The London Life Project Blog

Today I began to concentrate back on with my project proposal after a few weeks of neglecting it. I have had a little rest from it but it’s best not to relax too much otherwise I would break the habbit.

For today, I am lucky enough to be joined alongside by one of my former class mates and best friend’s Randa Saeed.

 I arranged to meet up with her mainly to have a chat and to have a nice catch up as we have not seen each other for a while since finishing final year exams back in June.

The reasons for meeting up with Randa today was to:

• Discuss with her my initial plans and ideas in which I had perceived for the London Life Project.
• To talk about her experiences from her project last year
• Discuss potential supervisors who may be interested in supervising my project.
• Provide me with good advice, hints and tips with regards to project management, and expectations.
• As well as having a little catch up too.

All of which was much appreciated.  

Discussing initial plans and ideas.

To get the ice broken in this discussion, I basically talked to Randa about my initial plans for my project portfolio. As of this moment in time, my portfolio is not taking form yet, but all of my ideas are currently in my my head.

Randa liked what she heard and wanted to know more.

Previous Experiences

Since completing her final year project, Randa has been informing me about all of her experiences she went through when doing her project last year. Everything from project lectures with Dave Inman plagerism tests and demonstration deadlines were all discussed.

 Gave me a good taste for what to expect when I come to do my project in the up coming year.

Discussing Potential Supervisors

I already knew that Xristine Faulkner was Randa’s 2nd Assessor for her project, so she knew what Xristine’s attitudeis like towards projects.

As well as having Xristine as a 2nd Assessor Randa and I both had Xristine teaching us HCI and UE.  So she had high recommendations for her to be my project supervisor.

My second choice for supervisor would be Mike Child, he is a nice choice of supervisor as he has extensive knowledge in networks and programming languages. However Mike doesn’t specialise in HCI aspects in which I will be looking into in my project like Xristine does.

Time for Lunch

As well as describing details about projects, Randa took me to a very nice cheap Indian Restaurant/Take Away eatery called E13 Kebabish located in Upton Park, East London.

This would be a great oppurtunity for me to see another kind of culture here in London. The Asian Community is high in Indian, Bengali and Pakistani minorities.

Here in Upton Park a lot of local shops and businesses are specialising in delicacies from the asian continent, clothes and fashions as well as music and movies.

I wanted to get photos of this unique area as it is not often I come to this part of London.

Shown below is a map of where the restaurant Kebabish is located.

Shown below are some photos taken during our lunch meeting and our exploration of Upton Park.

The academic year 2007/08 has officially begun a week ago now and progression on the project is going at a gentle yet steady pace.

As last Monday 24th September was the official start of the university academic year, it was a neutral decision for us not to meet today but however the following Monday to allow for timetable issues to be resolved.

However in the weeks absence, Xristine and I have been exchanging details via e mails and feedback as been very acceptable.

On 21st September 2007, I decided to e mail Xristine a list of all the potential project titles I had in mind for my project. In total I had conjured up a total of 9 different potential titles. Upon sending the message, Xristine messaged me back with feedback regarding my titles “Think about capturing the idea of the system being for someone new to London maybe working in a ‘welcome’ might be an idea” Xristine.

Acting upon this I decided to revise my titles and adjust them to suit Xristine’s requirements. On Thursday 27th September 2007 I e mailed Xristine my newly refurbished titles which have now been wittled down to 6 potential titles. Feedback was received and was very positive.

 ”Your project counts for 1/5 of your final degree” Dave Inman.

• The aims of these lectures is to cover ALL aspects of teh project:
• Such as how to start your project?
• Where could I find a supervisor?
• Is this supervisor suitable for this project?
• Where should I be at this stage?

If you need some specific help with regards to your project there are project workshops on:

Wednesday afternoons 14:00 - 16:00

Thursday Afternoons 14:00-18:00

Thursday Evenings 18:00-19:00

Project Registration- “when registering project please provide one single e mail address NOT the LSBU email address please. Because it gets treated as spam. ” Dave Inman.

“Mash-ups” is a combination of technologies or techniques mixed together to produce a completely new application but with aspects of its source technologies or techniques.

Tips for getting ideas for your project

First make a list of things you really enjoy. Could be anything:

• Films

• Beer

• Partying etc.

