Web Thesis Project

Course code : DESI1052
Course co-ordinator : Tom Turner

Introduction

This course integrates the work of the MA Web Design and Content Management programme and gives students an opportunity to produce a major item of independent work. Students will research, develop and implement a live website as a practical illustration of the skills and ideas learned on the programme.

The course begins with a project brief, developed by each student and then progresses through research, concept, planning and design development before moving through to implementation, monitoring, analysis and (finally) report. The course runs for just over a year, starting in October and ending in November the following year. This gives students a reasonable amount of time in which to produce an effective and (hopefully) successful and lasting website. At each stage, the project will be reviewed by staff and students and additional guidance and criticism given where appropriate. Students will require their own commercial hosting and domain names as the resulting website will be independent of the University and will hopefully continue beyond the duration on the programme. The success of the project will be determined by how well it satisfies the original brief, the commercial logic, innovation of concept, the aesthetic qualities of the finished design, the appropriateness of the "look-and-feel", the usability and accessibility, the SEO success (PageRank and site traffic etc.), the clarity, logic and structure of coding, standards compliance, the appropriate use of web applications and other technical aspects of the site. In previous years, students have created a wide range of websites and this is an opportunity for students to develop a major web project that could become a successful and potentially lucrative website beyond the end of the MA programme.

Course Diary

The course diary gives an overview of the timetable, weekly topics and submission dates for this course. There may be occasional changes, so check back frequently.

Completing Students

2009-10 Session
DateRoomTitle
7th Oct 2009OnlineSubmit draft site analysis report (PDF).
14th Oct 2009Lab CFinal crit/presentation of site analysis.
11th Nov 2009Lab CSubmit final project report (hard copy).
3rd Dec 2009TBCExternal examiner and exam board.

On 11th November, both student groups will meet. This will allow new students to see the final thesis projects of completing students and completing students to comment on the proposals of new students.

Full-time & Part-time, second year Students

2009-10 & 2010-11 Sessions
DateRoomTitle
7th Oct 2009Lab CIntroduction and brief issued.
14th Oct 2009Lab CFinal crits by completing students.
11th Nov 2009Lab CPersonal brief and research proposals.
9th Dec 2009OnlineSubmit draft research report (PDF).
Christmas Break (4 weeks)
13th Jan 2010OnlineSubmit final research report (PDF).
27th Jan 2010Lab CCrit 1 on draft design (Business).
17th Feb 2010Lab CCrit 2 on draft design (Commodity).
10th Mar 2010Lab CCrit 3 on draft design (Firmness). †
Easter Break (3 weeks)
21st Apr 2010Lab CCrit 4 on draft design (Delight).
5th May 2010Lab CCrit on final design and implementation.
Summer Break *
6th Oct 2010OnlineSubmit draft site analysis report (PDF).
13th Oct 2010Lab CFinal crit/presentation of site analysis.
10th Nov 2010Lab CSubmit final project report (hard copy).
Mid Dec 2010TBCExternal examiner and exam board.

All sessions will take place 10am to 1pm unless otherwise indicated.
Attendance is not required for "Online" events.

† At this time, websites should be independently hosted with their own domain name. It is recommended that a hosting solution and domain name registration be organised well ahead of this date.
* During this period, websites should be monitored for site traffic, revenue etc. Any additions, adjustments or improvements should be made as required.

Aims and Outcomes

The course aims to give students an opportunity to plan, design, produce and publish a website. The project website can be related to a personal, professional or cultural interest.

Note: In some cases, the student's effort will be balanced between all aspects of the work (technical, graphic, content, functions, business plan etc). In other cases (eg when working on an existing website or when using a CMS) the student's productive effort will be less balanced. In every case, it is necessary to take an 'architectural overview' of all aspects of the project. The word 'architectural' is used for two reasons (1) architectural design is a useful analogy for web content planning and design (2) to draw the analogy that on small projects building architects do everything but on large projects they work with structural engineers, services engineers, interior designers, landscape architects etc etc. For larger projects, the Web Thesis Project can take the form of a Prototype.

