Chechnya Project revised doc, Aamir

[aawan at cs.uml.edu (Aamir Awan)]

from: Aamir Awan

to: Peter


Are you interested(yes/no)?

assuming you did not recieve earlier ver. of documentation.




encl:

**************************************************************************

                           PROJECT   CHECHNYA
                           ****************** 


	My team is developing a multimedia(text, graphics, sound, movie)

interactive, internet(WWW-world wide web)  software on Chechnya. 

Chechnya is a country which is trying to break away from Russia, 

but is being ruthlessly suppressed.  The situation is analogous to the

original American 13 colonies and how they freed themselves from British

rule.  And this war is indirectly being subsidized by United States 

government(IMF is giving $6 billion to Russia, most of it American

hard earned tax-payer $).  


	The fundamental goal of this software is to stop the war in 

Chechnya.  It will accomplish this task by generating maximum, global

controversy using various media outlets(NPR, CNN,NY Times, ABC, etc.),

which hopefully will result in the cutting of the American money pipeline

to Russia, and thus bring an end to the war.

    
     The secondary goal of this software is to win the SUN-JAVA contest.

With prizes worth $1 million dollars.  The money will be given to charity

(Red Cross, Red Crescent, Doctors Without Borders, Pharmaceutical

without Borders, other organizations which helped the Chechnyan people).

Sun Computer company is offering a contest, if you write a killer(good)

computer program using the language JAVA.


	This software will be built by the multi-national participants 

on the internet.  In this software, there are various jobs depending on 

one's skill and how much time one can spare.  It is estimated that this

project will take one year or less to complete it.


	The project is actually composed of two types of software 

components.  Each component is then composed of various modules & 

sub-modules.  A small team of two people will work on each module.  

For software component #1, there is a total of some 15 modules involving

30 people. Each module will be executed in parallel

(i.e. working simultaneously) by its team.  To get the project rolling, 

we will start off simple, that is constructing text and graphics 

webpage written in HTML.  A more advanced version of the webpage

will be then written in JAVA programming language.  


.........................................................................


            figure 1: THE TWO MAIN PILLERS OF THIS SOFTWARE:
                 

__________________                                 ____________________       
|                |                                |                   | 
|   CONTENT      |<------------------------------>|    Presentation   |
|                |                                |                   | 
|________________|                                |___________________|
"Raw content"                                          "Technical"    
library research-                                  (Sr. Engineer)         
(logistics engineer)                               artist,
 artist, 


.........................................................................


            figure 2: Develpment phases of Project Chechnya
                 

        (1)                                                (2)
______________________                            ____________________       
|                    |                            | JAVA program      | 
|   HTML webpage     |--------------------------->|                   |
|  on world wide web |                            |                   | 
|____________________|                            |___________________|

is interactive "real time"        |      
webpage is "simple"               |        dowloadable software
so it is browser independent      |           
(will work for Netscape,          |        this software will  
mosaic, lynx)                     |        be identical
                                  |        to the HTML
only pictures, text               |        webpage, but will 
hypertext, maybe mpeg             |        have sound, i.e
video                             |        music, narration
                                  |        will be generally designed
                                  |        to run on 486's with
                                  |        sound card & VGA. 
                                  |                   
disadvantage: no sound,           |        disadvantage: Java is 
              slow speed          |                      slower then C
                                  |                      because it has
                                  |                      to recompile 
                                  |                      code again. 
                                  |               
                                  |            advantage: can operate
                                  |                       on various
                                  |                       platforms
                                  |                              


______________________________________________________________________________
 
                    COMPONENT  A  =  FAR AWAY
                    ************************* 


Type of Component:  Factual, just the facts, To be absolutly neutral)

Designed to be like a hyper-text electronic magazine.


MODULES
*******

.................................
(.5)  Scientific statistical survey 1, i.e. polling
      asking people:

      (a)  If they know about Chechnya(yes/no)?, i.e what is it?