Secondly make another list with technological skills you may have ot a particular aspect you may enjoy e.g. databases.

 Then mix the two lists together and see if there are any matches. If so then you can gather ideas together to make project ideas.

“Project Uniqueness gets lots of marks for your project” Dave Inman.

Check past projects on the website.

End of Week 2 you must register your project online.

Mainly so that Dave can get a feel for your project.

Key Information that is required include:

• Your Student ID

• Supervisor

• Title

• Summary

1. Today is one of the last days of the summer recess just before the new academic year 2007/08 commences. For this afternoon’s acitivities, I arranged to meet up with one of the final year students who was also former class mate and best friend Louisa Munalula.

The reasons for meeting up with Louisa today was to:

•  Dicuss with her my initial plans and ideas in which I had perceived for the London Life Project.
• To talk about her experiences from her project last year.
• Project feedback in which Louisa went through my project portfolio and told me what she thought of my plans.
• Provide me with good advice, hints and tips with regards to project management, expectations and structuring of my report.
• As well as have a little catch up chat too.

All of which was very extensive and indeed much appreciated.

Discussing initial plans and ideas

To get the ball rolling in this discussion, I presented Louisa with my project portfolio for her to browse through and get an idea for the project in hand.

Whilst going through my project plans Louisa began to ask questions such as:

• What is the London Life Project all about?

• What is the purpose of this project?

• Who is my target audience and why?

• How could I sum up what the London Life Project is all about?

There were a few more questions, but these all helped ,me gain more ideas from another perspective.

Project Feedback from Louisa

After going through my project portfolio, Louisa loved my ideas and said that this really helps towards the project. “I have never seen anyone do something like this last year” Louisa Munalula.

To hear comments like this, gives a really good push/boost to my confidence in this project and is much appreciated.

Action Plan by Louisa

Back to the knitty gritty, after browsing through my portfolio Louisa now emphasised on what next steps need to be taken in the progression of my project.

1. Think of a title for project and abstract.

2. Do your chapter plan:

• Abstract

• Introduction

• Feasability Studies

• Methodology

• Available Technologies: WML –>Design stages put what you already in report.3.

   3.   Produce Gantt Chart

These are the kind of things I should be thinking of at this stage of the project.

Louisa’s tips:

1. “Begin writing on report a.s.a.p. as soon as supervisor has been agreed upon.”

2. “Aim for 3000 words to be written by end of October minimum.”

Discussing Potential Project Titles

I informed Louisa about my potential project titles, she informed me that some were too long however there was one title in particular that did shine for her.

“The home to diversity, culture, history and heritage, this is London”.

The end part is what captured her imagination, but due to copyright laws, there is already a website published by the London Paper company which use a website called thisislondon.co.uk  so I chose not to use it because of this reason.

Latest Addition

“London Here and Now”

This was the latest title for the project to be conjured up.

Final Tips and Hints

1. First Louisa recommended to have a log in system to the site which would display a welcome message upon successful login.

2. When writing the report in Chapter 12, 13 or 14 under chapter heading Future Plans could be possible to have a function which allow you to calculate the average price of rooms/flats in London.

Today looks like the perfect dayfor photo taking. This morning the clear skies shined so bright with not a single cloud in view. These are my favourite conditions when taking photos. It proves that summer has finally come upon us.

For today’s agenda  I intend to travel back to the Millenium Bridge for more shots and to follow the entire bank of the river til Tower Bridge and Tower Bridge Wharf. Sights to be covered today include:

• The Millenium Bridge
• Hayes Galleria
• City Hall
• The Tower of London
• Tower Bridge

Shown below on the next few pages are some of the best shots taken from today.

The Millenium Bridge

Close Up of the Millenium Bridge

Love on the Thames

Giant Guitar Art at The Scoop

Tower Bridge Sunset

Picture Pefect

The Weather Conditions

Well what can I say about today’s weather conditions?? The weather was simply terrific. Not a single cloud was visible for so many miles. Not a single rain drop fell and the humidity was nice too. Perfect Summers day.

Last Thoughts

Today was by far the best since I began taking photos in and around the city. Walking the entire length of the South Bankside and beyond was certainly worth it. Usually I have never walked beyond Tower Bridge but under these circumstances, I did end up in Tower Bridge Wharf to view a magnificent sunset with Tower Bridge acting as a silhouette. Perfect way to end the day.