On completing the course students will:

Programme Outline

Specific dates are given in the Course Diary.

Analytical Approach

Following the analytical approach used in the Content Management course, the categories we will use for the Web Thesis Project are:

Project Brief

The Web Thesis Project starts with a brief statement of the aims of the project. This compares to the idea of a 'brief', as used in the legal professions and the design professions, and to a 'business plan' as used in a commercial context, and to an 'elevator pitch' as used in an elevator. These meanings are summarized below with links to Wikipedia for more information:

The Brief we require is for a Web Thesis Project. A thesis sets out your 'position' in the sense of your conclusions on a topic which has been investigated. At the end of the project, this will include an account of the research and case studies which support your conclusions. For scientific work this includes (1) an explanation of why the subject was chosen (2) a literature review (3) an explanation of how the research was done,you’re your conclusions. In the creative arts, a thesis will follow the same pattern, including a literature review and reasoned debate, but the conclusion will be product or (as in a design thesis) or designs for a production (as in an architectural thesis).

The Initial Brief for your Web Thesis Project will have these components:

  1. A 140 word Elevator Pitch, explaining the problem and the value proposition (note that the 'value' would probably be non-financial for a poetry website)
  2. A longer account of the problem, with reference to how the need has been met with comparable web projects (both cognate and non-cognate) and with comparable non-web projects (eg projects which meet the need using print or advertising). For example, when Wikipedia was first proposed there should have been comparisons with cognate products (eg Encarta - a CD encyclopedia, and Britannica - a paper encyclopedia) and also with non-cognate websites (eg the Yahoo Directory, which was indexing a vast amount of information online)
  3. A longer account of the value proposition, explaining how the web project will create value. The value can be financial or non-financial or both.
  4. Explain the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) which distinguishes your idea.
  5. A summary on one side of A4 paper, handed in and posted in your personal area of the Web Thesis Project forum.

Research Report

The Research Report deals with the same basic issues as the Initial Brief but sets them out in a structured format. It is

  1. submitted in draft in December and finalised in January after the project was begun.
  2. re-submitted with revisions and additional material (as part of the final project report) in the Autumn of the year in which the project is completed.

The research which supports and explains your conclusions will contain references to a wide range of media. This must include print publications (eg books) and web publications but can also include references to podcasts and broadcasts. References to print publications must be done using the Harvard (parenthetical) system.

The sections of the Research Report are likely to include:

  1. Elevator Pitch
  2. Initial Brief
  3. Competitor websites and comparable productions
  4. Project Plan (Business, Commodity, Firmness, Delight)
  5. Analysis of the implemented website (using statistics to analyse the project plan)
  6. Conclusions and future development

Sections 1-4 will be included in the December draft and revised for the final submission in the following Autumn.

Report Structure

Explain your chosen project and outline the proposed research, under the headings of Business, Commodity, Firmness and Delight. The research proposals should, obviously, be related to the particular project you intend to do. If, for example, you wished to produce a poetry website then under 'Business' you would investigate:

  1. how other poetry websites are funded
  2. the range of revenue streams they draw upon (Adsense, Text-links, Amazon etc)
  3. non-financial reasons for running a poetry website
  4. cross-funding (eg between web publications, print publications and broadcast publications)

Under 'Commodity' you would look at the usability and functionality of various poetry websites: original publications, reviews, community, social networking etc. Under 'Firmness', you would look at the technology used to edit and maintain the site: HTML, CSS, XHTML, PHP, Javascript, MySQL, Access, Dreamweaver, CMS etc. You should include the information architecture of the site under 'Firmness' and look both at how the information is organized and how the site navigation operates. Under 'Delight', you should turn yourself into an art critic and evaluate the sector (poetry websites) for line, colour, pattern, mood, symbolism, meaning, graphic style, typography, criticism (the range of terms you might use includes: beautiful - sublime - disgusting - fun - cute - silly - erotic - entertaining - pretentious - discordant - harmonious - boring - humorous - tragic).

