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projects -- 1: plan; scheme. 2: undertaking requiring concerted effort.
  -The Merriam Webster® Pocket Dictionary: Fourth Edition. 1989. [index]

Projects are a critical level of analysis that has been selected as the central unit of definition for E-Projects. They consist of the constellation of key characteristics or dimensions that serve as the backbone of this site (note navigation). Like human personalities, each or all of these specific attributes may vary greatly over time, but the essence of the original entity remains identifiable.
 
Understanding projects can be framed in terms of the organizational, individual (people), subject matter (content) and technical contexts. The success of projects depends upon balancing these factors and their interactions.
 
The goal will be to study significant projects to establish the following types of information:
 
1. Within project anatomy and relationships.
2. Between project relationships.
3. Across educational levels, ancestor media, and disciplines.
 
Data will be collected from multiple sources, working simultaneously bottom up and top down, emphasizing negotiation and cooperation.
 
1. Extract information from aggregated data sets.
   -Gain Access to Mass Project Descriptions
   -Negotiate Use of Project Profiles
2. Gather information from published sources.
   -Systematically Construct Project Histories
3. Weight missing data to gather through targeted collection.
   -Integrate Case Studies of Key Projects
   -Advocate Longitudinal Research Studies
4. Pursue permission to include more focused data.
   -Identify Projects for Elaborative Description by Participants
  
This is represented in the following graphic:
 

[The project profiles included on this site are those which Mary Hopper
was associated with in some way. This was her first attempt at the type of
systematic inventory of major content projects that Cosma represents today.
Over time she eventually realized that the first and most important activity
to undertake was to create a broad top-down inventory of major projects.]

© Mary E. Hopper [MEHopper] | MEHopper@TheWorld.com [posted 01/01/01 | revised 12/12/12]