Weekly Journals

We at OtterconLabs have been working towards the Final Research Video Project through weekly meetings and actionable goals before meeting end. We were able to record our videos live on Google Meet and OBS. There was definitely a lot of improvisation involved in the project but we were able to get a few practice runs in before the final one. One issue we ran into was the volume difference due to different mics but we were able to resolve it with audio normalization tools. For larger more detailed collaborative projects I would definitely have the team meet more than once a week to strategize and devise a solid plan with the same assigned actionable goals we had for this project.

Ted: Why AI isn't going to become conscious

In this presentation, Anil Seth discusses about the illusion of AI consciousness and its tendency to hallucinate when faced with a difficult inquiry. People forget that when interacting with these large language models, the AI is predicting the next most likely words and not actually "thinking." As AI continue to improve, it also is further blurring the line between intelligence and consciousness. Recognizing and emphasizing that these machines are tools that reflect current human data instead of creating novel ones should be an important consideration.

Harvard: AI's Perils and Promises

The rapid expansion of AI tools can lead to potentially impactful ethical impacts. As fast as the industry is stepping on the accelerator throttle, they should equally exert effort on designing the proverbial brakes to the system. This Harvard podcast emphasizes that ethical concerns regarding AI cannot be an afterthought but rather must be embedded in the core framework used to develop them. Developers must constantly question whether the tools they are developing are benefitting the right people then constantly validate it once deployed, constantly self-reflecting. If we treat AI like a typical technology disrupting every sector and wrecking everything it passes through, there will be unplanned consequences negatively affecting the people whom it was supposed to benefit.

Presentation Skills

It is important for myself to continue working on skills beyond writing efficient algorithms. Being able to articulate myself in documentation as well as present them requires more detail-oriented processes. Effective presenting requires clear visual aids that actually brings substance rather than just for aesthetics. Being able to articulate complex topics to a wide range of audiences will allow me to best communicate what my algorithms can and cannot do. I hope to build software that is transparent, equitable, and providing a net positive to the community they serve.

Industry Expert Interview →

OtterCon Labs' weekly strategizing meeting discussed this week's module, goals to be accomplished this week, and assignments due dates. We went over capstone ideas such as: Using AI in Medical Setting, Using AI in Video Game Model Development, Using AI to Solve Bureaucratic Red Tape in Major Corporations, Using AI to Streamline Construction Subcontractor Bidding Process. In addition, we planned the group project's timeline and set actionable goals to be accomplished before the next meeting to efficiently complete the assignment.

This week's module is a combination of preparations for our group project as well as career development. One of the resources in the assignment was the CSUMB Career Development page. Here, I was able to research and learn more about programs such as OtterJobs and more importantly, preparation plans and tips for graduate programs. I intend to pursue my Masters of Science in Computer Science after this program so this was tremendously helpful to me. I actually read the Cracking the Code Interview mentioned in the module's resources last year but the video was helpful in refreshing some ideas.

The group preparations during our meeting for this week and next week's module will help us complete the group presentation to showcase our plans for using AI to assist with game development which we found very interesting. Though it isn't a novel idea, learning the intricacies of tying different AI models to various aspects of the game development process will be an interesting research project for this presentation. I hope to be able to discuss this aspect more with the professor so we make sure our presentation is comprehensive but comprehensible for the class.

Three capstone projects I may pursue are:

Productivity app with personalized insights

Tailored Parser for construction bids to build a comprehensive dataset

Locally hosted AI house manager

Though I have heard about the capstone project from the start of class, this week was our formal introduction to it. I learned that the project will take approximately 200 hours to complete and should require a wide range of skills to be put to use, skills I have honed throughout the duration of the BSCS program. There are two components to the capstone. Firstly, the project and idea should be accomplishable in that timeframe or at least scaled down to match. Secondly, though the project matters a lot, knowing how to present the idea to the audience, my classmates, plays a crucial role as well. You can have a great product, but if no one knows about it or is interested, you have not really helped anyone. The module made me realize I will have to do more research into internship opportunities or other academic pursuits like research or work experience. I

My Educational Goals:

1. Core: earn my Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA by June, 2028.

To achieve this GPA over the next two years of courses will demonstrate I have the foundations in integral computing practices. In order to achieve this goal I must set aside time weekly in order to block out my calendar for the week and break down assignments, projects, and group work into achievable daily goals.

