Wrapping Up/Reflection - Week 15

This will be my final blog, I intend to reflect upon the topics we have covered and how they have enhanced my knowledge thus far.

Before China

Before I left for China we spent a lot of time looking into detailed topics, this phase of the class is where I felt that I learnt the most.

Endeavours into the topics of Ontology and Epistemology opened my eyes up to the nature of research methodologies & practices. The brief dive into scientific paradigms helped me understand exactly what a scientific paradigm is and how a paradigm shift can heavily affect the world as we know it as it has many times before in human history.

Overall the topics we covered before the 2-week break were very educational and all new to me. This period was of high value to me and I enjoyed writing blogs for these topics.

There were some comical moments in class when we got into group discussions regarding the meaning of specific words e.g. true vs truth. I found that some people had opinions on the meaning of words that did not seem to be based on some sort of widely understood definition but instead what they had just assumed it meant, it is likely I had some of this going on too but I have selectively erased that from my memory, maybe. Point being, do not assumptions are bad.

After China

I was a little fatigued at this stage of the course but after a few weeks or maybe more than a few weeks I became a little more in-sync with the world and continued to operate as normal.

Following the break and return from China, we moved into finishing off assignment two and our blogs took a turn towards reviewing classmate blogs but more importantly researching what we were interested in specifically. Looking at other blogs helped me understand some of the different perspectives on offer, even if I didn't agree with all of them.

(Vincent, 2019)

We began to delve into a chosen topic in which I chose "Quantum Computing", this allowed us to use some of the techniques and concepts we learnt earlier in the course to enrich the learning process of this chosen topic. I found my topic enjoyable to research and it inspired me to take it further into assignment 2, unfortunately, due to China fatigue and aiming too high, I missed the mark on that assignment but learnt a lot none-the-less! The last two lessons involved some less information heavy topics but still important concepts to understand in regards to the topic of the class.

Going into assignment 3 I have chosen to continue more into the world of Quantum Computing except for this time with more of a focused approach. Thanks to the feedback given to me after assignment 2 I am able to steer my proposal in a better direction, this is greatly appreciated.

Oh, Lars, if you see this there is one thing I would say to improve on it is to speak louder or somehow make sure your voice reaches the back of the class consistently. I discovered early that I had to sit near the front to understand what you were saying in a consistent manner haha.

Summary

Overall this class has been of great benefit to me giving me tools that empower me in the endeavour of not only researching but learning anything of my desire in general. I believe that Lars is a very suitable tutor for this topic, I greatly appreciate the attitude and enthusiasm towards the topics involved.

References

Vincent, J. (2019, January 8). IBM’s new quantum computer is a symbol, not a breakthrough. Retrieved June 11, 2019, from The Verge website: https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/8/18171732/ibm-quantum-computer-20-qubit-q-system-one-ces-2019

Creative Commons - Week 14

What is 'Creative Commons'?

This week we had a brief lesson in creative commons in which Lars deployed a very motivating video that had some laughing but more wondering what was in store.

So what is it? Well, when you take a photo, make music or shoot a video. It's yours, you own it, you also own the copyright. which means you decide how it is used and who can use it and if it can be copied and shared (or remixed). Creative Commons is a set of licenses that enable lawful collaboration to do things like copy, share and remix. Creative Commons is a way to give permission to everyone to freely reuse your creative works. Hundreds of popular websites use these licences: Wikipedia, Youtube, SoundCloud, etc.

Creative Commons makes us all more free to create.

Creative Commons has been applied to many works and information sources including:

• Books
• Comics
• Educational resources
• Games
• Video Games
• Images/Photos
• Music
• News
• Knowledge, research and science
• Databases and data
• Technology, blueprints and recipes
• Video and film
• Websites

Creative Commons was first presented to the public on 16 October 2002, the first set of licenses were issued on 16 December 2002, this was known as version 1.0. The licenses were compromised of a commons deed which contained a plain-language summary of the licence, the legal code necessary to fine-tune the permissions on offer and a machine-readable translation which helped search engines recognize CC-licensed content. (Geere, 2011)

A month after the presentation to the public the Supreme Court in the United Kingdom that Creative Commons was to be held as constitutional, the only argument presented by the Supreme Court is that there should be some sort of limit for copyright. An hour after the court's decision the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation funded Creative Commons with $1,000,000 to launch the movement. Since then it has completely taken off.(Geere, 2011)

References

Geere, D. (2011, December 13). The history of Creative Commons. Wired UK. Retrieved from https://www.wired.co.uk/article/history-of-creative-commons

Ethics - Week 13

Today's class topic pertains to ethics.

Morals vs ethics,

Morals are generally more of a personal belief that is generated from your personal experience, ethics are more socially expected behaviour or professionally expected behaviour that is imposed upon you by outside forces.

Moral values may be overridden by imposed ethics from society, there have been examples of this in history in more extremist cultures that require their citizens to undertake questionable morals in order to achieve what the societal forces require of them.

This was demonstrated by a video Lar's showed to the class where authority figures pressured people into doing inhumane things in the name of science.

Headlines - What doe it mean to behave ethically?

• About social values not laws
• treat others as you would wish to be treated
• evaluating how things affect others 0 particularly negatively
• respectful treatment - treated an equal human being
• privacy protected/safe environment
• health and well being protected

Activity

Discuss in your group if the behaviour described in the examples below is related to ethics:

If it is, why and how?

Can you come up with a solution that would solve the ethical problem?

You find some good images on the web that would look good on your site.  You copy and paste them to your blog.

This raises ethical concerns due to using someone else's work without giving them credit, this is ethically wrong in most situations unless you are using it in a way where you are not presenting the work as your own.

The solution to this is ensuring that you give credit to who is responsible for the image.

You are in a hurry to finish an assignment and you find the perfect explanation of a difficult concept on Wikipedia. You decide to copy it into your work.

This raises ethical concerns in much the same way as the previous scenario, without crediting someone for their work you are making it appear as though it was your own work. This is basically theft.

The solution to this is ensuring that you give credit to who is responsible for the text.

You are a medical researcher and you think you have discovered a new drug that cures lung cancer.  It worked well on mice although a few of them died of heart problems. You want to test it on people.  You recruit 100 lung cancer patients in your treatment programme. You don’t tell them about the new drug.  You treat 50 patients with usual drugs and 50 with the new drug to see which is better.

This raises ethical concerns due to the 50 patients taking the new drug not having knowledge of what is being done to them, it also poses danger to those taking the new drug, making it even more of a risk.

The solution to this situation is to only allow people to take the new drug if they are fully aware of the implications and the risk involved. 

You are doing your PhD about drug abuse among students.  You interview 30 students about their drug use. You discover that one of the students is actually a fairly big-time dealer and you report him to the police.

The conundrum being as to whether you turn the drug dealer into the police or not, before going into this research I think you need to define how far is too far and at what stage you will get the police involved. You may also find a way to research only on people that you do not know and without using their real names, so you are separated from the participants enough so that you are not responsible for their personal actions, making the study a purely scientific one.

You are a researcher looking at the effect of violent computer games on children.  You recruit 20 children into your study. Over a month you regularly show them images of violence to see if it has an adverse effect on their behaviour.  One of the children becomes quite distressed each time and so you stop showing her images and drop her from the study.

The ethical problem here lies heavily in getting children to participate in this study in the first place, in the case that children do get into this study and you have all required permissions to start showing them violent images I believe it would be ethically correct to pull children from the study if they show any sign of distress. I believe it is unlikely that this type of study would come to fruition, in our country at least.

You want to research how easy it is to hack into your organisation’s computer system by persuading people to divulge login and password details.  You recruit a small team to ring up key people in the organisation and persuade them to give either their own or their boss’s details.

I believe that employees need to be warned to some degree before this type of penetration test is done to employees, they need to have information extended to them that tells them how to combat and recognize social engineering. I also believe that this form of test is best done by a third party who then reports the results where the study participants are anonymous. This keeps people privacy intact and allows the company to focus on their security as a whole instead of singling out people.

You are doing initial research in the area of a town where may bars and pubs are located, to estimate the level of problematic social behaviour in the area. your research is independent of the police because you want to observe their behaviour as well. You observe both abusive and violent behaviour.

Concerns in this type of research are that you may find yourself complicit to illegal behaviour, sitting there watching something serious happen does hold you partially liable for the results. Before committing to this study I believe communication with local law enforcement would be required so that they can draw the line of how much behaviour you are legally allowed to observe. With our boundaries defines we can go into the study knowing our ethical limitation within the law.

My Area of Interest - Week 11/12

Areas of Possible Interest

Well, now that we are turning our area of interest into an idea I have realized that my area of interest is not aligning with the type of project/career path I want to embark on so I need to replace my idea of quantum computing with something more practical ... At least this is what I thought until I did some research into possible undergraduate quantum computing projects which provided me with some inspiration, there are multiple applications that can be created with the implementation of simulating and/or visualizing quantum computing on a regular laptop or desktop PC. The display of Shor's algorithm plays a big part in this.

1.  Broad Research/Project Interest Area

Area of Interest: Quantum Computing

(“How Quantum Computers Work,” 2000)

Why is it interesting to me

Quantum computing is of great interest to me because of the passion I have for the forefront of human scientific knowledge whether it is on a large scale (astrophysics) or small scale (quantum physics). In this area of interest, I have found a way to merge this passion with IT which I think is a rather fortunate opportunity. Quantum computing exists are a rational solution to some of the technological bottlenecks introduced by traditional computing, I went into these type of problems that traditional computing cannot currently solve in my Assignment 2 Paper.

Given the futuristic possibilities and practical applications of the solutions that quantum computing can provide I have found it to be a worthy project focus.

Three things that I know about it

1. That it can be used to solve problems that our current computing technology is not capable of.
2. It uses the ability to store information in quantum states and relies on the probability of what state a quantum particle will be in when observed, so it is not definite. Error correction is required.
3. The application of the NP-hard problems made solvable by quantum computing has the ability to revolutionalize our economic and scientific systems.

Three things that I believe about it

1. I believe that it is essential to our future progression as a species, as our planet-wide population grows we are faced with problems of increased complexity that required a computational system of immense power to discern the optimal path for us to take forward.
2. It will not replace traditional computers quickly, if ever. Quantum computing is slightly niche in that it excels in solving particular algorithmic problems but when applied to everyday uses it does not provide a significant benefit.
3. The first nations to master the capabilities of Quantum computing will experience significant technological leaps ahead of competing nations.

Three things that I don't know about it

1. Scientific specifics as to how the technology actually works, I have been through material that explains the technicalities but I still lack the depth to provide an accurate explanation as to how we store and read the information on a quantum level.
2. How close we are to producing a quantum computer that can be applied.
3. Complications, what lies between us and producing/deploying this technology currently.

