolutely need color.
Your team should elect a project leader, who will be responsible for ensuring the project's success. He or she also will be responsible for resolving any disputes that might arise. The project leader should work closely with the editor, analysis leader and schedule leader. (In three person teams, the project leader should probably also be the schedule leader.)
Your project team should appoint one person to be the general editor. He or she will be responsible for pulling together the various pieces and ensuring they flow together well.
Editing is a tremendous amount of work. Newark section teams should consider assigning the editor only editing and no other jobs in the project.
The editor should call on team members to review the report towards the end and help out in spotting what needs to be corrected and improved. (Project teams might team up and review each other's final reports for corrections and improvements. As the course is not curved greatly, there should be no competition among teams.)
The analysis leader will be responsible for ensuring that the introduction, comparitive analysis, recommendations, speculations and conclusion are well written. The analysis leader should gather ideas from the rest of the team and outline these sections from this input.
If the analysis leader actually writes most of these sections, then Newark section teams should consider assigning the analysis leader only this job in the project.
The schedule leader will be responsible for ensuring that the team meets regularly and is prepared for deadlines. The schedule leader should work closely with the editor and analysis leader to ensure that enough lead time is built in for each to do his or her job properly.
Our full project report includes:
_ introduction
_ outline
_ analysis using appropriate models and frameworks
_ comparitive analysis
_ speculations beyond the data
_ 4+ Recommendations, which we discuss according to the project guidelines
_ a conclusion, not just a summary
_ we have fully justified every point we have made
_ 5+ research-oriented references for every group member
_ explicit references in the report body to every citation
_ we have thoroughly proofread our report; we have not just spell checked it
_ we have stapled or fastened the report with a binder clip and it is not in a fancy folder
This page: http://www.cis.njit.edu/~bieber/CIS677S00/semester-project.html