You know, I think the hardest part of any project is getting started.

If I was building the site for my Independent Study the way I’ve built previous sites, then right now I would have already built the database tables I was planning on using (after quickly thinking up the fields they’re likely to need), and have started designing what the site was going to look like (by jumping directly into the HTML and seeing what came out the other end).

As I say, I’ve built sites like that before, and they have worked, so far as I know at least, and even though there might have been a lot of changes to things like functionality from my initial idea as I find and fix problems, it was a technique that I could use to build what I wanted.

That, however, was a very naughty way of building sites – or so I’m told. So with this project, I’m doing it correctly – partly because I can see the logic in correctly planning everything out first – but more importantly because it is a major part of what I’m going to be marked on.

But, I’m having a lot of trouble getting started. I don’t exactly know where to start. I’ve read some books tailored to helping people in my position, and while they have helped point me in the right direction and give me some practical tasks to complete, such as writing a project plan – which I have – but I’m not happy with my results, so I still don’t really feel like I’m going anywhere. Oh well. I’ve sent a copy to my IS supervisor for her to look over, in addition to a copy to my Dad, as he’s very good with stuff like that.

Anyway, my current task is research. The main themes of my project revolve around website development using an MVC framework, accessibility and usability, Web 2.0, and creative writing. At one point I was fretting at the fact that I would have to read many different books, cover to cover, to get the kind of knowledge required – which in itself was a worry as I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of research I was meant to be doing, or for what purpose.

I think I’ve correctly put that worry to rest, however, by focusing on the idea of research to answer specific questions. For example, one of my questions is “Which work-flow models and tools are best suited for web development projects?”. This is an open question which when answered (which I’ll be doing in the form of a report, as if that question was given to me as an assignment) will provide me with knowledge and information valuable to the project, and help provide justification for my choices relating to such matters.

I’m still not 100% sure that this is quite what I should be doing, but for the moment it’s something which can’t really hurt.

Anyway, I have a meeting with my support tutor on Wednesday, so with some luck, she can point me in the right direction, and I can start to feel like I’ve actually started working on the project.

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