      (b)  If (a)=yes,  Should We give $ to Russia while Russia
           suppresses Chechnya?  

      (c)  Where is it?  
           show a map, user will click on it.  approx location                                                                            
           
      This is a real-time internet survey, the results get sent back

      to central webpage and get added to the original copy of the

      software.

................................
(1) Opening scene

     (a) Dedication(in remembrance of:)


................................
(2)  Geographic map
     (Java ver: sound narration by Chechnyan woman in English)

     Show graphically where Chechnya is:   

     you see first of all  a  map of world(Chechnya is barely visible,

     a green dot)  you then zoom in like a camera, seeing more detail,

     names, etc.


(2.5) landscape pictures of Chechnya (jpeg)

.................................
(3)  3-D computer generated fly-by of Chechnya using satellite data.

     2D satellite images from JPL(Jet Propulsion Laboratory) or NASA.


     As if you are flying at 500ft  as a bird in Chechnya.  You will

     see realistic images of  mountains, rivers, burned out buildings etc

     with names & proper pronunciation.

     (Java ver:music by SONY: Turkish music: Sweet Lullaby, or Enia or
      Kazak traditional music)

...................................
(4)  Biography of Chechnya (with text|graphics  =page format)   
      (Java ver: sound narration by Chechnyan woman in English)

      (a)  Their history-history time line, current events

           (i)  Contrast(Before/After Russia started war)

      (b) People of Chechnya( with traditional & modern clothing)

      (c)  Their religion ISLAM

            (i)  MPEG video frames of real-life person doing wazu
                 (washing ones face, hands, elbow, feet).
                 
           (ii)  MPEG video frames of real-life person  reading namiz
                 in Arabic with English subtitles.

          (iii)  Show Janimiz(~special rug for prayers) colorful geometry

     (d)  Their music, lyrics only.(Java ver: actual sound) 
 
     (e)  Their customs.

     (f)  Their language. 

.............................................
(5)  Political Caricature
     External comments made by leaders &
     organizations of the world
     
     a)  President Clinton
     
     b)  President Yelsten
  
     c)  Senator Bob Dole
  
     d)  General Grabchev(President Yeltsen's military commander,
                          now fired) 
  
     e)  Russian human right activist
  
     f)  President Clinton's Secretary of State Christopher
  
     g)  Butros Gali(UN head) 
  
     h)  Pentagon/CIA
   
     i)  Statements by IMF(INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND)  USA is in charge.(Gave Russia $6 billion loan)
  
     j)  Statements by Red Cross, Soros Foundation, etc. on suffering
  
     k)  Summarize why USA is supporting Russia.
  
     l)  Summarize why Russia wants Chechnya to be part of Russia.

     m)   Summarize why Chechnya wants to break away from Russia.

     So you will have a cartoon of Clintons' face, Yeltsen's face,

     etc.  You click on it, all the speeches he made will appear, 
     (Java ver: he will then start talking(sound).

     Yelsten will also talk( with English translation)

..........................................
(6)  Military Guide
     (a)  Types of Russian military hardware used in Chechnya, pictures and all.
           Reference: Jane's Guide to Military weapons.

     (b)   Types of weapons used by Chechen gurillas.

     (c)   Russian military tactics used.

     (d)   Chechen military tactics used.

........................................... 
(7)  Gallery of Sorrow & Tears: Victims of War: Chechnya
     Color digital photographs of Chechnyan civilians obtained from NY
     times, API, Reuters, etc. 
     (a) Chechen Victims of War.
         (i) One of the pictures is of a Chechen girl whose family has

             been killed by Russian tank fire.  She looks like a ghost

             and a doll.  She will be the narator in this software thus

             indicating the slight bias in favor of Chechnya by the

             author of the software.(Java ver:music=Enya sad song)

        (ii) A man praying in the middle of hell( fires caused by

             busted natural gas pipelines) 


        (iii) Russian mother weeping for her son.


