Capstone project idea Wired birdhouse.

list of New Media capstone ideas:

1) build a bird watching-birdhouse : The idea is simple enough to build the birdhouse. But what i think makes this project worth doing is the idea that you place a camera inside the birdhouse, while designing the birdhouse itself to "absorb light", so people can view what's going on via camera. Camera's will be placed around the birdhouse as well or exterior viewing on different channels. Then each channel could be direct streamed onto a website built for online bird watching.

2) Movies on 12 frames- Have you ever sat in a movie theatre, or rented a movie and brought it home, only to find that the movie drags on forever, or that the movie just plain sucks? By shortening every clip i can use into 12 frame segments, the movie can be sped along, and stories can even be changed. The idea would be to take several movies, a couple big screens hits, and a couple b list movies, and edit them into digestable segments (a 90 minute movie into a 9 minute movie, )


Birdwatching House

Abstract
The idea of this project is to allow bird watchers to log onto a website to watch birds both inside and outside of a streaming birdhouse.
Why
Many of the old ways are dying. If you sent people into the woods bird watching, i guarantee many of today's young adults and teens would quickly be bored with it, or simply not be interested at all. The idea is that you'd be able to watch a family of birds, from anywhere in the world, with simple access to a website, via streaming webcams built into and around the birdhouse.
Where
...this problem arises
Summarize why your research shows there's a problem or opportunity that hasn't been addressed
What
...you propose
Describe the features of your solution
Describe the outcomes you expect
When
The Birdhouse itself would be the easiest part of the project. I would likely build it on our extended weekend in October when i go home. Until that time, i will look into difference resources to build the structure with, and work on building a website.
Now- start working on web designing a site for this project.
October- have the birdhouse built, minus the webcams.
November- have the webcams working within the birdhouse as well as ready to go in the tree
December- wrap up project, release birdhouse, coax birds in with feed or something.
...you'll have it done
Plot a timeline, including when you will
confirm the collaborators
flesh out the concept
finish an alpha version (prototype)
get feedback on alpha version
finish a beta (pre-launch) version
get feedback on beta version
launch a public version
promote the project
assess your level of success
Who
...you'll work with
Describe the potential and/or confirmed collaborators
How
I have many of the resources for building the birdhouse at home. The camera's i'll likely have to buy online, basically cheap webcams that i'll have to build separate houses for.
so if you figure out the wood (as i have plenty back home.) i would need some sort of plexiglass or transparent roof, three webcams, extra cords to power them. then for the website i'll need to learn HTML, or get someone who knows it well, and pay them.


...you'll accomplish it
Detail your costs (at least for the first year) in a project budget
organize the data like an outline
sum the columns and rows
restrict to first year for now
Describe the legal agreements you'll need
should include
pay
liabilities
licenses
you may need to get a lawyer to write or review these
Describe your plan for getting the word out
review Jeffrey Yamaguchi's "25 Simple Things You Can Do To Get the Word Out about Your Independent Project"