Would I rather research or create something? Or both?

I would certainly rather create something as it tickles my passion for solving problems. I prefer a more practical approach, I like to learn by doing as well as researching.

Area of Interest resources

Chen, F. (2016, June 27). Quantum Computing: A Primer. Retrieved May 24, 2019, from Software Is Eating the World website: https://medium.com/software-is-eating-the-world/quantum-computing-a-primer-580bc4160481

Coogan, J. (2019a). Repo of resources to help learn about quantum computing.: JohnCoogan/learnquantum. Retrieved from https://github.com/JohnCoogan/learnquantum (Original work published 2017)

Coogan, J. (2019b). Repo of resources to help learn about quantum computing.: JohnCoogan/learnquantum. Retrieved from https://github.com/JohnCoogan/learnquantum (Original work published 2017)

Diamandis, P. (2016, October 10). Massive Disruption — Quantum Computing. Retrieved May 24, 2019, from ABUNDANCE INSIGHTS website: https://medium.com/abundance-insights/massive-disruption-quantum-computing-ee561c5c635f

Hervey, A. (2017, May 17). Quantum Computing for the Mildly Curious. Retrieved May 24, 2019, from Future Crunch website: https://medium.com/future-crunch/quantum-computing-for-the-mildly-curious-2474c92c1f05

2. Identifying a possible project

a. Construct 10 questions about your topic

1. What is a quantum computer? Basic definition, but technically robust and free of hype or vagueness.
2. How is quantum computing distinct from traditional digital computing?
3. What can a quantum computer do better than a traditional digital computer?
4. Is speed the only truly significant advantage of a quantum computer?
5. Do quantum and traditional digital computers have more in common or more that differentiates them from each other?
6. How does a quantum computer handle analog to digital and digital to analog conversions?
7. What operations can a quantum computer perform compared to operations that a traditional digital computer can perform?
8. Where can the implementation of quantum computing technology lead us in terms of technological advancement?
9. How does Shor's algorithm work and why is it used in quantum computing?
10. Can a quantum computer compute values which cannot be comprehended by a human being?

b. Identify three good questions/ideas

1. What is a quantum computer? Basic definition, but technically robust and free of hype or vagueness. Underlying fundamental goal: To gain an understanding of what a quantum computer is, defining how it works which in turn help differentiate it from other types of computers. To answer this question we can attempt to use some sort of report in order to explain in detail what a quantum computer is, I believe it would be more helpful though to have some text explanation followed by a visual representation of how a quantum computer operated, this helps visual learners comprehend the inner workings of a quantum processor. To achieve this I could build a program that visually simulates shors algorithm in action.
2. What can a quantum computer do better than a traditional digital computer? Underlying fundamental goal: To further advance the understanding of how a quantum computer differentiates from traditional computing by understanding what a quantum computer can do better. A good way to answer this would be to define and show what basic operations quantum computers do better and what traditional computing still does better. Following this, it would be helpful to show what problems quantum computing
3. How does Shor's algorithm work and why is it used in quantum computing? Underlying fundamental goal: To understand how Shor's algorithm contributes to quantum computing.
   
   This is a more focused approach than my previous questions, answering this would require a focused understanding of how Shor's algorithm works & then expanding into how it is applied in quantum computing. Shor's algorithm can also be shown in a visual representation that would be built by a relatively competent developer.

3. Making a choice

Question Chosen: How does Shor's algorithm work and why is it used in quantum computing?

Project Title: Exploring Shor's algorithm in quantum computing

To explore Shor's algorithm as a project I would require an understanding of the algorithm and how it relates to quantum computing. Following this, I could write the beginning of a research report detailing the underlying concepts needed to understand my visual representation. Then in this report, I can explain my (non-original) idea to show Shor's algorithm in action via a simulation program written in Java or C#.

The core of the project would be first gaining an understanding of quantum computing and Shor's algorithm to the point where I can recreate a simulation of it myself in order to help explain the concept to others.

4. Ethical Issues

What ethical issues might there be in my proposal?

• Using other peoples research without citing it
• Using imagery without citing it
• Ensuring that I don't spread incorrect information

References

How Quantum Computers Work. (2000, December 8). Retrieved May 17, 2019, from HowStuffWorks website: https://computer.howstuffworks.com/quantum-computer.htm

In Class Notes 10/5/2019

Our focus has now moved onto Assignment 3: Project Proposal, I'm not sure where assignment two went but maybe being in China for a month has lagged me a bit behind. 

Assignment 3 is meant to be in the form of a localized 'peer review' document, where we may assess each other's proposals and give feedback to each other. After Lars has finished his lecture I need to approach him with the work I have completed and discern where I need to fill in some gaps. 

Lars has told the class about some opportunities for work placements that I am considering applying for, two of them involve database work which is of interest to me as it is related to full stack development. Another involved the production of a somewhat 'lightweight' moodle, this is currently being done by a student although it appears that he wants someone else to help him in this endeavour. Two web development companies are also looking for interns as well.

In Class Notes 17/5/2019

In Today's class, we have guest speakers presenting to us regarding some potential student projects that could spark our interest. I may or may not embark on one of these opportunities as I have many options regarding project options. Following the presentation, I was pleased to see they can offer a wide variety of project ideas coming from different aspects of IT. Within this range of ideas, I found an app development options which has intrigued me the most. At this current moment, I need to cut down my options so that I can decide on the most viable option for my desired career path.

