Overview

The first phase of the project serves to deploy a minimum viable product of the site. Over the Spring semester (roughly mid-February to early-May 2025), the team will launch the website on GitHub Pages containing two program pages and pages for each song within those programs. An About section will also be provided with a brief overview of the project, any necessary historical or cultural context, names of the contributors, and links to the WBENA site for any relevant information such as the instrument’s history (subject to approval from the ensemble).

The second phase of the project involves adding the rest of the programs and their songs into the already existing framework. The Project Lead will add the rest of the Program PDFs and songs to the framework, not including the context. This phase is intended to be completed by the end of May 2025.

The final phase of the project will include adding the rest of the context to the Song Pages. Only the Project Lead will be working on this phase of the project with 14 additional programs containing songs to research; however, the Ensemble does often keep most of the same repertoire from performance to performance. Given these factors, this phase will likely conclude by 2026.

The Project Lead will stay on to aid the Ensemble in running the site after these phases end. The Ensemble will also have full access to the site’s GitHub repository.

Below are the steps to Phase 1 of the project:

Ongoing Responsibilities

Throughout the development process, we will have weekly check-ins with our liaison Teryn, and we aim to meet with the Ensemble Board at least once per phase / month. We will defer to the Ensemble Board’s schedule as they are preparing for a show in April. We also have a standing agreement with the WBENA outlining expectations for both sides. In addition, the Ensemble will have full visibility into all documentation.

• Weekly syncs between team members on Thursday evenings.
• Weekly check-ins with Teryn, to be attended by the Project Lead and any other available/interested team members on Tuesday evenings before class.
• Team Meeting with outside advisors to consult on research approach, sources and history of women in bandura.

February to March 2025 – Song Research and Development Education Design

The first month of the project is dedicated to compiling notes for the two programs and approximately 20 songs, split amongst the two researchers. For programs, the researchers will record the name of the concert, its location(s), the date(s), any collaborators if applicable, the performers’ names, the song titles, any other notes, and the PDF file path. For songs, the researchers will record where available the title, composer, original year or period, language, location of origin, genre, themes, tempo, description, YouTube link, lyrics, and soloists. The researchers will also be free to record any other relevant or interesting information that they find for the song. The WBENA has generously offered to share their records available on Google Drive with the team which will be an invaluable source for research. The wireframes will be created, the group agreement will be shared and the team will seek approval from WBENA within this period.

February 24 – March 2

• Researchers begin research on the first thirteen songs from the Boston program provided by WBENA. Additionally, researchers will flag any information found on women’s bandura history.
• Frontend Developer gives a walkthrough of wireframing to the team.

March 3 – 9

• Frontend Engineer and team members who want to shadow/share work draft highest-priority wireframes (home, program, and song pages)
  • Deliver to WBENA for feedback
• Research on the first song set continues.
• Submit data management plan by 3/5.

March 10 – 16

• Researchers will switch songs assigned from the first round of research and do an additional round of research
• Frontend Developer drafts a walkthrough of Wax to go over with the team
  • share with Backend Developer for feedback and planning
• Team submits group outreach and social media plans by 3/12.

March 17 – 23

• Backend and Frontend Developers deliver Wax walkthroughs to the larger team.
• Frontend Developer and team members who want to shadow/contribute draft lower-priority wireframes (about pages and search page).
• Adapt wireframes for submission of Project website draft (basic landing page, about page; methods; social media) by 3/19.
• Choose a second program and assign individual songs to the researchers.

 

March 24 – 30

• Researchers will switch songs from the second program and do an additional round of research.
• Team finalizes logo design
• Social media specialist create outreach content and copy editor review it.

Late March to Early April 2025 – Backend Development

Towards the end of the Research step, the Backend Developer will begin assembling the CSV structure that will provide the data for the site. Towards the end of the Backend Development period, the Backend Developer will work with the Frontend Developer to confirm the information provided and needed for the user interface. The Developers will also generate and briefly deploy sample pages at this time to ensure that the csv is connected properly.

March 24 – 30

• Backend Developer assembles a rough draft of the program CSV and the song CSV from the existing research notes and presents them to the team for feedback / group code review.

March 31 – April 6

• Backend Developer to finish filling in the CSV’s with current research data and work with Frontend Developer on sample pages to ensure all necessary data is provided in the correct format.

April 7 – 13

• Deploy sample pages to test csv format. Make any necessary changes to csv.

Mid-March to April 2025 – Frontend Development and ongoing Development Education

As a part of research and development, in coordination with the WBENA, the Frontend Developer and Project Lead will produce wireframes for the WBENA liaison review. On receipt of the wireframe approvals, some tasks of the Frontend development will be initiated and run parallel to the Backend development, with use of placeholder data.

 

Towards the end of the Backend development step, the Frontend Developer will add higher-fidelity to the site UI/UX, with the Researchers aiding in finding images and other material for site content. The Frontend Developer will also collaborate with the Backend Developer to ensure that all the information required for this design is available to them. The Frontend Developer will then collaborate with the Content Editor to incorporate the content for the site. The Frontend Developer will work under a model of deploying often to production, to ensure that the site behaves as expected.

March 24-30

• Frontend Developer will ticket out work for implementing the draft version of the wireframes in GitHub.
• Frontend Developer will develop a workshop and/or written resource on use of GitHub, git, and version control
  • Share with Backend Developer for feedback and planning

March 31 – April 6

• Frontend Developer deliver GitHub/git/version control resource to the larger team
• Frontend Developer and team members who want to shadow/contribute can start picking up tickets that are not reliant on data from the backend
• Team will implement feedback from WBENA on wireframes
  • Deliver an updated draft to WBENA

April 7 – 13

• Frontend Developer and team members who want to shadow/contribute can begin working on tickets that involve dummy data from the preliminary CSV structure.
• Based on the work ticketed thus far, Frontend Developer will compile an ongoing, collaborative resource document for frontend coding concepts that may be useful for other team members.

April 14 – 20

• Development work continues, and team members will update the collaborative resources document
• Frontend Developer continues to create tickets that respond to updated wireframes and project requirements as-needed

April 21 – 27

• Researchers aid Frontend Developer in finding images for site content.
• Frontend Developer will consult with Researchers and Content Editor to incorporate higher-fidelity copy into the site and make adjustments

April 28 – May 4

• Team to conduct final testing and prep for project launch dress rehearsal.

April 2025 – Women’s Bandura History Research

At this time, the team will turn their attention to researching the history of Women playing Bandura to publish on its own page at the request of the WBENA. This time has been chosen since the WBENA will have finished their March concert series, and the team will have assembled the back-end for the song pages. This research will be inserted into its own static page featured in the About tab.

Mar 31 – April 6

• Researchers to interview WBENA representatives to collect information on the history of women playing the bandura.

April 7 – 13

• Researchers to continue with WBENA representatives interviews.
• Researchers draft history content..

April 14 – 20

• Researchers collate information with any history flagged from academic sources during the research phase.
• Copyeditors review and finalize history content.

April 21 – 27

• Frontend developer deploys the text in the relevant section of the About tab.
• Conduct final test runs.

 

May 2025 – Revisions, Testing, and Deployment

After the completion of Frontend Development, the team will take the WBENA through the MVP of the site and resolve any edits provided. Once the WBENA is comfortable that the outcome has stayed true to the approved wireframes and okayed any minor deviations, the team will test all pages and links locally before deploying the site and testing all pages and links publicly for bugs or errors.

April 29 – May 13

• Team gives WBENA walk through of site for final approval.
• Incorporate necessary edits recommended by WBENA and test run by May 5.
• Project launch dress rehearsal on May 6.
• Team incorporates feedback from rehearsal, makes necessary edits and retests.
• Public project launch at the GC Digital Showcase on May 13.