Progress Update

For the benefit of Tristan, this is a definition of succinct:
1.expressed in few words; concise; terse.
2.characterised by conciseness or verbal brevity.

I know how you like your essays! :o)

So, for a summary of the blog below - we have completed:
- Presentation
- Project Plan
- All of the research - bar J.Williams interview
- Interview with M.Patterson

To do:
- Summarise design requirement results
- Begin application interface design
- Carry out video shoots
- Conduct J.Williams interview

Sam

Over the first hurdle, but a stumble at the second!

*Breathes a sigh of relief.* After exercising the magic of succinctness last week which saw a number of our slides get the boot, we gave our week 5 project presentation yesterday and I believe it went really well. Sam and I both presented our slides very clearly which I thought successfully covered all the main points of our research and project plan without any waffle whatsoever. Dead chuffed with that I was! Now that the nerves have settled, I can write this next blog entry!
Our written project plan has been completed and was submitted at the presentation.
The research, apart from the preparation for the Jean Williams interview, has been completed, and so the focus is now on this and the design requirements gathering study. This unfortunately will overrun its deadline of Monday 30th October 2006; I contacted the Canterbury Guiding Commissioner last night who said that she will have responses from a Guiding group and a Brownie group the week after half term (half term being this week). This is because the groups do not meet during the half term week. Therefore, I should be able to collect them from her earliest Saturday 4th November 2006 and start creating the project design requirements. Damned half term! Grrrrrr!
But, to end this latest post on a positive, I will add that the Mark Patterson interview we conducted on Monday 16th October 2006 went very well. His answers to our questions were very informative and useful (he had even prepared some of his answers beforehand! What a nice chap), and the footage we captured and its sound came out very well. We captured around fifteen minutes of raw footage including a number of takes! I am glad that the interview was not too long because we should be able to include all of it in the application. If it was lengthy, children are likely to lose interest whilst watching it, and so this would mean omitting some of the questions which would be a shame.
Well, for us until the next batch of design requirements responses are received, it's happy reading of Jean Williams' book.

Over and out.
Tristan.

We've got the ball rolling...in fact it's speeding along

Well, I post this message with much satisfaction because it's mostly good news so far. With the research almost done and the project plan almost all drawn up things are looking pretty damn good (all nicely converted into 3rd person!). The Gantt chart will allow us to properly oversee and manage the progress of our project and has given us a clear path to follow to ensure that it's completed on time. I have identified all risks which each include a plan of action ready and waiting in case they dare strike!
The Mark Patterson interview about the situation of girls' football in Canterbury has been successfully arranged for this coming Monday and a seminar room booked out for it in the Electronics department.
I have received the first set of responses from the very helpful Canterbury Guiding Commissioner for the design requirements gathering study. The concern however is the unpredictability of when we will receive more; this depends on the co-operation of the various Guiding leaders around Canterbury. An estimation of when we will complete this study has been made for the project plan. Fingers crossed we meet this deadline!
I have made some major additions to web site; it now has an "About" page explaining the final year project and how we arrived at our idea. There is also a "Technology" section that includes Sam's research into the software and hardware that will be used for the implementation of the application. We have each written a biography for "The project team" section.
We will start rehearsing our presentation on Monday as planned which will definitely result in performing a major shaving operation on it's content. We've only got about seventeen slides so far(!). "Succinct" will certainly be our favourite word of week 4!

Over and out.
Tristan.

Access all areas

Success! The blog is up and running and the project is now in full swing. Research, CD-ROM evaluations, football club investigation and questionnaire distribution has taken place over the summer.
First meeting with our project supervisor Ania, has been held (see mins of meeting for details) and interview with M. Patterson is scheduled to take place in week 3.