Welcome

“Comics” Is Hard:
Domain Modeling Challenges
Ben Scofield – Viget Labs

#?forben

Modeling
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flickr: bunchofpants

Crowdsourcing
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flickr: ropesandpulleys

flickr: paopix

person rating rater

just because you can
doesn’t mean you should
http://thisisindexed.com/2009/02/just-because-you-can-doesnt-mean-you-should/

just because you can
doesn’t mean you should
http://thisisindexed.com/2009/02/just-because-you-can-doesnt-mean-you-should/

just because you can
doesn’t mean you should
http://thisisindexed.com/2009/02/just-because-you-can-doesnt-mean-you-should/

person rating

person
avg / # ratings

The Challenge
Deciding what to model

Biology
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Linnean taxonomy

Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
flickr: pandiyan

Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Carnivora
Felidae
Panthera
tigris
flickr: pandiyan

kingdom phylum class
genus family order
species organism

Problem
The levels are imaginary

subphylum
kingdom phylum class
superclass subclass
subfamily suborder
superorder
genus family order
subgenus superfamily
subspecies
species organism
variety

subphylum
kingdom phylum class
?
superclass subclass
subfamily suborder
superorder
genus family order
subgenus superfamily
subspecies
species organism
variety

subspecies
taxon taxon taxon species organism
variety

Species
flickr: cpurrin1

Reproductive Isolation
flickr: superciliousness

Reproductive Isolation
flickr: superciliousness

flickr: jassen

flickr: niznoz

Numerical taxonomy

Cladistics

taxon clade taxon organism

Problem
Cladistics is historical and
counter-intuitive

flickr: goellnitz

flickr: goellnitz
pcoin

The Challenge
Unclear, imprecise domain

comics
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publisher title issue

publisher imprint title
issue

publisher imprint title
issue volume

publisher imprint title
issue volume
trade

publisher imprint title
issue volume
variant trade

name
publisher imprint title
issue volume
variant trade

name
publisher imprint title
?
issue
nested set?
volume
variant trade

“Experience CIVIL WAR and its major tie-ins
from CIVIL WAR: FRONT LINE and
FANTASTIC FOUR in chronological order! ...”

name
??
publisher imprint title
issue
storyline volume
nested set?
variant trade

imprint
publisher title name
storyline
@#&*! issue
nested set?
volume
variant trade

science fiction
noir horror
genres?
independent
Martial Arts
historical
Pirate superhero

imprint publisher
@#&*!
title name
genre
issue
volume
nested set?
storyline variant trade

The Challenge
Complete insanity

Alternatives
databases unite!
#?forben
flickr: ikhnaton2

http://thisisindexed.com/2009/02/just-because-you-can-doesnt-mean-you-should/

Key-Value
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Redis Tokyo Cabinet
Project Voldemort
Cassandra*

require \"rubygems\"
require \"tokyocabinet\"
include TokyoCabinet
bdb = BDB::new # B-Tree database; keys may have multiple values
bdb.open(\"casket.bdb\", BDB::OWRITER | BDB::OCREAT)
# store records in the database, allowing duplicates
bdb.putdup(\"key1\", \"value1\")
bdb.putdup(\"key1\", \"value2\")
bdb.put(\"key2\", \"value3\")
bdb.put(\"key3\", \"value4\")
# retrieve all values
p bdb.getlist(\"key1\")
# => [\"value1\", \"value2\"]
# range query, find all matching keys
p bdb.range(\"key1\", true, \"key3\", true)
# => [\"key1\", \"key2\", \"key3\"]
http://www.igvita.com/2009/02/13/tokyo-cabinet-beyond-key-value-store/

Crowdsourcing x
Biology x
Comics x

Document
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{
'name':'Ben Scofield',
'adjective':'awesomesauce'
}
{
'name':'Magic Pony',
'description':'It is a *lie*!'
}

HTTP

Crowdsourcing ✓
Biology ✓
Comics x

{
'name':'Ben Scofield',
'image’:‘http://whatevs.com/ben.jpg',
‘average_rating’:‘4.667’,
‘number_of_ratings’:’3’
}

{
'kingdom':'Animalia',
‘phylum’:‘Chordata’,
‘subphylum’:‘Vertebrata’,
‘class’:‘Mammalia’,
‘subclass’:‘Eutheria’,
‘order’:‘Carnivora’,
‘family’:‘Felidae’,
‘subfamily’:‘Panthernae’,
‘genus’:‘Pantera’,
‘species’:‘tigris’,
‘name’:‘Wanda’
}

Graph
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AllegroGraph
Java Java / Lisp

http://neotechnology.com/why-neo

http://markorodriguez.com/Lectures_files/risk-symposium2009.pdf

flickr: 9948354@N08

Crowdsourcing x
Biology ✓
Comics ✓

Animalia
...
Felidae
subfamilyof
genusof Panthernae
genusof
Panthera
speciesof
tigris
member
001
age name weight
3 Wanda 300

Animalia
...
Felidae
subfamilyof
genusof Panthernae
genusof
Panthera
species speciesof
type
tigris
010
name
tigris member
001
age name weight
3 Wanda 300

Group IV
orderof
Picornavirales
familyof
Picornaviridae
genusof
Rhinovirus
speciesof
human
rhinovirus A
member
002

class Mammalia Group IV group
orderof orderof
Carnivora Picornavirales
familyof familyof
Felidae Picornaviridae
subfamilyof
Panthernae genusof genusof
genusof
Panthera Rhinovirus
speciesof speciesof
human
tigris
rhinovirus A
member member
001 002

DC
imprintof
titleof DC Universe
Green titleof
001
Lantern nameof
genreof
volumeof genreof
Volume 1 Sci Fi
Superhero
genreof
issueof genreof
002 precedes Issue #2
number coverof
#1 003

Hybrid Solutions
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flickr: joriel

Configuration ✓
Caching ✓
Translations ✓

post
tag
document id
{
'title':'Post Title'
'content':'Hello!'
'comments':[\"First!\"]
}

http://www.speakerrate.com/talks/1169
Thank You
ben scofield - @bscofield - http://www.viget.com/extend - http://www.speakerrate.com/bscofield