Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Applications to the executive group are open!

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As mentioned in the introductory lecture as well as at today's "checkpoint", we will form a separate, special group called "the executive group" before all the other project group are formed. The project groups will be formed after the third seminar (Oct 8), and they will be announced at the fourth and last seminar (Oct 13).

The executive group will however not work project idea the relates to this year's theme (digital commons/the sharing economy) during the project phase, but will instead be a "project management team" and an interface between the teachers (Daniel and Malin) and the project groups.

The executive group will perform a number of tasks, some of which are mandatory and some of which are optional:

- One person will lead the executive group and have the overarching responsibility for making sure the the executive group performs and for communicating with the teachers.
- One person will have the overarching responsibility for producing the book, "The Future of the Digital Commons and the Sharing Economy".
- One persons will have the overarching responsibility for producing the final presentation/show in December.
- One person will have the overarching responsibility for the Future of Media project website (separate from the course website/blogs)
- Marketing/sponsorship/advertising (optional)


- Whatever else you can think about (optional)

The persons responsible for the final presentation and the website will also be jointly responsible for collecting all materials produced by the project groups and publish it on the course's web archive - perhaps including redesigning or updating the archive itself). 

It is usually quite popular to be part of the executive group and to make use of practical media technological skill that students have acquired over the years. You therefore have to apply for a position in the executive group. Send your application (1-2 pages) to Daniel (pargman at kth.se) and Malin (picha at kth.se) by mail. The deadline is Friday, October 3 at 15.00. Please specify what task or tasks (above) you are especially interested in/suited for and list relevant experiences and other reasons, arguments and supporting information that you would like to emphasize in your application. The executive group usually consists of around 5 persons and some positions are usually more popular than others.

Part of the responsibilities of all members of the executive group is to participate in regular lunch/work meetings (usually every second or third week) together with the teachers and with the project group leaders during the project phase (October - December).

For the first time we will this year allow also non-Swedish-speakning students to apply. We have earlier made the judgement call that it's an advantage to also speak Swedish (if you need to work things out with people outside of the course) but we think that might not actually be necessary - so everyone is welcome to apply.
  

NOTE on grades: As apart from all other project groups, responsibilities will be divided/negotiated individually in the executive group and grades will be set individually for members of the executive group (i.e. not all members of the executive group will necessarily get the same grades). Even though the work in the executive group can be very hectic at times (near deadlines), we still feel that it does perhaps not demand the same work effort as being part of an ambitious project group. The default grade for members of the executive group is therefore grade B or a C (assuming that you do "deliver", i.e. that there is a successful final presentation in December, that we each do get a printed book at the end of the course etc.). That means that members of the executive group have to perform outstanding work in order to attain the highest possible grade in the course (A). This was however the case last year and most (but not all) students in the executive group did get the grade A in the course.
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