*gulp*

[katster]

Still haven't come up with a final project idea. And the clock is ticking. (The one's I've got are neat, but I don't know if they're up to my skills.)

Whee.

http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/academics/masters/final_project/ -- the last little while of final projects can be found there.

[Edit 8:52 PM: Lemme add some clarification to this: It has to meet these criteria. It's gotta be something that I could get done on my own in a little less than three months without forgoing eating, sleeping, or my other classes. (And I'm not much of a programmer.) And it has to deal with some aspect of information management. So, given these criteria, is there some sort of web application that you would really really want?]

Comments

[tangaroa.livejournal.com]

So, what are the ideas?</interested>

Re:

[katster.livejournal.com]

The ones folks have suggested here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/katster/382228.html

But I'm not sure if my programming fu is up to it.

-kat

Then try the programming bar ;)

[tangaroa.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... From what I've heard, I believe hitchhiker's suggestion is called Microsoft Sharepoint Server. That might be out of your range. You'd have to know what to build each individual module on, and how to connect them together, and so on.

siliconshaman's idea interests me because I'm a GIS nerd. You would need to get the GIS data in the first place, and then have special fields for the data table that are used by the search program, for instance, every object has a field called Name. Then google for "fullname" + "region", each individual word in fullname, and so on, assign some kind of ranking mechanism, and present. I'm not very familiar with GIS programming options. UMN Mapserver can be programmed with, but it's set up to reload from file every operation, making it slow. Still, it will work. slipjig's added suggestions bring to mind the idea of making [parts of] the database table user-editable.

rbos's idea is interesting, mainly for the fact that it's just over my head and I'd have no idea where to start with it.

tamnonlinear's idea is a bit vague... If I'm reading this right, aren't the job announcements themselves telling you what you need to get into the position? Perhaps a job announcement database? more strict parameters are needed, since I don't know where to start implementing something like that. If it's not going to be database backed, someone could just throw up a wiki, and that's not really much of a project.

I initially misread that as suggesting a database of user skills, and thought, Sourceforge already kind of lists programmer experience. Something different I've imagined before is a way of confirming a user's experience, like making sure someone who calls themselves a C expert can write a pointer to a function. The difficulty there comes in figuring out how to automate questions in a way that people can't cheat on it.

In sum, I like siliconshaman's and rbos's ideas the best.

Re: Then try the programming bar ;)

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Hey thanks !! For a rip-off of one of Willam Gibbson's ideas it's not bad. [I only pilfer from the best!]

Hey Katster, you could maybe make it easier for yourself if you use Google's API's for the core of the search engine. [check out the google art today too, seriously cool!]

Re: Then try the programming bar ;)

[katster.livejournal.com]

It's a thought. I'm actually sorta leaning towards a neighborhood guide, but I'm trying to play around and get my head behind an idea. Nothing's really sparked the "oh my god this would be cool!" button, but...

As for the google art, it's pretty cool. :)

-kat

Party Pooping

[shmuelisms.livejournal.com]

I'd rather not be a gate-crasher, but I must point out that the data needed is more complex than one would initially think. You would need to know, for instance, the exact shape of each building, in order to calculate line-of-sight stuff, just to be able to construct a 3D model, in order to identify the buildings being viewed.

I would find it extremely doubtful this info could be easily had in the Land of Home Security Inc. I say this, so dear Katster doesn't get too sunk in this project too easily.

Best of luck, to you, yo Kat!

[vacheestfachee.livejournal.com]

:) definitely a geeky prize:

"1st -- $1024.00
2nd -- $512.00
3rd -- $256.00"

I am amused...


Good luck to you in finding your project! I can't really be helpful with that (not a programmer chick), but I wish you the best.

Re:

[katster.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm amused too. Although I doubt I'll win one.

As for ideas, is there any sort of web application you've wished you had and didn't? That's the sort of thing I'm looking for.

-kat

I cannot get to the requirements

[faithwallis.livejournal.com]

I cannot get to either link. Could you post the requirements or show me what I'm doing wrong?

I'm generally good at brainstorming something like this.

Faith (da Virtue on alt.callahans and FaithW-- on #c)

Re: I cannot get to the requirements

[katster.livejournal.com]

Weird. I just clicked through to both links and they seem to work fine.

