Major ProSeminar: Journal 7

Video Project: Brain-Computer Interfaces(BCIs)

1. Topics Covered
• This video covered the history, and the advancements in the realm of brain to computer interfaces.
2. Is the presentation clear?
• Yes, the presentation is clear. The audio is great, and the images used for the project are of good quality.
3. how is the quality of the research?
• I did not now much about brain computer interfaces in the past. The team did a great job in researching the topic. Any person, like my self, that did not know much about this technology, after watching this video would come away knowing a lot more than when they started.
4. How is the quality of the video production?
• The quality of the video is fine. The video was produced in 720p, and most of the norm for videos now is at the minimum of 1080p. However, since this video is mostly just a presentation regarding a slide show it is fine.
5. Is the video engaging and interesting?
• The topic covered in the video was interesting. The team could have maybe used animations or other b-roll footage to make the video more engaging, but overall, video was mostly interesting.
6. Is the team work evident?
• Yes, the video flowed nicely, and the video felt like it was one whole presentation without any splits in between.
7. Appropriate to the audience?
• Overall, I would say that this video was for the correct audience. The video had a sense of maturity and professionalism, similar to what you would get from a training video for a large corporation.

Video Project: Quantum Computing

1. Topics Covered
• This video focused on the history of how quantum computing came to be. On top of that, this video also focused on the future developments of the quantum computing industry, and new developments.
2. Is the presentation clear?
• Yes, the presentation is clear, the audio was good, and easy to follow along.
3. how is the quality of the research?
• The quality of the research is also decent. This video is enough to get you started with the history and the required knowledge of quantum computing so that you can then dive deeper on your own.
4. How is the quality of the video production?
• The video production is fine for this type of video. The video could have used in terms of transitioning from clip to clip. I like the addition of the team members names at the bottom left, it made the video more personal.
5. Is the video engaging and interesting?
• Overall, I think the video could have used more in terms of visuals, to make the video more engaging for the viewer.
6. Is the team work evident?
• Yes, team work is very evident, especially when the "mic" per se is being handed to the next team member.
7. Appropriate to the audience?
• This video is geared to professionals working or that will be working in the quantum computing industry. The video is appropriate to the audience.

Final Words

My final words for these 8 past weeks are: tired. In all seriousness, this class was definitely more work than what I expected. The greatest lesson(s) that I am taking away from this is the experience I gained working in a team, especially one that is remote. I had previously had worked in teams before, but not like this were it does feel like a lot is on the line if I do not do my part. Managing my time with my teams really felt similarly to romantic relationship–as silly as that sounds. I felt that someone else depended on me, and I need to be there for them. Apart from this, I also took away a sense of professionalism that I think will be part of working in the industry when I graduate and get my first job.

Here is a link to the video my team and I put together talking about Starlink for our final project:

https://youtu.be/YacxzdC0T-4

Major ProSeminar: Journal 6

Video Project Planning

This week we mostly focused on our final video project that we have been been working on as a team. Like many other things that have worked on as a team, we had a small 30 minute team meeting over discord where we talked about how we would split up the work. On top of using Discord for communication, we also used Google's office suite, more especially,  Google Slides. The process has been pretty smooth, everyone has just been working on their own assigned work, and we will put everything together in a couple of days. For future planning, especially for larger collaborations, I would probably just focus on having a little more communication throughout the week.

Presentation Skills and Ted.com

In preparation for the final video presentation, this week we had a lot of material relating to presenting information. The information related to visual aids in our projects really caught my eye. In the past, I have always included what I now believe to be too much visual aids in hopes to "fill in" where there should have been more information.

Additionally, I also watched a couple of Ted.com videos. I have always been a fan of free as in freedom software and the philosophy behind that movement. I think the ability to open up to the public, to make something better is extremely important, and when I am working on my personal projects, I want my projects to be assessable to anyone that wants to use it to better the world.

I also watched another video that, in a way, opened my eyes to the mentality of just getting things done. In the video (here) the presenter talks about how sometimes just working on something that you feel passionate about, even if you are not an expert is the most important thing. In the video, the presenter tackles the problem of air pollution from a software engineer perspective. All in all, he was able to produce an online air quality platform for air quality that had an impact on the locals and people visiting. I learned that sometimes, even if you are no expert in an area, your unique perspective can help better the world.

Major ProSeminar: Journal 5

Capstone

    This week as a team we gathered together and partially talked about potentially capstone ideas; we mostly discussed how cool of the previous projects were and how we could do something similar. I especially thought it would be a cool idea to develop an online video chat website that requires no account to use.

General Update

    Our Ethics paper that we have been developing is almost due, and luckily, I am almost done with it. In our lectures, we also had some pretty good guidelines in terms of cover letters and our resumes. I really liked that the lectures talked about the interview process in the software engineering field; it made me think that this program is preparing me for real world experiences instead of just theory. I also developed a resume, and wrote my first cover letter. I did not really think cover letters were that importan but it is something I definitely want to incorporate in the future job searching. Overall, a bit of a stressful and busy week. I am excited to finally be done with this class and all the writing–I absolutely hate writing. I cannot wait to actually get to programming.

Major ProSeminar: Journal 4

Comments and Support

• Comment One Link: https://sc-csumb.blogspot.com/2022/09/week-4.html?showComment=1664948237649#c9071575784769060612
• Comment Two Link: https://russellcsumb.blogspot.com/2022/09/module-3_22.html?showComment=1664949083544#c7993562797163162541

Capstone Ideas

One thing I love about software is that you are able to create whatever you have in mind. This week we are asked to list possible capstone ideas so that we start thinking about what we could potentially do when the time comes to tackle that assignment. I think artificial intelligence and the web are the future more than anything else in the software engineering field; because of this, here are a couple of ideas I have for my capstone project:

• Facial recognition system that recognizes students' faces to count for attendance; this will be operated through a front end operated through the browser.
• Job search website built on the latest web technologies.
• An end to end web app that requires no account for chatting.

This Week

For this week, we mostly continued to work on our ethics essays. We also looked more information to help us build a compelling argument in our papers covering topics like logical fallacies. In the course, we also were given information about internship opportunities and how a short term sacrifice in pay or current job could lead to big life improvements in the past. Although I have never been interested in graduate school, after looking at some of the material that was offered to us this week, it is peaking my interested more. I think, however, that I would probably do it some time down the line; at this point, I mostly just want to be done with this first degree so I can get out there into the work field.