MovieXpress Developer's Blog

Team Four - Meeting Minutes

Business

• Phase III Development
• Team member update
  With phase II (data exploration and manipulation) of the Informatics project completed on Monday, phase III is the final piece of work to be submitted. Here is what each team member has been up to:
  
  
• Tristan
• Tristan has been working on various functions for recalling data from the CSV data source, which will be used for the recommendation engine. He has also been working on various tests for each function,
  
  
• Tabris
• Tabris has been researching different methods of input for HTML pages (particularly Javascript versions). The forms are to be used for a questionnaire, where the user determines what aspects of a movie are most important to them (such as actors, good reviews etc.)
  
  Tabris also said that AJAX and iFrames will be used to display content in phase III
  
  
• Sandru
• Sandru has been working on the administrative aspects of the project, including finding students to test phase III. He has also been working on the final presentation, which encapsulates the creation of a video and Powerpoint presentation.
  
  
• Approach
  As part of the project requirements, two approaches need to be compared for the final presentations. As stated in the project plan, the following two approaches will be used.
  
  
• Global variables
  In this case, preset variables will be used for determining the weight of each variable. The bulk of the weight would be centered on the metascore and the gross made.
  
  
• Questionnaire
  In this case, each user will be allowed to determine what they feel is most important about a movie. As stated earlier, the inspiration for such a quiz will be based on existing systems such as Netflix and Flixstr (on Facebook).
  
  Assuming that phase III is due on the 26^th of May, all coding is to be completed by the 24^th of May. This would allow one day for testing to take place, and for the final report to be compiled.
  
  ACTION- Questionnaire to be developed over the next two days and submitted to Sandru ASAP. Sandru will then pass the questionnaire on to the designated beta testers.

• Information Session
  Andrew and Steven will be providing lectures on phase III. Team members are to attend where possible.
  
  ACTION- Attend lectures
  
  
• Tasks for next week
  Sandru – Video, presentation, updates to blog, liaise with beta testers
  Tristan – Work on Python backend
  Tabris – Work on HTML/CSS/JS/AJAX front end
  
  
• Key dates
  Phase III presentation- 26th May 2008
  Phase III discussion –16^th May 2008
  Peer review submission – 9:00AM, 19^th May 2008
  

Next meeting- 22^nd May – 8:45AM at ICT Level 1

Here is the current HTML/CSS/AJAX interface for movieXpress. Full functionality will be enabled when phase III development has been completed.

You can visit movieXpress by clicking on the link on the right hand side of the page.

There was no meeting for week nine, due to unforseen scheduling issues. The next meeting will be held on the 15th of May 2008. Phase II is due on the 12th of May 2008, not the 13th as mentioned in previous posts.

Team Four - Meeting Minutes

Business

• Phase II work
  Work has almost been completed on phase II. Tristan has completed his final question and Tabris has finished her allocated questions. Concerns were raised about manipulating the dictionaries used in the code, but these were rectified relatively quickly.
  
  Sandru’s work is still in progress and should be ready by the following Monday (May 5).
  
  The next major step that needs to be taken is the analysis of the data, which is crucial to attaining better marks for phase II.
  
  
• HTML interface
  The website has gone live on Tabris’ IVLE site, and this will be the final location for all HTML/Dynamic Python content.
  
  Further updates were made to the HTML interface, including the use of an AJAX/Javascript container to display the Python content, along with designated hyperlinks for each question to be answered at the bottom of the page. The page will be amended as required to conform with the guidelines as set by Andrew/Steven/other tutors.
  
• Presentation
  Sandru has been experimenting with an edited version of the Foo Fighters’ song “The Pretender” (it is about 90 seconds shorter than the original). More details will be presented at the next meeting.
  
  
• Weekly report
  To save time on having to email one another, team members were urged to make use of the “weekly report” on Google Docs to inform each other on developments.