     (b) Other Victims of War( 2 pictures only).
         (i)  A family from Bosnia, the expression on the adults

              is one of fatigue, depression, sadness.  But the

              little girl is smiling.

         (ii)  Middle East - a body of a baby girl, but head is missing.
               
                        
      

      mssg:  Bullets don't care what nationality, religion, sex, age

             you are.  i.e.  Waging war is NOT a video game.  There

             are real people dying.

................................
(7.5)  Investigative Reporting
       (i)  How much $ did the world give Russia while it waged
            its war on Chechnya?  (loans included)

       (ii) How much $ is Russia spending on the war in Chechnya?                        

            Present this info. graphically.
            i.e graphs.  
       

............................
(8)  Multi-media library on Chechnya

............................
(9)Opinions/Debate

.............................
(10)  FAQ (frequently asked questions) on Chechnya

.............................
(11)  References/Bibliography
        Each module will have hyper-text connection to this module.

..............................
(12)    Feedback 
        (a)  record comments by user
 
        (b)  Encourage people to write a letter to the following people
             stating:

             United States government should not use our taxpayer money
             to support butchers & thugs.  Its UN-AMERICAN!
             (i)  Give email address of USA White House
             (ii) "                   " members of House of Representives                                          
            (iii) "                              " Senate. 

........................
(13)  Scientific statistical survey 2, i.e. polling
      asking people:
       (a)   Should We give $ to Russia while Russia suppresses Chechnya? 

             This is a real-time internet survey, the results get sent
 
             back to central webpage and get added to the original copy of the software.
      
             Graphically Display results of survey

.....................
(14)  Closing Credits 
        (Indian-Pakistani dance music( Muquabla, Muquabla, etc.) or 
         Turkish music or Kazak music, - signifying that things will get better for Chechnya,

        that life will return to normal.
   
        Code-names or names of all the  people who worked on this project will be 
   
        displayed.
         
        Special Thanks to Various Institutions for Support and Sponsorship.


.........................
NPR( Public Radio)  will be asked to review this software and certify
that it is indeed neutral in its view point and thus certify it.


............................

Summary:


Total # of people in "Far Away" = 32 

Total # of Teams = 16

# of people per Team = 2




_______________________________________________________________________________
         
                     COMPONENT  B  = STORM FROM CHECHNYA 
                     *********************************** 




Type of Component:   Fiction - computer driven interactive multimedia 
                     small scale movie.


Plot: A Chechnyan woman who is a sniper shoots Yeltsen.

is modeled artistically after the movie "Sniper".

User will dictate where the bullet will go.

Setting: Moscow, May Day parade,

         Yeltsen with his friends on the Balcony 

         The sniper in an apt building.

         ......camera will follow the bullet to target.

         computer has to generate multimedia(real) frames,... i.e. 
         interpolate from stored frames???.


In the end a message will appear stating:

Comrades, Killing Yeltsen is a waste of bulllet.

His own demons will consume him in the end.
(Bruce Lee Dragon movie)


This is the most controversial component.

Will involve:
(1) movie Director 
(2) Top Gun programmers
(3) student actors,
(4) multimedia editing equipment, blue screen technology.
(5) Algorithms to generate movie frames??
    (user decides who to kill or miss).
 


another overall problem: size of software = very large!
possible solution: distribute it on CD.


This software will be implemented via JAVA.

_________________________________________________________________________________
 
                   HOW TO REACH THE PROJECT ARCHITECT 
                   **********************************


PROJECT ARCHITECT: Aamir Awan   or  A^2

graduate student at UMASS Lowell, Computer Science Dept.
BSc in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University, NY

.............................
how to reach me:

aawan at cs.uml.edu.us    //will be disabled for 1 month(End of August?)//   

or 

aawan at mathlab.sunysb.edu.us

...............................                
Fax #:  (508) 934-3055
Tel #:   (508) 459-2088,  with answering machine 
                                                     
................................
best time to reach me:

12:50pm-2:00pm (weekdays),   10:30pm----->anytime   (weekdays)
5:00 am ---->11:00am   (Saturday)      5:00 am ------->10:00am (Sunday)



________________________________________________________________________________

WANTED:  VOLUNTEERS TO WORK ON MULTIMEDIA SOFTWARE PROJECT ON CHECHNYA 
**********************************************************************

I need the people with the following skills:

1. knows HTML 

2. Artist/Historian/Musician/Poet

3. Multimedia(audio, video, graphics)

4. Computer Graphics

5. Scientist

6.  programmers - Java, C++, C, Pascal.

