Tag: status update

Following up on previous updates (April 1, Feb 28), here’s another summary of what’s been unfolding with my capstone project work:

Progress

• April was a very full month, focused almost entirely on building the first version of the tool we’d planned, delivering it to Simon and team for testing, open sourcing and publishing the software code for the tool, discussing and clarifying feedback received from Simon and team, and then refining and re-delivering.
• As another side project, I also had the opportunity to create a CrowdTangle API Library in PHP, and the folks at Meta/CrowdTangle are considering it for inclusion in their documentation for CrowdTangle so it could be used by others.
• Although I’ve made the source code for the tool public via a public GitHub repository, it doesn’t include the full “changelog” history of the work I did up to that point, so I shared that separately in a post here.

 Plans

• Per the original project timeline, I’ll be shifting in to compiling and writing up summaries, analysis, project reviews and related discussion, as well as creating a video walkthrough or presentation, as a part of the final project deliverables.
• As needed, I’ll make myself available to Simon and team for continued refinements or questions about the tool as they increase their usage of it in the daily news harvest workflow.

Problems

• Carried over from last month, the Bloomfield team has had some challenges locating and contacting additional stakeholders for me to interview (at least one representative reader of the Daily Bulletin, and one person who has provided financial support to the project). Still hoping and expecting to be able to complete these conversations soon.

Since my last update, things have continued to move forward with my capstone project work:

Progress

• I finalized and delivered the final application wireframes for the tool I’m building as a part of the capstone.
• I wrote in detail about one particular aspect of the tool workflow and content curation process that we were finding challenging to figure out.
• I’m deep into building the actual application software! Here’s an early screenshot from the “create a feed” workflow:

• I wrote about the tools and process I’m using in my software development work, and how something like automated quality testing will contribute toward the longer-term success of the tool.

Plans

• Continue to develop the software application and work toward delivering a first version for testing by the Bloomfield folks next week.
• Based on feedback and real-world testing, make refinements and re-deliver, repeating that cycle as needed.

Problems

• The Bloomfield team has had some challenges locating and contacting additional stakeholders for me to interview (at least one representative reader of the Daily Bulletin, and one person who has provided financial support to the project). Still hoping and expecting to be able to complete these conversations soon.
• Some concerns have come up in the wider tech and journalism communities about the long-term plans for CrowdTangle, a tool that the Bloomfield team uses heavily in their news harvest and that I am working on integrating into the software. There’s nothing actionable on this for the moment but it may change some aspects of how that integration ends up working.
• Some challenges lining up schedules between the Bloomfield team’s projects/priorities/travel as well as losing some time due to some family illness on my end mean that I’m again not quite where I want to be in terms of schedule. To compensate, I’ll be spending some of April beginning my write-up and summaries (originally intended for May).

It’s been about a month since my capstone project officially commenced, so here’s a quick summary of what’s taken place since then and what’s ahead. I’ll use a “progress, plans, problems” structure for these updates.

Progress

• I set up this project website and posted my capstone project proposal, background information, planned deliverables (with feedback from the capstone committee incorporated) and a project timeline.
• I documented some of the “side projects” that I have worked on for the Bloomfield Information Project related to the overall goals of my project.
• I proposed and reviewed with Dr. Blom a list of questions for stakeholder interviews.
• I’ve conducted three stakeholder conversations, one with project lead Simon Galperin (notes and analysis here) and two with members of the Bloomfield Information Project team (notes forthcoming).
• I developed an initial data model for organizing the information that the new software tool will use and manage, reviewed it with Simon, and made some refinements based on feedback.
• I posted related notes about a conversation and subsequent decision about the structure of the new application.
• I began working on wireframe mockups of the new application, and am working to finish those for presentation and discussion.

Plans

• Continue working on the wireframe mockups for the new application, and present those to the Bloomfield team so I can refine and finalize them. I expect to have them done this week (by March 4th).
• Continue with stakeholder interviews, at least one representative reader of the Daily Bulletin, and one person who has provided (individually or as a part of an organization) financial support to the project. Simon is connecting me with those individuals and I hope to have those completed this week or next (by March 11) pending availability of the stakeholders.
• Begin software development! It’s almost time to start building the new tool, with hopes of delivering an initial version for testing before the end of March. This will consume most of my time on the project in the weeks and months ahead.

Problems

We are a bit behind the timeline I’d originally imagined, but at this point there are no problems or concerns affecting the overall progress of the project.