 This part of London is very quiet and secluded away from tourists and rowdy revellers. Very peaceful with great water front views for house owners here.

Thoroughly enjoyed today, just a shame I didn’t get to enjoy this experience with anyone else.

In total managed to take a total of    photos. The most yet!!!

Summary

To summarise today’s events, I made a second visit back to the South Bank and visited parts of the North Bank also.

Managed to take photos of sights such as:

• The Millenium Bridge

• City Hall

• Tower of London

• Tower Bridge @ sunset

• The London Crowds at City Hall (Live Concert)

Not only did I manage to take photos of these beautiful sites but also managed to take some video footage of a live jazz band playing to a live audience at City Hall in an event called The Scoop  which was a free summer event for the public. Nice music, great shots of London’s multi-culture.

It was completly unexpected as I walked down the river bank but thought it was the perfect oppurtunity to take quality shots of London’s many different faces.

Today is not an official start to the new academic year 2007/08 however it is the very first time I get the oppurtunity to present my proposal idea to Dr Xristine Faulkner with regards to “The London Life Project”.

As I have worked with Xristine in the previous units last year, such as Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Usability Engineering, she knows me all too well. She is very familiar with my work ethic, and my attitude towards any task given. There are some of reasons why I have chosen her to be supervisor for my final year project.

The Meeting

Today’s consultation was very casual between Xristine and myself. The total consultation lasted only 30 minutes due to myself being late and also for Xristine having a prior engagement to attend after.

 During this consultation I explained to Xristine what my plans were regarding my project, showed my proposal so far and informed her about all my intentions.

Xristine briefly went through the proposal, but DID like what she saw, “Very Artistic, sets the mood for the whole project. Great!!” Xristine Faulkner.

The Downsides

After a quick insight into what the “London Life Project” is about, Xristine informed me about some down sides into what developing a website for a final year project.

• Some people do not consider website development as a good choice for a project, simply because its too simple to make.

-To some extent that statement is true, developing a website is not very difficultm but as an Internet Computing (Top Up) Student why should I not be able to develop as it’s a specialist area we are being taught.

• The theme of London and a Tourism theme is very common and has been tried and tested in the past.

I am pretty sure students in the past years have made websites that tour tourists around London informing them about all the sights etc.

However my site would be different because I will be offering vast information about good, cheap/affordable dining spots, good night spots for good party nights or entertainment as well as offering tips on getting around, seeing all the London Landmarks and view images of London that they may not all be used to seeing.

 All images featured will be taken soley by myself.  Also my web application would not exactly be aimd for tourists. My web application is designed specifically for the needs of International Students here at LSBU who come from overseas to study in an unfamiliar environment.

• Being a London Boy, born and raised, obviously I have no idea what it is like to study in a new place other than London, where English may not be the first langauge or where somewhere I have never been to.  

          Designing a site where, I know where all the sights are but the user has no idea is rather pointless. How to overcome this dilemna?

Xristine brought up this point very well and put my perspective into new dimensions. She was very concise I actually never thought of it in that sense.

 To over come this dilemna is rather simple. The solution recommended by Xristine is to gather half a dozen international students from in and around the campus and to interview them to see what their experiences are like when coming to a strange and new environment to work, study and live in. Xristine recommended to gather a nice variety of boys and girls from different cultures to see how each of them react or interact.

On the other hand

On the other hand there were some good points to our discussion Xristine did like the idea of my proposal complete with storyboards, headlines etc but she did give some handy pointers also. She gave me a rough guideline, I should follow to complete my acceptance for supervision of my project.

What Next..?

Following Xristine’s advice, I decided to act upon this and she planned out a road map to follow and looks as follows:

1. Title- First come up with a title for your project. Try not to make it too long. (Think like UE Conference Paper)

2. Short Description- Write a short paragraph describing what this project is about and its main objectives are.

3. Supervisor- Once the following steps have been completed come back to Xristine to confirm approval.

4. (Research into target audience/ focus group)- Try to get some in depth resaerch into what type of users will my project be focussing on etc.

5. Register Project- Register Project electronically by given deadline.

6. Produce Gantt Chart- Produce a mapped out work schedule portraying the project progress. (Xristine’s Tip- try working from the final daedline to beginning - running backwards).

