You have been divided up into small groups of four for this exercise. Your group may select one of the Project Options listed below. If there is another research project you wish to undertake in place of the ones listed below, you may do so once you have obtained your instructor's authorization to do so.
You must work collaboratively to select a topic, formulate a search strategy, divide up the research tasks, evaluate the information resources for credibility and reliability, and, finally, to write the report. The instructor will act as a mentor and consultant in the process and will monitor the group progress. As such, the instructor needs to be informed of all group "meetings".
In conducting your project, groups may choose to interact synchronously or asynchronously, whatever will best meet the needs of the group in accomplishing this task.
Groups may select one of the following project options for purposes of this assignment. It is possible that more than one group will select the same topic.
You are a summer computer information intern at "Shake It", a firm of geological and engineering consultants who specialize in earthquake-damage assessment. When an earthquake strikes, "Shake It" sends a team of geologists and structural engineers to the quake's site to examine the damage in buildings and determine what kinds of reconstruction will be needed. In some cases, the buildings must be demolished. An earthquake can occur without warning in many parts of the world, so "Shake It" needs quick access to information about local conditions in various parts of the world, including the temperature, rainfall, monetary exchange rates, demographics, and local customs. It is early July when your firm receives a call that an earthquake has just occurred in Northern Chile. Your supervisor instructs you to use the Web to obtain information about local conditions there. Shake It will be dispatching a team of engineers tomorrow. Your boss needs all of the "pertinent" information on Chile before the team departs. Your information paper will be the main source of information on the local environment for the engineers being dispatched to Chili for this project.
Based on what you learned
in Chapters 1, 2, and 3, use the search tools available to you to research local
conditions in northern Chile in July. Prepare a report that includes the daily
temperature range, average rainfall, current exchange rate for U.S. dollars
to Chilean pesos, information on the political environment, and any information
you can obtain about the culture and characteristics of the local population.
Be sure to evaluate the reliability and credibility of the information you find
on the web. Also be sure to properly cite all the resources you have used to
prepare your report.
You have a full-time summer
job at Momma Chernobyl's Hot Sauce. Momma Chernobyl operates a chain of specialty
sauce stores across the Southwest corridor of the United States. You love the
work environment and are hoping to impress Momma Chernobyl so much that she
will offer you a full-time job when you graduate next year.
For many years, Momma Chernobyl has sold specialty sauces and exotic food stuffs
in her brick-and-mortar storefronts. She is thinking about selling her products
on the web because they are small, relatively expensive, and easy to ship. She
believes that people who buy her products might appreciate the convenience of
ordering via the web. To expand into the web, Ms. Chernobyl will need to entice
some financial partners to help fund this expansion.
Momma Chernobyl asks you to do some web research and prepare a report which
she can present to her potential financial backers to win their support in this
endeavor. These potential financial backers are not e-Business experts so do
not drown them in tech-speak.
Based on what you learned in Chapters 1, 2, and 3, use the search tools available
to you to locate other web-based specialty food stores to learn as much as you
can about these web competitors. Specifically, we want to know how extensive
is their product line, how do their prices compare with Momma Chernobyl's pricing
structure, what are their shipping fees if any, do they guarantee delivery within
a particular time frame, is their web site "searchable" and what features
do their web sites possess that Momma Chernobyl might wish to incorporate in
her own web presence.
Be sure to evaluate the reliability and credibility of the information you find
on the web. Also be sure to properly cite all the resources you have used to
prepare your report.
This report should be typed, with the usual font (12 point Times New Roman), 1 inch margins, double-spaced and include other conventions of good writing style. The main report should be a minimum of four pages in length and a maximum of ten pages and should be narrative in nature, as opposed to a "laundry list" of facts.
In addition to the primary report, include a page at the end of your report labeled "Resources" detailing the following information about each web site from which you obtained information for your report:
In addition to the above elements, include a page at the end of your report labeled "Team Activity" detailing the process your team took to meet its goals. You should include such things as who (if anyone) acted as the project leader. How did the team divide up the tasks. Which team members contributed to each part of the project? And, finally, evaluate each team member's contribution to the project. Be honest.
Students will be assessed based on the following criteria: