UIUC Department of Computer Science

Second Annual "Computing Habitat"

Programming Competition

April 26, 2006

Summary: Develop an application, designed to become a persistent utility within the Department of Computer Science, enabling and/or integrating components of the Siebel Center infrastructure to better serve the Center's population.

Purpose: To integrate student and faculty initiated technologies into the Siebel Center "Computing Habitat" as part of the effort to implement a living laboratory.

Call: With wired and wireless networking, handheld and embedded computer systems, building automation sensors and actuators, cameras and video screens, and compute and storage servers, Siebel Center is designed to be a "computing habitat". The vision is of a system that is aware of the people in it and of their activities, aware of the status of the physical and digital infrastructure, and that facilitates interactions among people and their access to information while preserving the users' privacy. Entrants in this competition are challenged to design and develop an application that exploits or extends the building's unique infrastructure (cameras, public displays, etc.) and enhances or expands the Center's abilities to use its digital infrastructure in the service of the people who learn, teach, and work here.

Competition: Teams may be of any size. Anyone is eligible to enter (even faculty!), except the Judges. We especially encourage students to enter the contest. Entrants have to submit an initial description of their proposed project to csdays-contest@cs.uiuc.edu. The description should be no more than one page and specify the participants, the proposed application, and required access to Siebel Center infrastructure. Projects will be primarily evaluated for feasibility (ability to provide required access to infrastructure, privacy issues, etc.)

There are two deadlines for submitting proposals. The priority deadline is Monday, February 13. All proposals received by this date will be evaluated together and assigned a priority for access to requested resources. In cases where multiple projects request the same resource, the projects deemed to be more feasible and interesting will be given higher priority. Projects submitted by the priority deadline will receive notification of their status by Friday, February 17.

The second deadline for submitting proposals is Monday, March 27. All proposals received after the priority deadline but before this date will be evaluated on a first-come, first-served basis within 2 business days of being received. No project submitted during this time will receive higher priority access to resources than a project submitted by the priority deadline.

All projects selected to continue must by completed and submitted by Wednesday, April 19 (one week before judging). They must be successfully demonstrated to the competition coordinator, Chuck Thompson, by Monday, April 24.

Projects will be able to use some of the digital cameras, information panels and large screens (including the video wall) deployed in the building. It is not yet possible to support direct access to building automation systems such as the electronic locks or the thermostats. However, other arrangements for access to these systems can be made. Contact the competition coordinator with any questions about the available infrastructure.

Judging: The projects will be judged by the novelty and interest of the application, the quality of the implementation, and for the innovative use of the Siebel Center infrastructure. The judging panel will consist of a member of the department's Technology Services Group, two CS faculty, two industrial affiliates, two members of the department's Executive Advisory Council, and a representative from each of the CS student organizations.

Prizes: Three places will be awarded along with a Judges' Prize. The Judges' Prize is awarded solely at the whim and discretion of the judges. Novel algorithms, interesting implementations, beautiful code, arresting user interfaces, use of parallelism -- these things may well count for something in the judges' eyes. All teams, including those that place, are eligible for the Judge's Prize. All prize winners will be acknowledged on the department's website.

• First Place: $2500
• Second Place: $1250
• Third Place: $750
• Judge's Prize: $500

To Enter:

1. Give your program a name to appear in the competition program.
2. Submit this registration form to csdays-contest@cs.uiuc.edu by Monday, February 13, 2006 for priority consideration. The final deadline for submitting a proposal is Monday, March 27, 2006.

   Entry Name:

   Team Members names, phone numbers and email addresses:

   Project Description (less than 250 words):

   Project Goal (less than 250 words):

   Who Benefits (less than 250 words):

   Existing Siebel Infrastructure used:

3. Submit your project by April 19, 2006. Submission arrangements should be made in advance with Chuck Thompson, cthomp@cs.uiuc.edu, 2332 Siebel Center. At minimum submissions will need to include:
   • Documented source code and build files to compile and install the application(s). The judges do not plan to install the application from these sources---they are there for informational and review purposes only.
   • Pre-compiled and packaged versions of all applications
   • An HTML document describing the application(s): hardware infrastructure and software services the application interfaces with; application structure and algorithms used; software components of the application and programming languages used; etc. Please include the names and email addresses of the team members.
   • An HTML manual describing how one uses the application(s).
   • A document describing how the project met the contest criteria including a summary of what infrastructure was used. This document will be provided to the judges in advance of the judging.
   Depending on the Siebel Center infrastructure used, additional installation and usage documentation may be required.
4. Arrange a time slot between April 17 and April 24, 2006 to do a submission review with Chuck Thompson. This time slot must be at least one day after the project is submitted. The primary purpose of this review is to ensure that the required Siebel Center infrastructure access is working properly.

Rules of the Second Annual Computing Habitat Programming Competition

1. Utilities developed must serve a real need within the department. Each project should benefit a significant portion of Siebel Center inhabitants.
2. All infrastructure use must be approved in advance by Chuck Thompson. Infrastructure that is available for use by projects will include: the video wall; information panels; security cameras; large displays; central server, networking and storage infrastructure. Direct access to the building automation system (e.g. electronic locks and thermostats) will not be provided. However, support will be provided to allow projects to demonstrate enhancements to these systems. Infrastructure not listed could potentially be used with advanced approval.
3. All submissions become copyright of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. However, appropriate credit will be given to the original author(s) for any ideas or source code that are used in the future.
4. The decisions of the organizers are final, and supersede all other rules. All questions regarding the competition rules or organization should be directed to the competition coordinator, Chuck Thompson, cthomp@cs.uiuc.edu, 2332 Siebel Center.