CSC 484: Projects Overview
and Details of Milestone 2
This writeup provides an overview of the class project, and details for project milestone 2. Further details of Milestones 3 and 4 will be discussed next week, once project topics are finalized.
The details of class projects will vary, depending on the specific topic your team is working on. The general project milestones are as follows:
M1: brainstorm, present storyboards (coincides with Assignment 2)
M2: get to know your users and their requirements
M3: do scenarios and/or prototyping; design and conduct usability study
M4: give final presentation; submit final product and report
The specific content of project deliverables will vary, depending on your topic. The common deliverables required for all projects are the following:
The layout and organization of the website is left to the creative imagination of each team. It must provide easy access to all of the electronic project deliverables.
The Milestone 2 deliverable must be posted on the project website by 11 AM Wednesday 14 May.
Milestone 2 has a format similar to the introductory section of a software requirements document. It presents an overview of the project, plus information about the problems addressed, the stakeholders, and their environment. For 484, there is specific emphasis on cognitive and social aspects of the user community.
The following are the specific required sections of the requirements analysis. You may add any additional sections of information that you think are pertinent to a high-level project requirements analysis.
1. Introduction
State the vision for the project. Provide a high-level summary of what the project is about, and why it's interesting.
1.1. Problem Statement
State the specific problem(s) the project addresses. Describe why the problems are important, and how your solution will help.
1.2. Scope of the Project
State the scope of the project and any specific limitations.
1.3. User Community
Identify the intended users of your product and/or study.
1.3.1. Psychological and Cognitive Analysis
Using the concepts discussed in Chapter 3 of the book, identify the important psychological and cognitive aspects of your user community. Find peer-reviewed research that supports your analysis. Find articles, not necessarily peer-reviewed, that provide additional useful information.
1.3.2. Social and Demographic Analysis
Using the concepts discussed in Chapters 4 and 5, identify the important social and demographic aspects of your user community. Find peer-reviewed research that supports your analysis. Find articles, not necessarily peer- reviewed, that provide additional useful information.
1.3.3. Usability Study Participants
Identify very specifically, by name if appropriate, who the participants of your usability study will be. All teams may use other members of CSC 484 as study participants, if they think that will be beneficial. 1
1.4. Other Project Stakeholders
Identify all of the other stakeholders for your project. Use the general categories of stakeholder outlined in Lecture Notes Week 2, and Chapter 9 of the book.
1.5. Operational Environment
Define the environment in which your product will operate, in terms of software, hardware, people, and any other aspects of the physical environment.
1.6. Related Projects of Products
Review other projects or products with goals and objectives similar to yours.
References
References to articles cited in the document. Use ACM Computing Surveys citation and bibliography format. See
http://surveys.acm.org/Authors.html?searchterm=authors#ManuscriptPreparation
In the PDF version of this writeup, lines that have been changed or added are
denoted with vertical bars in the right margin, as is this paragraph. The
table below describes the specifics of each change or addition.
Date Page Description 28 April First distribution, paper copies handed out in class. 5 may 1 Changed project presentation dates from Weeks 7 and 10 to weeks 8 and 11. 2 Added Section 1.3.3 to the requirements document outline. Footnotes:
1 It is likely that not all class members will be able to participate as subjects in all studies. We will determine scheduling and logistic details by the end of Week 7 of class.