In Class Notes 24/5/2019

Today Lars remembered that there is another topic it would be helpful for us to cover, this being copyrights which is something unexplored in our degree structure so far but it is very applicable to a variety of the work we could end up in. Before going into copyrights we will have a lesson on ethics which is designed to lead smoothly into copyrights/creative commons.

Revision

We went through some revision steps to remind us of some of the topics we have covered

Research paradigms

• classic scientific paradigm
• social science paradigm
• post-modernist movement
• critical realism

The following talk went into more detail regarding the nature of how to produce our Assessment 3 in which I felt Lars undersold the ability of the classic scientific paradigm by dismissing many people who use this paradigm in this day an age as not having an understanding of their own epistemology/ontology, perhaps I misunderstood but I think there is a place for empirical evidence that has been applied in a classical paradigm style, especially within IT wherein a lot of research that may be approached can not reply on post-modernistic or social scientific points of view, it has to logically work with empirical evidence of this or not. I remain cautious of scientific methods that don't rely on real-world empirical facts.

Perhaps I missed the point though.

Reviewing Classmate Blogs - Week 7

What interests me about IT and what doesn't

The IT area/subject I have most enjoyed is without a doubt software development, with web development trailing not far behind, this is because of the creative nature of development which is paired with problem-solving, this makes for me a really welcome combination in where I get to solve problems and express myself creatively. Other areas of IT are less creative in my opinion which feels like less icing on the cake.

The IT area/subject I least enjoyed is hard to pinpoint as I am rather diversified outside of software development but I believe the area I will be least likely to work in is most likely infrastructure due to the amount of success I have had in its problem-solving domain compared to development.

The one IT thing I never want to have to do again is ... well, nothing really, I have not done an IT task that has scared me off it forever, I remain open-minded to all tasks at this stage in my career.

I chose to study IT because I like to solve problems and this field is rich with many problems, I also grew up on computers, fixing my own and helping others. It is a natural progression for me.

If I couldn't study IT I would study astrophysics or a similar scientific field as I have a passion for the universe and living on the edge of what humanities current knowledge of our existence is.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a video game developer due to my heavy interest in video games. These days I still want to be a developer but not necessarily in video games.

One IT thing I would like to know more about is more advanced techniques and practices for mobile development, specifically the application of deep learning into the mobile application environment. I believe there is a great deal of potential for us to leverage here.

Useful classmate blogs

This week we are also to find who we think has the most useful blog, I believe there are multiple blogs I can learn from so I will list some positive points from each blog.

Corrina

• Easy to read, keeps me interested
• Inspiring amount of effort put into the blog posts
• Somewhat entertaining
• The writer's personality can be felt through the content

Corrina's content found a way to keep me reading through it because of the way her personality becomes so apparent in her writing, she also has a way of understanding ideas that resonated with me.

Stewart

• Heavy use of bullet points, efficient way of listing thoughts on questions
• Blog layout is easy to digest
• Concise and accurate information
• Thoughtful

Robin

• Easy to follow
• Depth when required
• Explains topics in a simple way that I can understand
• Good at explaining concepts

How to read an Academic Paper - Week 6

This Weeks Task

This week we are tasked pre-reading an academic paper in a certain order so that we can discern if it is worth reading in its the entirety. For this blog, I will perform these steps on the two papers chosen in my last blog. Following these steps, I will know whether I want to read them fully.

1. Did the abstract tell you the three things I said it should? If not, what did it tell you? (NB If your paper doesn't have an abstract, it is not an academic research paper!!! Go and find another one!)
2. What seems to be the research question(s) they were trying to answer?
3. What  methods) did they use to answer the question(s)
4. How credible do you think the paper is? (hint: look at who authors are and where and when it is published also compare what they were asking with what they did)
5. Did you agree, or not, with what they wrote in their conclusion? Why?
6. Briefly describe two things that you learnt from the paper. 
7. In no more than 250 of your own words (i.e. a paraphrase), describe what the paper is about - you could start with “This paper describes……….”

Paper 1: Does Gamification Work? — A Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Gamification

1. Did the abstract tell you the three things I said it should? If not, what did it tell you? 

Lars gave us a list of 'hints' for reading academic papers, for this question he is asking if  the abstract tells you the following information:

a. What the research/paper/article topic is

b. What the authors/researchers did and

c. What they discovered/or created/or concluded.

I found for this paper that the abstract aimed directly at the information Lars mentioned. The abstract glossed over this information, summing it up into short sentences that give a solid idea of what the paper covers.

2. What seems to be the research question(s) they were trying to answer?

The general question that is being approached here is whether or not gamification is a viable route for businesses and services to go down. With a greater academic interest in gamification, there has been a wealth of papers published, despite this, nobody has aggregated the results to begin answering the most pertinent question from society as a whole; is gamification a viable option to improve workplaces and services?

3. What  methods) did they use to answer the question(s)

This paper is based on Secondary Research, it uses information from other papers to approach a question about the topic as a whole. This type of paper appears to be the purest form of Secondary Research possible as it has heavy referencing of other papers and relies solely on their information alone by aggregating their discoveries to answer a bigger picture question.

4. How credible do you think the paper is? 

There are a multitude of factors making this paper credible in my eyes;

• It is a conference proceeding paper
• Multiple credible authors
• Heavy referencing of other academic papers
• Follows the standard academic paper structure
• Distils information into a readable format

5. Did you agree, or not, with what they wrote in their conclusion? Why?

The conclusion provided a sound answer to the question being put forward by providing sound conclusions discerned from the aggregated information gathered from the huge list of papers the authors referenced. A lot of research was done to produce the paper and the fruits of their labour were realized successfully in my opinion.