2. Long-Term: earn my Master's Degree in Computer Science or related field in order to have a better grasp on novel computing practices as well as an opportunity to explore an exciting thesis which could change the trajectory of my career.

3. Learning Habit: read twelve technology and personal development books by December, 2026 in order to learn more about how I can actively affect my occupation outcome after graduation as well as keep me busy through effective learning.

Evaluation

During my weekly calendar blocking session, I will write a short paragraph to introspectively reflect on what I have accomplished in the last week, what challenges I ran into, and how I overcame that challenge. This will allow me to continue to evolve my learning strategy and help me build better habits for the week ahead.

Reward

If I accomplish all the goals I set out for the day, I will reward myself with an hour at the gold driving range to clear my mind, get some exercise, and have a good night. This gives me something to look forward to and something to reflect on and change if it does not work out.

Career Goal: to become a Global Data Center Software Engineer, actively developing and troubleshooting critical data center infrastructure software worldwide.

I imagine myself collaborating with global infrastructure teams to solve problems, both software and hardware. I imagine many late nights in warehouses full of racks and blinking lights. I imagine learning about the plethora of solutions developers worldwide have come up with to solve their specific niche problems and adding to my repertoire of problem solving skills.

Milestones:

Short-Term: select discussion and project topics such as networking architecture, distributed systems, and database design over the course of my CS Online program.

Mid-Term: complete certifications in cloud computing, infrastructure automation, or data center operations such as those offered by AWS.

Strategy:

Time: during my Sunday calendar blocking session I will consider how much time I will need to spend on my assignments, hobbies, and meetings to consider blocking out time to study how a data center is put together and maintained.

Evaluate: during my weekly reflective sessions, I will look back at the previous week's assignments and whether I was able to add a little bit of data center knowledge and if not, how I could do so in the following week.

Reward: since I do not treat myself to sweets often, I will treat myself to a small cup of soft serve vanilla ice cream if I manage to successfully complete a project, large or small, that coincides with my career goal.

The totality of this week's module revolved around how to transform dreams into a structured set of actionable goals to achieve that reality. The SMARTER framework showed me how to set an effective goal by being detailed and considering the various factors that go into making a goal a reality. It is great to be able to turn thoughts into effective goals, but even greater to turn goals into reality. To accomplish successfully requires breaking big goals into milestones, then milestones into actionable line items. I also learned that self-reflection plays a large part in accomplishing academic and career successes. To be able to evaluate yourself will allow you to self-critique but also reward so big goals are no longer intimidating. Sustaining good habits for a long time will allow me to accomplish what I set out to do.

Dr. Bob Kizlik's article on Effective Study Skills is a deep dive into various techniques and proven methods to help students better digest class material. One of the frameworks I related most to is the SQ3R.

The five-step strategy goes: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. Through my personal academic experience so far, I find that this strategy works well. Starting out with skimming through the material and highlighting potential problem areas helps me formulate questions during class discussions and office hours. Rereading the material again actively allows me to go over these highlighted sections again with the answers to my questions and engage in a deeper understanding of the class material. How I accomplish the recite portion of this strategy is to create flashcards to engage. This helps with the review portion as I come up with entertaining ways to consume and study my flashcards.

One thing I can reflect on doing well is picking the right time to study. I understand how my body reacts to food, sleep, and stress so I can find the optimal time to study: after 8 and 11 in the morning and night. Another thing I do well is asking for and working on peer edits for my essays. I understand the benefits of having multiple sources of opinions and not afraid to be wrong. The last of three things I do well on relating to this article is organizing my study space. All I make available to me is my laptop, charger, a desk lamp, and a bottle of water. This allows me to free myself from clutter and distractions.

Here is an activity log app I have been working on and beta testing. The idea is that everytime the user logs into it it will prompt them on what they are doing then record the response. With an adjustable time interval setting, the app will notify the user if they have not logged in for a while. I personally set mine to 15 minutes. Future plans for the app include using artificial intelligence to analyze use of time, and potentially geotracking features as well.

