## 1.1 Purpose
This document specifies the requirements for Revision 2 of the http://getreal.ous.edu website and its associated support pages. The purpose of the Get Real website is to attract and encourage Oregon high school students to take coursework leading toward a baccalaureate degree in computer science (CS) at one of the seven Oregon University System campuses. The ultimate goal is to increase the number of computer science graduates from Oregon universities.

## 1.2 Scope
The software product to be produced is the second revision (Rev2) of the Get Real website (http://getreal.ous.edu).

The website will provide a set of teen-friendly, easy-to-navigate web pages that offer sufficient depth and information about careers in computer science. The application is intended for Oregon high school students, targeting both those already interested in computer science and those who might be attracted to the field.

The primary goal of the Get Real website is to attract and encourage Oregon high school students to take coursework leading toward a baccalaureate degree in computer science (CS) at one of the seven Oregon University System (OUS) campuses. The ultimate objective is to increase the number of computer science graduates from Oregon universities.

Benefits for students using the site will include:
*   Personal and career information from a broad spectrum of CS professionals.
*   CS course information from OUS campuses.
*   Timely and up-to-date information that encourages readers to return to the site.
*   A call to action and plans for students to follow to prepare for a CS career.

### 1.3.1 Product perspective
This product, Rev2, is an update of the existing Get Real website (Rev1). The website runs as an extension of the Oregon University System (OUS) site, under the domain getreal.ous.edu, and is hosted on Oregon State University (OSU) servers.

#### System interfaces
The website interfaces with the larger OUS website, of which it is an extension.

#### User interfaces
The product is a website. The logical characteristics of the user interface are as follows:
*   The site must be compatible with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape browsers.
*   Web design conventions, including CSS and other style conventions, must be consistent with those established in Get Real version 1 and with the standards used on the main OUS site.

#### Hardware interfaces
There are no special hardware interface requirements.

#### Software interfaces
*   Development will use Dreamweaver, and developers must use its check-in/out feature.
*   The website will interface with Google tools to provide internal and external search functionality.

#### Communications interfaces
There are no special communication interface requirements.

#### Memory constraints
The website is constrained by available server space.

#### Operations
*   A web design resource will be required to edit RSS feed URLs on a weekly basis.
*   The website's usage ("hits" and time spent) must be tracked and evaluated to inform future content, design, and navigation changes.

#### Site adaptation requirements
[N/A]

#### Interfaces with services
The website will interface with the following services:
*   Google search tools.
*   An RSS feed from the chancellor’s office daily communications distribution.

### 1.3.2 Product functions
The major functions of the Get Real website are provided through its various pages and sections. These include existing features and proposed new features for version 2.

The primary functions of the website are:
*   **Exploring College:** Provide a listing of computer science offerings from Oregon University System campuses and other Oregon colleges.
*   **Jobs & Money:** Offer answers to questions about societal contributions and potential earnings with a computer science degree.
*   **Real People:** Outline profiles of recent CS graduates and experienced professionals in diverse fields.
*   **Women in Computing:** Profile women computer scientists and engineers.
*   **Resources:** Provide information on a wide range of pre-college technology programs and courses.
*   **I’m Looking For...:** Present a list of focused questions and answers with links to content within the site.
*   **Articles:** List and link to articles outside the Get Real site.
*   **High School Courses:** Show recommended curricula for high school students interested in CS.
*   **Search:** Allow users to search for information both within the Get Real site and on external CS-related sites.
*   **Professional Organizations:** List and link to national and international CS organizations.
*   **RSS feeds:** Provide feeds of current CS information to subscribers.
*   **Ask a Grad or Prof – FAQ:** Allow users to get feedback on questions in a Q&A and FAQ format.
*   **Consider a CS Minor:** Provide information on the value of a CS minor for students in other professions.

### 1.3.3 User characteristics
The intended users are typical Oregon high school students in grades 9 to 12. They have short attention spans and expect a visually attractive, easy-to-navigate website. The users can be differentiated into the following classes:

*   **Students interested in Computer Science (CS):** This group is actively seeking concise, in-depth information about CS careers. They are particularly interested in the college comparison chart and profiles of real people in the industry. They are more tolerant of the site's content but still value visual appeal and clear organization.
*   **College-bound students not interested in CS:** This group is less tolerant of a site that is not engaging. They are deterred by large blocks of text and require a visually appealing design with more white space, pictures, diagrams, and charts to hold their attention. The site must "speak to them" to be effective in attracting them to a CS career.
*   **Students interested in other professions:** This group includes students considering careers in fields like medicine, law, business, or other sciences. They could be persuaded of the value of a CS minor if the information is presented effectively.

