User:SeungH Lee/My sandbox

Technological Infrastructure

Functional Tiers

Introduction

In general, websites have three obvious functional tiers: presentation, processing, and data. The presentation tier is the tier that is closest to the end user. It occurs on the browser of the user and involves displaying the page as it appears to that user. The processing tier is the middle tier. Here the information is broadcast from the site's servers to the user's browsers. The third information tier, the data tier, is furthest from the end user. This is the tier where the sites' servers create the web page that then gets sent to the other two tiers. It is also here that all the data from the site is stored.

Diagram

File:DeviantART Info Tiers.jpg

Tiers of deviantArt

Discussion

deviantArt has the same functional tiers as other web sites. In the data tier, the webpage is created on deviantArt's servers. This is where the data for the site is stored and the site is designed and created. Once a page is requested by the user, the page is broadcast through the internet in the processing tier. Lastly, the webpage is displayed on the user's browser in the presentation tier. This process of the user requesting a page on their browser, having it created in the data tier, sent through the processing tier, and displayed through the presentation tier occurs very quickly. The standard template of the presentation, processing, and data tiers remains intact on the deviantArt website.

Functions

Introduction

At their most basic, the functions of a web site are what users can do on that site. They can include logging in, communicating, or uploading content. A feature is the end-user aspect of a function. Therefore, when a user interacts with a feature on a site, they are also utilizing the function of that feature. Each function has a purpose, a user interface, a user procedure, an algorithm, and an impact on the data.

Diagram

1.) Browse: searchy query, channels 2.) communicate: comments, journal entries 3.) critique: add to favorites, rate 4.) upload: media 5.) shop: prints 6.) Login

Discussion

The six most prominent functions of deviantArt are logging in, searching, uploading media, commenting on media, adding to favorites, and profile maintenance.

Search Query

On the top center and top left corner of deviantART page, there is a search box where users can search for arts and media. When users type keywords into the search box and hit search button, a number of results related to the keywords will show up. The search function is to help users find the media they want among hundreds of thousand media.

File:Search box of deviantART.png

A search box of deviantART

The user interface is quiet simple. There is a box users can type words into and a button called search. These two search box is displayed on every deviantART page. The one on the top left corner is a general search box searching everything on the deviantART website, and the one below it return results only in the category where users are at. For example, if a user is at deviantART shop page, the second search box wil only search things in deviantART shop, but not all deviantART arts.

The idea behind search is indexing. Indexing is an alphabetical or numerical list of terms with links back to information that’s described by that term. Every picture or media has index on deviantART. When user performs a search, the deviantART server will search that query(which is what user types) and find matching index and return pictures or arts linked to that query. The search function uses almost all deviantART information types including media, users, groups, etc.so it can give more comprehensive results.

Upload Media

deviantArt’s main purpose is the facilitation of media sharing; people go to deviantArt to share and find media pieces. One function on the site that facilitates this process is uploading media. These pieces of media are called “deviations” and “can be images, literature, film, or Flash”, as defined by deviantArt. The process of uploading deviations is free and deviants are able to upload an unlimited number deviations. Once uploaded, these deviations can be viewed by anybody. This provides artists with easy exhibition space. The process for uploading media consists of the deviant clicking on the submit button, inputting a title for the deviation, choosing a category from a drop-down list, and uploading a file. Note to self: Make longer. Same with comment media.

Comment on Media

Once deviations are uploaded to deviantArt, other deviants are able to go through and comment on the deviations. One purpose of commenting on the media is to provide user feedback for the artists. Deviants can use the site as a place to receive responses and critiques for their work. Another purpose of commenting on media is to help other users find valuable pieces. Deviations that have good reviews indicate to other users that this particular piece is worth examining. When viewing the deviation, there is a comment box directly underneath the piece. People wishing to provide feedback on the image merely have to type their comment there. These comments are then displayed for public view beneath the comment box. Additionally, people can add an emoticon from a list that includes depictions of ‘love’, ‘joy’, ‘wow’, ‘mad’, ‘sad’, ‘fear’, and ‘neutral’. Later, by clicking on one of the emoticons in a legend displayed below the comment box but above the displayed comments, deviants can choose to only read the comments associated with one emotion.