Here are three videos breaking down Project Management: introduction, work breakdown structure, and Gantt chart. There are three codependent main factors to consider in a project: time, scope, and cost. A project manager must first understand specifically the purpose of the project in order to start considering these factors. A lot of the time, the purpose can be categorized into financial, growth, compliance, or infrastructure.

Managers rely on three main skill sets according to the video: technical execution, team management, and strategic leadership. To ensure the project is delivered correctly, managers can use the work breakdown structure: Project Management, Requirements, Design, Development, Testing, Deployment, Maintenance. Each of these pieces work hand-in-hand to ensure the project's success. There are no overlapping deliverables when planning this structure out so each "team" is responsible for a specific part contributing to the project's overall scope. Each team will have work packages that are further broken down into the exact activities required to complete them. This is where a Gantt chart will be useful.

Time is plotted along the horizontal axis and each project's activities are plotted along the vertical axis. The duration of the activity will dictate how wide it is on the Gantt chart. This makes it easiest for team members and project managers to identify exactly what tasks are to happen at precisely what time so that they could check up on a specific individual or team as necessary. Maintaining and organizing the Gantt chart could be detrimental to keeping the project on track and team members to know exactly what's going on. These tools allow project managers to tackle highly complex and multi-faceted tasks that do not rely on an individual team but rather a large group of small teams all working cohesively towards a common goal.

Three presentations from Summer 2024 Capstone Festival's Capstone projects I found most interesting were:

Project 1: Steven Casey et.al's dKOMP (45:24)
Type: corporate productivity.
Overall: effective, addresses common corporate issues with user-friendly and interactive UI.
Highlights: improvement sections show forward-thinking and expansion strategies; Microsoft integration is very strategic because of their dominance in corporate America.
Improvements: lacked immediate clarity; highlighting one or two specific, novel use cases would better demonstrate the project's unique proposition to corporations and be more engaging.

Project 2: Robin Hurtado's Identifying Brain Tumors using Computer Vision (55:00)
Type: medical technology.
Overall: strong technical execution; clear baseline metrics; objective testing results and accuracy.
Highlights: training models using the school's server show a creative utilization of resources.
Improvements: acknowledgement of implementation challenges especially in relation to regulatory ones; consultation with a medical professional would add validity to the presentation.

Project 3: Nicholas Anderson's Vault JS (1:51:15)
Type: developer tools.
Overall: identified a common vulnerability without common remedy; objective results.
Highlights: using an open-sourced framework and integration with existing ecosystems is helpful; this helps the deployment process because developers can examine and audit backend.
Improvements: transparency regarding testing data would add validity to the high accuracy; long-term objectives, such as deploying the tool as a VS code extension would strengthen utility.

This week's module focuses on an overview of modern software engineering, balancing AI and traditional tools. Human collaboration is very important, but the rising trend of multiagent systems allows projects to exponentially grow in scale. Traditional project management must be reevaluated as AI disrupts its architecture. AI is only as effective as the people using them, so to best take advantage of this new digital landscape, developers must be flexible, open-minded, and highly introspective. Reflecting on how we as individuals study and grow is important in managing how these new AI systems are developed and utilized.

This week begins my journey into a fully online Bachelor's degree program. Even though I have taken many online classes before, this feels different. We learned in the lecture that this is not supposed to be a difficult class, but we as students must stay on top of everything.

It is crucial I find the balance between personal and academic life. I want to succeed, and to do so I must regularly log into Canvas, maintain good communications with the Professor, and most importantly make sure everything is synced with and added to my calendar. Group work seems to be an integral part of this course also and I must keep my notifications on, communicate with my group, and make sure I carry my responsibilities to help the group succeed.

The rise of ChatGPT and other LLMs have carved a new frontier in education amongst disrupting every other industry. There is so much to learn, and so much to adapt to. Learning won't be obsolete, as does critical thinking and writing. We learned about the prompts OpenAI published specifically for education, and many of my classmates seemed to appreciate things such as study guide planning and preliminary grading. I look forwards to continuing to improve in the class and keep up with the rapid pace.