Internship Day 3 & 4 ! – 4th & 5th October

Day 3 started off much like the previous days with a relatively slow start but soon picked up once research started getting investigated. A vast majority of research had been looked over so I had decided that the following day I would get to work setting up OTRS on my staff machine.

The research offered a valuable look at business / IT practices which I truly do believe will be an extremely valuable asset to me when I go looking for work. This is giving me the experience I think I truly need.

I also met more of the ICT team and mingled with them. I feel confident enough to ask questions and talk amongst the team.

Day 4 has been the most productive day yet with the research getting put into practice.

OTRS has been successfully installed but I know realise how complex a system this is. The mirror database has been imported via SQLyog (fantastic program) so that all data now reflects what was already on the system. There are intermittent errors occurring for reasons yet unknown to me but Im hoping these will be resolved within the next few shifts I do.

Knowledge & experience is the key here so I really need to learn more about mySQL so I can better optimise and understand the database behind this system.

Learning Perl would be an advantage too !

University Blog – 28 / 09 / 10

OK its been a while since I’ve properly updated but I have been seriously inundated with work and travel. I have travelled down to England for the past 3 weeks and will be doing so again this week, as such I have missed a few of my meetings with my mentor. This will be resolved this week as I plan on emailing Colin and explaining the situation.

My idea is still strong and ready to go I think but I’m still in the stages of research as well as documenting certain aspects. I need to urgently complete a form that details my project, I plan on doing this tonight if I get a chance, if not it will have to be later in the week.

I still feel my project is completely viable, I have been researching HTML5 language as well as CSS3 and I feel confident enough that I will be able to build a fully fledged web app that is compatible across devices. My main source of research is from a book titled – Pro HTMl5 Programming, this is giving me a very good insight into this new language.

To conclude I’ve been extremely busy so have fallen behind slightly but I aim to rectify this and continue on !

Internship Day 2

Today has been a very research orientated day with a lot of research getting conducted on OTRS which is the Open Source Ticketing System and ITIL which is the Information Technology Infrastructure Library.

Both these services are very extensive, each manual is a very heavy read but offers a large degree of information. OTRS is the main system which I have been researching. Yesterday seen me try out an online test suite which offered almost full functionality so my confidence with OTRS has risen. The system seems simple enough, managing and installing the system may be a completely different case.

I have also been investigating Perl Programming language, mainly because this is a pre requisite for OTRS. Many Operating Systems already implement Perl but Windows requires an additional download, this is packaged with OTRS.

Other things I have managed to get done today include paperwork for administrative purposes, this should hopefully allow me access to staff systems by next week. I should also have access to a full mirror image of the already existing OTRS system that is present on the Carnegie College network. The reason a mirror image will be used is so that any changes I may or may not make wont effect any of the already existing systems, this allows me almost free testing reign to try out and update the system.

The internship is going well and providing me with the experience I think I need to succeed in this field.

Internship Day 1

Today seen me start my Internship at Carnegie College, working with the IT Department.

So far I have just been settling into my position, some details still need to be discussed and sorted. For example I still need to sign an agreement stating that I adhere to Carnegie Colleges policies when using their equipment and network.

My main tasks is looking to be working with an Open Source Internet Ticketing System known as OTRS. Now OTRS is a popular ticketing system for use on UNIX based machines such as FreeBSD, Linux & Mac OS X as well as Windows based computers. OTRS is an open source platform licensed under the AGPL act, effectively meaning it can be used free of charge by company’s and users alike.

Initially I will be getting a mirror image of the existing OTRS system that is already integrated into the Colleges infrastructure. From here I will test and expand the current system on my dummy machine, along the way documenting steps, processes & problems that may or may not occur. The college may then use my research and data to determine if the product is feasible to be rolled out across the whole campus etc.

I plan on installing OTRS on my home machine inside a virtual machine, this will allow me to test OTRS on many different architectures, i.e Windows, Linux etc.

To conclude, the day has been good, I started off by getting acquainted with the staff and my Student Induction was completed. I was then left to research OTRS. Tomorrow will no doubt be much the same as today, but this is a new system and software so I will be putting my time to good use trying to familiarise myself with these new programs and business practices.