The Crits

Crit 1 - Business

Explain the Aims and the possible Revenue Streams [This should be presented with reference to comparable websites, with examples of each of the revenue streams]. If you reject the idea of planning for revenue, then you must explain why each of the main possibilities has been considered and rejected. You should think of this crit as a 'pitch' of the type which would be made to a client or to potential investors.

Crit 2 - Commodity

Proposed Content and Information Architecture and Navigation [This should be presented with the help of Post-it notes on a sheet of plastic].

Crit 3 - Firmness

Proposed technology [This should be presented in a manner which makes it easy for critics to see the technology you intend to use].

Crit 4 - Delight

Proposed aesthetic and graphic design policy [This should be presented with the help of (1) a few screen shots of websites with a comparable graphic policy (2) examples of non-web art or graphic productions which show a comparable design philosophy (3) your own collage/montage to show the design policy in non-electronic form].

Final design crit

There will be two stages to the crit (1) an opportunity for fellow students and critics to explore the website (2) a presentation. An assessment will be made on the basis of this presentation.

Notes on the Crits

  1. They will be held regularly in Term 2.
  2. There is a set theme for each crit, but we also want to look at the whole project on each crit day.
  3. The dates and activities in the below chart are specified by month. Specific dates and minor modifications to the submission requirements, may be made.
  4. You should come to each crit prepared to give an Elevator Pitch (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_pitch) followed by a 5 minute account of the project. You must then be ready to answer questions.
  5. Please bring sheets of A4 to each crit (with sufficient copies to give hand-outs to each student and each critic) with no more than one side of A4 devoted to each of the above topics. Before Christmas, the sheets will summarize your ongoing research. After Christmas, they will summarise your proposals.

Site Analysis Report

Presentation of an analysis of the site and implementation, using server stats, analytics, Search Engine Results Position, promotion, keyword analysis and other relevant metrics (if submitting a prototype, this can take the form of test results).

Final Report

Submit a revised version of the Research Report containing a report on site development, on the analytical exercise and on changes made to the website project since the previous Christmas.

Course Documents

There are currently 1 files in this section

File Listing
  Filename Size (KB) Date Modified
DESI1052 Course Brief 09-10.pdf 55.8 5th Nov 2009

Resources

Delight

Firmness

Commodity

Business

Assessment Criteria

Assessment will be based on the following criteria but, because of the individual character of masters level projects they will relate in different ways to each project. The School's grading is based on the following system:

  1. Excellent 70-100%
  2. Very Good 60-90%
  3. Good 50-59%
  4. Satisfactory 41-49%
  5. Bare Pass 40%
  6. Fail <40%

Quality (and quantity) of research [A= the thesis is fully supported by research and testing, C= good use has been made of research and testing to explain and justify the thesis, E= there is just enough research and testing to justify the thesis].

Quality of business plan and website content [A= a well-researched and imaginative business/funding plan well supported by evidence from comporable projects, C= a satisfactory business plan with a reasoned funding/business model, E= there is a plausible plan for funding the project].

Quality of technical implementation [A=a well-researched and convincing technical plan/prototype for implementing the project, C= a satisfactory plan/prototype for implementing the project , E= a 'bare bones' plan/prototype for implementing the project].

Quality of functionality and usability [A= the prototype/design provides for a high quality user experience, C= the prototype/design provides for a satisfactory user experience , E= the prototype/design satisfies the basic requirements for the user experience].

Quality of graphic design [A= excellent quality and well-reasoned graphic design, appropriate to the target user group, C= satisfactory graphic design, appropriate to the target user group, E= basic graphic design for the target user group].

Quality of publication and promotion [A= excellent plan for site publication and promotion, using the most appropriate marketing opportunities, C= satisfactory plan for site publication and promotion, using appropriate marketing opportunities, E= sufficient thought has been given to publication and promotion to launch the project website].

Copyright David Watson 2005–2010
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