Introduction to Computing and the Arts


 

 

Proposal Guidelines

 

Your proposal should address the areas listed below, as well as any other items that might be necessary for your particular project. You are welcome to supplement your text with any materials that will make your proposal more clear and understandable, including images, sounds, code etc. There are no specific length requirement for your proposal, and in general, I think clarity and quality are more important that quantity. Remember, the goal of the proposal is to help you clarify, develop, and then implement your ideas; this is not busy work. There is no reason to overstate or try and sell it, and it is assumed that some aspects of your project will change as you work on it. If there are unresolved aspects of your project (which is inevitable) identify them and suggest how your will work towards their resolution / implementation.

1. Please describe your project as clearly as possible. What is the project, and what is your primary motivation, interest, or concept? Some of this may be a bit speculative at this stage, but do your best, and acknowledge the parts that are unresolved. Sometimes formulating the key questions is as important as how you actually answer them...

2. Please describe the materials and technical tools for your project. What are the specific technologies involved, and what are the outstanding research or implementation issues that you are taking on?. Be honest here, to the best of your ability. This will help you identify any outstanding implementing issues, and structure your time accordingly.

3. Please describe a basic time line for the implementation of the project. This does not need to involve every detail, but try to be realistic, as this will help you gauge how much you can take on. Make sure and place any new technologies / research early in your time line, as they will dramatically impact the rest of your project. Remember, most technical / programming tasks take longer than we ever think they will (especially when aesthetics are involved). It's not a bad idea to multiply the time for each task by 1.5. Also, if your project is performative in any way, remember to allot time to learn how to actually use your new interactive system.

4. Ideally, your proposal would include a short bibliography of references that inform or contextualize your project. This can be a very useful addition, but I am flexible about this, given our compressed time frame. If you have been reading particular resources that are helping you think about your project, please list them (or add them as you go) and include short comments / summaries about the resource.