Summary

To summarise today’s consultation, I met in person Dr Xristine Faulkner for a one-on-one discussion with regards to my project proposal “The London Life Project”.

Xristine liked my ideas described and briefly looked ay my propasl liking what she saw.

Good points and bad points were pointed out in my interest by Xristine.

A rough guideline into my path to take was also brought up:

• Think of a title for the project

• Write up a short description describing the main objectives of my project.

• Carry out primary research into target audience by conducting interviews with people from my chosen target audience/ focus group.

• Produce a Gantt Chart.

After all of the following have been completed and approved by Xristine she will then officially become my project supervisor.

Today is another day , which means that I will be travelling to another location in London to take more photos. For today’s agenda I intend to travel to the Museum of London to research into London’s past and perhaps get some good photos.

 The Museum of London, is the perfect place for research about the city because it tells stories and really puts into perspective just how much London has changed in many more ways than one. Stories such as the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the Black Plague of 1665 are amongst the stories told and illustrated.

Amongst the Museum grounds are the old remains of the old Roman Wall which is still visible til this day showing London’s Roman Past from when London was a fortified city.

 Shown below are a few of the highlight photos that were captured today:

The Museum of London

Some Tudor Style Architecture at Chancery Lane

Roman Exibition at Museum of London

Roman Exibition at Museum of London 2

The Weather Conditions

With regards to today’s weather, it was better than previous days. Cloudy but not a lot of rain which is good!! Another high point was that I was indoors most of the time too, so doesn’t really bother me.

Final Thoughts

Today the result was very good. Not many photos were taken today but did learn quite a bit about the history of the city. Obviously from school, I was taught about great history times such as “The Gun Powder Plot”; “The Black Plague”; The Great Fire of London in 1666″ etc, but this trip  sort of refreshed my child hood memories.

The Museum of London is a great place to visit all year around with family, friends, or for resaerch purposes. It is not a really recognised museum when compared to the V & A (Victoria and Albert Museum); or the Natural History Museum or Science Museum, but it is quite secluded away. Thats what makes this museum unique.

Intend to make a return back to see recent developments because parts of the museum were actually closed off for refurbishment work.

In total managed to take a total of 20 photos.

Summary

To summarise today’s events, I visited the Museum of London to gain research notes about London’s past and also took some photos there as well as moving to Chancery Lane to take some photos of some Tudor Architecture.

The weather was better than previous days, still a little cloudy but the rain held back.

Today is the first day of a new era. Today (3rd July 2007) marks the day in which I begin a new conquest in the search of capturing “The Olympic City of London” in all of its essence and glory through my camera.

 Today I will be travelling around London along the South Bank from Tower Bridge area where I will climb up the 311 spiral steps to the top of the “Monument” to capture scenic views from a panorama perspective and then move onto other landmarks such as

• The Millenium Bridge
• Tate Modern
• St Pauls Cathedral
• The Gherkin
• The Lloyd Building.

Some samples from the day:

• Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast

• Another view of Tower Bridge from the top of Monument

• The Infamous Spiral steps of the Monument. All 311 steps to be precise. NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED!!

•  The panoramic views you see from the viewing platform at the top of the monument

The Weather Conditions

 With regards to today’s weather, it was not all too good. Not exactly ideal conditions for taking good pictures but kind of captures London when its dark and moody.

 Whatever the weather it is always nice to take a long walk along the banks of the River Thames.

 Last Thoughts

Today the result was ok. I feel pretty happy with the photos I managed to take today despite the rather drab weather. What started off as a nice day turned to dark clouds and patchy rain. Kind of like a normal day in London. But all in all, a pretty good day.

In total, managed to take a total of 34 photos

Summary

To summarise today’s events, I walked around the South Bank taking photographs for my new endevour, the Final Year Project.

Managed to take photos of such sights like:

1.  The Millenium Bridge

2. Tate Modern

3. St Pauls Cathedral

4. The Monument

5. Canary Wharf

6. The Gherkin

7. The Lloyds Building

8. Canary Wharf

9. Tower Bridge

The weather was pretty drab, started off so promising nice and sunny but then just turned to darkness and showers.

For videos from monument you can click on these links below:

http://asiansensation09.multiply.com/video/item/45/Monument_View_1

http://asiansensation09.multiply.com/video/item/46/Monument_View_2

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