CSYS5030 - Information Theory and Self-organisation - Assessments 3 and 4 - Solved

Information theory project

Information-theoretic analysis of a data set of your choosing

Component 1: Video presentation

Format:
Presentation format is up to you, however (assuming you use slides) you are limited
to 5 slides max (note: a title slide and/or reference is not counted in the 5). Any demonstrations, “live” analysis, etc. outside of your presentation slides are not counted in the 5 slide total.

Component 2: Project report

Length:            2000 words max. (10% leeway allowed, but no more than that will be read) Format:  Please use 1.5 line spacing, 12 point font.

We have discussed the foundational measures of information theory, and introduced the use of the JIDT toolkit for estimating information-theoretic measures to analyse relationships in complex systems.

Your task is to create an information-theoretic analysis of a data set of your choosing, selecting appropriate measures to answer one or more questions of interest regarding the dynamics of and relationships in that system. You will deliver an in-class presentation, and write a report, describing your approach, the results, discussing implications for the system under study, and critically evaluating your findings. In detail, you need to:

•      (Aim/Materials) Identify:

◦ and describe a suitable data set which you could apply information theory to;

◦ a set of questions / hypotheses regarding that data set, which information theory could be used to address. For example, these could regard variability in the data, relationships between variables, higher order (conditional or multivariate) relationships, and in particular how these measures / relationships vary with respect to time / condition, etc.

•      (Method) Determine how you need to pre-process the data, and how to apply your information theoretic measures. For example, which measure will you use to answer your question? Which parts of the data set will be analysed? Which estimator is most appropriate, and how to set the parameters for it here?

•      (Results) Apply your analysis, and report the results. Don't forget that your insights may suggest new analyses that would be interesting to perform, and you shouldn't be afraid to revisit and adjust your questions and then perform additional analyses.

•      (Discussion) Provide a discussion and critical evaluation of your findings. In particular, you should include: How can your results be interpreted, and what insights do they give about the system? Are your results statistically significant? Additional aspects to include as critical analysis will vary based on your experiment, but may include for example: how your

analysis could be improved, how the work could be extended in future, whether the findings may add insights to other systems, etc.

A description of each of the above should be contained in both your presentation and report. You can see that the sections are structured as per a typical scientific lab report.

You must include your code in an appendix of the report. (This will not be included in the word count).

There are many potential sources of data which you could analyse here. These include but are not limited to: open data sets identified during your investigations for assessment 1; sources you know from your background domain; open data sets listed on the discussion board, or found via other searching; or generating your own data from simulations of complex systems (like our Ant foraging example in Module 8). It is perfectly fine to reproduce the results from an existing paper on an open data set, provided the task matches the above specification.



1. Structure – telling a story about the dynamics of and/or relationships in the system
 

 20
Little to no structure and logical sequence of information. Difficult or impossible to understand or follow what was done here.
Loose organisation.

Presentation difficult understand and/or follow.

Sticks to time/slide budget.
Information easy to follow. Well structured and conveys all required information well.
Information presented in logical, interesting sequence telling a good story of the insights obtained about the system. Very well structured and increases knowledge of the class about this system.
Outstanding and compelling presentation of a story about the system using informationtheoretic tools. Conveys new information to increase knowledge of the class about this complex system in an outstanding fashion.
 


Appropriate visual aids if used.
Excellent interesting and wellpaced delivery with good use of voice, tone, diction and pausing. Excellent posture, eye contact and rapport with audience. Thoughts articulated clearly with very few vocalized pauses (uh, well uh, um).

Excellent use of visual aids where used.
Informative, well paced and entertaining delivery.

Outstanding posture, eye contact and rapport with audience. Reacts to audience feedback with ease and confidence.

Thoughts articulated clearly with entire audience engaged. No vocalized pauses noticed. Exemplary use of visual aids (where used).
 
10
3. Application of information theory in this project
 

25
Little to no appropriate content and/or grasp of information presented.

Little to no evidence of relevant work.
Content generally appropriate but not well developed. Data set / methods may not be well selected, and results/analysis may be inappropriate, somewhat incomplete or clearly better choices could have been made.

Evidence of some relevant work.
Content appropriate to purpose, with applicable data set, appropriate methods used, and commendable results/analysis. Evidence of work relevant to the topic.

Good understanding of material 

presented
Content fully appropriate to purpose, with very appropriate data set, good choice of methods, and very good (completed) results/analysis.

Evidence of very good work relevant to topic.

Excellent understanding of material presented.
Outstanding application of information theory, comprising an interesting well-chosen data set and analysis question(s), wellinformed choice of method, and excellent (completed) results/analysis.

Evidence of significant work fully 

relevant to topic, in particular going beyond standard approaches to adapt methods for this data set / question. Outstanding level of understanding in material presented.
 
25
4. Discussion and critical analysis
 25
Little to no relevant discussion or 

critical analysis of the material 

presented
Rudimentary discussion or critical analysis provided, perhaps of peripheral issues, adding little to our understanding.
Good discussion conveying well what the analysis means for the system. Good critical analysis of a number of issues regarding the analysis, some in depth
Strong discussion of the findings and what they mean for the system here. Strong critical analysis of the issues related to the analysis, including statistical significance, plus other relevant aspects.
Outstanding discussion of the findings and what they mean for the system here. Outstanding critical analysis of the issues related to the analysis, including statistical significance if relevant, plus other relevant aspects.
 
25
5. Response to questions
20
Failure to answer questions about subject from audience
Can answer rudimentary questions from audience
Can answer most questions with ease but fails to elaborate on some questions
Can answer all questions with ease

Can elaborate on some questions
Elaborates and explains when answering all questions in an outstanding fashion, using question time to increase our depth of knowledge about their work.

Responds confidently and in a friendly manner

1. Aims/Materials
15
Rudimentary description of the system/data set  and questions/ hypotheses investigated in the project
As for a pass but including an adequate description of the data set, and a list of specific question/hypotheses of the project and how these questions are connected to the system.
As for credit but including well thought out justification for why information theory is an appropriate approach to be used here.
As for distinction but showing outstanding insights and an advanced level of awareness of the the connection between the system/data and the proposed use of information theory to investigate it.
 
15
2. Method
20
Rudimentary overview of how the data will be analysed, and which measures will be used.
Adequate and specific description of the analysis, including how data needed to be pre-processed, which measures will be used, how estimator and parameter selection will be approached.
As per credit but demonstrating further insights into how the information-theoretic tools should be used here.
As per distinction but at a level that demonstrates outstanding professional awareness of the task at hand.
 
20
3. Results of informationtheoretic analysis
35
A rudimentary data analysis producing some results
As for pass but a complete analysis which reasonably addresses the questions/hypotheses.
As for credit but a complete analysis, with evidence of very solid work in 

choosing/evaluating best parameter choices, estimator types etc., and/or variation of analysis where required to produce different/further insights.
Outstanding use of information theory to address the questions/ hypothesis, measure/estimator/ parameter selection in a deep fashion, well designed and executed to deliver constructive insights about the system/data set.