The first link is simply past projects, which I only include mainly to give folks an idea of the scope of the project. Since that's hard to copy over, I'll just have to leave it.

However, the criteria are very easily pasted over. Here ya go:

First round judges will select the top five projects for the competition for the Chen prize. The judges may also award certificates of merit for projects that are outstanding in one or more of the following criteria:

1. Originality. Is the work original and creative?
   
2. Meeting a need. Was there a needs assessment in the case of a project, or adequate problem statement/motivation in the case of a paper?
   
3. Process. Was there a coherent plan/process followed in the implementation or research process?
   
4. Interface. Is the interface intuitive and well implemented? In the case of a research project is it well written and organized?
   
5. Evaluation. Was there an evaluation of how well it met the perceived need? If a paper, are the results convincing?
   
6. Viability. Is the project likely to be used? If it is a research paper, will it serve as a platform for future research?
   
7. Presentation. Was the oral presentation excellent?
   
8. Overall quality. Is the project or paper of high quality?
   

Thanks for any help you can give.

-kat

OK, here's some thoughts...

[faithwallis.livejournal.com]

Are you part of a club, activity, or outside interest group that could use an information gathering, display, and analysis device?

One thought is an update to the Callahan's Cookbook. But this time, also provide an interface to allow folks to add recipes to the cookbook and a way to index and search the recipes. You might also find a way to scale it for portions. Says that this has to fill a need...is there a need? You might check on a.c. and/or #c...

Another thought...if you do any type of handiwork that requires patterns, maybe an auto-pattern-maker? If you knit, a "sweater pattern maker" that would spit out a pattern based on specifications...there is one for bear sweaters somewhere out there, but this might be more sophisticated with more bells and whistles. Is there a need? I'm not sure.

Another is to set up a greenhouse and control the care and feeding of the plants by computer. How about a weather station setup with a computer for oncampus weather reports?

I know I'd love a mini-computer in my kitchen that would allow me to keep inventory on the fridge and know when to buy things each week. (Maybe PDA technology? Build a barcode scanner?) I do know this one has been put together in a "future kitchen" but don't know if you could add differences to differentiate your product.

This one may sound kinda wierd but a Mom's Assistant might be nice. When my daughter was born, the nurse prompted us to keep track of her diapers on paper. We found it was the first thing that was asked when we called a nurse after "What's her temperature?" Could you produce a PDA product that would give the mom access to basic first aid info, a thermometer that would read on the PDA, and a place to keep track of diapers and contents? One thing that would help with the first aid info is if it read the first aid info if you hit a button and your PDA had sound. Totally hands free and you could pay attention to the squirming and squalling kid.

Just my 2 cents worth....

[zorbathut.livejournal.com]

Here's one. I was going through the Stony Brook Off-Campus Housing Search Page and being amazed with how useless it was. Examples:

You can't choose "bus range or closer."
There's absolutely no way to find out vaguely where the house is - I can see security problems with providing an address, but can I at least get a general area?
The "maximum rent" isn't in any specific timeframe - most of the time it's monthly, but some people do 4-week and some are weekly.
The "transportation range" numbers are provided by the person placing the house, and many of them are dead-wrong. (In the last week, I've been to one place within "bike range" that was 5 blocks away, one within "car range" that's literally on a bus route, and one within "walking range" that was 30 blocks away, or 10 blocks if you want to wait an hour for a bus.)

Here's what I want: You set up your constraints and it shows a map of the area, with houses marked in some sort of visual manner. One icon for "room-to-rent", another icon for "studio apartment", and so forth. Different shades for different prices. Bus routes and train routes marked on the map - as far as I'm concerned that can be a static image, though.

It would also be *really* nice if there was some sort of a message board attached to each house so people could make notes, i.e. "the person hasn't mentioned it, but there are six kids and seventeen dogs in this house" or "this is an absolutely fabulous place as long as you don't want to cook, which is the only reason I didn't take it" or "WARNING: INSANE LANDLORD". Or even "as of 1/19/03 this person told me the room is taken, so I'm not sure why this is still up." But that's not necessary.

I think this would be about the right scale, and useful as well ;)