FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT AND TECHNOLOGY

MODULAR PROGRAMME

ASSESSED COURSEWORK SPECIFICATION

UFIE9S-20-3 Multimedia Systems:

Contexts and Applications

Coursework Component B2 - Assignment 2010/2011

Instructions

• Individual (5% of module marks)
  Over the course of second semester, at your own pace, you should make at least 10 annotations (URLs, comments etc.) to online transcripts of recordings of selected module lectures given during 2010-2011. Full instructions as to how proceed and details of the marking scheme will be announced on Blackboard and the module website at the start of the second semester
  
• Group (35% of module marks)
  1. Form a group of three to five students (N.B. Group sizes may not vary from this constraint!) , register your group and select your top six preferences for projects (view Project Briefs) . Register using the online registration form.
     (URL = https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MMGroupReg2010 )
     This must be done at the latest by 11:45 PM on Friday 3rd November.
  2. Meet with your allocated client and agree a written project brief with them.
  3. Prepare a group contract and a project plan
  4. Prepare a multimedia project, a presentation about the project and a written report as per the requirements given below.

Deliverables

Three sets of deliverables are required, each with their own deadlines, as follows:-

Deadline 1: First tutorial session of first week of Teaching Block 2, i.e. Friday January 21st, 2011.

Deliverables: To be shown to your module tutor in the first tutorial session of Teaching Block 2 (and to be included as an Appendix in your report as described below)

• Written group contract detailing group members' names, email addresses and telephone numbers and potentially relevant skills and experience.
• Written project brief, including details of methodology/framework to be used for assembling the project. You should explicitly discuss and document your agreed approach to elucidating more detailed requirements from your client.
• Written design plan for producing your multimedia project. This should indicate tasks to be done and who will perform them for the period from January 21st 20011 to Monday May 2nd, 2011.

Deadline 2: By 2 pm Thursday 7th April 2011.

Deliverables

At least 10 annotations to transcripts of recordings of selected lectures from the module. Instructions as to how to proceeed will be supplied in the first lecture of Teaching Block 2, and on Blackboard.

Complete online correction of transcripts from 7 minutes of module lecture recording. Instructions as to how to proceed are posted on the module website, and on Blackboard, as well as being given in the lecture of Friday January 29th 2010. Transcripts may be submiitted at any time between 29th January and 6th May.

Deadline 3: Date in Summer Examinations season 2011 TBC.

All group members must be present in 1N95 to present your project to the course tutors (and possibly some project clients as well).

Deliverables:

• a presentation of your project, including a one-sided, laminated A3 poster summarising the processes and outcomes of your project. ( Your poster should include names and email addresses of all group members. Photographs are optional and you should indicate on the poster if you do not want it to be considered for use in displays of student work on faculty Open Days and similar events
  AND
• a paper-based project report as detailed below (see section "About Your Project")
  AND
• Two (2) complete copies of your project on one (1) full size (i.e no "business card" disks) CD-ROM/DVD-ROM (Macintosh or cross-platform format).

About Your Project

1. You should meet with your client to investigate, describe and analyse their full requirements for the multimedia project.

2. Your project must use at least four different media (e.g. text, spoken voice, sound effects &/or music soundtrack, bit-map graphics, vector graphics, animation, video etc.), not including the integrative format (e.g. Dreamweaver, Quicktime, Director).

3. There must be a significant amount of interactivity in your overall project. You will be expected to highlight the ways in which you achieved this during your presentation.

4. You should also submit on paper (and on two electronic copies of the CD/DVD-ROM containing your project) a project report containing:
   • the brief agreed with the client, documenting the expanded set of requirements
   • presentation materials
   • any maintenance notes for the client(s)
   • initial and refined project plans
   • methodological and other reflections
   • list of major learnings by the group
   • your deliverables from tutorial session of January30th 2009 (as an Appendix)

5. You should limit the combined size of your project and report to 4.2 Gb ( unless your module tutor has agreed otherwise), and provide two copies of the final version on CD-ROM/DVD-ROM to your tutors at the end of your presentation. All disks should be clearly labelled with the name of the group and of the client(s).

6. You should indicate the target distribution medium for your project, and state how this choice has affected your decisions during the design process. For example, depending on whether you are distributing via the World Wide Web (streaming or non-streaming?), or over a high speed LAN, or via CD-ROM you will have different options for most appropriate resolution of sound and graphics files, and hence file sizes

7. The presentation must last for no less than 10 minutes and no more than 15 minutes. For projects involving large amounts of interactivity &/or back-end databases, you should indicate the extent of the work not highlighted during the presentation.

8. You are not restricted to just the applications highlighted on the module, but you must target your project to be demonstrated from your CD-ROM on the Macintosh computers as configured for use in the Multimedia laboratory (1N95). You will be expected to load the files for your project on the central Macintosh in 1N95, and then give your presentation using the main projector and sound system in 1N95. If you have any additional requirements, you should discuss them with your tutor before the date of the presentations.

