CS 553 spring 2004 position paper assignments

CS 553 Spring 2004 Position Paper Assignment

Overview

In this assignment, you will write a 4000-5000 word position paper, from the possible position topics. You will also evaluate 2 of your classmate's position papers. Your evaluations should be about 1 page each. Above all, try to have some fun with your position --- invoke some reaction in your classmates (from awe at your genius to anger at your toeing the party-line).

Review Assignments:

Student	Paper 1	Paper 2
Amit	001.pdf	002.pdf
Jiangpen	001.pdf	002.pdf
John	003.pdf	004.pdf
Mike P	003.pdf	004.pdf
Mike W	008.pdf	009.pdf
Rich	008.pdf	009.pdf
Scott	006.pdf	007.pdf
Stan	006.pdf	007.pdf
Vijay	004.pdf	005.pdf
Yufei	004.pdf	005.pdf

Due Dates

Position paper: Thursday, 4/8/2004
Reviews: Thursday, 4/22/2004

Email your papers and reviews in PDF or postscript to the instructor.

Position Topics

The distributed model of a web-services system will never be realized due to reliability concerns. Application developers will not rely on many servers which could be down at any moment, to build applications.
The distributed model of a web-services system will never be realized due to integrity concerns. Given the remote access is expensive, many systems make local copies of data. Keeping all the copies "the same" will be impossible, thus limiting the use of web services.
Web Services technologies will not enable anything new, as they do not offer anything over previous technologies making similar claims (i.e., CORBA and DCOM).
A simple set of interfaces for web-services is needed to expand the WS model for application development. The current environments, such as servlets and Object/Database Connectors Managers (EJBs) are too complex and hard-to-use for many applications.
Web Services will enable companies to offer billable services over the network, changing the current model of "deploy and charge" for software to "outsource on our servers and charge".
The high experience level of developer needed to make web services work will limit their application to many applications.
Anything which can be done using grid technologies can be done with web-services.

Guidelines and Samples

This paper has some good guidelines in for position papers in general.

A reasonable sample position paper can be found here. The paper's position is that all programs will hit a fundamental "memory wall" which will limit performance. However, a good rebuttal position paper argues that no such memory wall exists. Two other good position papers from last year's CS533 can be found here and here.

First, make sure to articulate your position clearly. Second, for a good computer science paper, you should have some quantitative argument, if possible. A list of anecdotes is not all that persuasive in support of a position. Sometimes, you can't directly measure something, but an indirect observation might support your argument. For example, some people have made the argument that performance isn't as important as it used to be because the difference between the average selling price of a PC and the most expensive PC have diverged over time. While not proving the argument, the thesis fits the facts better than many alternative explanations.

Third, be careful of using counter-examples to argue against a position. For example, a position of the form "X implies Y" and then coming up with an example of "not Y" doesn't say anything about statement X. Counter example can be quite useful, but make sure the position is clear enough that the counter-example is meaningful.

Evaluation Criteria:

Is the position well defined? This will help:

Define a real issue: one with genuine controversy and uncertainty.

Make the issue narrow enough to be manageable.

Is the position quantified? That is, put in numerical terms, if possible?

Are the communities of people involved with the position (and their positions) identified?
Are the opposing positions articulated? Are rebuttals given to the opposing positions?
What evidence is used to support the position?

Quantitative evidence based on experimentation?

General facts about the systems in question?

Anecdotes only?

Is the paper logically organized?

Is it easy to follow the position, counter-arguments, and evidence?

Are there transitions between sections?

Is the paper easy to read?

Was a name and title put on the paper?

Are a consistent writing style and tone used throughout?

Is vocabulary is correct and conforming to standard practices?

Are the grammar and spelling correct?

Is a consistent tense used throughout?

Most importantly, would a skeptic be convinced, or at least swayed, to the position in the paper?

Evaluation scheme

Here are my evaluation categories and their meanings; you can use this as is or come up with your own:

Excellent: The paper could be submitted as a "letter" --- a short position paper-- to a journal as is.
Very Good: The paper has some problems, but nothing that couldn't be fixed without a quick clean-up.
Good: The paper has some problems, there are some gaps in the overall positions, counter-positions, or supporting evidence.
Fair: The paper has more serious problems. These may include (1) ill-defined position, (2) elements of the evidence are missing, (3) counter positions are not addressed, (4) really bad grammar, or (5) poor organization.
Poor: The position in not well explained or defined. The paper is confusing or internally inconsistent.
Atrocious: What a piece of junk! I'm surprised it was turned in at all.