### 1.3.4 Limitations
The system is subject to the following limitations:
*   The website must run on Oregon State University (OSU) servers as an extension of the Oregon University System (OUS) site.
*   The system is constrained by the available server space and bandwidth for video streaming.
*   The availability of resources from the Chancellor’s Office is limited.
*   Copyright, security measures, and web design conventions must be consistent with the standards and conventions used on the OUS site.
*   The design must adhere to the CSS and other style conventions established in version 1 of the Get Real website.

## 1.4 Definitions
[N/A]

# 2 References
[N/A]

## 3.1 Functions

The system shall provide the following functions, corresponding to the main pages and sections of the website:

*   **Exploring College:** List computer science offerings from Oregon University System campuses and other Oregon colleges.
*   **Jobs & Money:** Provide information on societal contributions and salary potential with a computer science degree.
*   **Real People:** Display profiles of recent CS graduates and experienced professionals using their CS knowledge in diverse fields. The system shall support video and audio content for these profiles.
*   **Women in Computer Science:** Profile women computer scientists and engineers and provide resources for users to contact them.
*   **Resources:** List a wide range of pre-college technology programs and courses for high school students.
*   **I’m Looking For...:** Provide a list of focused questions and answers with links to content inside the website.
*   **Articles:** Provide a list of links to articles outside the website.
*   **High School Courses:** Show recommended curricula for high school students interested in CS and related careers.
*   **Search:** Provide search capabilities for both the internal Get Real site and external CS-related sites.
*   **Professional Organizations:** Provide a listing with links to professional organizations such as ACM and IEEE, with pointers to their student sections.
*   **RSS Feeds:** Provide RSS feeds of current CS information for users to subscribe to.
*   **Ask a Grad or Prof (FAQ):** Provide a Q&A format for users to ask questions, with answers posted in a public FAQ section.
*   **Consider a CS Minor:** Provide information on the value of a CS minor for students in other professions like medicine, law, and business.
*   **Usage Tracking:** Track and evaluate user hits and time spent on the website to inform future changes.

Validity checks on the inputs: [N/A]

Exact sequence of operations: [N/A]

Responses to abnormal situations, including overflow, communication facilities, hardware faults, error handling, and recovery: [N/A]

Effect of parameters: [N/A]

Relationship of outputs to inputs, including input/output sequences and formulas for input to output conversion: [N/A]

## 3.2 Performance requirements
The website's response time must be comparable to the main OUS website (www.ous.edu) to maintain the attention of the target audience of high school students. The system must provide sufficient bandwidth for video streaming.

## 3.3 Usability requirements
The website must be a "high school teen friendly" set of web pages that are easy to navigate. Maintaining a teen-friendly site is of the highest importance in order to hold student attention and guide the viewer to information that will lead to a decision to pursue a career in computer science.

Based on feedback from high school students, the following usability requirements shall be met:
*   The overall site graphic design must be updated to be more visually attractive.
*   The design shall incorporate more white space, pictures, color, photos, diagrams, and charts to break up text.
*   The site must be easy to navigate.
*   Information shall be broken into more readable chunks to avoid "walls of text."
*   Paragraphs shall be shortened, and bullets and charts shall be used where possible to accommodate faster page reading and shorter reader attention spans.
*   The website must be functional and tested on Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape browsers.
*   The system must provide the ability to track and evaluate user hits and time spent on the site to inform future changes to content, design, and navigation.

## 3.5 Logical database requirements
The system will need to store and manage the following types of information:
*   Questions and answers for the "Ask a Grad or Prof – FAQ" section.
*   Profiles of computer science professionals for the "Real People" and "Women in Computer Science" sections, including text, images, and links to video or audio content.
*   Information regarding computer science offerings from Oregon University System campuses and other Oregon colleges for the "Exploring College" section.
*   A curated list of links to external articles for the "Articles" section.
*   Information on pre-college technology programs and courses for the "Resources" section.
*   A list of professional organizations with links to their student sections.
*   Website usage data, such as page "hits" and time spent on pages, to allow for evaluation of the site's effectiveness.

[N/A]

## 3.6 Design constraints
*   The website must adhere to CSS and other style conventions established in Get Real version 1.
*   Web design conventions must be consistent with the standards and conventions used on the OUS site.
*   The website must work and be tested against Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape browsers.
*   Copyright and other security measures for the website should be the same as the OUS site.
*   The project is constrained by available server space, bandwidth for video streaming, and the limited availability of Chancellor’s Office resources.