9. Progression techniques: A presentation consisting of nothing more than successive similar screens (even where several media formats are used) quickly becomes boring. You should make some attempt to prevent this from happening by using some of the following techniques as the presentation progresses:
   • Adding more interactivity
   • Changing the appearance, sounds/music used, colour scheme, graphics used in different sections
   • Simplifying some sections of the presentations to contrast them in relation to other sections
   • Changing the focus of the design metaphor between sections.

Marking

Your assignment will be marked after the presentation session, as the mark is derived from assessment of three elements i.e. your presentation, your poster, your project output and your written report.

During your presentation session, you will be asked to answer questions and discuss how you went about making your project.

It is difficult to give precise marking criteria for such a wide ranging assignment; however, we will use the following guidelines:

• Minimum Pass (40-50)

  For a minimum pass, the following criteria must be met:

  • Presentation at least 15 minutes long
  • Project contains at least the minimum number of media types.
  • Project should at least have a minimum amount of integration of the various formats
  • Report has the requisite sections detailed above

  
  However, the following will prevent you from attaining a higher grade:

  • The presentation may not flow smoothly and there may be obvious transitions between different formats.
  • There may be a number of obvious glitches in the project (e.g. non-responsive buttons, stutters or jitters, inappropriate format resolution, distracting colour schemes).
  • There may be no attempt at development or interactivity during the project.
  • The report is so brief as to be uninformative
  • the expansion of the initial client brief is absent
  
  
  
• Lower Second Class (50-60)

  As for minimum pass, plus:

  • There will be some attempt at including some of the plus points below.
  • There will be some attempt at exemplifying the project's interactivity during the presentation and in the report.
  • the expansion of the initial client brief is present but minimal in its informational content
  
  
  
• Upper Second Class (60-70)
  • The project will probably have more than the minimum amount of media formats or display more than a minimum amount of integration
  • There will be an attempt to reuse files and sequences in more than one part of the project
  • There will be some attempt at varying elements of the presentation in different sections
  • The presentation will flow smoothly from section to section, but with perhaps one obvious transition between sections.
  • There will be no more than one readily apparent glitch in the project
  • At least one of the plus points below will be implemented correctly.
  • There will be significant elements of interactivity in the project
  • There will be some attempt at using the progression techniques given above.
  • The report will be formally complete with correct use of referencing technique, but it may need the project to be accessed, or some commentary from you, in order to clarify all the detail
  • the expansion of the initial client brief is full and addresses expected areas
  
  
  
• First Class (70+)
  • The project will use at least two of the plus points below.
  • The project will probably have much more than the minimum amount of media formats, and may use some advanced features (e.g. scripting)
  • The project will probably use more than the minimum amount of integration of formats, and may involve going beyond simple assembly of components
  • There will be an obvious effort to vary elements of the presentation in different sections
  • The sequence will flow very smoothly from section to section.
  • Animation and interactivity should be appropriate and compelling
  • There will be no obvious glitches in the presentation
  • There will be a distinct development as the presentation progresses and it will engage the audience.
  • The report will fully address all of the headings with complete and correct referencing, and be readable as a document in its own right.
  • the expansion of the initial client brief is full and covers all the areas needed for the project. It is likely to demonstrate several iterations of discussion with the client.

Note that we won't be marking you on aesthetic taste or your choice of project..

Plus Points

You can improve your project by optionally including some or all of the following plus points.

• Using different media to emphasize certain aspects of the project
• Optimizing file sizes and choice of formats for the chosen target distribution mechanism (for example, Fireworks or Photoshop can drastically reduce the size of images intended for WWW download, whereas MP3 might be inappropriate for a target audience of sound engineers!)
• Using dynamic effects in your presentation,but not to the extent of disorienting your target audience
• Using interactivity to create special effects.
• Having an overall metaphor for the project
• Varying the presentation in different sections
• Providing navigational pointers within the project for the target audience to explore your project in nonlinear ways
• Clearly indicating in your presentation and in your written report the ways in which your growup:-
  • analysed the specific requirements of your client(s)
  • used a design methodology (or methodologies) to develop your project
  • considered issues of accessibility to the project and implemented solutions, if appropriate.

Every student who is part of a group undertaking an assignment or other piece of assessed group work is required to take, and will be deemed to have taken, individual as well as joint responsibility for all the work submitted by the group. In particular, this includes individual as well as group responsibility for any assessment offence committed, whether by the student or any other student in the group. Any penalty applied in the event of an assessment offence will normally be applied to all members of the group.