Add to Favorites

On the webpage for each piece of media, there is function called Add to Favorites that allows users to save media to their profiles. The purpose of this function is to allow users to bookmark certain images and be able to refer back to them in the future.

File:Ad re fav new.jpg

Add to Favorites Function

The user interface of this feature is a simple green, rectangular button with a yellow star that exists on the webpage of the picture. Users click on this feature when they want to save the image or demonstrate interest in the form of media. Another purpose of this function is to allow users to connect with each other by sharing media and creating an online community. The button allows allows the Uploader to get an idea for the communities opinion of his or her artwork. The information types related to this function are deviants (users) and user profiles. When a user presses the Add to Favorites button, they create a link on their deviant page under the subsection Favorites that links back to the original picture. When the user no longer wishes to have a picture as a favorite on the profile, the button display changes and displays "Remove from Favorites".

File:Dev remove fav.jpg

Remove Favorites

Profile Page

The main control panel for a user (colloquially, a deviant), the profile page allows users to customize their own personal page, which other deviants may view and contribute to. Within the profile page exists several functions called widgets, and these widgets are separated into four categories:

• Art Zones relate to deviations in relations to you.

• Personal Zones relate to information pertaining to you.

• Misc. Zones relate to all other possible functions and uses.

By default, each profile is created with two art zones, three personal zones, and two misc. zones, making up the basics of deviantArt, such as submitting and favoriting artwork, journal entries and personal info, and comments and watchers. If a deviant upgrades to a premium account, they are given access to other widgets, such as posting polls, linking your Twitter account with your deviantArt profile, and it is even possible to create custom widgets.

The user interface is clean and easy to understand. Near the top of a profile appears a deviant’s username and avatar. To the right are five buttons labeled Profile, Gallery, Prints, Favorites, and Journal. The profile shortcut is the main page that can combines aspects of the other four shortcuts, though they are convenient in making it easier for other deviants to look at specific portions of a deviant’s profile. For example, clicking “Gallery” will reveal a page that shows all of the deviant’s art submissions in order of latest date, with the option to browse a specific gallery of that user on the right.

Profiles have several info types that can be associated with them. The most obvious ones are featured under the profile page, such as whether the deviant is a premium member, how long they have been ad deviant for, their username, name, sex, age, location, how many submissions or journal entries they have made, and total page views.

Due to the customization aspect of the profile page, it lacks a true organizational structure, as this can be determined by the deviant themselves.

Information Infrastructure

Information Model

Introduction

One way to organize and diagram information is to create an information model. When creating an information model, the information type, attributes, and values are diagrammed. All information has a type. Each type has one or more attributes. These attributes are pieces of information that belong to the type. Each attribute has one value. The values are the specific pieces of information for the general attribute. Al the values combine to define an information item. An item is a specific example of a type. For example, a type could be a 'website'. Attributes could be 'url' or 'title of site'. For the 'url' attribute, the value could be 'http://www.wikipedia.org/'. For the 'title of site' attribute, the value could be 'Wikipedia'. The information item would the website of Wikipedia because all of the values pertain to the site.

When diagramming information models, it is also worth noting that each value has a value pattern. This is the style that the computer is expected to receive information. For example, if the computer asks for a phone number and the user inputs a word, the program should recognize that a word does not match the value pattern for the attribute. The program can therefore conclude that the user input is not a valid value and provide the user an opportunity to re-submit the value.

Media

Introduction

One of the main information types on deviantArt is Media. The media gets displayed prominently at the center of the site and each piece of media has many attributes.

Diagram and Discussion

Information model of type media

In the diagram to the right, it is obvious that Media is at the center of this information model. This is because Media defines the type and all of the attributes and their values are related to that type. Attributes of Media are shown by the bubbles directly connected to the Media bubble. These attributes are the work itself, its title, the artist, the category to which the piece belongs, the description of the piece, the license, the statistics, and the metadata.

Some of these attributes have additional, more specific attributes connected to them. The statistics attribute contains the more specific attributes of the number of comments on the piece, the number of favorites, the number of downloads, and the number of views. An attribute of the number of downloads is the number of downloads today and an attribute of the number of views is the number of views today. The metadata has the more specific attributes of when it was submitted, the image size, and the resolution.

By examining this information model, it becomes obvious that the information type is at the center of the information model. Each attribute is an attribute of that type and contains a piece of information about that type.

