COS Independent Work Seminar:
Apps of Random Kindness

COS IW06
Fall 2016


General Information:


Instructor: Alan Kaplan
ak18 at cs princeton edu
Office Hours: TBD
Office: 221 Nassau St Room 105 (map | streetview)
Meeting time and place: Tuesdays, 7:30pm - 8:50pm, Room 301 Computer Science Building
TA: TBD
Office Hours: TBD

Links: Description, Schedule, Resources, FAQ, Piazza
 

Description:

Today there are more than 2.5 billion smartphone users globally, and by 2020, some estimates project over 6 billion smarthphone subscriptions. In 2016, there will be more than 6 billion IoT (Internet of Things) devices, with projections of over 20 billion deployed IoT devices in 2020! This is an incredible number of mobile computers, each with mobile broadband connections, and a host of sensors, including cameras, GPS, accelerometers and barometers. The availability, accessability and the affordability of such mobile computing platforms has enormous potential to help solve many of the problems that individuals and communities face every day.

The overall goal of this IW seminar is to design, develop and experiment with mobile technology that can be used to help individuals or communities. The goal is not just to "write an app," but rather to produce some innovative approach to a problem and demonstrate/evaluate its utilty and benefits. Application areas include, but are not limited to: environment & climate, social activism, civic computing, health care, philanthropy and crowdsourcing. In general, IW projects must have an impact - locally, nationally or even globally.

Students are highly encouraged to use and/or extend open source platforms. Projects can utilize any combination of mobile devices (e.g., Android smartphones), cloud-based backends (e.g., AWS), open APIs/data (many), hardware sensors (e.g., Raspberry Pi), augmented reality (e.g., Google Cardboard) and programmable UAVs.
 


Schedule:

Date Topic
Sep 15 Information meeting for all IW students Convocation Rm. Friend Center, 12:30-1:20PM
Sep 20 Introduction, Brainstorming
Sep 27 Project Outline Presentations
Oct 4 Project Proposals
Oct 5 Written project proposals due
Oct 11 Project Reports
Oct 18 Project Reports
Oct 24 - Checkpoint Form Due Submit Checkpoint Form
Oct 25 Discussion and feedback
Nov 1 Fall Break
Nov 8 Demo Day 1
Nov 15 Demo Day 2
Nov 17 Attend - How to give an IW Talk, 7:30PM
Nov 22 - Thanksgiving No class
Nov 29 Status reports, Demos
Dec 6 Project Presentations
Dec 13 Project Presentations
Dec 12-16 Oral presentations
Jan 10 Written final report due
Jan 11 Submit poster
Jan 12 Poster session for all IW students, 9:00am-4:00pm Convocation Room

 

Resources:


 

Frequently Asked Questions: