1 introduction to projects general information. 2 people lectures information systems/bit - Phil Clipsham computing programmes – Kevin Parrott multimedia.

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introduction to projects

general information

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people

lectures information systems/bit - Phil Clipsham computing programmes – Kevin Parrott multimedia technology – Tony Ackroyd

project administrator Laura Macleod room M345

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times and places

information systems/bit Tuesday 2.00-3.00pm room QA065

computing programmes Wednesday 6.00-7.00pm room QA280 Friday 9.00-10.00am room KW315

multimedia technology Tuesday 5.00-6.00pm room SL101

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what is a final year project?

a sustained piece of individual work of between 150 and 200 hours

Planned by you with guidance from your supervisor and the project lectures

Written up by you as a Project report of around 12,000 words

Assessed on your Report and a Demonstration by your supervisor and a second-marker

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why is your project is important!

your main opportunity to carry out a important, individual piece of work

counts for ¼ of your final year must be included in the calculation of

your final degree classification will be used when writing references for

you – for work or for further study

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Have you registered for projects?

If you haven’t, go to the project website and register there

Do this by the end of this week Not registering for projects means that

you have not been allocated a supervisor! You can’t do a project without one ….

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introduction to projects

assessment of your project

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What is assessed?

three final deliverables project report development logbook (+ any web based

uploads) A demonstration of your product, ideas and

knowledge to your supervisor and second marker

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How are they marked? marked by two academics

your supervisor a second marker

The final mark combines three individual items: your written report your development logbook (online) your demonstration of your product and knowledge

Document all your activity on your project either in the report or the logbook so that you gain marks for it all.

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development logbook must include (by upload through the project website) :

project proposal (i.e. your plan - see later!)

(this plan must be agreed by supervisor before you can continue)

initial report - literature study/data collection interim report your electronic diary (make sure you add to it regularly!) a summary of how the development took place, what you

have learnt, problems you have encountered and so on. Anything else uploaded into your area on project website

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Deliverables

Activity Date due

Project Proposal 30/10/2006

Initial Report 4/12/2006

Interim Report 22/1/2007

Completed Project(Report + Implementation)

19/3/2007

Demonstration 20/3/2007-23/3/2007

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introduction to projects

planning your project

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The importance of a plan

What does a 3rd Year Project look like?1. The idea 2. The research3. The implementation4. The evaluation

You cannot and should not attempt a Project without a plan

Why not - what do you think would happen?

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a project plan for you to follow

Collect data and research

Evaluate and conclude

implement something specific

Come up with a good idea

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deciding on a projecttopic

Come up with a good idea

Produce a project topic checklist

Generate ideas for project topic

Investigate and short-list ideas

Make final selection

document project topic

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types of projects Build something

involving the design and implementation of a system.

Evaluate something an evaluation of a particular system in terms of its function,

performance or human-computer interaction.

Analyse something an analysis of particular policies or strategies with respect to

the implementation of computing techniques or methods in organisations.

Investigate something practical experiments or investigations into particular systems

or comparisons of alternatives

Come up with a good idea

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what should an IS project be about?

an IS project should be concerned with:

understanding aspects about information systems

applying principles from other courses (or elsewhere)

understanding and modelling problems reflecting and appraising how to build

information systems

Come up with a good idea

Topic Checklist

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what should a Computing project be about?

Come up with a good idea

a Computing project should be concerned with:

Understanding important aspects of software systems

Applying principles from other courses (or elsewhere)

Understanding and modelling quasi-realistic problems

Reflecting and appraising how to build software systems

Topic Checklist

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what should a MM project be about?

a Multimedia project should be concerned with:

understanding aspects about multimedia systems

applying principles from other courses (or elsewhere)

understanding and modelling problems reflecting and appraising how to build

multimedia systems

Come up with a good idea

Topic Checklist

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What would the final details look like?

Requirements Capture/Analysis user / client / peer / supervisor / employer

Research – theory /concepts Review – existing products

Evaluate idea

Design, Develop, Build

Test – based on req. analysis

Evaluate – product and process

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What should you do now? Set objectives/tasks for your project

Three general tasks:1. Research 2. Build 3. Evaluate

Collect as much information as you can about your project

Write a draft project proposal based on your plan so far and what you know

Arrange a meeting with your supervisor Meet with your supervisor and discuss your

project proposal!

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What will your supervisor ask you about?

What are you going to research? (using textbooks, journals, Google …)

What is your product? How are you going to evaluate it?

The more you read about your chosen project topic the better you can answer these questions. But your answers should already be written down in your …. PLAN!

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Exercise (part 1)

Write down a title that summarises your project idea

write down What areas you will READ AND RESEARCH

What you will DESIGN AND BUILD

What you will EVALUATE

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Exercise (part 2)

Work with the student alongside you Explain your project and the outlines that

you have written Be critical with each other’s ideas Grade each other!

Well prepared Some preparation Poorly prepared

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Some advice

do not concentrate on your project work to the extent that work on your other courses suffers as a result!

…but do not work on the other courses at the expense of your project

Keep realistic – you may not be able to achieve all you want to do but a PLAN will help you sort this out.

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how to fail your project

1. don’t plan

2. don’t produce specifications or designs

3. avoid your supervisor

4. start as late as possible

5. don’t prepare for any meeting or presentation

6. make sure anything you hand in is unreadable

7. pick something trivial/impossible to do

8. put all your eggs in one basket