Important deadlines- Phase II Deadline – 9:00AM, 13^th May 2008
Next meeting- 8^th May – 8:45AM at ICT Level One

Team Four - Meeting Minutes

Business

• Phase II work
  Work has been progressing steadily on phase II. Tristan has completed his allocated question, and both Sandru and Tabris have both started on their questions.
  
  The other set of questions was allocated today, following the discussion of Python’s visualisation module in the lectures (Matplotlib). The allocation of the remaining questions is as follows:
• Tristan- Question five (along with question two)
• Tabris- Question four (along with question one)
• Sandru- Question six (along with question three)
  
  
• HTML interface
  Tabris has designed a “closed” version of the HTML interface for phase III. The page has been divided into two sections, to correspond with phase II and phase III. There will be a number of hyperlinks corresponding to the actual Python code for each question is executed and also an ASCII version where the code and comments will be displayed, rather than executed.
  
  
• Presentation
  Given that the majority of groups are undertaking the entertainment project, the team decided to do a movie “trailer” – essentially a montage of many different movies. Movies would include The Matrix, Lord of The Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Casino Royal amongst others. Sandru provided some potential backing tracks including:
• Alpha Commander (by X Ray Dog)
• Dethroned (by X Ray Dog)
• Know Your Enemy (by Hybrid)

ACTION- The team provisionally decided on Dethroned, although other options can be considered, given that the deadline for phase III is the end of semester.

• Tasks for next meeting
  All team members- Phase II questions
  Sandru- Look at alternatives for movie trailer
  Tabris- Design of HTML interface/publish website

Next meeting- 1^st of May – 8:45AM at ICT Level One

Team Four - Meeting Minutes

Business

Tabris was absent from the meeting, but an email was circulated with updates on how her work was progressing.

• Phase III Name
  Tabris suggested the name “movieXpress” as the working name for phase III. Tristan and Sandru didn’t object to it, so the name was approved.
  
  
• Developement blog
  A new blog by Tabris was started which would centralise the administration for the project- team members can provide updates to the site, and Sandru will be able to post minutes directly to the site. The advantage of having this would be that the final report can be compiled with (relative) ease, as the blog’s web address could be submitted in place of completing a separate report.
  
  The address is http://moviexpress-log.blogspot.com
  
  
• HTML interface
  Tabris also completed a prototype for the web interface. A graphic is available on the development blog; user-friendliness was a critical factor in the design, so a simple layout with the appropriate use of vibrant colours was the approach used. Tabris also designed a flowchart which looks at how the web interface operates; this is available on the development blog.
  
  
• Phase II- Question allocation
  Questions for the first half of phase II were allocated as follows
• Tabris – Question One
• Tristan – Question Two
• Sandru – Question Three
  

• Tasks for next meeting
  Tabris- Improvements to mock HTML interface
  Sandru-Ideas for presentation (movie trailer) – Deferred to next meeting
  All members- Working on phase II questions

Important Dates

21^st April- Mid semester test
28^th April- Worksheets due

Amendments to previous minutes

Week Four- Should be dated the 3rd of April 2007
Week Five- Should be dated the 10th of April 2007

Next meeting- 24^th April – 8:45AM at ICT Level One

Start Working 12:30pm
* uploaded q2
* uploaded link on index page, now accessible at q2.html
* changed iframe height to 500px for easier viewing
!!! Need to use javascript for autoheight
* added in barchart
stop working 2:30pm

• Flowchart for work process of web interface

Team Four - Meeting Minutes

Business

• HTML Interface
  Tabris provided details on a potential HTML interface.
  
• Separation of different languages
  To make design/coding simpler, CSS will be used to avoid complicated code within the HTML page.
  
• Input/Output
  There are two main pages which will be used- the input page where the user selects the movies which they like and the output page where the recommendation engine outputs the movies based on the user’s input.
  
• Input
  Title- - To be confirmed later
  
  Quiz Area
  In order to set the variables for the recommendation engine a quiz will be used to determine what a user values in a movie (whether it be directors, actors or approval from respected reviewers).
  
  When completing each of the questions the HTML page will refresh; in turn updating the recommendation engine’s variables. A progress bar will also be used to show how many questions the user has answered.
  
