You can get hold of the source of this file here.

General instructions

• Assume you are writing your report for someone who did not see your Fast Hack presentation.
• Aim to produce a report of about 4 pages long, plus diagrams and references. If you want to write a bit more, that’s OK but don’t write more than 5 pages.
• The remainder of this document is a skeleton that serves two functions:
  • It lists and explains the content that you should aim to include in your report.
  • Since it is written in Markdown syntax, you can use it directly as the starting point for writing your report.

1. Introduction

Briefly describe the sub-theme that your team is addressing, together with the specific problem area that you are looking at.

2. What do you know about your problem area?

Stakeholders

Which individuals, groups and organisations are most relevant to the problem area and may be important for addressing it?

Engagement

How did you engage with stakeholders during the Fast Hack?

Data

• What data did you collect for the Fast Hack? What methods did you use to collect it, and how are you dealing with data management?
• What other datasets, if any, did you use? How did you access them, and what are their properties (e.g., format, geographical and temporal coverage, relevance)?

3. Initial Interpretation

Tell us at least three things about your problem area that you found out during the Fast Hack. For each of the things you learned, relate it back to the data that you discussed in the preceding section.

Consider what is the most relevant way of presenting this information. Try to use some simple visualisations, even if it is just a simple bar-chart. You can reuse any materials that you and your team developed for your Fast Hack presentation.

4. Evaluation

How useful is the information that you’ve gathered so far for understanding your sub-theme and your specific problem area? Be honest and critical about the data that you’ve used. How complete is it? Do you think there are shortcomings in it?

5. Next Steps

What do you think needs to be done next in order to get a deeper understanding of your problem area? What additional evidence would you like to collect? What questions do you want to explore?

6. Reflections

What has been your personal experience of working on this project to date?

If you’re stuck in writing this section, some of the issues you might think about are:

• How have you dealt with challenges of engaging with people in the University community.
• What has been your experience of working within a team and sharing out work, responsibilities and roles?
• What aspects of the course have worked well for you, and what would you like to see changed?

Your contribution

Say what your personal contribution was to the team effort during the Fast Hack.

7. Conclusions

Summarise overall what you personally, and your team, have accomplished so far. This part of your report should draw together the main threads of your report. Try to emphasise four key ‘take home’ points for the reader.