## 3.7 Software system attributes
### Reliability
[N/A]

### Availability
[N/A]

### Security
Copyright and other security measures for the Get Real website shall be the same as those for the OUS site.

### Maintainability
Web design conventions shall be consistent with the standards and conventions used on the OUS site. The website shall adhere to CSS and other style conventions established in Get Real version 1.

### Portability
The website shall be compatible with and tested against Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape browsers.

## 3.8 Supporting information
The following information is provided to help readers of the SRS understand the background and context for the project. This information is not part of the formal requirements.

### Problem to be Solved
The goal of the Get Real website is to encourage more Oregon high school students to choose computer science and related majors, with the ultimate aim of increasing the number of computer science graduates from Oregon universities. The software is intended to be a teen-friendly set of web pages that attracts and informs two potential groups of students: those already interested in Computer Science (CS) who are seeking more in-depth information, and college-bound students not necessarily interested in CS who might be attracted to a CS career with the right information.

### User Survey Results
Interviews were conducted with Oregon high school students to gather feedback on the first version of the Get Real website. Common themes emerged that should guide the development of the second version:
*   Students who were not generally interested in CS found the site had "walls of text" and was not visually engaging. They strongly suggested breaking information into more readable chunks and using more color, photos, diagrams, and charts. This group was less tolerant of the existing design and wanted a site that "spoke to them."
*   Students who were already interested in CS and engineering suggested changes to the "Real People," "Resources," and "Colleges" sections. They responded positively to the pictures in the "Real People" section and found the college comparison chart to be a valuable feature.
*   Across both groups, there was a desire for design changes to shorten paragraphs and use bullets and charts to accommodate faster page reading and shorter attention spans.

### Supporting Background Information
The following external resources can serve as examples and references for content and design:
*   The website www.engineergirl.org is an example of a youth-oriented site that shows women in exciting engineering careers and makes good use of white space.
*   The University of Washington's Computer Science department provides example video profiles of students and young professionals that convey clear messages of CS majors using their degrees in a variety of diverse careers.
*   Other resources for women in computer science include the University of Oregon's WICS group page and a resource list from the University of Pennsylvania for contacting women in computer architecture.
*   The prototype index page at ~getreal.ous.edu/protoindex.html has examples of various search engines.

### Special Packaging Instructions
[N/A]

## 4.1 Functions
The Get Real website will be tested by web designers. All user-facing functions must be verified to work correctly on the following web browsers:
*   Internet Explorer
*   Firefox
*   Netscape

The effectiveness of the website's functions in meeting project goals will be evaluated by tracking and analyzing site usage metrics, including page "hits" and time spent on the site. This analysis will inform necessary changes to content, design, and navigation.

## 4.2 Performance requirements
[N/A]

## 4.3 Usability requirements
The usability of the website will be verified through the following methods:

*   The website will be tested against Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape to ensure proper functionality and display.
*   Proposed new pages and sections will be prototyped before full implementation.
*   The effectiveness of the site's content, design, and navigation will be evaluated by tracking and analyzing usage metrics, specifically "hits" and time spent on the site. This evaluation will inform necessary changes.

## 4.5 Logical database requirements
[N/A]

## 4.6 Design constraints
[N/A]

## 4.7 Software system attributes
*   **Reliability:** [N/A]
*   **Availability:** [N/A]
*   **Security:** The security measures for the Get Real website will be verified by comparing them against the measures implemented on the OUS site to ensure they are the same.
*   **Maintainability:** Verification will be performed by inspecting the website to confirm that its design conventions are consistent with the standards of the OUS site. The inspection will also verify adherence to the CSS and other style conventions established in Get Real version 1.
*   **Portability:** The website will be tested on Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape to verify correct operation and display.

## 5.1 Assumptions and dependencies
- The website will be hosted on Oregon State University (OSU) servers and will run as an extension of the Oregon University System (OUS) site (getreal.ous.edu).
- The content for the "High School Courses" section is dependent on receiving curriculum recommendations from the University of Oregon (UO).
- The "RSS feeds" feature is dependent on receiving selected articles from the Chancellor’s office daily communications distribution.
- The implementation and maintenance of the "RSS feeds" feature is dependent on the availability of web design resources.

## 5.2 Acronyms and abbreviations
*   **ACM**: Association for Computing Machinery
*   **CS**: Computer Science
*   **CSS**: Cascading Style Sheets
*   **FAQ**: Frequently Asked Questions
*   **HS**: High School
*   **IEEE**: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
*   **IE**: Internet Explorer
*   **OUS**: Oregon University System
*   **RSS**: Really Simple Syndication
*   **SIGGRAPH**: Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques
*   **SRS**: Software Requirements Specification
*   **UO**: University of Oregon
*   **URL**: Uniform Resource Locator