Content Analysis

What the information wants

Mod

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http://www.apartments.com/rent/Seattle-WA/Ava-Queen-Anne/

102736.268?SearchCriteria=oTJ2f0Fp6Qg63H3Fcab38mhtprSVA0iTAXrzW9Yg9xrAiT9

ATGcP-|uYFiZ-|RA3LFgFffma63tYsqmEbtofbSi2Gtce0/2ej6gahDREv7JJv8sU9ZO2CxRcZJih5ogLVVdSKWFJLI6Q085BaQvgmhkstf

bWqiCR/2crmrDzjY3DTcIIS5rzu4sg==&prvpg=7&sid=6d187530-0f24-4724-b013-

466a8563051b&stype=CityStateOrZip&productId=BA2110

Modeling Exercise

1. Team up with one person2. Go to Apartments.com3. Find a page like the one I showed4. Produce an ERD with

1. Complexes, apartments, and features entities2. Main attributes3. Named relationships

Entity

attribute

How is the Information Organized?

The four forms

• Hierarchy• Index• Association• Sequence

How is the information organized?

Functionality1. Trigger– User action (button, link, etc.)– System action (time, event, etc.)

2. Parameter transfer– URL parameters– Form parameters– System parameters

3. Algorithm– Standardized logic– Parameterized operation

4. Response– Changes to info presented– Changes to functionality presented

There’s a lot in a URL

http://www.apartments.com

/rent/Seattle-WA/Ava-Queen-Anne/102736.268

?SearchCriteria=oTJ2f0Fp6Qg63H…&prvpg=7&sid=6d187530-0f24-4724-b013-466a8563051b&stype=CityStateOrZip&productId=BA2110

The pseudo query

• What (select)–What specific elements do I want to use/show

• Where (where)– How do I find the info I want

• How (order by)– How should the results be sorted

What: Apartment elements

vs

vs

Thumbnail view

Results view

Full view

Indexes

Algorithm

1. Parse input2. Validate input3. Build the query

1. Where = AND

Pseudo QueryWhat: Apartment results elementsWhere: city AND state AND zip

Indexes

Algorithm

1. Validate input 2. Build the query

1. BETWEEN2. AND

Pseudo QueryWhat: Apartment results elementsWhere: A BETWEEN min and max

AND B between min and max

Indexes

Pseudo QueryWhat: Apartment results elementsWhere: A = 1 OR 2 or 3

AND B = 4 OR 5 OR 6Algorithm

1. Build the query1. OR within a control2. AND between controls

Associations

Algorithm

1. Build the query1. single criterion2. Order by dateTime

Pseudo QueryWhat: Apartment results elementsWhere: search.id = the one in the linkHow: order by searches.dateTime (decending)

Associations

Algorithm

1. Run canned query1. Set ordering

2. Build display1. rows/columns

Pseudo QueryWhat: Apartment thumbnail elementsWhere: all user-apartment recordsHow: order by

user-apartment.dateTimeor Number of user-apartment records

apartment.rent

Associations

Algorithm

1. Fancy idea of how apartments are related

2. Fancy idea of how to order results

Pseudo QueryWhat: Apartment thumbnail elementsWhere: probably really complexHow: order by how much you want them to click on each (also complex)

Hierarchy• What do all hierarchies have?• How do we represent that?

Feature

sub feature

sub feature

sub feature

sub sub feature

sub sub featuresub sub feature

sub sub feature

sub sub featuresub sub feature

sub sub feature

sub sub featuresub sub feature

The border between an index and a hierarchy

A one-level hierarchy?

Eh… more like an index

A limited hierarchy

An unlimited hierarchy

Exercise: Model this

Algorithm1. xxx2. yyy

Pseudo QueryWhat: Where:How:

Function and flow revisitedI’m unsure of what I want

I have an idea of what I want

I am committed to some specific ones

You made me even more confused

I can’t narrow down

I can’t decide

Browse featureWizard

user profiler

Facetsproducts Viewed

FavoritesSocial solidifiers