Example and Discussion

Attribute ----> Value Pattern

Media Work ----> file (.doc, .jpg, .png, .gif, . . . etc.)

Artist (Deviant) ----> username (20 characters max)

Categories ----> word or phrase (chosen from a list)

License ----> phrase and accompanying description (chosen from a list)

Description ----> paragraph(s)

Statistics:

• Comments ----> integer (tracked by computer)

• Views ----> integer (tracked by computer)

• Views Today ----> integer (tracked by computer)

• Favorites ----> integer (tracked by computer)

Metadata:

• Submitted ----> Date (Month Day, Year)

• • If submitted within current year ----> Date (Month Day)

• • If submitted within 24 hours ----> Time since upload (Hours Minutes)

• Image Size ----> Integer (Measured in bytes by computer)

• Resolution ----> Integer and Integer (Measured by computer)

Deviants

Introduction

One information type on deviantArt is deviants or users. They can upload media, comment on photos, add favorites and in general interact with the website. Each user has a profiles that displays all their activity on the website. Deviants are displayed underneath media that is uploaded to the site.

Diagram and Discussion

The diagram on the right displays Deviants as the center of the group.

Example and Discussion

Attribute ----> Value Pattern

• Username----> words (20 characters max)
• Name----> one word
• Location ----> country
• Gender----> male or female
• Birthday----> date
• Why Am I Here----> a few sentences
• Member Type ---->

Statistics:

• Deviations ----> integer (tracked by computer)
• Comments ----> integer (tracked by computer)
• Page Views ----> integer (tracked by computer)
• Favorites ----> integer (tracked by computer)
• Scraps ----> integer (tracked by computer)
• Critiques ----> integer (tracked by computer)
• Forum Posts ----> integer (tracked by computer)

Metadata:

Groups

Introduction

A group on deviantART is a group of users(deviants) who share similar taste gather together. A group has attributes of name, members, focus, media, location, type, number of watchers and date of formed.

File:Groups of deviantART.png

A group of deviantART

Diagram and Discussion

Example and Discussion

As the diagram showed above, attribute focus has value such as art creation, art collection, resources, social. Media has values such as photographic, digital media, film and so on.

Journal Entries

Introduction

Journal entries can be created by individual deviants, in which they can write down anything. Journal entries have several attributes.

• Author

• Title

• Date published

• Number of comments

• Number of views

• Number of favorites

• Skin (background)

Number of comments, views, and favorites are dependent on other deviants, who can easily do either of these three things and build up those particular attributes' values. To make finding specific entries easier, a search query is present in the journal slot of the profile page.

In addition to these attributes, entries can be further expanded by Mood options, allowing you to display what mood you had when making the entry as an emoticon and what you were doing at the time with a simple interface. This can be customized to be displayed at the top or bottom of your page.

Like individuals, groups can also publish journal entries. Group administrators can grant the "Journal Writer" title to one of its members, giving them the ability to write journal entries on the group's journal page. Though the content may be different, the basic interface and attributes are still the same.

Info Types and their Relationships

Diagram

deviantArt Types and Relationships Between Types

Discussion

Individual Users and Groups

deviants can choose to join groups, which in turn, can send invites to other deviants. Deviants in the same group are connected by a common interest. Though non-group members can still view journal entries and the group galleries (if the group is public), they will be unable to take part in discussions until admitted.

Some deviants in a group have special titles that grant them group powers that normal deviants lack. Founders and co-founders can assign titles to other members, moderators mediate and watch for inappropriate behavior from their members, journal writers can write group journal entries, etc.

Individual Users and Journal Entries

One relationship on deviantArt is between individual users and journal entries. Users have the ability to post their opinions or thoughts in the form of a journal entry. Each user can display their interest in a journal entry by adding it as a favorite, commenting or sharing it on another social networking site.

Individual Users and Media

One of the most important relationship between information types on deviantArt is the relationship between the individual users and the media. It is upon this relationship that many of the interactions on deviantArt are based. Individual users are able to upload media, comment on media, add a piece of media as a 'favorite', look at media, search media, or purchase media.

Merchandise and Media

Selling prints, T-shirt, and gears is a method of income for deviantART. There is a special place on deviantART called deviantART shop where users can shopping products. Also, when users browsing each media, related prints, T-shirt and products will show up.

