introduction to projects

1
introduction to projects

• general information

2
people

• lectures
• information systems/bit - Phil Clipsham
• computing programmes Kevin Parrott
• multimedia technology Tony Ackroyd
• project administrator
• Laura Macleod room M345

3
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

4
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

5
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

6
Have you registered for projects?

• If you havent, 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 cant do a
  project without one .

7
introduction to projects

• assessment of your project

8
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

9
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.

10
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

11
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
12
introduction to projects

• planning your project

13
The importance of a plan

• What does a 3rd Year Project look like?
• The idea
• The research
• The implementation
• The evaluation
• You cannot and should not attempt a Project
  without a plan
• Why not - what do you think would happen?

14
a project plan for you to follow
Collect data and research
15
deciding on a projecttopic
Produce a project topic checklist
Generate ideas for project topic
Investigate and short-list ideas
Make final selection
document project topic
16
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

17
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

Topic Checklist
18
what should a Computing project be about?

• 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
19
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

Topic Checklist
20
What would the final details look like?

• Requirements Capture/Analysis
• user / client / peer / supervisor / employer
• Research theory /concepts
• Review existing products

• Test based on req. analysis
• Evaluate product and process

• Design, Develop, Build

21
What should you do now?

• Set objectives/tasks for your project
• Three general tasks
• Research
• Build
• 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!

22
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!

23
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

24
Exercise (part 2)

• Work with the student alongside you
• Explain your project and the outlines that you
  have written
• Be critical with each others ideas
• Grade each other!
• Well prepared
• Some preparation
• Poorly prepared

25
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.

26
how to fail your project

• dont plan
• dont produce specifications or designs
• avoid your supervisor
• start as late as possible
• dont prepare for any meeting or presentation
• make sure anything you hand in is unreadable
• pick something trivial/impossible to do
• put all your eggs in one basket