Open Source Software for Humanity
Homework Week 3

Due Monday, 2/11

• Read Chapter 4 of Learning PHP/MySQL (pages 62-84) and answer the questions at the end of the chapter.

• Exercise 3-1. Write a PHP script that solves problem 4-11 on page 84. HINT: Declare a variable $x and set it to some value. Then declare an action variable and assign it a value between 1 and 4. Then write a switch statement that either adds, subtracts, multiplies, or divides x based on the current value of the action variable. Display (echo) the resulting value of x.

• Exercise 3-2. Write a PHP script that contains a for loop that prints the values from 0 to n that are divisble by m. For example if n is 20 and m is 3, then your loop should print: 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18. If m were 5, it should print 0, 5, 10, 15, 20.

  Due Wednesday, 2/13

• This is a "research and report" assignment on the current state of citizen journalism and an exercise in "peer production". Read the brief summary by Rachel Stern. Then choose two online citizen-news sites, one associated with a "mainstream" news organization (e.g., MSNBC.com's Newsvine) and one not associated with a mainstream news organization (e.g., Wikinews.org). Write a detailed and factual assessment of the two news sources in the style of a Wikipedia page. We want to know how they got started, what sort of readership and participation they currently have, and how they compare in their coverage of the news. In terms of "coverage" you could provide a overall summary of the types of stories they cover or an analysis of how they covered a particular story.

  The Ground Rules: This is a 2-4 person group assignment. Each person in the group will contribute independently to the article posted on our Wiki page. Once a group has 4 persons, no additional contributors may join it. (Check the page history to determine whether the group is full.) No two groups may overlap in their coverage--if one group is covering "WikiNews" no other group may cover it. Deciding who covers what will be determined on a first-come-first-servered basis. The first person to post an partial-article on "A and B" will thereby establish his or her claim to those topics. You must post your work on our course Wiki page, following the naming convention used here.

  Style: The writing style must be Wikipedia. Use cross references for as many terms as you can. Use footnotes to document your factual claims. And so on.

  Grading: This assignment will be graded on the following criteria:

  • Content: How accurate and complete is the content of the article? (group)
  • Peer-participation: How much did each individual contribute? (individual)
  • Style: How well does the writing match the Wikipedia standard? (group)

  Due Date:A preliminary version of your article is due in class on Wednesday 2/13. We will discuss and critique the articles in class. The final version will be due on Monday, 2/18.