Be sure to look at the Canvas Module for this week for various hand-in
mechanisms!
There are TWO DIFFERENT homework hand-ins on Canvas for this
assignment. One for the slide, and a different hand-in for the
video. Please submit BOTH homeworks (one slide, and the video you've
recorded using that slide).
Hints:
- The learning objective is to gain some understanding of how computer
failures affect real people in the real world.
- Compute a random number based on your name modulo # of topics using Wolfram
Alpha.
Note: hand all assignments in on Canvas. Use file name:
HWxx_FAMILYNAME_FirstName_AndrewID.ppt for slide hand in. Also
acceptable: pptx and .pdf file extensions depending upon file type. Please do
NOT zip, tar or otherwise encapsulate the file unless the homework specifically
asks for that. Use the same file naming system (with different HW numbers) for
other homework hand-ins.
(Be sure to list citations for references you use as a source for
answers. If multiple references say the same thing, you need to only give 1 of
them as a source.)
Part 1: On one slide, summarize a system safety story according to
the assignment below. You can find a starting point for each story here:
https://safeautonomy.blogspot.com/p/safe-autonomy.html.
Make sure that your entire answer to this question fits on one slide with
minimum font sizes as required in HW #1 (bigger fonts are
better). It is much better to use phrases and not full sentences to avoid too
many words crowded onto the slide.
- 1-1. Include your scenario number and scenario name (see list below). For
example "#2: RMS Titanic" Briefly explain the scenario involved with
the failure. Find a secondary source beyond Wikipedia to check that the
Wikipedia entry is accurate (generally you can find these listed in the
Wikipedia reference list itself -- but do read that secondary reference too!)
- 1-2. What was the loss? (Financial, human lives, or size of loss that was
possible but avoided)
- 1-3. What was the technical or other root cause of the failure? Dig a
deeper than "something went wrong" Was it purely technical? Cultural?
Political? etc.
- 1-4. In your opinion, what could they have done to avoid the failure?
- 1-5. Include a picture. Give a URL for the picture (in most cases it is
better to us a tiny URL is fine such as one generated by
bit.ly)
Topic assignments are per below, based on your randomly computed scenario
number (see above).
- 1814: London Beer Flood
- 1889: Johnstown Flood
- 1912: RMS Titanic
- 1919: Great Molasses Flood
- 1937: Hindenburg
- 1957: Windscale Fire
- 1959: Minamata Disease
- 1963: USS Thresher (SSN-593)
- 1972: DC10 Cargo Door (AA Flight 96)
- 1979: Three Mile Island
- 1980: Damascus Titan missile explosion
- 1981: Ford Pinto
- 1981: Kansas City Hotel Walkway Collapse
- 1982: Speedbird BA Flight 9
- 1983: Gimli Glider
- 1984: Bhopal
- 1986: Chernobyl
- 1987: Therac 25
- 1988: Piper Alpha
- 1991: Lauda Air Flight 004
- 2003: Columbia Space Shuttle
- 2004: Spirit Mars Rover file system
- 2006: Nimrod MR2
- 2009: Air France Flight 447
- 2010: Deepwater Horizon
- 2011: Fukushima Daiichi
- 2011: Wenzhou train crash
- 2013: Takata airbags
- 2014: Flint MI Water Crisis
- 2014: GM ignition switch recall
- 2015: VW emissions scandal
- 2017: USS John S McCain
- 2018: Uber ATG testing fatality
- 2019: Boeing 737 Max crashes
- 2021: Horizon IT Scandal
- 2022: Fern Hollow Bridge (be sure to note the location is close to CMU)
- 2023: Oceangate Titan submersible
(A number of notable mishaps are missing from the assigned list because they
will be covered in lectures with enough detail that there is no point doing
them twice.)
Part 2: Record an approximately 90 second video that talks about your
slide according to the following requirements:
- No shorter than 70 seconds. No longer than 120 seconds.
- 90 seconds is an approximate target. Some topics might run a bit shorter or
a bit longer.
- Hard cutoffs: no credit for 69 seconds or less; no credit for 121 seconds
or more
- Please don't talk super-fast to reduce time. Try speaking at a normal rate
and only talk about the important bits. Explaining what matters and what you
think the lesson learned should be is more helpful than simply reading the
slide. Concentrate on the big story. Only add details that are essential to the
big story.
- The slide does not have to be perfect. If you mis-speak and correct
yourself as you speak, or otherwise have a small flaw in the recording that is
OK.
- "Talking Head + slide" format including both
your slide and your head talking about the slide. (Head + shoulders OK;
full body is too small to see facial expression).
- A zoom recording with both your slide and you talking is likely to be the
easy way to do this, but other methods are fine if they produce a viewable
result. Record with a quiet background and close enough to the microphone so
you can be clearly heard.
- The Project description videos on Canvas are an example using 4:3 aspect
ratio recorded on Zoom. We'd prefer you use 16:9 widescreen format to give
yourself a bit more space.
- Slide text must be clearly readable. Guidelines that usually work are:
- Slide size 10" wide x 5.625" high
- 14 point font or bigger (16 point and larger preferred) If you have too
much text for 14 point font to work, SHORTEN THE TEXT. You can use other notes
to know what to say. You do not need to put every single word you plan to say
on the slide. Keep the text short. Put a note card with details in front of
your screen when you are recording if you need help remembering what to say
(the recording camera won't see it).
- At least 720p resolution (1280x720 pixels) although resolutions close to
this might work.
- Talking head does not obscure words or important part of the picture on the
slide
- If these requirements pose a significant burden please explain the
situation to course staff so we can work something out.
Rubric (all elements must be met for check-off):
Part 1: upload the slide itself to the "slide" Canvas homework
assignment.
- One slide with main content (lengthy citations can be on a second slide if
needed, but no main content beyond first slide)
- Slide size 10" wide x 5.625" high with 14 point fonts or larger
(16 point preferred).
- Scenario number and name
- Loss
- Root cause
- Opinion for avoiding
- Picture with attribution
- Footer has name and Andrew ID, e.g., KOOPMAN Philip (pk1g)
- File name is HW02_FAMILYNAME_GivenName_AndrewID.ppt (or other extension),
e.g., HW02_KOOPMAN_Philip_pk1g.pptx
- File uploaded to canvas in native format and displays properly within
Canvas. (Make sure you have embedded the fonts when saving/exporting.)
Part 2: upload the recorded video to the "video" Canvas homework
assignment.
- One video file no longer than 500 MB (should be a lot smaller for this
length).
- File name is HW02_FAMILYNAME_GivenName_AndrewID.mp4
- If other than .mp4 please e-mail staff notifying us at time of submission
so we can see if it plays properly within Canvas. If unplayable you might need
to find a web service to convert to .mp4.