6. Briefly describe two things that you learnt from the paper. 

I learnt that the positive effect of gamification is only realized depending on the individual and also the context of the situation given. People interact with gamified systems differently, so gamification is only effective in the situation where it is targetted at people who find a positive impact from using a gamified system as opposed to other options.

Secondary research is necessary for topics of such a size that they produce a large number of papers.

7. In no more than 250 of your own words (i.e. a paraphrase), describe what the paper is about - you could start with “This paper describes……….”

I have found that this paper provides a healthy overview of academic papers related to gamification and motivational affordances. By reviewing peer-reviewed studies on the topic they have successfully created a framework for examining the effects of gamification via drawing definitions of gamification and contrasting it with motivational affordances.

This paper points out some gaps in existing literature at the time. Positive effects of gamification are put forward with a caveat that it is dependant on context and also dependant on the individual participating. (Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. 2014) This means that gamification systems appear to be unlikely to replace core societal systems entirely but may exist as offshoots to already existing systems in order to appeal further to those who benefit from this type of system.

Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. (2014). Does Gamification Work? – A Literature Review of
Empirical Studies on Gamification. In proceedings of the 47th Hawaii International Conference
on System Sciences, Hawaii, USA, January 6-9, 2014.

Paper 2: Quantum Computing in the NISQ era and beyond

In Class Notes

Today we looked at the specifics of APA referencing, while it is a simple format it must be followed correctly in order to properly reference your academic material. We have been provided with a table which displays a multitude of formats for different types of documents. Remembering how to do all of these seems rather tricky so a source like this is likely needed to keep, in case you need to ensure you are using the correct format for APA referencing.

This weeks exercise will be a dive into reading academic papers, the style we have been given to try is a bit more involved than simply reading it top to bottom, there are a number of preliminary steps you can take to discern if it is worthwhile before diving in.

Academic Papers - Week 5

This Weeks Task

This week we are to find two academic articles of our choice, the only condition being that they are related to IT/CompSci and can be verified as legitimate academic articles.

Paper 1

Title: Does Gamification Work? — A Literature Review of Empirical Studies on
Gamification

APA Reference: Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. (2014, January). Does gamification work?--a literature review of empirical studies on gamification. In 2014 47th Hawaii international conference on system sciences (HICSS) (pp. 3025-3034). IEEE.

How did I find this article?

Originally I was looking through a popular internet forum to see what others had referenced as their favourite computer science papers and came across the idea of gamification, I then searched scholar.google.com for this keyword and picked out one of the more popular choices in an attempt to find something somewhat introduction to the idea.

What kind of article is this?

This paper is found in the proceedings for the 2014 International Conference on System Sciences, making it a 'Conference' paper. It is also described as a literature review based on empirical studies on gamification.

What makes this an academic article?

There are many aspects that make a paper/article 'academic';

• the title
• the authors (usually with an email address and affiliation)
• the abstract
• the introduction
• a review of other papers relevant to the topic ( a literature review)
• a description of what the research was and what the researchers did
• the results of what they did
• a discussion about what the results mean
• a conclusion
• a list of references

This paper includes 90% of these elements & has been sourced from an official peer-reviewed conference proceedings list.

It appears that identifying a legitimate academic article is somewhat intuitive in my mind, similar to how we identify real-life objects, like trees for example. We know intuitively what a tree is when we look at it and classify it as such. If something integral was missing it would stick out like a sore thumb.

Given this is one of my first encounters with this type of activity I have found myself having to pay a bit more attention to the specifics. I am sure experienced people do not have to look into much detail at all before they know what they are dealing with.

How well does this article fit Lars' description of a legitimate academic article?

This paper has a 90%+ similarity with Lars' description, which is why I have chosen it in the first place, in order to hopefully produce something that is in align with our beloved tutors' wishes.

References:

This paper contains a total of 45 references, which appears to be highly extensive to me. This is due to its reliance on empirical evidence from other sources to conclude the writers own research question,

Citations:

The paper has 2222 citations as of 31/03/2019.

URL: https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings-article/hicss/2014/2504d025/12OmNzE54xe

Am I interested in reading this article further?

I am interested in reading this paper, especially given that it is based off a lot of previous empirical research into the topic, which in turn means the question being asked here is built on top of these previous articles. This makes it more alluring to me as I like to obtain big-picture perspectives.

If we are to be given a task that involved reading an article this article will be highly considered for sure.

Paper 2

Title: Quantum Computing in the NISQ era and beyond

APA Reference: Preskill, J. (2018). Quantum Computing in the NISQ era and beyond. Quantum, 2, 79.

How did I find this article?

Found via google scholar once I defined that I am interested in the field of quantum computing, most of my research was done on the actual CompSci/IT fields I would like to look into moreso than the actual papers.

What kind of article is this?

Journal paper.

What makes this an academic article?

The source, the wealth of people referencing it, the credibility of the author, the paper sticks to standard academic paper practices.

How well does this article fit Lars' description of a legitimate academic article?

Quite well except it is longer than requested, it appears to be longer due to the wide breadth involved when tackling general questions under quantum computing, there are a lot of sub-categories the author has had to cover in order to construct the paper to a level that feels suitable for the wide implications of this technology.

References:

The paper has 57 references

Citations:

The paper has been cited by 213 other papers as of 31/03/2019.

URL: https://quantum-journal.org/papers/q-2018-08-06-79/

Am I interested in reading this article further?

I am very interesting, especially considering my heavy interest in where technology is heading. Quantum computing will have wide effects on society as a whole if its potential is realized.

Class work/Notes

This week the course outline has changed a little bit, which moves the content revolved around assignment 2 to be taught sooner. This appears to be due to comments regarding this content taking awhile to start compared to when the assignment is due?

Following the introduction talk, we got into the presentations, yay. We did not put too much effort into our presentation due to the looming pressure of other subjects.

Presentation topics covered:

1. Secondary Research  – Blake, Stewart
2. Observational Research – Rob, Cam
3. Exploratory Research – Hao, Yifeng, Derrick
4. Case Study Research – Achuthanand, Geeta, Appu, Balu
5. Experimental Research –  Teja, Jagdeep
6. Discourse Analysis – Erica, Robin, Daniel
7. Action Research – Jess, Patrick Jake
8. Meta-Analysis – Rachel, Corrina, Di
9. Design-based research – Finn, Deja, Sakar, Jeff
10. Randomised Controlled Trials – Oliver, Zepeng Dong, Yuwei Zhang, Yuefen Zhou

I found it hard to focus on the content of the other presentations whilst worrying about my own after we had presented it became a lot easier to pay attention. It felt like some presentations were too flooded with information for me to follow. Largely in part due to my mind drifting off, I tried to avoid this in my own presentation section by keeping it simple, hopefully, I succeeded here. Our group also did not understand that we were to relate our given research method directly to IT, we did understand this was to be done in our blogs but not in our presentation due to it not being clearly communicated with us.

Why do we look for 'academic' articles?

Important for:

• find out what smarter people have said
• find what is likely the most credible information
• group your work with the work that others have done, you are not expected to always be original

Method:

• look at the kinds of research approaches others have taken
• under how others have applied the research approach to learn how to do it well

It is useful to:

• see what questions others have left open, there may be room to pick up a question for yourself
• to find a useful starting point for your own work

Action Research & Credibility - Week 4

Class Discussion

Lars approached concerns some people expressed regarding last weeks blog topic, some people were uncertain as to whether they got their information right. He essentially said that it is open to interpretation due to the nature of the topic. The main purpose was to ensure that we think about the topic and form our own understanding of the theories presented to us.

Some students have expressed that it was too hard? I disagree here as I had fun learning about these concepts which are a welcome change to the normal IT technical information we learn about.

Credibility

Does the epistemology match the ontology?

Was the means of discovering the information suitable for the question being asked?

Was the method followed sufficiently rigorous?

Who did the work/research? Do they seem credible?

Bias?

Who paid?

Who do they work for?

Where and when was the work make public?

Is it still relevant?
Peer-reviewed?
Where/how did you find it?

An in-class activity in which we all individually rated the credibility of a wealth of information sources showed us that some areas are regarded as considerably credible than others, this lead into a conversation into some of the specific sources & the nature of credibility in general.

Group work

The next part of the class had us divided into groups to research a particular research method, our group was given action research, we are to make a presentation on this before next week which is proving to be a bit of extra work on top of our already existing blogs. This presentation has been given lower priority than this week's blogs due to it having no relation to marks.

Action Research

What is it? 

Action research is any research into practice undertaken by those involved in that practice, with the primary goal of encouraging continued reflection and making improvement.

https://jalt-publications.org/node/4985/articles/5631-linking-research-action-simple-guide-writing-action-research-report (24/03/2019)

While action researched can be used in any field it is most popular in teaching, this is due to practitioners wanting to try different methods of teaching in their classrooms but remain unsure of their effectiveness. Action research allows us to explore the effectiveness of new techniques and continually develop the curriculum. Action research is self-reflective and built upon an iterative structure that has the practitioner continuously improving upon oneself.

Action research is a cyclical process made up of four essential steps.

1. Identifying the problem.
2. Devising an action plan.
3. Implementing the plan.
4. Observing and reflecting upon the process.

https://go.valenciacollege.edu/faculty/development/teaching-learning-academy/action-research/arp_softchalk/ (24/03/2019)

What kinds of questions/problems might it be useful for?

As I have already hinted, Action Research is most effective in a classroom type setting, although it is most effective here it may be replicated across other fields in which the environment is similar.

The easiest example to present of use of action research is teaching techniques deployed within a classroom setting, a teacher may structure a lesson in a particular way to try and get a concept across to their students which the intention of trying to teach but also to actively criticize the methods used and ready to implement others the next time around if suitable. This shows the types of problems that action research can be deployed in which is situations where the research practitioner is actively participating in the event that the research information is based off.

How could it be used in IT research?

The obvious use of this in IT is in IT education, In a way many of our tutors subtly employ this form of research themselves as they criticize their teaching methods and build upon their ways to aid in the development of their course over time, although they do this without adhering to the principles of Action Research and without seeking a very deep level of how one should go about it (to my knowledge anyway). If more tutors were able to focus further on Action Research for the courses under their wing it would lead to a great development of these courses, it is unfortunate that it does not turn out this way in this institute a lot of the time due to courses changing hands often. The courses that do get to age along with a tutor really do shine as the most valuable periods of learning at NMIT

Outside of education, I can imagine the concept of Action Research being deployed in software teams albeit in a more subtle way than classrooms. Considering that project managers control many of the tools, techniques and methods teams use to plan, produce and deploy software it is possible to criticize the results of the variables you are setting for your team. A certain planning method may prove less efficient at producing elegant software for your particular set of employees for example. I believe introducing too much change in a work environment like this also carries risk, therefore it is important to change a small number of variables at a time in order to not affect the overall predictability of the team's performance too heavily.

