COMP 4911 ~ COMPUTING SCIENCE PROJECT
POST 2: REQUIREMENTS | DAVID PEDERSEN, T00586936
Project Summary
This project involves the development of a website to collect and aggregate information on the problem of wood burning as well as actions that can be taken against it and documentary evidence uploaded by users in the form of photographs and video clips. The information page and action tables will be updated as necessary to align with the best-available real-world scientific data on the subject.
User Stories
Three user stories were collected to shape and refine the requirements for this project.
The first comes from a writer who has become increasingly fed up with wood smoke from her neighbours and wanted to start a local campaign against the problem, but didn’t know where to look for information. She wants a website with a concise and updated collection of scientific information about wood burning and wood smoke. She also wants a list of actions she can take to help address the problem.
The second comes from someone who sees and smells people burning wood on a regular basis when out and about in their community. They want to be able to share their sightings with the world, particularly others in the same predicament, by uploading photographs and videos to the website. They also want to be able to check the air quality quickly and easily without leaving the site.
The third comes from the client herself. She wants a website that can serve as an accompaniment to her existing One Million Better Moms For Clean Air (OMBMFCA) Facebook page (see post 1). She wants a website where she can share information and provide a repository for others to share their experiences.
Functional Requirements
Functional requirements define what a system is expected to do. Accordingly, for this project, based on the user stories collected, these functional requirements are germane:
- Display information on wood smoke and provide for the updating of that information when applicable
- Provide a table of anti wood-smoke advocacy actions to help people take action against the problem
- Provide a form for uploading photographs, videos, and story text
- Provide a “Contact” page featuring a form that lets the user send feedback/comments to the client and site developer
Non-Functional Requirements
Non-functional requirements are the constraints a system will have. In this particular project, the non-functional requirements were not influenced by the user stories. They are:
- The layout of the website pages will be written in HTML
- The styling of the website pages will be done using CSS, either in-line or through linked style sheets
- The database for the “Action” table will be developed using MySQL and linked to the website using PHP
- The file-upload form will also be scripted using PHP