Class Discussion Week of 8-30-11

In class, we discussed what we each thought capstones were like. Some thought that they were culminations of knowledge. Some thought they were appeals to employers. Others thought they were tests of our strengths and risk-taking capabilities. However, Ms. Lykins(since there's someone already named Beth in the class) stated that it should also involve our interests/hobbies in some way. I myself like drawing, surfing the Web, video games, and food, but I don't know how to channel all of these in choosing the "perfect" Capstone project for me.

I had told the class that one of my ideas was to make an 3D Haunted House tour in the AVL lab as a Capstone, but also that I didn't have much experience in 3D and that I had to avoid copyrighted music. Some students had told me about free 3D models and about asking someone else to collaborate with me in making the 3D. There is a student named Max Burton who could help me in 3D, but I didn't know what his schedule would be like. Ms. Lykins told me to try and use Royalty-free Music and sounds to avoid copyright, but what if the royalty-free music sites want me to pay money?

I got some solutions, but they raise questions within themselves. Maybe I need to speak with Ms. Lykins in private some more.

What is a Capstone? 8-27-11

I believe that a capstone is a culmination of everything you've learned while in your selected major. It is also a way to show potential employers skills that you can use out in the field or to impress your employers. It essentially gives employers a photograph of you and helps them determine whether they will want to call or email you for job interviews or not.

You need at least two semesters to create a capstone, because you will need time to brainstorm ideas and to find just the right idea as a medium to showcase your learned skills to faculty, employers, and other students. Planning out what project to do and what you use and how you create that project is probably the hardest part of the Capstone process. The reason you will need lots of time and the right idea is because employers may end up judging you based on your capstone performance and subject matter and media of the capstone.

The tools and what you choose to do may result in a sort of "typecasting". For example, if you do something similar to Ben Prout's "New Media Bathroom", employers might hire you for development of amusement park rides. If you do a graphic novel such as "Just Frank", you could be hired by the comic book industry. A demo reel of animation can get you hired by Disney. This cannot just be a great project you can knock out for a grade, because your future hinges on what you do and how it is received. Your capstone can open doors or it can close them entirely.

Also, you may need to test the project and make sure that it works properly before the deadline. If you experience ANY type of technical difficulty in your capstone, employers will frown upon you and it could be harmful to you and your future endeavors. So careful planning, production, and refinement is important for what may be the most important project in your academic career.

Capstone ideas 8-27-11

Last semester, I was asked to take a journal of capstone ideas over the summer. I hadn't written down that many ideas because not only was I kinda starved for ideas, but towards the end, we had to do a lot. But here are some of the ideas I did manage to write down were:

1. "Where's the Bus?" App- I don't know whether it was indirectly "stolen" from JagsExpress 2.0, or if this already exists in Indianapolis, but I was inspired by IndyGo, because I've had to take public transportation downtown in order to get to IUPUI for the past three years. Sometimes the bus comes late, but other times, the bus comes earlier than expected, so I could miss the bus at times. This app could help trace an IndyGo bus's location, depending on the selected route. This app would work on iPhone, Android, or any other smartphone.

IndyGo:


2. 3D Haunted House Tour-This was a possible idea every since I passed Seeing Sideways and visited the Advanced Visualization Laboratory in the IT building's 4th Floor. If this idea is chosen, I would use the AVL technology, Maya, and perhaps Photoshop for the Textures. I'm not certain whether I will need to use Unreal Editor for this project.

3. Create a website using some sort of easter egg-Inspired by the Konami Code(up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B button, A button, and Start/Enter) and websites that use this for easter eggs(http://konamicodesites.com/), I hope to reverse engineer "easter egg" websites to create my own. The problem is that my access to the Pegasus server is probably cut off due to lack of use since my CSCI-N341(Javascript) class, so I don't know how else to host my website for the Capstone presentation. This may have also been inspired by "Mat Powers' Game On! History of Video Games" class.

4. Website cataloguing all of the "must-eat" places in Indianapolis/Indy Metro-This was inspired by sites such as Yelp and Urbanspoon and by shows like Travel Channel's Man vs. Food.

Originally, it would have been a a collection of "Must-eat" places around the country based on ratings and exposure from shows like Man Vs. Food, but time might not allow for that, plus the aforementioned problem with hosting can hinder this project as well.

I have included my inspirations in the above post as either pictures or links to other websites.