Coursework 1 - Draft

Coursework 1 - Draft

Due date 7th December 2006
Overall Weighting 25%

Subject
Each student is to select a specific type of web site which is to be agreed with the tutor. For this assignment, the type of a web site is based on the main purpose of the site. For example, here are some typically web site types with some prime examples.

• Shopping e.g. Amazon
• Auction : E-Bay
• Personal Multimedia : Flickr, YouTube
• Corporate information : BBC
• Travel Planning : TravelLine
• Mapping : Google Maps

We will exclude blogging, wikis, social bookmarks, podcasts and RSS readers since these have already been explored in the first presentation. Each student will choose a different web site type and there will be an attempt to get a spread of type of application types.

Research Questions
Students are required to research the site type, using one well know example site and one lesser known example

The following questions are indicative of the areas of interest but not exhaustive:

• How did this type of site start? What was the first? What is the most successful now? How has this type of site evolved? What are the typical funding models?
• Who are the customers? Are there common stylistic features in the user interface? What additional facilities do sites of this type typically support?
• What technology is used to support this kind of site? What is the architecture? What are the specific challenges of this type of site and how are they handled?

Deliverables

1. A wikipedia-style wiki entry of around 2000 words, with diagrams and links as appropriate. The aim of the entry is to provide an in-depth study of the site type, its use, development and construction. The entry is aimed at an audience of second year students with a general understanding of basic web architecture. Links should be provided to resources, such as Wikipedia, whose quality the student has assessed where additional supporting material is required. The entry is to be provided in both paper and as an entry in the CEMS wikipedia. This wiki will be used as a resource for other students.(80 %)
2. A 10 minute presentation and discussion to the group on the key issues faced by the developers of this site. (20%)