Digital Design

White Paper

Due:  self-scheduled, no later than 5/11/20 at 5:15 pm
Category white paper
Format: See guidelines below. If you upload a PDF, please double space. Also include the White Paper somewhere on your final project website.

Definition

A “White Paper” is an authoritative report that provides information about a problem, issue, project, or product. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) describes a White Paper as:

an opportunity to share any best practices and lessons learned from the project. Please be candid in describing the work undertaken and discuss any aspects of the project that might have been done differently.  The hope is that the White Paper will help inform the work of others in the field.

Because NEH sets the standard for White Papers on Digital Humanities projects, I have drawn from their guidelines and our class discussion to generate the specifications below. My hope is that your White Paper will not only aid me in fairly evaluating your work, but also provide you a valuable opportunity to reflect on your project management and accomplishments, providing lessons that you can apply to future endeavors. I welcome your suggestions for improving the report specifications.

Specifications

Each individual or group must prepare a single White Paper that includes an active hyperlink to your final prototype. Because a White Paper is geared toward future DH scholars who want to learn from your example, you final project website should include a link to your White Paper.

Using your initial Project Proposal as a point of departure, your White Paper should address the following subjects in 3-4 typed, double-spaced pages (750-1000 words). It should be organized in numbered sections, following the specifications in boldface below, but you may exercise poetic license with the organization of bulleted items, addressing them in outline or paragraph form:

  1. Project Description
    • Provide a brief description of your project in its completed form.
    • Identify and explain any changes from your initial proposal or vision.
    • Describe the audiences for the project. Indicate the nature, size, geographic reach, and age of your intended audience and speculate on the impact your project might have on this audience.
  2. Individual Roles & Responsibilities
    • List each member of your group by first name and identify your respective assigned roles and specific contributions to the project. If you are working alone, list your main tasks and responsibilities.
  3. Project Goals & Objectives
    • Whereas goals are broad ideals and visions, objectives are specific outcomes. You may include a brief statement of your overarching goal(s), but should focus on specific, measurable objectives.
    • Given our course’s emphasis on writing, UX design, and user testing, you should include objectives related to the quality of the research, writing, and UX design of your final product.
  4.  Project Activities & Process
    • Provide a chronology of the project’s development, including your research process and the work that went into producing each of the 4 prototypes.
    • Indicate the extent to which you drew upon and found your Literature Reviews valuable to the project development.
    • Identify any other models, discoveries, or events that influenced your progress, either as inspirations or obstacles.
    • Include any work that may not be visible or apparent in the final product, but required considerable time and effort, such as: gathering and preparing data, testing tools that may or may not be used, and customizing tools or platforms. You may also include a chart of visualization of the time and effort distribution (see Appendix below).
    • If project was affected by changes in roles or schedule, explain why the changes were made and how performance was affected.
    • Describe any efforts to conduct and respond to user testing, both within and outside class.
  5. Accomplishments & Lessons Learned
    • Compare the accomplishments of your project with the proposed objectives. In other words, evaluate the extent to which you achieved your overall goal(s) and each of your specific objectives.
    • If any objectives were not achieved, explain what decisions you made and what lesson(s) you learned from the failure to meet that objective. Keep in mind Tal Ben Shahir’s maxim, “Learn to fail, or fail to learn,” remembering that in DH we embrace failure as a sign that we are inventing new forms and pushing beyond known outcomes.
    • Briefly discuss anything you might add or change in your project, “had we world enough and time.”
  6. Works Cited
    • Your works cited should include any works quoted or referenced in the White Paper. It need not include all works consulted or quoted in your project (the project should include its own comprehensive Works Cited).
  7. Appendices
    • You may include any supporting material that would contribute to an understanding of your project, process, and accomplishments, such as screen shots, charts or visualizations, UX design feedback, email exchanges or group communications, calendars/schedules, etc.
    • These items may be set apart as an appendix or integrated with your report.

Grade Recommendation

Having reflected on your goals, objectives, process, and accomplishments, recommend that grade that you think is appropriate for your project. Briefly explain the reasoning for the recommended grade.

Submitting your final project & white paper

When you have completed your white paper and published it on your website, email Sundi and Suzanne to tell us the project is ready for evaluation. Your email should include:

  1. A link to your final project
  2. A grade recommendation & brief explanation of your rationale
  3. Anything else you want us to know or think we should be aware of when evaluating your work.

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