View my proposal here.
Project Description
This database is meant to serve as a singular, comprehensive resource that Entertainment industry folks can access online when looking for equipment and services related to costumes, lighting, scenery, props, audio/visual, and more in the New York City area. Currently there is no compilation on an individual site that offers information on verified rental and purchase sources for the entertainment industry within the NYC area. The creation of this website in a database format that industry professionals can access online from anywhere would remedy that need.
Deliverables
- Schedule of research and writing
- Interviews with industry professionals about the potential use of the site
- Interview with Deborah Hemela on the creation of Debbie’s Book
- Completed web-based database (site)
- Citation list of all resources used to create the database
Required resources
- IDE software
- Database management software
- Domain Name
- Internet access
- Macbook
Culmination Timeline
Budget Estimate
Item Estimate Amount
Macbook $ 1699.99
Software $ 129.99
Travel $ 131.00
Domain $ 69.99
Wi-fi. $ 149.00
Methods
- Employ best web-based database practices for ease of use and industry legibility
- Aggregate accurate and current data to meet on-demand customer concerns and fulfill inquiries
- Select data management tool equipped for industry
- This includes discerning appropriate labels to ensure tactful site structure
- Recognizing relevant data types which helps maintain organized and easily digestible information
- Input all compatible information
- Publish database under a domain, making it easily accessible to anyone with a smart device connected to Wi-fi, anytime
- Culmination Project Agreement – Signed
Culmination Project Reflection
This semester pushed me to grow more than any other in my almost 3 years at CityTech. Although I had planned my project out in theory during the previous semester, staying on track with personal deadlines proved a difficult task. Over and over I would miss deadlines by a day and sometimes by more than a week. In retrospect, I spent too much time gathering data on companies, which reduced the time I had to work on the coding portion of my project. It was painful to come across a technical difficulty (in the literal programming sense) and feel like I was wasting time shuffling through tutorials that proved unhelpful because they weren’t tailored to my exact problem. This compelled me to look through old coding projects as well as scour StackOverflow to try a number of solutions and see if they were applicable to my project. Thankfully, with the guidance of professors and other industry professionals with more advanced technical knowledge than I had, I was able to create a functional search engine and filter. If I had to go back and do it over, I would definitely start my project according to its original timeline, which had me submitting it for review at the end of September. Additionally, I would not compile the company data in Google Sheets, but would instead begin creating the local API that would eventually be used to yield results on the search page. Organizing the data in Sheets, to then make a database in SQL, to then transfer that data into an API in JSON wasted a lot of time that I could have otherwise spent making the project more visually appealing. I had never worked with an API before, however, so I did not know that route would have served me better in the long run. Still, I am proud of what I was able to accomplish in only a few short months with my limited knowledge.
The poster session displayed a variety of engaging projects that were beyond my area of expertise. It was exciting to see how peoples’ ideas developed and changed as they continued to work on them throughout the semester. It was also enriching to hear about all the different software that people used to build their projects, some I had never even heard of! It felt fulfilling to work on this project all semester and be able to gather with peers that struggled through some of the same hardships as I did. To come together at the end of the semester in-person to discuss our processes and dream about how we could further advance our projects was so gratifying! Having the poster session before the selected presentations also helped me feel more confident in discussing my project. Everybody’s questions during the poster session focused on different parts of the project, so I got to discuss several elements of it which allowed me to feel better prepared to present it the second time around.
The lead-up to the presentation (both virtual and in-person) was more nerve-wracking than the actual act of it. I attended some presentations in late November in order to examine how some other students structured their presentations and consider whether that would work with my project. I was determined not to simply read off of my slides because I find that it is difficult to keep your audience engaged during a presentation when doing that. Once I made my slideshow, I soon after wrote a script to go alongside it. I also did not want to just read directly from a script the whole time because that felt inauthentic, so I rehearsed the slideshow alongside what I had written and made sure I was communicating all the points I felt were important in discussing my process. The hardest part of putting together the presentation was making sure I could talk about my project in a way that encompassed the experience of building it in under 10 minutes. At times while rehearsing, it felt impossible to discuss 4 months of work in only 10 minutes. I think by the second time I got to present, however, I had nailed my presentation as close to 10 minutes as possible.
On a final note, during the select presentations, I was most impressed with Max’s game. He created an imaginative game (even if inspired by existing games) with original rules that was engaging, and he spoke about the building process in a compelling way. I’d like to second Adam Wilson’s comment about Max’s presentation style as well, by far the most captivating. If there was a winner within the selected presenters, he would sincerely have my vote.
What an absolute privilege it was to be able to display a body of work to my peers in-person after a semester of sleepless nights, sweat, and tears. While COVID took away the many typical milestones one experiences during their years in college, we still got to have this one. When I look back on my time here, I will profoundly cherish this moment.