6.5  Journalism students

7.  Anybody who is wants to learn new stuff, and is friendly.
    i.e people-person or team player.
 

General Prequsite:

People involved in this project must have e-mail access & 
access to WWW(world wide web).


...........................

Visually Speaking:


Organization of the Team



   project architect/other domain experts/common library of resources---
     |                                  |                             |
     |                                  |                             |
---module 1--------------|    |----module 2----------------|  ....so        
|                        |    |                            |    on
|1) Sr. Engineer #1      |    |   1) Sr. Engineer #2       |
|                        |    |   2) logistics engineer #2 |
|2) logistics engineer #1|    |                            | 
|________________________|    |----------------------------|
                  




..........................................................
requirements for Sr. Engineer:

profecient in English-able to express thoughts clearly in writing.

tough, aggressive, disciplined, creative, independent problem killer,

will call me for help only if problem cannot be solved in 1 week? of time.

also team player. Fearless( not afraid of failure ) & wants to

learn the unknown.   "WELL ROUNDED", i.e. JACK OF ALL TRADES  



Motto: = "Eats Cal-Tech students for breakfest,
               MIT students for lunch
               Microsoft for Dinner "


i.e knows HTML, or C++, or C or Pascal

writes "nice looking" code i.e. it will be fully documented.

will be interacting with the logistics engineer.


Note: DON'T WORRY IF YOU DON'T HAVE ALL OF THESE QUALITITES,
      YOU WILL DEVELOP THEM IF YOU WORK ON THIS PROJECT.


..................................................
requirements for Logistics Engineer 

proficient in English.i.e able to express thoughts clearly in
writing.

basically Sherlock Holmes, like a detective, able

to dig up things, knows the library, knows how to use INTERNET

search engines.  Team player, i.e friendly.



duties:  (1)  Library research
         (2)  software documentation - making sure its understandable
                                       so that even an idiot can
                                       follow it.



........................
other domain experts:

just for consulting, i.e quality control,

Artist/Historian/...etc




$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
what you get out of it:

1)  Letter of references will be issued upon completion of project based
    on work done on this project.( would look nice on your resume)

2)  knowledge

3)  satisfaction ( its a good cause)

4)  Some schools actually give academic credit for this kind of work.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
            
Note: There are two roles to play in this project.
    
       But two major components, and 15 different modules.

       Some modules are more time intensive then others.
 
       YOU HAVE TO PICK YOUR ROLE & MODULE DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH TIME
       YOU THINK YOU CAN COMMIT TO THIS PROJECT.
 

__________________________________________________________________________
                        
                        COMPONENT C  = OPTIONAL CHARITY
                        *******************************


	I am building a Trust Fund for Chechnya.  Basically after

the war is over there (? yrs), there would be a need for infastructure

development( i.e hospital, school, roads, telecomunication, sanation,

airport).  The money from the trust fund would be used for that 

purpose only.  Basically I am collecting bottle cans(.05$/can),

paper(.03$/lb), & depositing the proceeds from this into a socially constructive mutual fund.

This is an exercise in humbleness, and mental therapy.  So

I would appreciate any denotions( only $ from cans ).  
________________________________________________________________________

                  WORK CONTRACT FOR PROJECT CHECHNYA
                  **********************************



Situation:  You get out of line, i.e rude, to me or fellow team members.


********************   MISSION IMPOSSIBLE :   ********************************

**THIS DOCUMENT WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN 20 NANO-SECONDS ****