CPSC 203 Assignment 6 (Worth: 7%, Due: April 1)

 

Learning objective: To discover what information (e.g., technical specifications, consumer testimonials etc)  is important when you are shopping for a computer system.  Finding ways of acquiring this information (e.g., web sites, magazine reviews, consumer reviews/reports etc.).  In order to fulfill the requirements of this assignment students will apply the knowledge gained from material covered earlier in class (hardware, software, using the Internet as a research tool etc). 

Requirements:  Students will work in groups of approximately 3 - 4.  (Unlike the other assignments, this assignment cannot be done as an individual submission).   Each group must produce a report for this assignment by taking on the role of some personae.  This personae will be an imaginary person that each group will model their buying decision upon.  The type of system that a group will be looking for as well the budget constraints will be determined by the needs of this personae.  Try to be creative and have fun with this!   If however you are stuck or just want a starting point on which to base your personae on I have provided an example below.  However, the personae chosen should be believable (e.g., don't pick a 15 year old high school student as the personae and then set out to go shopping for a top of the line super computer).    

Each report will include the following sections:

  1. Who will use the system:  This section should include a brief description of this person e.g., occupation (for a personae that is employed fulltime) or area of study (student), computer experience, technical expertise as well as a description of what this person is looking to use the computer system for (e.g., to run a small business, to play games, homework etc), the desired level of after sales service and support and what his or her budget constraints are.
  2. Technical specifications:  This includes the fundamental and essential parts of a computer.  It should at a minimum include information on the processor, memory, storage, input and output devices.  Depending upon the personae chosen, groups may end up buying much more exotic equipment.  It could include something rather mundane (but essential) such as a printer or it could be more exotic such as video editing equipment, hardware to set up a network, voice recognition hardware etc.   In addition to describing what the personae purchased, this section should also describe how much things cost (in Canadian dollars) and why a particular piece of hardware was purchased.  One way that you may justify your purchase decision by using references to the reviews that reports that you included in your Appendix (section 4) - the review indicated that the system that your group recommended was a better package than something else.
  3. Software to be purchased: This is list of what software (operating system and applications)  that your personae will need for their new computer system and how much it will cost (in Canadian dollars).   It should be determined by what the person wants to do with the new system (point #1 above) and the budgetary constraints of the chosen personae so again the report should include a brief description of why particular software was purchased.  
  4. Appendix: Include copies or print outs of reviews or reports that your group used in order to make the purchase decisions for your personae.  You don't have to justify every piece of hardware or software but your report should justify at least 2 of your buying decisions e.g., you could include a photocopy of a magazine that gave good reviews of a particular computer and a printout of a online report on one of the software applications that your personae will buy.  Although you can include more than two articles, the two that you must include should only deal with the system that you actually purchased.   For example, you can't include just a single article that shows the computer that you did buy and the computer that you didn't buy. Again groups are encouraged to have fun with this but just make sure that the reviews or reports actually do justify (and don't contradict) your purchase decision.

The final report that you hand in must be typed up and the print out should be handed into the appropriate TA's box (on the 2nd floor of Math Sciences)  There is not a fixed length limit for the assignment but most assignments should end up being approximately 10 - 14 pages long (including the appendix).

Each report will be graded on a number of criteria:

  1. Completeness:  Were all sections included?  Did the group account for the personae's background and budget restrictions?  Is the system complete enough to meet this person's needs?  Is there some important piece of hardware or software that was left out?
  2. Content and correctness: How well did the group make it's argument?  Is it reasonably convincing to the reader of the report that this system is a good system for the chosen personae?
  3. Style and presentation: This includes checking the document for spelling and grammatical errors as well making sure that the report looks presentable and is understandable.  (While you may have a well thought out system that meets the precise needs of the chosen personae don't expect your marker to try and decipher a poorly written document).

Example personae:

Jim Tam (Ace Student ™) is a third year student Management student at the University of Calgary with a concentration in Marketing and Human Resources.  During the course of his studies Jim has used several common application programs such as word processors, spread sheets etc.  although he does not consider himself a highly technical person.  Jim is looking to buy a computer to use for his school work (typing up text reports maybe with a few pictures thrown in) and he has a budget of $1000 to spend.  This budget must cover everything, the computer (including the monitor), the software that he needs to complete his school work and a printer so that he can print out his reports at home.  Although his Prof's aren't overly picky about the quality of his printouts, Jim also wants to use this computer to print out some resumes in preparation for graduation so he would like to also get a printer that produces quality print outs.  Because Jim is a really busy guy and doesn't want to be bothered diagnosing and fixing computer problems so he wants to get a system from a company that includes good after-sales support and will help him through potential problems that he might have in future.

Grading: This assignment will be graded by letter grade ("A", "B", "C", "D" or "F").

Potential sources of reviews/reports - note that some of these sources  include prices that are in U.S. and not Canadian dollars.  (Your report must include only prices in Canadian dollars).