The two exceptions to the application of this penalty to all members of the group are:
(i)     where a member of a group acknowledges, in writing to the Dean of the faculty owning the module, that s/he has
        committed an assessment offence
(ii)    where an offence can be shown to have been committed by (a) specific member(s) of the group responsible
        for those sections of the work that are the subject of the assessment offence.
In the case of these exceptions the penalty will only be applied to the member(s) of the group who have committed the assessment offence.

Advice

It is good practice in academic writing to reference correctly the work of others that you may draw upon for your own. Please help us to clearly distinguish your original efforts by so doing. The usual university strictures about plagiarism apply to this assignment. There is a very good description of plagiarism, and of good practice, in the CEMS student handbook if you are uncertain of the regulations.

UFIE9S-20-3: Multimedia Systems Presentations Summer 2010

Checklist for content

(N.B. This checklist will be used by marking tutors as a guide to assessment)

PROJECT

• target project demonstrated from CD/DVD-ROM on Macs
• >10 minutes and 15< minutes long
• >= 4 media types.
• Min Integration of formats
• Report has sections detailed
• May not flow smoothly/obvious transitions
• Number of obvious glitches in the project
• No attempt at development/interactivity
• The report too brief
• Attempt at including plus points below.
• Exemplifying project's interactivity in pres + report
• >Min No media formats/>min integration
• Reuse files and sequences?
• Varying elements of the presentation
• Flow smoothly with perhaps 1 obvious transition
• =<1 readily apparent glitch
• >=1plus points implemented correctly.
• Significant elements of interactivity
• Some attempt at using the progression techniques
• Report formally correct + referencing OK
• >=2 Plus Points
• > MIN media formats/avanced features (e.g. scripting)
• > min integration formats/not components assembly
• Vary elements of the presentation
• Sequence flows very smoothly
• Animation & interactivity appropriate and compelling
• No obvious glitches in the presentation
• Distinct development of presentation/engage audience
• Report fully address all, readable in its own right

PLUS POINTS & PROGRESSION TECHNIQUES

• Adding more interactivity
• Changing the appearance, sounds/music used, colour scheme, graphics used in different sections
• Simplifying some sections of the presentations to contrast them in relation to other sections
• Changing the focus of the design metaphor between sections.
• Using different media to emphasize certain aspects of the project
• Optimizing file sizes & formats for chosen target distribution mechanism
• Using dynamic effects in your presentation,but not to the extent of disorienting your target audience
• Using interactivity to create special effects.
• Having an overall metaphor for the project
• Varying the presentation in different sections
• Navigational pointers within the project for the audience to explore project in nonlinear ways
• Clearly indicating in your presentation and in your written report the ways in which your group:-
• analysed the specific requirements of your client(s)
• used a design methodology (or methodologies) to develop your project
• considered issues of accessibility to the project and implemented solutions, if appropriate.

PRESENTATION OF PROJECT

• on paper, a project report (and on two electronic copies of the CD/DVD-ROM containing your project)
• the brief agreed with the client
• presentation materials
• any maintenance notes for the client(s)
• initial and refined project plans
• methodological and other reflections
• list of major learnings by the group
• your deliverables of week beginnning 23rd January (as an Appendix)
• combined size of your project and report to 4.2 Gb ( unless your module tutor has agreed)
• significant amount of interactivity
• highlight the ways in which interactivity achieved during presentation
• target distribution medium for project, and how choice affected decisions during design process
• A3 laminated poster

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STUDENT BRIEFING NOTES
- This is your project - and you should drive it!
- Use the module tutors - report, ask for advice , let them know early on if group members are not pulling their weight or if clients have expectations you think are too much (NB tutors may agree - or they may think client's expectations are very reasonable).
- If your group process breaks down, you should tell a tutor as soon as possible.
- If contact with your client breaks down you should tell a tutor as soon as possible.
- The project will be marked according to this Assignment Specification - not the client brief as such, so you should pay VERY close attention to the Assignment Specification, especially the sections that cover interactivity.
- The word “contract” in “group contract” means “agreement” - in your group you should be clear what are you all agreeing to do, and what are the consequences of breaking that agreement.
- This project is not an easy option - clients really want good projects they can use without further work by them (or someone they have to pay!)
- You should ensure that you test hardware you use such as video and audio recorders, and make back~up arrangements for your data
- Do not wait to be put in a group - you are expected to find people to work with!
- If you feel out of your depth, speak to your tutors - avoiding issues will not help.
- Make notes of meetings with clients and between yourselves. Type them up and obtain quick assent to accuracy and completeness.
- Do not rely on any one person to do all the work- they may drop out and the rest of the group will not gain very high marks. You should work out how to share skills and work amongst your group.
- You should ensure that all music, images, video and all other intellectual property is copyright cleared - otherwise your client may be adversely affected.

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Marcus Lynch

Module Leader

Last updated January 7, 2011