Master project

Information Sciences
Joint program
VU-UvA
 Structure
Period 3: Thesis design
6 ECTS
Period 4-6: Master project
18 ECTS
Some flexibility in scheduling
12 ECTS in Period 5
12 ECTS spread over periods 4 and 5

2
 Timing
Important to start thinking about the thesis
subject now
You need to have a thesis advisor by
December 15
Project types:
Internal: typically in ongoing research project
External:
make sure you have a VU staff member in the loop
avoid conflict of interest if you have are employed
master project is a scientific project; NOT development
project
3
 Thesis design
Select a subject that motivates you 101%
Literature study
IF no literature THEN not an appropriate topic
Research plan
Problem statement + context (research project,
company, domain)
Research questions
Approach: choice of research methods
Plan: proposed timeline

4
 Thesis project
Carry out plan
At least bi-weekly meeting with supervisor(s)
You are in charge!
Prepare issues to discuss
Send progress reports
Make notes
Document sharing while you go along:
Dropbox, GoogleDrive, etc.
Thesis is not written at the end
5
 Thesis & presentation
Your choice
Report
ACM-style research article
Presentation
At university
At company, if external

6
 Assessment
Assessors
VU supervisor
Second VU staff member
take him/her in loop from beginning
Advice from external supervisor, if applicable
Criteria http://wiki.cs.vu.nl/mp/images/a/a5/Mpform.pdf
Quality
Team work
Presentation
Independence

7
 Programme Today
Web Science & Africa (by Hans Akkermans)
Introduction Computer systems (by Henry Bal)
Social Semantics and Sustainable Services (by Pieter De Leenheer)
Lifestyle Informatics & Ambient Assisted Living (by Peter Roelofsma)
Serious Gaming (by Anton Eliens)
The copyright Checker & Calculator (by Victor de Boer)
Linked data for Landportal (by Victor de Boer)
Finding Semantics in Clinical Trials (by Laura Hollink)
Linked Politics: Building a Semantic Network of Politics and what news
Media write about it (by Laura Hollink)
Projects in the Computational Intelligence group (by Laura Hollink)
Find This: Extracting Semantic Information from Powerpoint (by Paul
Groth)
Master projects in the Web and Media group (by Marieke van Erp) 8