introduction to mm/g/wt projects

1
introduction to mm/g/wt projects

• general information

2
people

• lectures
• information systems/bit - Phil Clipsham
• computing programmes Kevin Parrott
• multimedia games webtech 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, games, webtech
• 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 .

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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.

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

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Deliverables
Activity Date due
Project Proposal 23/10/2006
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?
• 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

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what should a MM project be about?

• a Multimedia project should be concerned with
• understanding some aspects about multimedia
  systems
• applying principles from a variety courses (or
  elsewhere)
• understanding and modelling problems
• reflecting and appraising how to build multimedia
  systems

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

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

• Design, Develop, Build

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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!

20
What will your supervisor expect / ask?

• 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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adopt a balanced approach

• 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
• you will not be able to achieve all you want to
  do!!

22
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

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Exercise (part 1)

• Write down a title that summarises your project
  idea
• write down some objectives for your project

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Exercise (part 2)

• Get into a group of 2 or 3 people
• Explain your project and the outlines that you
  have written
• Be critical with each others ideas