  Movie selection
  The user can select up to three movies for input into the recommendation engine. The exact mechanism has not been decided yet, but needs to factor in validation (i.e. avoiding errors through bad input).
  
• Output
  The results will be produced in the table. The results will be ranked in order of relevance and will be restricted to the top ten entries. Relevance is determined by the metascore generated from the recommendation engine
• Future proofing
  While some of these suggestions could be developed in time for project submission, the following features could be added into the web application at some point in the future:
  
• A link to imDB
• Utilising trailer pictures in results page
• Login system to retain preferences.

• Languages
  Tabris said she could develop the front end using a combination of HTML (with CSS) and AJAX (provided AJAX is compatible with the IVLE server).

• Tasks for next meeting
  Tabris- Sketch and flowchart for HTML interface
  Sandru- Ideas for presentation (movie trailer)
  Tristan- Looking at CSV module for Phase II and designating phase II questions

Important Dates

21^st April- Mid semester test and worksheet submission L

Team Four - Meeting Minutes

Business

• Project plan
  The first goal for the team was to create a project plan as it was an assessable task. The following topics were discussed:
  
• Approach to the project
  Tristan suggested that a mathematical approach be taken to analysing the data via Python. Essentially, by analysing trend lines on graphs, we can determine if there is a mathematical relationship between the two variables (e.g. is there a connection between a movie’s box office takings and the ratings which it receives in major newspapers). To get this, a program would extract the data out of the spreadsheet (CSV), rank the two variables in ascending order, and then plot this on a graph.
  
  Sandru stated that Matplotlib could be used, as it is an attachment to Python specifically to draw graphs.
  ACTION- Approach method agreed to, added to project plan.
  
• Future development
  As there are time constraints on the project, some ideas were raised for future development including
  -Login systems so that individual preferences can be recorded
  -An interactive ‘how to’ help system to aid users
  -A feature to enable users to store individual preferences for the recommendation engine to use.
  
  ACTION- These suggestions amongst others are to be provided to Sandru for inclusion in the final report.
  
• Phase III development
  Phase III of the project requires a report on a proposed recommendation engine for movies. The aim is to get as many relevant results for users. Suggestions from team members to aid this include:
  -Tabris suggested the idea of allowing users to determine what factors are most important to them in watching a movie. Users would be required to answer a questionnaire on what they consider to be most important about a movie (i.e. is it the actors, director, ratings from popular literature). A current example of this would be the Flixster “application” available to Facebook users.
  -The alternative to this would be to arbitrarily set the importance of different factors.
  

• Problems
  There were a number of problems raised by the team
• Browser compatibility
  Since there is a tendency for web pages to be displayed differently in Internet Explorer and Firefox, the course of action decided by the team would be to code the HTML output according to the relevant standards set by the W3C. However if this causes any problems between the two browsers, compatibility with Firefox would be favoured.
  
• HTML interface
  The problem is that the interface needs to be as user friendly as possible. A draft interface is required to gauge exactly what is required by users.
  ACTION- Tabris to design a draft HTML interface
  

• Delegation of tasks
  As all team members will be required to do Python coding, there is no need to delegate this role. However other roles have been delegated.
• Tristan will focus on the mathematical side of the programming, such as identifying trends and creating mathematical equations relevant to the project. He will also managing the testing phase of the project to ensure the solution behaves in the proper fashion.
• Sandru will manage most of the administrative aspects of the project, such as organising team meetings, writing minutes and contacting Informatics staff/students when required. He will also be working on the elements of the final presentation (alongside the others) to determine how the material can be delivered in an engaging manner.
• Tabris will be focusing on the front end development of the project such as the HTML output and CSS/graphical design.
  

• Tasks for next meeting
  Tristan- Approach section of project plan
  Sandru- Polishing project plan
  Tabris- Designing draft HTML interface

Important Dates

7^th April- Project plan due at 9:00AM SHARP

9^th April- Discussion on two dimensional data storage