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Pragmactive Homebrew

Data Intensive Web Site for Brewing Products. This team of two worked with a small local software development company to develop a data intensive e-commerce web site for a local supplier of brewing products. The system's goal was to provide home brewers and small commercial brewers with information and to sell products. The objectives were to:

  1. develop a database of the supplier's products
  2. present a product catalog on line
  3. fill orders
  4. track web page activity, inventory and business activities
The system was implemented in Microsoft Access, HTML and Cold Fusion.
 

Pilchuck Glass

Pilchuck Glass Database. This team of seven (five in spring) developed a database to track students, donors, members and individuals who attend special events and courses for Dale Chihuly's world-famous Pilchuck Glass Studio. Major objectives were to:

  1. revise the existing FoxPro system (written in 1989) to use current technology,
  2. provide database services (via two synchronized servers) to the Pilchuck (summer) site and the Seattle (winter) business office
  3. convert existing data
  4. rain users and provide maintenance direction.

This "real-world" project not only had interesting database system features, but involved design, development and deployment. The system was a multi-user database application implemented in Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 with a Visual Basic (VB) interface. It was designed to run on two Local Area Networks, one at the main office in Seattle, and one (summer only) at the Pilchuck school in Stanwood. Synchronization between the two versions of the database was to be over phone lines once per day. Current data was converted from FoxPro to SQL Server via a clever Microsoft Excel "bridge". Software for the project was donated by Microsoft, and the order signed by Vice President Jon Shirley; each member of the team was given SQL Server and VB. Hardware was provided by Pilchuck and installed in the College's computer center, and technical consulting was provided by Starling Consultants in Olympia.

Palm Project

 

 Palm-based Computing for Field Ecologists. This team of two worked with a National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored research project and with ecologists on campus to design and implement a hand-held database for field work. The project vision was to build a reliable, intuitive, computerized data collection tool for field scientists. The goal for this year was to determine the feasibility of palm-top computing in the field by answering the following questions: Could data be entered in the field directly onto a palmtop? Would field access to data be helpful? Could computer based laboratories (CBLs) be more effective if their data could be loaded onto palm-tops? Would validated data entry in the field decrease the data error rate? How easily could a palmtop application be adapted for new studies? Technology used included the Palm IIIx and C Code Warrior. This was a highly successful project with an excellent outcome. By the end of the year, the team had completed an effective demonstration of their original design: they were able to collect data on the palm according to a specific database design, using an intuitive user interface, and to upload that data to a comma delimited file on a personal computer. The resulting preliminary design and software has significant value to the larger NSF project. The team effectively demonstrated their system at the software fair, and prepared numerous excellent presentations to a variety of audiences. Their notebook contained very good statements of project vision and resource needs, user interface design and system assessment. The team also wrote two grant applications, to NCIIA to fund the project next year and to garage.com with a business plan.

APEX

 

Tracking System for Web-based Learning. This team of four worked with APEX Learning, a courseware development company in Bellevue that specializes in Advanced Placement courses for small high schools. The goal of the project was to build a prototype to determine the feasibility of managing written assignments over the web. Major objectives were:

  1. instructors' on-line assignment authoring, organization, and archiving - including assignment assessment plans (rubrics)
  2. student submission of assignments
  3. instructors' comments and grading

A desirable feature was to also include the ability for peer review of writing assignments. The technology used for development included MS SQL Server, Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP) and Active Data Objects (ADO), HTML/DHTML and JavaScript. The team delivered a system that was robust, well documented, with an effective web-accessible user interface. The project notebook was thorough, with an excellent objectives statement, and a system architecture that clearly articulated the project organization.

SyComM

Web-based Internet Service Provider Account Management. This team of seven worked with a local Internet service provider (SyComM). Their goal was to develop a web-based user-control panel that automated some system administration by allowing customers to help administer their own web sites and manage account information. System objectives were to allow users to specify

  1. web- and ftp-directory configurations
  2. e-mail accounts and mailing list handling
  3. account related information for billing

These were accomplished with a web interface and an appropriately managed database. Technologies used for implementation (and learned by the team) were MySQL DBMS, SQL, Perl, JavaScript, HTML, and DHTML. The team also learned about the Unix operating system, the Qmail e-mail server, web security and e-commerce.

Virtual Forest

 Virtual Forest World. The Virtual Forest project's goal was to produce an interactive, educational "virtual forest" story. The intent was to educate as well as entertain the visitors, eventually using scientific research data to represent forest dynamics, and engaging players to work together to restore forest ecosystem. The team used Microsoft Virtual Worlds and 3D Studio Max to create and display their virtual world, and completed a very preliminary functional, playable 3D interactive game accessible over the Internet. This team also completed a grant proposal to the National Collegiate Invention and Innovation Association (NCIIA).

