Major Project

Where to begin?

The first thing you will need to do is choose a topic for your major project. The topic is entirely up to you but we do suggest that it is something that you are interested in finding out about and something that you are not already an expert in. You have to also try and keep as open a mind as possible about where your research may take you. If you have already decided in advance what the outcome of your project is then you are recalling not researching. This is project which aims to get you to generate new knowledge rather than rehashing existing knowledge.

Once you have chosen your topic, you need to begin your research. If you are having trouble getting started, speak to us and see if we can get the ball rolling with you. And then as you research keep records of everything you discover. If you want a metaphor - think of yourself as an explorer. You are heading off in a direction but you don't know the destination and you may change directions many times. But going off course is encouraged! Remember, Christopher Columbus didn't set out to discover America - he stumbled across it by accident!

A good way of keeping track of your research is to keep a kind of glory box of materials you uncover along the way - or alternatively keep a scrapbook. This is equivalent to the card index that people keep when they research a thesis - but your card index in the form of the box or scrapbook may contain sounds and video and pictures and scraps of paper and notes and so on.

In the course of your research let yourself be driven by curiosity and try to think hyperlogically - that is, follow up unexpected links and make audacious comparisons. Serendipity is where you find it, to quote Greil Marcus. Think of your project as an eclectic compilation tape.

Making the hypertext

The project will be then a visible representation of your research in the form of an online hypertext. But you don't have to fashion all of your scraps of evidence into an argument. You have to find a way to help a reader navigate their way through the material in a meaningful way. Think collage not essay. Each project will have its own character resulting from the research undertaken - so there's no RIGHT WAY!!

Your project can have as many nodes as you deem necessary and they can be as long or as short as you like. A minimum requirement might be 20 HTML documents - but as each of these may contain more or less than each other it is a bit meaningless. Try thinking in screenfuls rather than in terms of word count or length. Each node might represent an aspect of your research with links to other aspects of the research. Avoid using links to external sites.

Keep records of the names of files you are working with. For example, as you digitise images, sounds, video, etc., keep a log of the filename and what it is.

Assets Log

Filename Type Description Size
Flower.gif Image Rose on blue bg 14k
Dog.avi Video Barking dog 1.1mg
09kiki.au Sound Chainsaw noise 85k
Mum.jpg Image Picture of Mum 23k
Hujds.gif Image Background image with mesh 5k

This will save you a great deal of time trying to find things later.

Step by Step

1. Digitise all of the material you have collected for your project that you're going to use and record the filenames in your asset log

2. Storyboard on paper of each of the nodes noting the files that are required for each

3. Set up a project directory on either a suitable rewritable storage device (floppy disk, flash drive), your F: drive or your hard drive - if you want to work on your project in different locations you need to create a mirror on each of these locations.

4. Create your nodes in html (remembering to save both the html and the images!!). You can use Dreamweaver or any other html editing software (or Notepad).

5. Post your site to your OPAX web space (or a private web space if you prefer)

Major project criteria

The project will be assessed according to the following criteria. There are no set marks for each element. You may discuss your project with your tutor or provide a short explanation of the project if you feel that it is necessary.

Technical

Images - are they working? Are they names correctly (no spaces or strange characters in the file names)? Are they optimised to work over the web (ie. are they small file sizes - you will have marks deducted if your images are huge and take ages to download)?

HTML - do all of the links work correctly? Does the site work well across different computers and different browsers? If not, is there a caveat to look at the site at a preferred size and in a preferred browser? Are there any deadends that trap the user/reader? (Not desirable)

Design - is the design clean? This means that while you are not expected to be designers, your text should be easy to read and that the layout should not detract from the content. The layout should enhance the content.

Conceptual

Is there evidence that time and effort has gone into researching the topic that you have chosen? You can include a bibliography BUT THIS IS NOT COMPULSARY!

Have you thought about how the user is going to be able to navigate the content? Is the material linked together in an interesting or inventive manner?

Does the material show evidence of hypertextual thinking?