Task
You need to introduce an emerging digital technology so that your audience gains a solid understanding of it.
Each student is assigned a technology, see Table 1. There is no topic proposal in this term.
In your presentation of approx. 8 minutes, cover
- what the technology is and how it works,
- its key characteristics,
- its current state of development and maturity,
- as well as primary fields of application.
You can include grey literature1, but you need to analyze at least three (3) scientific papers.
Assigned Technologies
| Student ID | Assigned Technology |
|---|---|
| 410335 | Light-Field Displays |
| 298791 | Mid-Air Haptics |
| 373533 | Neuromorphic Computing |
| 341501 | Federated Learning |
| 360948 | Quantum Key Distribution |
| 344669 | Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) |
| 410629 | E-Textiles |
| 369420 | Batteryless IoT Devices |
Deliverables
You need to prepare and hold a presentation and to answer theory-based questions in a Q&A.
- Upload your presentation slides (.pptx and .pdf) via Moodle until the deadline
- Use following naming scheme:
FTM_WT26_Surname-Name - You will present the slides uploaded to Moodle (no late updates)
- For the deadline and the examination date, please see the schedule
The Q&A
After your presentation, I will ask you questions for approx. 8 minutes.
The questions check how well you have understood the lecture contents. They address the emergent nature of the technology you presented and its relation to the hypotheses discussed in the lecture notes.
You are expected to answer in a theory-based way: use the terminology and the concepts from the lecture notes, and argue from them rather than from intuition or from general technology news.
- Classify your technology against the five attributes of emerging technologies
- Argue which of the hypotheses your technology supports, and where that support is weak
- Relate your technology to a hypothesis it does not obviously fit
- Derive fields of application and social or ethical implications from the concepts discussed
All four hypotheses are examinable, not only the one your technology fits most obviously.
Example question: You argue that your technology enables immersive experiences. However, considering Milgram & Kishino’s virtuality continuum and the role of tactile stimuli discussed in the lecture notes, where exactly would you place it, and what sensory limitations prevent deeper immersion?
Preparing only your own technology is not sufficient. The questions move across the four hypotheses and back to the attributes of emergence, so work through all five units of the summer term 2026.
Grading
The grade will be a combination of
- your presentation of the assigned technology (approx. 8 minutes, 30% of your grade)
- the Q&A after the presentation (approx. 8 minutes, 70% of your grade)
The weighting reflects what is examined. The presentation establishes a shared understanding of the technology; the Q&A establishes whether you can reason about it with the theory from the lecture.
Evaluation criteria
Your presentation must meet the requirements of good scientific practice (passing criteria).
An excellent presentation has the following characteristics:
Technology
- Clearly defines the assigned emerging technology (also based on the concepts discussed in the lecture notes)
- Accurately describes the technology’s key characteristics and its current state of development
Presentation
- Presentation is well-organized and easy to follow
- Conveys a solid understanding of the technology within the time given
- Speaks confidently and professionally
Scientific references
- Integrates research from at least three (3) scientific papers
- Accurately cites and references all sources (passing criteria)
Q&A
An excellent Q&A has the following characteristics:
- Correctly uses terminology and concepts from the lecture notes
- Accurately classifies the technology against the attributes of emerging technologies
- Argues the connection to the hypotheses, including where the connection is weak or contested
- Derives fields of application and social or ethical implications from the concepts discussed
- Extends beyond the presented material, demonstrating deeper understanding of the field
A note on grades
It is unlikely that every student will receive a very good grade, i.e. deliver an outstanding performance - see the meaning of grades. Instead, it is to be expected that the grades will spread across the spectrum.
| Grade | Meaning |
|---|---|
1: very good |
A truly outstanding achievement that (not only) shows no deficiencies in the criteria mentioned, but also gives both the supervisor and external assessors an excellent impression. |
2: good |
Work that exceeds the average requirements/performance and is easily recognizable and presentable to the outside world as a “good performance”. |
| Note | 2.5 is the average of passed assessments, i.e., an “average performance” |
3: satisfactory |
A performance that achieves the desired goal “to a satisfactory extent”; however, deficiencies can be identified here and there. |
4: sufficient |
A performance that “still adequately satisfies” the requirements, but deviates from the expectations placed on it in several ways. |
5: not sufficient |
A performance that does not meet several of the criteria mentioned. |
Scientific literature
In your presentation, you need to consider at least three scientific papers.
- Select only papers that are peer-reviewed.
- Search in the field that actually studies your technology, see Table 2. Most of the assigned technologies are researched in engineering, computer science, physics or materials science, so the information systems journals will return little on the technology itself.
- In computer science and human-computer interaction, peer-reviewed conference papers rank alongside or above journals. CHI, UIST, SenSys and NeurIPS are full scientific sources, not preliminary ones.
- Start with a review or survey article, which gives you the state of the art in a single source. ACM Computing Surveys, Proceedings of the IEEE and the Annual Review series are good entry points.
- Use Web of Science, Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore and the ACM Digital Library (through the HNU library proxy) to search for literature.
- Use the citation count as an indicator of significance2, but correct for age: a 2025 paper cannot have accumulated the citations of a 2015 one, and your technologies are recent.
| Field | Typical venues |
|---|---|
| Displays, graphics and optics | ACM Transactions on Graphics, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, Optics Express |
| Human-computer interaction | ACM CHI, ACM UIST, ACM IMWUT, IEEE Transactions on Haptics |
| Computer architecture and hardware | Proceedings of the IEEE, Nature Electronics, IEEE Micro |
| Machine learning | NeurIPS, ICML, ACM Computing Surveys, IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering |
| Networked and embedded systems | ACM SenSys, ACM MobiCom, IEEE Internet of Things Journal |
| Quantum information | Nature Photonics, npj Quantum Information, Reviews of Modern Physics |
| Materials and textiles | Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, IEEE Sensors Journal |
| Adoption, governance and implications | AIS Senior Scholars’ List, A and B journals in VHB-JOURQUAL3 |