Organizational Structures

Introduction

There are four main types of information structure: hierarchy, index, sequence, and links. All four of these types and can be found on deviantArt. Hierarchies occur when it is possible to apply different filters to narrow down a search and create sub-categories. Indexes are lists on contents or keywords from within a piece. Indexes are always either alphabetical or numerical. Sequences are a progression of options that are placed in a particular order. They might be placed based on the time they were created or added or in the order that the creator of the site would like the user to view them. Links are connections between two pages. If a user clicks on a link, they will be brought to the web page to which that site is connected.

Hierarchy - Category

Introduction

Categories describe the mediums that artworks can be submitted as. They are listed in a hierarchical setting, ordered by commonly viewed media (digital art at the top, scraps at the bottom). The category list may appear strange at first as it lacks an obvious index-based ordering but in time, many deviants quickly familiarize themselves, putting no thought into browsing a particular category. When clicked on, categories open up subcategories to further define the exact medium of an image.

Example

File:DA Categories.jpg

Hierarchy - Merchandise

Introduction

Another example of a hierarchical organizational structure can be found though the 'T-Shirts & Gear' button under the Browse heading at the top left of the deviantArt home page. Once users click on the 'T-Shirts & Gear' button, they are presented with options within the category of 'T-Shirts & Gear'. These options are 'deviantWEAR Tees', 'Hoodies and Jackets', 'dA PRO Series and Bags', 'Emoticon Gear', 'Stocking Stuffers', 'Trollface', 'Activewear', 'Little Deviants', 'Holiday Bundles', and 'Limited Poster Series'. By choosing additional options they are able to filter the displayed merchandise until the options displayed are closest to what the user is looking for. This application of filter upon filter is an example of a hierarchical organizational structure.

Example

Alt text

Red underlines show the hierarchical levels

In the picture, the different levels of the hierarchy are underlined in red. In the image displayed, the user chose "T-shirts & Gear" which brought them to the deviantWEAR page. From there they were able to apply the "Hoodies and Jackets" option. These options filter the merchandise displayed to best match the user's preference.

Discussion

In the image displayed above, an example of 'bread crumbs' is illustrated. As the user applies different filters, the options the user has chosen are recorded along the top of the page. These bread crumbs are reminiscent of the bread crumbs in the children's story of Hansel and Gretel. In the story, the children leave bread crumbs behind them with the intention of using these bread crumbs to find their way back if they get lost in the woods. The purpose of the bread crumbs displayed along the top of the page is similar. If users get lost among the search results or want to go back and change some of their applied filters, they can use the bread crumbs to help figure out how far they need to return. The bread crumbs indicate to the user what subcategory of merchandise they are in and the larger categories they already refined to get to where they are. This form of hierarchy is effective in helping users to narrow down the options for merchandise and to keep track of the filters that they used to refine their options.

Sequence - Polls

Example

File:DeviantART Poll.PNG

An example of a poll

Sequence - Daily Deviations

Introduction

Daily deviations are displayed at the bottom of the main page and represent a sequence.

• Screenshot of UI
• Description
• hierarchy or index or sequence, etc.
• info types
• usability/design of organization

Example

File:Capturedeviation2.PNG

Discussion

Deviations is a submission of a work of art. Deviantart defines daily deviations as "a small assortment of submissions are chosen each day by a select group of staff/volunteer members who wish to showcase an image which they found impressive or otherwise interesting enough to deserve being brought to the attention of the community-at-large" . Daily deviations are a progression of deviations in a particular order chosen by deviantArt staff members. Daily deviation is one example of the channels listed on deviantArt. Along with daily deviations, there are two other channels called newest and popular. The information type within this sequence includes media(pictures, wallpapers,

Links - Ads

Introduction

Displaying ads is a important way to make money for deviantArt and many websites. On deviantArt website, ads are showed on every page, usually on the right side of a page.

Example

File:Ads on deviantArt.png

Discussion

A link basically is hyperlinks that lead to information. Ads are a kind of links because when users click on ads, they are redirected to external websites of advertiser. Advertisers will pay for information provider, in this case is deviantArt, money based on number of views or clicks of their ads.

Because both advertiser and deviantART want users to pay attention to ads, ads are often on the place where is easy to notice. Ads sometimes can be annoying, but ads also keep the website for free.

References: