Salford University

The following projects were undertaken during my time at Salford University

1. Work with Content Management Systems

One of the projects I undertook in my second year at the university, was working with a content management system called Plone.

The tasks were to format a sizable amount of raw data and images in such a way they could be uploaded to the system, and be catalogued for searching effectively. Images had to be optimised for speed, and watermarked for protection.

We also had to skin the website to make it more appealing to visitors, by changing the templates, style sheets and images, whilst making it suitable for all types of connection.

2. Working with the Windows Presentation Foundation to make a Media Player

For this project, the task was to create a media player, which could read and write ID3 tags, and provide a small server attribute for downloading music from another instance of the player.

My end product was built to be aesthetically pleasing, as well as being simple to use, and efficient whilst running. I wanted to take advantage of the newest features offered by the Aero interface to make it blend in with other applications.

3. Producing an Internet Forum using ASP .NET with a MySQL back end

This project involved creating a simple forum, similar to those you would see in small personal websites. It had to allow for new forums and threads, with permissions. It also had to allow users to register, and reset their passwords if required.

I chose to create my system to resemble a Windows Vista desktop, as this was going to be the main focus for the forum. I acquired and modified all the assets to make the skin for the forum, and made the style sheets and scripts to make it look and perform in a similar way to the desktop environment.

4. Creating a Simple Board Game, with an AI Player

This was my Final Year Project, undertaken by choice. The desired outcome of this project, was to have a game of Draughts with an AI opponent which a user could play against if they desired.

The final product worked as expected, and was in a playable state, either with two human players, or a human against the computer opponent. The game incorporated all of the rules of draughts correctly, and was acceptably challenging to play.

5. Object Tracking using Standard Equipment and Working with Accelerometer Readings

My MSc was based on a form of Human Computer Interaction which involved experimenting with existing technology to see if it was possible to create an object tracking system.

I was working with the Nintendo Wii Remote, and traditional PC Webcams to see if it was possible to use them to create a system that would allow a model to be held, and manipulated in real-time. The system would allow a user to hold and object, and point at a part of it to be told information about the object. The main constraints of the project were that it had to be reasonably priced, and remained very portable.