What are the strengths of the approach?

Applicable results!

When your research has yearned successful outcomes the effects are immediate and tangible. The benefit to the practitioner and the subjects is realized by all at the time of research.

Engaging!

Action Research involved the researcher themselves within the process, they are a variable within the environment at question. This increases engagement levels in the research which aid in keeping the practitioner motivated, can you imagine researching teaching techniques without applying them yourself?

What are the weaknesses of the approach?

There is an inherent level of risk associated with changing teaching methods, it is possible to stumble and try something worse than what you used before. In the short-term, this creates trouble but as long as the practitioner stays the course the benefits will become apparent over many cycles of the process.

It can be said that the weakness is in the need for iteration before significant positive changes can be realized.

It is also heavily time-consuming and is typically only applicable to small-scale studies. This is why it is primarily found within the classroom where the cycle of iteration is manageable & the size of classrooms suits the small-scale nature required for this type of research to be most effective.

Thanks for reading.

Scientific Paradigms - Week 3

Class Work

In class, we have begun by going further into Ontology and Epistemology. In this discussion, Lars has helped us form more concrete definitions of the words in question. This helps the class come to the same understanding following our independent research. It may be easy to get the wrong idea with such abstract concepts.

My research into Ontology and Epistemology appears to be somewhat on-point although I have failed in some sense to focus on the correct points in my blog I believe. Not bad for a first attempt though.

Lars went into a lecture pertaining to the origin of epistemology & ontology as we know it today which came about around in the 1900s with postmodernism. Modernism cut away a lot of the unnecessary additions in our engineering and thinking, art is cut away in the name of efficiency. For example, the way our buildings changed to have less art & design implemented into them in favour of more modern and efficient looks.

Postmodernism is described as a way of critiquing beliefs and most of the knowledge our society holds in this day and age. It is about challenging certain knowledge structures that some believe are simply social constructs and are not objective truths. An example of this is the argument that genders are not binary, this is clearly bogus and an extreme example of the bad side of postmodernism but there are also some good examples such as good vs evil which in reality is not as binary as used to believe in previous ages. Challenging certain beliefs is helpful to our society I believe although the concept of postmodernism can also be used in a negative manner to disregard objective knowledge in favour of a belief that better suits the believer.

Ontology & Epistemology Spectrum



Ontology                    Realism          Constructivism        Nominalism
Epistemology             Positivism       Interpretivism         Anti-Positivism

Realism -              Objective Existence
Constructivism - We construct reality together
Nominalism -       Things are as I think they are

Positivism -          Measure objectively
Interpretivism -   You can never be objective
Anti-Positivism - Each persons view is valid

Google Scholar was introduced to us as a method of finding & citing prominent academic papers. One was highlighted with the topic pertaining to design science which is of interest to me, I may give this one a read for curiosities sake.

Today we have covered a wide arrange of topics which have been engaging.

Out of Class Work

I read over this weeks tasks and was left wondering why we are writing about a specific scientific paradigm without understanding the big picture of scientific paradigms first? Perhaps it is just how my mind likes to approach things by coming in from a bigger perspective rather than the details.

First I will learn about the concept of scientific paradigms then select one that intrigues me to highlight near the end.

Citation: Clickstream Data Yields High-Resolution Maps of Science. By Johan Bollen, Herbert Van de Sompel, Aric Hagberg, Luis Bettencourt, Ryan Chute, Marko A. Rodriguez, Lyudmila Balakireva. Public Library of Science ONE, March 11, 2009.

A "map of science" created by sorting some 800,000 published papers into 776 paradigms. The red circles are where they overlap from referencing one another - creating a visual representation of scientific discussion in the world today.

Source: Nature Magazine

What are scientific paradigms?

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (first published in 1962), Kuhn defines a scientific paradigm as: "universally recognized scientific achievements that, for a time, provide model problems and solutions for a community of practitioners, i.e.,

• what is to be observed and scrutinized
• the kind of questions that are supposed to be asked and probed for answers in relation to this subject
• how these questions are to be structured
• what predictions made by the primary theory within the discipline
• how the results of scientific investigations should be interpreted
• how an experiment is to be conducted, and what equipment is available to conduct the experiment.

"The Structure of Scientific Revolution, Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. page 10

Thomas Kuhn published a book called "The structure of Scientific Revolutions" in 1962 that opened our eyes to the reality of scientific paradigms, the main concept of this is that scientific progress is not linear but instead cyclical.

In these cycles, the scientific landscape exists within agreed upon scientific paradigms, a scientific paradigm is a set of assumptions that are made for us to base new science upon. An easy way to understand his is realizing that biology courses don't begin with describing the evolutionary theory, it is already assumed that this base level of knowledge is true within the current scientific paradigm even though many may not understand how this has been proven to be true. Religious people also exist within their own paradigms, they assume that God is behind the true nature of reality.

Assumptions can be powerful in that they can allow us to get on with other things, Assumptions are clearly capable of also being a negative force which can inhibit our understanding of reality and blind us, if our base understanding is incorrect then everything derived from it is likely also incorrect. I personally battle with not assuming too much and sometimes trust my intuition a little too much which doesn't afford much success in the IT world.

