Today I started setting up the databases that will hold all the collected data, the data to construct the pages, and a special table used to back the simulation.

The following tables will be used:

• Site
• Pages
• Page_data
• Collected Data
• Users
• Locations
• Fixed_data
• Stats
• Custom
• Simulation
• Genetics

 

This layout is subject to change as the project continues to develop.

I’ve started thinking more about how I am going to approach the development of the project. Here is the plan;

• Construct basic site layout
• Get data from database to populate site
• Write code to store default data to database
• Write code to store custom layout
• Work out Ajax and php to store onClick event
• Work out PHP to store chosen data
• Write code to get details from ip
• Write code to convert stored data to genetics data
• Import genetics data into flash.
• Make flash simulation from data (realtime).
• Make flash simulation for date range.

Over the past week I have been trying out different bits of JavaScript, which I can use to collect data from the users interaction. I created a sample webpage as shown below, with an ‘onClick’ trigger. This runs a variety of functions, each which can collect different data from the user including browser details, click position and screen size.



Looking at the types of data shows two clear sets. One set contains the non-changing data, this is the data that that only needs to be set once per user session, such as browser type or screen size. In addition more detailed user location data can be gathered from the user IP by the php. If the user registers with the site this can provide even more data further still. The other data type is the real time updating data, such as click position. In addition any response the user makes such as clicking a link also needs to be recorded in real time.

The next stage is to start creating the database tables to store all the data that has been collected. My plan is to create two databases, both identical in structure but one with fake data that can be used so that I can start developing the simulation and the second one will contain the live data and will be linked to the website.

I have also decided to come up with the name ‘Thermal Sited’ for the project which is kind of an evolution of Heat Maps and Web Pages.

Its been nearly two months since I have done anything on my 4D project. Last term I ended spending so much time working on my 3D project that I didn’t have the time to work on any of my other projects. The 3D module is divided into 2 projects, so before the second project kicks in I have time to get back up-to-date on my other work.

So far I have only produced a few tests to see what JavaScript can produce, I now need to work on the actually website that will be used to record the data. The website itself will have questions and processes to influence the users decisions which will also be able to provide data to be used for the completed simulation.

My original idea was to use the data collected and produce a video for the period of study. It has now been suggested that it would be better to have the simulation produced in real-time. Since the data change will not always be active I may add a time delay on the simulation, and/or produce a video of the simulation during an active period to show exactly what will happen. I still intend for the completed video to be a composition of the original web pages and data simulated effects including sound.

It’s been a little while longer than I would have liked, before I have had the chance to work more on this project. So far I have started looking at how JavaScript can be used to collect data from a web page when a user clicks, for example the link the user chooses to follow. This should be quite possible to do and should provide adequate data to meet the project requirements.

To test this out I put together a quick page with a little bit of JavaScript to show the position of the mouse pointer on the web page. I now need to think about what other data I want to collect, this will both be statistical data collected by the JavaScript as well as user generated data collected from the user input.

I also need to start thinking about how I want to present the data when it has all been collected. I have decided that I want to use video as the output medium for the project, and hope that this can be created using simulations of the data and the original Web Pages. I still need to put more thought into this idea.

Today’s 4D lecture was held in the Immersive Vision Theatre (Dome) and demonstrated some examples of how the dome could be used as a technology for the project. I was able to get quite a few ideas about the project from the presentation, although I’m not sure about actually using the dome myself.

One of my friends suggested that it might be possible to develop a project from the idea of using hotspots to look at user activity in different areas of a web page. I started looking at the idea online to see if this would be a possible avenue for the project. So far it seems to that this idea could quite possibly work. The idea that user clicks could be recorded over time on a webpage and then the data could be represented as a heat map animation.

Over the weekend I am going to start exploring the different ways I could develop the project.

Today I started thinking about the importance of time being a constant, and the effects that would be caused if it wasn’t. Everything in the world has its own time line, starting when it is created and running until it no longer exists. All time lines run on the same scale, meaning everything can be related to each other. I thought about what effects would be caused if the rate of each individual time line was varied.

Today I started thinking of possible project ideas that related to the 4D brief. As the module is worth 1/6 of my degree, what ever I choose to base the project on needs to have room for development and expansion. I started scribbling down the first thoughts that came to me, from these ideas I decided to look further at the idea of the importance of time leading up to an event and then after it. The idea being that if only half the story is available then it could lead to incorrect assumptions being made. All though I liked the idea I couldn’t really think how I could develop it into a project.