Answers to frequently-asked questions about CN 730
A number of you have asked questions re: CN 730, that I hope are addressed
in what follows. Please pass this information to anyone that has expressed
an interest in CN 730 to you -- and please ask any such individual to contact
me! ----
WHEN and WHERE does the course meet?
All course meetings after the first day will be in Room B03 of 677 Beacon
Street. Guest lectures are on Thursdays, 1:00 - 4:00, with refreshments
to follow. Discussion meetings are TENTATIVELY scheduled for Mondays, 3:00
- 4:30; the time, but not the day, may be changed.
WHO can attend?
Anyone is welcome to attend any session. If you come occasionally as a
guest, please remember one thing -- you will be attending meetings of a
800-level course, whose students will have done required meetings and held
a 60-minute preparation section in advance of all guest lectures. The course
is not a colloquium series, so speakers will not be expected to present
general background material or to field elementary questions, whose answers
could be found in the readings.
What is the PURPOSE of the Monday meetings?
Monday meetings are required for students taking the course for credit.
At the first course meeting (Thursday, Sep. 3) each guest speaker will
be "assigned" to a student. Each student will, conversely, be responsible
for presenting a brief "background" presentation related to several guest
speakers. (The speaker/student ratio will be a function of course enrollment.)
What are students expected to PRESENT at Monday meetings?
Imagine that you have done some course readings, and you are then approached
by one or two fellow students, who have not done those readings, who ask
you for "tips." Are the readings interesting? Are they difficult? What
order should they be done in? Are there sections that can be skipped? Are
there especially tricky or important sections? Is there material from other
sources that should be reviewed first? The job of the presenter is to try
to anticipate such questions and to give a short (5-10 minute) presentation,
and to be prepared to answer questions. Once the "introduction" of the
topics has been completed, and to the extent that other students have actually
done some of the readings, the discussion can advance to more substantive
issues.
How can I get a COURSE SYLLABUS?
The syllabus will be assembled in real time, over the entire semester,
since readings for each particular weeks will be specified at quasi-random
times. A schedule of speakers is currently available at the CN 730 home page
How can I get copies of COURSE READINGS?
Hardcopies of course readings will be made available for personal photocopying
in the CNS Library. Some guest speakers have Web sites with downloadable
documents, as noted in the syllabus.
Will there be a COURSE ARCHIVE?
Over the semester, I would like to build an electronic archive of the course,
including a full listing of speakers, titles, readings, student presenters
corresponding to each speaker, and any additional notes that may be contributed
by those speakers.
What are the other course REQUIREMENTS?
Grades will be based on all aspects of a student's contribution to the
course, including their Monday presentations, their participation in class
discussions, and their COURSE PROJECT. Students can choose ANY TOPIC in
modeling or computational vision. I will do a "reality check" on proposals
for a project, to ensure that they are feasible and worthwhile. In practice,
you will have a great deal of latitude in choice of topic. I expect that
projects will be quite heterogeneous. Some may include analytical work
or formal derivations, others may be largely simulation-driven, and still
others may focus on review or criticism of published models. If you find
that your project topic overlaps with what one of "your" speakers covers,
so much the better. Your goal should be to do work that will materially
advance your career, contributing either in a publication or a dissertation
prospectus. If you would like some suggestions on where to begin or have
a some "ill-posed" ideas that you would like to discuss, make arrangements
to see me as soon as possible.
Who is responsible for providing REFRESHMENTS?
After Thursday classes, refreshments will be served. The idea is that students
sign up on a rotating basis to provide coffee, etc. It is NOT a good idea
to volunteer to provide refreshments on the week that "your" speaker is
speaking, as you may very well wish to linger for a few minutes of extended
discussion in the classroom, while someone else is leaving "early" to start
the coffee. The Department can provide only a limited subsidy of costs
incurred.
A final note on VOLUNTEERING:
For this course to work, everyone who participates has to "do their fair
share" and a few individuals will have to do more than that. I ask for
volunteers to take individual responsibility for such things as: Making
sure audiovisuals are set up for all speakers; helping to distribute course
readings; helping to "maintain" a database of documents (eg. course syllabus,
course archive) and other such tasks as inevitably come up in the semester.
If you would like to volunteer to take responsibility for any of these
duties, please email: ennio@cns.bu.edu
Link back to CN 730 Home Page .