2015 Fall BIT Projects
A very successful spring and summer project semester (May through August) just wrapped up with our last two Brazilian students heading back home this week. Now a new group of eight BIT students is getting up to speed in the Massey Building (standing, left to right: Skye Valde, Jie Chen, Samara Hoffman, Cole Denslow, Parminder Singh, Aaron Bao; crouched: Chris Xuan; not in photo: Fiona Grant).
Their assignment: three separate fall projects (PanoPlā, Student LIFE App, Food & Farm Discovery Centre). Guiding development and mentoring BIT Project students for a second semester is Dan Blair of the dynamic startup company, Bit Space Development. And rounding out the Fall 2015 team are Guy Dugas, RRC Project Specialist and BIT Project ScrumMaster, and Jody Gillis, BIT Program Instructor.
Team Members: Aaron Bao, Cole Denslow, Samara Hoffman (shared)
Goal: Allow anyone to easily upload static digital images (either flat, two-dimensional images or fully spherical 360-degree panoramas) and overlay clickable “hotspots” to create interactive augmented reality “panos” that can be published and shared over the Web.
Deliverables: This is the only project of the three to continue development of an augmented reality (AR) content management and publication platform, PanoPlā, and a Web-based PanoPlā editor.
Student Life App
Team Members: Jie Chen, Fiona Grant, Samara Hoffmann, Skye Valde
Goal: Support students’ decisions when coming to Red River College by presenting pertinent information and leading them through a process of LIFE (Living, I [as in me], Finances, and Employment) self-assessment so they can consider how ready they are for college life.
Deliverables: Convert information that has been compiled by Red River College’s Academic Success Centre (ASC) into a form that is housed within a Bit Space Development (BSD) Content Management System (CMS) and readily accessible online.
Food & Farm Discovery Centre
Team Members: Parminder Singh, Skye Valde (shared), Chris Xuan
Goal: Staff of the Farm & Food Discovery Centre (FFDC) will be able to easily create and maintain a wide variety of digital content (text, images, video, interactive augmented reality, virtual reality, simulations) that can be delivered via the Web (to any computer or mobile device) or on-site displays and installations.
Deliverables: Convert existing FFDC Mac Mini installations to less expensive single-board devices (e.g. Rasberry Pi) that can be networked and centrally/remotely configured and controlled; replicate existing Mac Mini functionality on the new devices; build a new FFDC Content Management System (CMS) that will centrally house supporting digital content; build a new FFDC Website; build a long-term relationship with a local digital service provider; secure long-term technical and systems support.
Read Food and Farm Discovery Centre Project Blog
Updates and more details of each project will be posted as we progress in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned!