Project

28
Jun
2007

Resumee

Here's my resumee from the view of the project manager ...



Resumee (by Christian Haudum, team manager)

Difficulties
There didn't really mediatechnological difficulties during the workout phase. The only thing
that came up with little problems was the usage of Firefox addons for the export of
Microformats.There are 2 common tools for Firefox to detect Microformats on a website:
Operator (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4106) and Tails Export
(https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2240). I didn't get managed to format the
markup so that the Microformats could be read and exported correctly by both of them. So I
decided to use the Syntax which was supported by Tails Export, because it can also be used by
a web based Microformats exporter at Technorati.
What did I learn within the semester project?
Because I already got in touch with Microformats before the project I knew some basics and
was able to understand the functionality of the markup system. The project now opened up a
deeper view into the standards behind it. In addition to it I could also softly improve my skills in
MySQL databases and Apache servers.
Group work
We were 4 people in the group:Pim Odekerken, Len Canoot, Markus Jalonen and me. In the
beginning we split up in to parts.On the one hand the programmers (Markus, Christian) and on
the other hand the designers (Pim, Len). The programmers' goal was to set up the database, to
write the scripts and to provide the framework of the website with that the designers could
create the graphical interface of the system.
As a additional part of communication we also set up a blog (https://microformatics.twoday.net/)
as well as a social bookmark page (http://del.icio.us/microformatics). This should give everyone
on the group an overview about what the others are currently working on. The idea was to share
the experiences and ideas that came up during the project.
But things didn't run well. After two unsuccessful approaches making a meeting (the first short
after Easter,the second two weeks later) – nobody attended the meeting – I decided not to
wait for the others' work but going on my own way.The blog and the social bookmarks weren't
use by the others, too. It was not the first time that I experienced such a behaviour in group
work at Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences. The problem is, that you as a project
manager don't have any possibilities to force someone to participate in the project if someone
doesn't want to. Not until the end I was told, that the reason, why I lost support from my team
members, was that the difference of the knowledge within the topic of our project was too big.
Unfortunately the insight came too late, and so the project suffered enormously only because
of a lack of communication. Summarising, in the end I did all the programming and the basis for
the designers which came up with a layout that fulfills just its really basic needs.

as pdf file: resumee (pdf, 32 KB)

18
May
2007

Apache & MySQL running locally

now an apache server and mysql (xampp) are running locally on d003-05. you can locally access the site via http://d003-05.dh.uclv.net/vccal/cal.php http://d003-05.dh.uclv.net/vccal/month.php
but of course, you first have to start the processes via terminal - the server isn't running the whole time - shut it down if you dont need it any more.

6
May
2007

Apache Server

Today I noticed that the calendar option at the Apache Server at www2.students.fh-vorarlberg.ac.at (PHP Version 4.3.3RC1) is disabled. But in order to generate a calendar tool we would need that. :( So I'll try to talk to Markus from the IS again to enable the PHP feature, otherwise we have to look for a free Webserver that provides sufficient options ...

I also did a little scripting in PHP on my local machine. My local MySQL database for testing which i broke down a few days ago is running again.

1
May
2007

Project Website

Our project website is available with the tinyurl http://tinyurl.com/25hxso.

Original URL: http://www2.students.fh-vorarlberg.ac.at/~cha1349/vccal/

30
Apr
2007

Concept Paper

Concept Paper
Special Media Technology Systems
4th Semester Media Design Bachelor
February – July 2007
FH Vorarlberg


Concept-Paper (pdf, 67 KB)


Project Name: Cultural Event Calendar
Short Description: Website, that provides cultural events, tagged with Microformats, stored in a database.









Project Group
• Christian Haudum
• Markus Jalonen
• Len Canoot
• Pim Odekerken

Project Goals
• Set up a website that contains dates and information about artistic and cultural events in the region of Vorarlberg.
• The events are provided with Microformats, so that is easy the get import the dates to your personal calendar application or mobile device.
• Provide a high usability within the website so that also an internet layperson can intuitively navigate through and use the site.
• Focusing on the main theme of the website: Exchanging dates between Internet, calendar application and mobile device.

About Microformats
Microformats make it much easier to share certain small amounts of information on the internet by using a specific mark-up format that can export the information within the tag to software programs. It is commonly used for address books and calendars. Microformats is an open standard.


Workout

Database
The content of the website is based on a MySQL-database. There are several reasons to use a database for this website:

• It can contain a lot of information
• It is fast
• You can combine information easily
• It is easy to store different content in the same structure

Structure


Events
Summary (title)
Description
Start date & Start time
End date & end time
URL
Institution →
Price

Institutes
Name
Logo
URL
Description
Phone/Fax/E-mail



Scripting Language: PHP
The scripting will be done in PHP. It’s the most common scripting language to communicate with MySQL-database, and provides best functionality.

Usability
The main interface is a calendar view of a week. It is possible to switch to daily and monthly view. The looks are straightforward, no unnecessary elements. The site won’t look like a common website.

To get more information about an event you can click on the name of the event. You then get a thickbox overlay (http://jquery.com/demo/thickbox/) where you can add the events to your calendar and get some more detailed information.

- - - - - - - - - - -
link for fhv students: http://lms.fhv.at/fhv/11212/resources/shared?content=&current=fhv/11212/resources/shared
here you may find more information about the project
logo

vcCal

Building a Microformats tagged vCalendar for Cultural Events

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Resumee
Here's my resumee from the view of the project manager...
Microformatics - 28. Jun, 21:30
vccal testing environment
the backend is now running on the freepic server. so...
Howdy - 14. Jun, 13:41
MySQL Modelling Update
Hopefully this is the last version of our database...
Microformatics - 13. Jun, 23:29
Apache & MySQL running...
now an apache server and mysql (xampp) are running...
Microformatics - 1. Jun, 10:01
Calendar Views
Month Week Day The requirements from the programming...
Microformatics - 31. May, 18:05

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