Throughout history, science has seen many paradigm shifts which have revolutionized our world and completely changed the type of science going forward. These 'paradigm shifts' can be understood metaphorically as similar to major changes in climate on earth. For a long time the planet was in an ice age and the ecosystem was operating under the given conditions, then the climate paradigm changed to a more temperate one thanks to a tilt in the earth's rotation, we then saw a major shift in the planets normal conditions, changing upon which types of species were allowed to propagate and the types of evolutionary traits that were necessary for survival.

Paradigm shifts change our base set of assumptions which in turn means we have to adapt our way of science to this new scientific paradigm.

Interestingly enough we may be on the cusp of a new paradigm shift within my lifetime, may I bring your attention to a recent United States Congress bill that has been passed:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/6227?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22H+Amdt+856%22%5D%7D

As we all know Quantum particles 'communicate' with each other instantaneously from anywhere in the universe. If our scientific paradigm as we know it is challenged by a valid & sound theory of quantum science in a way that allows us to harness it's power. I believe it to be that our current scientific paradigm will shift and in hundreds of years our current day science will be seen in much the same way as science deep in our past.

Reality as we know it clearly has secrets far beyond our current understanding, when and how the next scientific paradigm shift commences is only a matter of time.

This week's Questions

Now that I have that base understanding out of the way I can address the actual task I was supposed to be doing:

Work Given: Choose a Scientific Paradigm

• Describe it
• Explain what it could possibly be used for – also, give an example
• Write why you like this paradigm – or don’t like it

SOME IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS OR PARADIGM SHIFTS

TIME	MATHEMATICS, ASTRONOMY, PHYSICS	GEOLOGY, CHEMISTRY,	BIOLOGY, MEDICINE,
Antiquity to 1400s	Theory of a Spherical Earth
Early 1500s	Heliocentric Theory of Solar System (Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler)
Mid 1600s	Corpuscular Theory of Light and Optics (Newton)		Theory of Blood Circulation (Harvey)
Mid 1600s	Theory of Motion and Mechanics (Newton)		Cellular Theory of Biological Structure (Leeuwenhoek, Hooke,)
Mid 1700s		Oxygen Theory of Combustion (Lavoisier)
Mid 1700s		Theory of Gases, (Boyle, Charles, Cavendish, Lavoisier)	Species Concept in Biology (Linnaeus)
Late 1700s	Theory of Static Electricity (Franklin)	Theory of Gaseous Chemical Elements (Dalton, Lavoisier)
Early 1800s	Theory of Heat and Thermodynamics (Rumford, Carnot, Joule,)	Theory of Metallic Elements (Davy, )
Early 1800s	Theory of Current Electricity and Electro-Chemistry (Galvani, Coulomb, Faraday)	Uniformitarian Theory of Geology (Hutton, Lyell)	Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection (Darwin, Wallace, Huxley)
Late 1800s	Electro-magnetic Wave Theory of Light (Clerk-Maxwell)	Periodic Theory of All Elements (Mendeleev)	Bacterial Theory of Disease (Koch, Pasteur, )
Late 1800s	Quantum Theory of Radiation (Planck)	Theory of Recent Ice Ages (Agassiz)
Late 1800s	Sub-Atomic Particle Theory of Matter (Thompson)
Early 1900s	Theory of General Relativity (Einstein)	Isotopic Theory of All Elements (Moseley, Aston)	Theory of Genetical Inheritance, (Mendel, De Vries, Bateson)
Early 1900s	Theory of Galactic Dimensions (Hubble)		Theory of Blood Groups (Landsteiner)
Mid 1900s	Theory of Expanding Universe (Hubble)	Theory of Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics (Wegener)	Theory of DNA Coding (Crick, Watson, Franklin)
Mid 1900s	Theory of Gravitational Collapse ( )

Source: https://deskarati.com/2011/08/17/scientific-revolutions-or-paradigm-shifts/

Chosen scientific paradigm: Theory of General Relativity (Einstein)

Description: General relativity is the observed gravitational effect between masses resulting from their warping of spacetime.

This showed that space and time were two intertwined forces of our universe, each effecting the other at all times.

I will spare this blog a more detailed explanation as I have already gone in-depth on scientific paradigms in general.

What was it used for?

GPS

From the knowledge that general relativity supplied us about the relation between space and time we are able to produce GPS systems that power a large force of technology in our world today.

BLACK HOLES

Einstein predicted the existance of black holes, which although do not have an affect on our day to day lives it greatly affects our understanding of the universe whilst also raising new questions.

NUCLEAR ENERGY

Nuclear energy may have came a lot later if it were not for Einteins works, this techonology allowed us access to nuclear power which has seen many benefits but on the other side also gave life to nuclear weapons which have caused great devastation and still to this day give certain nations the ability to destroy millions of lives.

Why do I show interest in this paradigm?

This paradigm is of particular interest to me because it is in our current age one of the most famous & prolific paradigms known to general humanity. The conseqences of this paradigm shift had far reaching negative & positive effects on our society that are still observable to this day.

Given how recent this paradigm shift occured it allows me to understand just how much of an effect peredigm shifts can have on humanity. This undersanding makes my imagination wander as to the possibilities of the next paradigm shift. Will millions or even billions die at the hand of new technology? Will we travel the stars? Will we age beyond our biological shells and form a symbiotic relationhip with AI which results in our conciousness being uploaded to the general intelligence once our biological life has reached it's conclusion?

Changes will come fast, the consequence of government interest in quantum technology should be watched closely as this has potential to spawn the next great scientific paradigm shift of humanity.