NETS 2130 — Project Ideation — Spring 2025

This repository is for collaborative ideation of crowdsourcing projects. All ideas generated here become available to the entire class for team formation.

How to Use This Repository

Phase 1: Review Past Projects (First 15 minutes)

Browse the past-projects/ folder to see what previous students built. Look for:

• What worked well?
• What challenges did they face?
• What was a realistic scope?

Phase 2: Progressive Ideation (75 minutes)

You'll develop ideas through three rounds of increasing collaboration:

• Round 1: Individual idea (20 minutes)
• Round 2: Paired refinement (25 minutes)
• Round 3: Group synthesis (30 minutes)

Submission Process

1. Fork this repository
2. Create your file in the appropriate round folder (round1/, round2/, round3/)
3. Name it [pennkey].md (e.g., jsmith.md)
4. Use the appropriate template for each round:
   • Round 1: TEMPLATE-ROUND1.md
   • Round 2: TEMPLATE-ROUND2.md
   • Round 3: TEMPLATE-ROUND3.md
5. Submit via pull request

Important Notes

⚠️ Replace all [bracketed text] with your actual content
⚠️ Remove the brackets - they're just placeholders
⚠️ Steel-man rule: Build up ideas to their strongest version, don't tear them down

The Three Rounds

Round 1 (Individual) - 35 minutes total

• Review past projects (15 min)
• Generate initial idea (15 min)
• Write initial idea using TEMPLATE-ROUND1.md (5 min)
  • All other rounds will be combining on one of these proposals
  • This is the only time you will get to focus on writing clearly

Round 2 (Pairs) - 25 minutes

• Present ideas to each other (10 min total, 5 min each)
• Choose one idea to expand (2 min)
• Develop the chosen idea together using TEMPLATE-ROUND2.md (8 min)
• Submit expanded version (5 min)

Round 3 (Groups of 4) - 30 minutes

• Present both ideas (10 min total, 5 min each)
• Steel-man both ideas - make them as strong as possible (10 min)
• Choose most promising idea (2 min)
• Final development using TEMPLATE-ROUND3.md and submission (8 min)

After This Session

• All ideas become available to the entire class
• Teams form next week and can adopt any idea (or propose new ones)
• Original creators aren't obligated to work on their submitted ideas
• Think of this as building a "commons" of well-developed concepts

Questions to Keep in Mind

• Where will your crowd come from?
• What specific tasks will they perform?
• How will you ensure quality without breaking the bank?
• How will you aggregate noisy crowd data?
• What would a working demo look like?

The Steel-Man Rule

When discussing ideas, your job is to make every idea as strong as possible. Ask "How could this work?" not "Why won't this work?"

Ground Rules

• Budget constraint: Assume < $500 total
• Team size: 4-6 students, one semester
• Must meaningfully use crowdsourcing
• Must include quality control mechanisms
• Must have an aggregation strategy