CSE370 Autumn 2001

Mini Research Project

Beyond 1s and 0s

Due: Same time as HW4 (graded separately)

Form a group of 2-3 people (required).  Research one of the following questions.  Write up your answer as an HTML page. I would like to link the web pages from the CSE370 home page.

Original question: How would the string CSE370 be represented at the physical level in the following media?  Pick one:

1. CD-ROM
2. Bar code
3. Magnetic tape
4. 56KB modem
5. Fluorescent lights

As you search for information, you will discover that the question is vague.  But your answer needs to be precise.  This means you may have to ask other questions and make assumptions.

Report (web page).  Include the following information.  Make the page interesting and easy to understand for anyone with a moderate computer science background.  It should include the following information:

• Your names and your team name (I will remove this before posting to the web if you ask me to).
• The original question.
• The exact question which you are answering in your report.
• The background and assumptions which are behind your answer.
• The answer itself
• Conclusions or comments
• References used to obtain the answer.  These could be books, papers, web links, etc.  Provide standard bibliographical information (author, title, date, etc. Exact format is less important than completeness and clarity).  Among the references, highlight no more than three as your principle sources.

I'm expecting to learn a lot from your research!  I hope you will, too.

Deadlines:

Monday, October 22: Tell me who's in your group.  Turn in a one-page paper sheet per group with member and team names, and which of the options you have chosen.  After this date, you can't change topic or group membership.

By Monday, October 29: One person from each group should have met briefly with me to tell me what track they are on and how far along they are.

Friday, November 2: Final report.  How exactly you'll give this to me is TBD.