28th October

So last Friday we received on email detailing who our supervisor was. I was assigned Oliver O'Connor which i was pleased about. So after my classes on Friday I went around to his office to introduce myself just in case he had forgotten who I was :)

During our talk it was established that if i was to do this project it would be required fir it to be more detailed and in 3D. So with this i became worried as I have had no preference with doing anything in 3D. I thought it was time to think up a backup project cause i didn't see the marauder's map happening for me.

Over the weekend, i asked Brian to come up with some ideas. He came up with one which i thought was quite good. A project management system for final year students. With this i got to work with brain-storming and then creating a mind-map.

The idea evolved into this:
The project would be web based with a database back end. The student will be able to set up some tasks for the week and the Supervisor would also be able to set tasks for the students by logging onto their own GUI.

A schedule of these tasks will be kept in a visual calendar, this calendar will also note the dates of importance such as hand up dates etc. When a student fails to upload/complete a task the supervisor and student will be notified.

The system will also be a means of backing up the students work and documents.

A fourm will also be used. there are a few areas i was thinking that this would be useful. the first would be for documents such as the proposal as it follows a uniform method. This would help with the assignment of the supervisors and provide a clear description of what the project is aimed at.

User authentication will play a big part as each user will have their unique properties.

Provide a blog for the students, this will help with the final dissertation. the user should be able to edit etc. as the student feels fit.

News updates:
The users will be able to view any news updates that would be set by the course coordinator or even by Damian Gordon. This that would appear here would be, upcoming course topics and changes in schedule.


This project, i feel is more for me as it would incorporate the technologies that i would be more familiar and comfortable with and project management skills. So my next step now is to have another meeting with Oliver to explain my plans and to email Damien to notify him and ask for his advice.

proposal to propose

Last week saw people desperate of coming up with their project ideas to had in for a draft proposal. Myself, I was trying to make contact with mark foley who had been missing from action as he was away at some conference. Finally i managed to have a brief chat with him on the thursday and gave him my idea. He said it was a "runner" but there was the minor problem of getting the structural plans of the building, which he said he would contact the media department in aungier street to try and get a hold of them. He also said he would be emailing me a reply to an email i sent asking him would he be my project supervisor ( still waiting for that reply ).

In the meantime I started my own investigation into getting my hands on a copy of the building plans. I went to martin Dunne as he would have some knowledge being involved with the grange gorman building plans. He was able to give me names of people to get in contact with and so i sent them on an email. Brian Fordes got back to me with floor plans in a DGW format and once i downloaded a viewer for this i was glad to see that the files looked exactly what i needed.

So now i am going to have to complete the draft proposal and get a definite answer from mark foley about being my project manager. Fingers crossed that this week will be a non stressful one.

5th October

I went through some more ideas for projects that were provded by the lecturers. There were some good ones in there but i did not see myself doing most of them. one of them stood out to me very much, the marauders map. This was a project idea supplied by Damien Gordon.
After email him to further explain/elaborate on the project idea i grew more interest. It was to be a web based application that provided a 3d version of the DIT kevin street building that would enable a user to be able to find there way from one place to another. It was to display the route the person would need to follow to get there.

So here is the delema, if i was to do this project then it would mean that I will have to obviously pick GIS as my option ( which I think i would really enjoy ) but this could end up being more work than i bargened for. My way of thinking around this is that I feel i sould allow myself to take that chance and do something that I would consider fun, as up to now, i feel as if i haven't really found a subject that i have really enjoyed in college.

So for next week i am to draw up a paliminary project proposal and i don't think i am in anyway of a position to do so. I might just make up two ( as if one isn't enough ) just to cover myself. Hopefully the lecturer will be back on monday to do some work in GIS and I will get to see what the practical side of the course is like.