Pragmactive ABPC

 

Web-accessible database for Rare Books Dealer. This team of five worked with Pragmactive Custom Solutions, a small local software development company, to develop a web-accessible database for American Book Prices Current (ABPC). ABPC is a New York City company that publishes a yearly catalog on CD ROM of rare books. The objectives of the system were to

  1. convert the legacy database, developed almost 30 years ago to a modern DBMS
  2. add an on-line subscription service to duplicate the functions of the CD search tools
  3. set up a system architecture so that Pragmactive could make database services available by Pragmactive over the web (using Oracle and ColdFusion Servers)

Their system for APBC was not, in effect, a full conversion, but a parallel web-accessible database to the legacy system; this complicated work for the team since they had to provide a robust reusable data conversion routine to be run whenever the existing CD ROM was updated. The technology used for this effort was the Oracle DBMS, Java Scripting and Cold Fusion.

LBNL

System Security for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The aim of this project (completed by one student working independently) was to design and implement system security for the LBNL's laboratory notebook project. This system was dubbed "Akenti". In particular, he improved the usability and utility of the Akenti access control system, integrated it with several applications and integrated Akenti with the standard security mechanisms of CORBA. He also was responsible for the operational security of the group's computing systems and some system administration functions. Particular deliverables included:

  1. Providing strong access control to CORBA objects by integrating Akenti into a CORBA ORB
  2. Integrating Akenti to video conferencing control software system
  3. Consulting with the SOS PNNL Collaboratory project on their security needs
  4. Re-designing and implementing a new user interface for Akenti
  5. Presenting Akenti research and development at security workshops and inter-agency meetings
  6. Monitoring various security related publications and performed security administration for the Lab's local area network.
Salmon DB

Salmon Database for Northwest Indian Fisheries. This individual project consisted of wild salmon habitat and inventory database projects that were joint efforts of Northwest Indian Fisheries, the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife and the western Washington Treaty Indian Tribes. In winter, the work focused on building

  1. an Access database for entering and tracking "Desired Future Conditions"
  2. a generic transport mechanism to connect integrate data from three separate databases.

Networ Lab

 Network Lab-a Web-based Tutorial. The Network Services Lab is an ongoing project that allows undergraduate computer science students at Evergreen to construct and maintain a computer network. During the course of the SOS Network Lab project, four students explored network functionality across several platforms at all levels from physical cabling specification to application level services, and produced a presentation manager software system. The system was written in Java, JavaScript and HTML and made use of the Sun Microsystems Java 1.2.2 Plug-in. It was developed and tested using Apache web server and Microsoft Windows clients using versions Netscape 4.0 and Microsoft Internet Explore 4.0 (or later). Members of this project also studied TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1 : The Protocols by W. Richard Stevens, and submitted and corrected exercises from the text. Source files, and project notebook are available for download at the network lab web site.
Robert's Rules
 Robert's Rules --Structured Electronic Meeting Tool. While the net is often used for chat, newsgroups, e-mail and other conversations, it is rarely used for deliberative purposes. This team of four aimed to develop a next generation tool for conducting on-line meetings - a multi-user, asynchronous Web-based service with built in social protocols for facilitating meetings using Roberts Rules of Order. The system used GUI modules, security features and a relational database for keeping minutes, tallying votes, monitoring turn-taking, etc. The system was to be re-configurable to support other styles of interaction that model other cultural methods for discussion and decision-making. They had hoped to develop a tutorial and help files to teach people how to use Roberts Rules. Since few (if any) similar systems are available on the web, this project was innovative. Team members developed skills that were transferable to other web development, network computing and software engineering projects.

Transportation

 Transportation -- Bicycle Route Mapping Service. This team of three developed a bicycle route mapping service for commuters in the Thurston County region of Washington state. Intended to provide cyclists with a tool for route planning, the tool allowed user to search for optimized routes based on user-selected criteria such as safety, elevation gain or loss, etc.This project utilized Java 1.2, a GIS database, and is web accessible. Source files were made available for download from the project web site. The team also produced user documentation.

TreeFlash 3D

 TreeFlash 3D - Forest Ecology Data Visualization. TreeFlash3d was created to give forest ecologists an easy-to-use tool for representing tree data in three dimensions. TreeFlash3D took data from comma-delimited database files and portrayed the data visually so that trends in data were more clearly defined. Written in Java3D, TreeFlash was designed for cross-platform compatibility. .

DSHS

 DSHS - Secure Distributed Data Access Tool. Adult Family Homes (AFH) is a branch of the Aging and Adult Services Administration (AASA), which is a division of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). The project group designed and implemented an object-oriented application using Java. This application accessed data from an SQL Server (utilizing JDBC). To maintain data security, any shared data was required to pass an approval process by various department managers.

Muadib

 Muadid - A Distributed Online Chat-based Graphical Game. Written in Java, the software utilized Windows clients over TCP/IP. The game was a seen-from-overhead role playing adventure.

PNNL

 PNNL - Data-access Layer for Existing Laboratory Notebook System. Before electronic laboratory notebooks can be used for research and enable official scientific worldwide research collaboration, adequate security must be provided. This team of three students was sponsored by PNNL (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) in Richland, Washington to provide a prototype security system for its Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN). Project members wrote Java code to add security procedures to an existing ELN. They created user-defined access to notebooks, notebook pages, and page notes - procedures that comply with research protocols for paper notebooks.