*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

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....