Syllabus
Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session
Course Description
This class offers students an opportunity to experiment with various forms and practices of cellphone communication and, most importantly, to propose and develop a semester-long project using advanced a780 cellphones donated by Motorola along with access to J2ME™ source code for programming cellphone applications. Class size is limited. Students in small collaborative groups will propose, implement and report on a semester-long project.
Assignments and Grading
Attendance
Attendance is mandatory. Unexcused absences will lower your final grade by one letter grade. Most assignments reflect the development stream of your semester-long project development.
Oral Reports
Oral Reports count 50% towards your final grade.
- Oral Presentation of your Project Proposal, 20 minutes per group
- J2ME™ "Hello World" coding assignment to demonstrate familiarity with J2ME™
- Media Capture using cellphone: individual presentation of audio or video or still image or animated drawing using the capabilities of the a780 cellphone
- Oral presentation of Mobile User Interface Prototype and usability test: paper prototyping and usability tests of the user interface for your final project
- Collaborative coding session: discussion of coding difficulties, sharing code
- Oral Progress reports, alpha demo of final project implementation
- Final Oral Presentation: 20 minutes per group
Written Reports
- Weekly posting to Class Blog: sharing readings beyond class requirements, code
- Design Review (approx. 10 pages hardcopy, plus cellphone accessible format)
- Final Written Report (approx. 15 pages)
Reading Material
Students are expected to consult the resources in readings and related resources.
Calendar
| Lec # | Topics | Key Dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Student introductions; cell phones distributed | |
| 2 | Informal discussion of project group ideas Input and output features of mobile phones | Assignment 1 due |
| 3 | Oral Presentation of Project Proposals | Assignment 2 due |
| 4 | Collaborative coding session | Assignment 3 due |
| 5 | Video conferences with Motorola engineers on social communication strategies | Assignment 4 due |
| 6 | Student presentations of media capture (audio, video, still image, drawings) | Assignment 5 due |
| 7 | In-class test of paper mobile user interface prototypes | Assignment 6 due |
| 8 | Collaborative coding session (cont.) | Assignment 7 due |
| 9 | Progress demo showing how you resolved key roadblocks identified earlier in Lec #7 | Assignment 8 due |
| 10 | Final Project presentations | Assignment 9 due |
| 11 | Final Project presentations (cont.) | |
| 12 | Last class meeting, student evaluations, emergency final presentation time | Assignment 10 due 3 days after Lec #12 |


