After watching the posted videos, reading the Thompson Handbook, and reviewing the sample Gantt charts, it looks like there are several steps we’ll need to lay out in order to create our research plan and Gantt chart.
To prepare, we’ll first need to break the entire assignment down into smaller tasks. These tasks will probably include different sections of the white paper that need to be researched and written, activity reports, research blogs, etc. We’ll then need to assess how long we have to complete each step, and how we can divide these tasks among group members to most efficiently complete our problem. Then it will just be a matter of creating the chart in Google Docs or Excel.
For our research, I think we will have an abundance of information about wireless network security in homes. Our biggest issue may be filtering what sources we do find to just sources with different information and to make sure that we are using credible and reliable sources to build ethos in our paper. It would be very easy to use any Google result we found, but of course, this won’t be the best option.
We’ll need to first research to find out more about the problem of wireless security. From our initial searching, it’s obvious that there are problems with identity theft and hacking, but we should find out exactly how pervasive these problems are and if possible, find some statistics and current news articles about the topic. After exhausting research about the problem, we’ll need to turn to the solutions.
In our research on solutions, we’ll need to identify some of the various ways for people to secure their home wireless networks. In addition, we’ll need to research the costs and feasibility of each type of solution on a small scale, as well as identifying how technologically complicated each solution is.
Please incorporate the reading
You have provided a very good outline of your research plan here. However, please also incorporate information about how the TH reading for this week might help you accomplish your research goals (because this is a Reading Response).
Researching the Problem
I like the comment you made here about researching the problem before researching the solutions. I had planned on doing some background research on my topic to find some statistics and basic information to use in the introduction section for our white paper but I never gave much thought to actually extensively researching the problem before moving on to the solution. This makes sense, though, because not only will you be finding background information to be used in the paper, but you will also be making yourself an expert on the topic. It would be hard to write the white paper from an expert standpoint using expert language if you weren't an expert yourself, so this plan should make it much easier.
Nice Plan
I like how you've logically split up a game plan for your group. I think attack the project this way will evenly divide the work and lead to a more efficient work force, per se. As far as wireless security goes, your going to have to sift through a lot of different sources. I'm a little confused as to what type of "problems" your looking for pertaining to wireless security. Are you looking for problems with the wireless security protocol (which is obviously inherently insecure in some cases), or problems that this inherent insecurity causes (i.e. hacking, identity theft, phishing, etc.)?