cis3.2 term project

sklar/fall-2005

last updated: 08-nov-05/sklar

  • The term project is worth 30 points in total. The distribution of points is indicated below.

  • The project will be done in groups, as assigned by me, based on your input. If at any time, you are having problems with your group, please contact me ASAP!

  • The project should be completed in parts, as indicated below.

  • The project will consist of documentation, web implementation and an oral presentation. The documentation should be emailed to me, preferably as PDF files. Bring a hardcopy of the entire final documentation to class on December 13.

  • Except for part 7, all the other parts should be submitted as a group (i.e., I only need one copy from all of you).


    project description

    The term project is designed to give you a chance to work with some of the ideas we have been discussing this term, by applying them to a real-world application and implementing a limited web site. I will be providing a server for you to upload your site to, so that you can share it with your group-mates, classmates, room-mates and other mates :-) We will discuss in class how to access this server, after the 2nd exam and before Thanksgiving.

    The project consists of 7 parts, as described below. The entire project is due on the last day of class TUESDAY DEC 13. As indicated below, drafts of some of the parts will be due earlier, to help you make incremental progress with the project.

    Some of the parts will require research to answer the questions. Some of the parts will require design and writing code. Your team should meet in person and/or online and/or in the lab to determine the distribution of tasks.

    1. motivation and background
      (4 points) DRAFT DUE NOVEMBER 23
      This part consists of documentation that addresses the following questions/issues:
      • What is the purpose of the site?
      • What type of site is it (e.g., e-tail, portal, etc.)
      • What community does it contribute to? Who is the audience for the site? (e.g., consumers of fishing gear) Include a profile of your user base (e.g., average income, gender and age groups, etc.)
      • What contribution will your site make? How? (It doesn't need to be unique!)
      • What is your competition? Look for other sites that exist in the same niche as your site. List their URLs and provide a critique of each site. You should have at least 3 sites listed here.
      This should be written as text.

    2. functions
      (4 points) DRAFT DUE NOVEMBER 29
      Here you need to answer the questions:
      What will the site do and how?
      Describe the types of functions that your site will support, for example, user login, shopping cart, chat room. Note that you don't have to worry about how to implement all of these. Either you will implement a subset or I will provide you with utilities to implement the pieces that you don't know how to implement.
      This should be a high-level design, written as text and including any diagrams where helpful.

    3. design
      (5 points) DRAFT DUE NOVEMBER 29
      What is the web design of your site? Detail each page and show a tree of how the pages connect to each other. For example, how many pages can you get to from the home page? Can you get back to the home page from all of the sub-pages?
      Recall the good and bad points of web design that we discussed when critiquing web sites in class.
      This should be a text and diagram design description.

    4. implementation
      (5 points) DUE DECEMBER 13
      This is where you write the code that actually implements the site. As above, I will be providing you with tools to do some things (like user logins, shopping cart and possibly other interactive functions). Your code should be written in HTML and Javascript. It must follow the design that you've described in the previous part.

    5. documentation
      (4 points) DUE DECEMBER 13
      Describe the underlying aspects of your site. What is the business model? How will the internet help your company or organization? If it is a non-profit, how will you get funding to sustain the site? What are the costs associated with maintaining the site once it has been designed and built? How will you sustain the site? What kind of personnel will you need (e.g., bicycle delivery people, field service representatives)? What computer hardware will you require (e.g., fast server, large database, ipods for all field service employees)? What software will you require (e.g., database server software)?
      Obviously, these things are speculative, but do a little research and refer to the notes and readings from the beginning of the term to answer these questions reasonably.
      What is missing from the site? What would you like to do with it in future if you had the time, skills, etc.? What about the site is broken, that you know of?

    6. oral presentation
      (5 points) DUE DECEMBER 13
      On the last day of class (DECEMBER 13), your team will present your site to the class. Using powerpoint (or other presentation software), you should put together a presentation that briefly describes the points outlined in steps 1, 2 and 5. You should also demo your site to the class. EVERY TEAM MEMBER MUST PARTICIPATE IN THE PRESENTATION! Be clear about your roles and divide up the presentation logically. For example, the person who wrote most of the code should demo the site; the person who researched other sites can talk about that; etc.

    7. team assessment
      (3 points) DUE DECEMBER 13
      INDIVIDUALLY, please answer the following questions.
      1. Who was on your team?
      2. What was your role on the team?
      3. What were your other team members roles?
      4. How did you contribute to the completion of the project?
      5. How did your team members contribute to the completion of the project?
      6. Were there any problems? If yes, please describe.
      THIS PART MUST BE COMPLETED!!! WITHOUT IT, YOU WILL GET A 0 FOR THE WHOLE PROJECT.