University Blog – Test

My blog seems to be over writing my existing posts when I try to write them on the iPad, that’s 2 I have now lost.

University Blog – 18 / 09 / 10

Apparently WordPress has decided to delete or remove my post that was created on the 18th of September.

No idea how this happened and unfortunately I cannot remember what I wrote, my idea has been refined though and my Project Registration Form has been emailed of detailing the title of my Honours Project which is – HTML5 – Integration & Accessibility Across Platforms And Devices !

The idea is to create a new and dynamic web application that works across a variety of devices and browsers, the browsers would need to be capable of displaying HTML5 & CSS3 content.

The aim is to show that integrated into the new upcoming standards is a wealth of new features that now allow web pages to run code and content natively without requiring a third party plug in such as Adobe Flash, Adobe Shockwave or Microsofts Silverlight,

The product is expected to be compatible on:

iOS Devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)
Windows Computers (HTML5 Compatible Browser Required)
Mac OS X
Linux (HTML5 Compatible Browser Required)
Android OS

The application is intended to be a social hub that demonstrates HTML5 & CSS3′s new capabilities. External API’s will be used to expand and integrate services such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FourSquare etc. Each of these services will handle the security credentials so the user can be assured that his or her personal information is secure.

Its getting to a point that I feel like i’m writing nothing but blogs so I think its now time to go over the coursework and make a start on what needs done, like my proposal etc.

The next few days should allow me to get things moving. I aim to start researching and learning HTML5 & CSS3 via a book I recently purchased called – Pro HTML5 Programming so that should help me with constructing the initial design and interface.

University Blog – 13 / 09 / 10

The beginning of the second week at University.

This week is surprisingly quiet because some things still need to be fully set up.

I have now chosen my additional module to do at Napier, the module chosen is Motion Graphics. This involves advanced techniques in Adobe After Effects.

This week will see me begin my main 60 credit project which is based around external API’s and the new developments in the HTML & CSS languages.

I will hopefully have full confirmation about my internship which is based at Carnegie College working within the IT department, this will hopefully be arranged for Monday & Tuesday’s with a full day at Napier on Wednesdays. This will allow me the long weekend to travel back and forth to Sunderland as well as focus on my main project.

University Blog – 09 / 09 / 10

Today seen me have the first in many meetings with my mentor (Colin Maxwell) and I must say it went very well.

The meeting was conducted remotely using Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro which allowed audio and video to be streamed as well as ideas to be visualised using a whiteboard area, other features include a file transfer area. The meeting was also recorded and is currently publicly available through a hyperlink.

Other meetings may be conducted remotely or done face to face. I will be attending the college on a regular basis anyway to do my internship with the IT Department so meetings may be arranged around my time there.

Since this was the first true meeting only the concept / feasibility was discussed. Points discussed included

Product Overview
Comparison Products
Design Aspects
Programming Languages
Services Integration
Feasibility

For the next meeting I have said I will create templates to offer a visual interpretation of my ideas, these will showcase design ideas, navigation and features.

University Blog – 07 / 09 / 10

University Induction today, seems a drastic step from studying at Carnegie but no doubt an improvement overall.

Main Project outlined with requirements firmly established.

I need to start investigating possible project idea’s but I do want to use this project to learn something new. I would like to create a rather ambitious prototype that incorporates the latest improvements in the HTML & CSS languages, i.e. HTML5 & CSS 3 but also use advanced JavaScript to control visual elements.

The use of external API’s is essential to create the application. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn are all planned with hopefully more to be added if possible.

Other possible API’s Include

FourSquare (GeoTagging)
MySpace (Social)
Google

Security will be handled by the API vendors so users can be guaranteed security.

Overall I have an idea, this idea needs to be investigated as well as carefully planned, the goal is ambitious but achievable if the work is done.

Site Changes

The site is going through a few changes. Mainly the addition of new features and services but as you may have already noticed, a few design changes. The design changes are intended to clean up the classic look of the website and turn it into a more modern contempory website. By classic look I mean squares, I intend to change many elements to modules. Perhaps free floating ?

The additional features and services getting included are jQuery interactive features, some of which have all ready been included. Better external communication with sites and services, such as Twitter & Facebook.

I also plan on installing a content management called Drupal. I need to gain knowledge of thesd types of systems.