Sit with your team mates.
1) Write down an answer to the following question on a piece of paper and pass it on to your team mate, who will then comment on your answer, and then on to the next team mate, etc, until it comes back to you. "What was your favorite course so far in CSE, ISE, or other computing-related class?" or "What was your favorite experience with computing so far?"
2) Using the same process, write down your answer to this question: "How does that course or experience relate to any of the big themes in the history of computing?"
3) Now do some research. What professor's research most closely matches the interest area and historical theme that you identified? Write down their name and discovery, and pass the paper around again for comments.
4) Compare your team's responses. Are there any overlaps in interest areas, themes, or subjects to interview? Advocate for your favorites, but listen to your team mates' preferences too. Your task is to narrow the choices down to a first choice and an alternate.
5) Go to the whiteboard and write down your team's top two choices for the Living History report, including their discovery or invention, and the theme it relates to. Participate in the class discussion that follows.
Purpose:
Identify at least two subjects for the Living History assignment and relate their research to one of the big themes in the history of computing. Share your team's work with the class. Fill out the online form at the end of the activity.
Big themes in the History of Computing:
More and more data, but less and less storage space
Faster and more sophisticated calculation, but more efficient and less expensive
Increasingly smaller and more portable
Increasingly universal technologies
Increasingly aggregated and integrated data
Information democratizes in an accelerating feedback loop
Brainstorming techniques:
Better Group Brainstorming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0YYEPMd7cY
Resources:
Research interests of SBU CS faculty
https://www.cs.stonybrook.edu/research
CS 35th Anniversary brochure, with a brief history of the department and notable research contributions and publications
https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~tony/comphist/cs35book_all.pdf