Seminar 11: Poster Assignment Introduction | Continuing Tasks and Support
Goal: Introduction to the Poster assignment and continuous support, addressing queries, clarifying doubts, and refining the implementation.
Introduction
In Session 11 of Distributed Systems, we will start to consolidate and showcase our understanding of various distributed system concepts explored throughout our practical classes. We should start preparing for the course’s poster session, happening in the last practice session, at the end of the semester. From microservices architecture to communication protocols, master and worker model, threading, synchronization, vector clocks, leader election, mutual exclusion, replication, consistency, consensus, and more yet to come, you'll have the chance to demonstrate your grasp of these distributed systems topics and their practical applications in different contexts.
In this task, you're encouraged to think beyond our online bookstore project and consider how the distributed system concepts we've explored can be applied to different scenarios or applications. While our project has provided a practical context for understanding these concepts, it's essential to recognize that distributed systems principles are applicable across various domains and industries. From healthcare to finance, transportation, manufacturing, and beyond, there are countless scenarios where distributed systems play a crucial role in addressing complex challenges and optimizing system performance. Your task is to identify a new context, scenario, or application where these topics can be applied to solve specific problems. By doing so, you'll demonstrate your ability to adapt and apply distributed systems principles in diverse real-world settings.
Task
- Research: Conduct some research to identify a suitable scenario or application, sufficiently distinct from the online bookstore context, where distributed system concepts can be applied effectively.
- Problem Identification: Identify specific problems or challenges within the chosen scenario that could benefit from the application of distributed system topics.
- Topic Selection: Select a subset of distributed system topics explored in our practice sessions that are most relevant to addressing the identified problems or challenges. We expect around 4 topics to be explored, selecting from microservices architecture, communication protocols, master and worker model, synchronization, vector clocks, leader election, mutual exclusion, replication, consistency, consensus, commitment and more yet to come. Discuss with your TA the topics you would like to explore and the depth of your work.
- Concept Application: Apply your selection of distributed system topics to the chosen scenario, illustrating how each concept can be utilized to solve specific problems or improve specific properties of the system.
- Visualization: Develop or adapt the previously made visual aids, diagrams, or charts to effectively communicate the adaptation of distributed system concepts to the chosen scenario within the poster.
- Explanation: Provide clear and concise explanations of how each distributed system concept is applied and the potential benefits or implications for the chosen application.
- Evaluation: Assess the feasibility and effectiveness of applying distributed system concepts to the chosen scenario, considering factors such as scalability, reliability, performance, fault tolerance, etc…
- Deadline: The poster should be submitted latest by 24th of May. The poster will be presented on the 31st of May between 12:00 - 14:00, in a joint session with all the course participants. Please use the standard poster size (36" x 24") when preparing your poster. Use the university template (preferably the vertical version).
- Evaluation: The poster is worth 10 points:
- Clarity and Visual Appeal (3 points): This evaluates how well-organized, structure and visually engaging the poster layout is, ensuring that the main points are clearly presented with effective use of text, design or visual elements.
- Content Relevance (3 point): This assesses the relevance of the distributed system concepts to the chosen scenario and the effectiveness of linking them to specific problems within the scenario through a system model, ensuring alignment with the overall theme of the poster.
- Depth of Analysis and Creativity (2 points): This evaluates the depth of exploration of applying the concepts to the scenario, including insightful observations, thorough coverage of relevant aspects, considerations of alternative approaches, trade-offs or performance/fault-tolerance/reliability evaluation, among others. This also examines the originality and uniqueness of the ideas.
- Collaboration (2 points): This evaluates the extent to which group members effectively collaborate, communicate, and contribute to the development of the poster, including sharing responsibilities, providing constructive feedback, and ensuring the overall coherence and quality of the final result.
In this session, apart from familiarizing yourself with the Poster task, you should also focus on refining your project implementation. This week is all about finishing the pending tasks, cleaning up your codebase and addressing any questions or challenges you might be facing in the previous phases of the project. As you continue to build your distributed system, we're here to provide ongoing support. Feel free to share your progress and leverage the support channels available. Your practice session TA is here to assist you in navigating any obstacles and ensuring your project is on the right track.
Additionally, in this session, we encourage you to align your efforts and prepare for the upcoming Checkpoint #3 evaluation next week. The guidelines for the evaluation can be found here: Session 12. Familiarize yourself with the evaluation criteria to ensure your project meets the required standards.