Analysis of a Professional Journal
Analysis of a Professional Journal
Introduction
I am looking into an article that goes by the title: Self-driving Cars Meet Rubber Duckies. This article was published in April 20, 2016, by Adam Conner-Simons. This article got published in the MIT news (Conner-Simons, 2016). I found the article on the internet as I was making a research on the fast modification of cars over the years. I picked this article because it touches on an area that I am so passionate about. It is everyone’s dream to own a self-driving car at one time or the other. According to Conner-Simons (2016), the article touches on a topic that everyone in the world dreams about. With a constant share of ideas about the issue of Self-driving cars then this project will come out a success very soon.
The article aims at creating a foundation for engineers and researchers interested in exploring the world of cars. With the experiments carried out by the students of MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligent Laboratories, Computer scientists have a platform to embark on in their work to create better vehicles (Conner-Simons, 2016). The article also purposes to increase the attention the world has on self-driving vehicles because once there is a new idea concerning the matter the world has to react.
Additionally, with more attention on the matter, then researchers increase their pace in inventing models that are closer to the most anticipated model of car. The language of the author is very simple and very clear to everyone reading the article. The simple language of the author has made it simple for the casual readers to interpret the information as per his expectations. The readers understand and spread the news about the self-driving cars and thus promoting the idea of self-driving cars. The simple language works well for the engineers and computer scientists because it is simple for them to relate to the casual people who may require further knowledge concerning the matter.
Article Structure and Introduction
The article is organized in an appropriate way easy to convey the message to the audience in a faster manner. The brief description of Duckietown and its intentions is a good idea because it attracts the attention of the reader (Conner-Simons, 2016). The article goes further to explain about future ambitions on self-driving cars and the importance of the students trip to Duckietown. The brief description of the future goals on the matter of improved cars acts as a tool to create a common platform for researchers interested in self-driving cars.
Additionally, the article talks about the importance of the study the MIT students carried out in Duckietown. The article goes ahead to explain more about Duckietown engineering. In this section, there are terms that are difficult for the casual readers to understand. The author used some hard terms that can only be understood by engineers and other technicians in that field. The author also discusses much information that is not so much related to the major topic (Conner-Simons, 2016).
The use of the duckie-adorned taxis by the students is scientific, but the experiment requires a lot of attention and research to be actualised (Conner-Simons, 2016). This is okay because the author claims that the experiment that the students carried out is just a tool or a foundation for researchers to form a common ground for a scientist to come up with the real idea. Some improvements can be carried out to increase the scientific nature of the research. The video carried out to demonstrate the process the students used to come up with the duckie-adorned cars can be made clearer by indicating each stage of the experiment (Conner-Simons, 2016). The research can also include a wider range of people such as recognized researchers in the area of modernized cars. According to Conner-Simons (2016), with many experts involved, the study would be of more scientific value.
The study was controlled by scientific facts. The steps carried out to make the self-driven taxis by the students were all scientifically right and used the appropriate scientific theorems. However, the issue of disintegrating the systems is pseudoscience. It is not scientifically right to come up with disintegrated systems and expect them to work perfectly together. Assuming that working with real vehicles would give real challenges also is not practical because with real vehicles the researcher gets a real result.
Moreover, with imaginary vehicles it is very difficult to actualise the idea because the researcher does not come into contact with real challenges. The use of real vehicles would strengthen the research and make it more real. With a real study, scientific terms are applied as required and there is minimum or no pseudoscience. Increasing the number of experienced researchers in the study would also work well in making the study more scientifically correct (Conner-Simons, 2016).
Conclusion
Most parts of the article are properly written. The author has used the right grammar and easy terms that are understandable by all kinds of readers. With the easy language, the casual readers can obtain information on the latest research on modern car models. The simple language enables researchers to relate with the casual readers because it is easy for them to explain about their research. The study carried out by the students is very significant as other researchers and computer scientists can use the information to base their research. The author of the article confirms that the study carried by the students only acts as a tool to help researchers come up with a common platform and language for their study regarding self-driving vehicles.
The content of the article is arranged properly making it easy to follow up. The author decided to attach a video showing how the students carried out their tests making it easier for the reader to relate. Showing a step by step progression would make the video easier to understand. The author goes ahead to explain the steps carried out in the study, but some of the scientific terms make it hard for casual readers to understand. The author’s goals were achieved because he was able to use simple language to rely on information to casual readers and researchers.
Reference
Conner-Simons, A. (2016). Self-driving cars meet rubber duckies. MIT News. Retrieved from http://news.mit.edu/2016/self-driving-cars-meet-rubber-duckies-0420
