Saturday, May 15, 2004

FFDB - Analysis

FFDB

Rationale, Requirements, Specifications

Introduction
This document attempts to describe the Fan Fiction DataBase system (from here on “FFDB”), its purpose and features; the problems the system tries to address and the solutions it proposes. It will describe the system more as a service for its intended audience/user base than as a work of software engineering.
This document pertains to Version 1 of the system. Newer versions are expected to be made available, possibly with companion documents, at wherever you've acquired the copy you're reading now. Its companion (or rather, sequel) "FFDB - design" should be counseled with when it seems too vague.
This is an amateurish work of one inexperienced man – all inaccuracies, outright falsehoods and Bad Ideas are his fault, for which he asks your forgiveness. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. He proclaims his hope that this document might not be a dull read.
1. Definitions, acronyms, and abbreviations
  fan
  n. An ardent devotee; an enthusiast. [Short for fanatic.]¹
  fandom
  n. All the fans of a sport, an activity, or a famous person.¹
  fanfic
  Short for "fan fiction".
  fan fiction
  Original fiction by fans of a show, movie, books or video game. The fiction involves characters and the location of the show from which the person is a fan. Fans write fan fiction for a variety of reasons. One of the most popular reasons is to explore themes and ideas that will not or cannot be explored on the show, movie, book or video game.²
  Fan fiction is never written for profit, only for the enjoyment of fellow fans. Copyright on the characters (and anything else borrowed) is owned by the originator.
  You may wish to see here for some history.
  HP
  Harry Potter
  Harry Potter
  The main character of J.K. Rowling's extremely popular (at the turn of the 20th century) children's books bearing his name.
2. Purpose of the system
  The HP fandom is very large (at the time of writing, Google returned over 6M matches) and the amount of fanfic it produces is very large as well (fanfiction.net has over 120K stories). One of the reasons for its popularity is its addictiveness. When in crave for more fic, if the user still retains some semblance of taste and preference as to what she'll^* consume next, the need to find fic according to certain characteristics arises. Usually the quest is either restricted to a few archive sites featuring similar stories (grouped together by one or two of these characteristics) or a friend's (or other's whose taste the user trusts) recommendations. This unnecessarily limits the user's choice and sometimes forces to read many stories' descriptions, author's notes and even a chapter or two to determine whether they're the right kind of fic – a laborious, time-consuming process.
  I envision³ an all-encompassing metadata-rich library index that can list links to stories according to various multiple cross-sections allowing the user to focus her search to a very specific (preferably short) list of options, using as accurate as possible objective and subjective (usefully balanced) characteristics, suitable to all of fandom, from a G-rated alternate-point-of-view on Hermione's kiss in book 4 to a written-on-a-dare should-be-made-illegal fic no one would host^*.
Bibliography

Although this document is intended to be read online, it is the author's hope it someday becomes worthy of committing to paper, thus making all manner of clickable things unusable. To amend this grieve usability flaw that inhibits the peer-review process, a formal bibliography has been compiled (in this version – by hand, allowing some mistakes and omissions to crop up due to human error).
1. The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Accessed through http://dictionary.reference.com/.
2. Writers University dictionary, available at http://www.writersu.net/?link=dict.
3. A blog by the author, asking whether there's any interest in such a project, available at: http://templateworks.blogspot.com/2004/03/personal-what-should-i-waste-my-time.html
4. bib4
A list of referenced and/or related publications.
Appendixes
1. Author's Notes
  1. Although I have no demographic data to back this statement, the fandom is so biased in favor of the fairer sex that it makes sense to use the female form of pronouns for generics.
  2. I had no particular fics in mind when writing this.
  3. I stubbornly wish to maintain the notion of anonymity and privacy the use of pennames grants those who choose to fool themselves, though I know better.
  4. note4
2. Document Revision History
  Issue / Revision Date Changes
  1.0 Draft A 2004-04-05 Original Version - beginning
  1.0 Draft B 2004-05-07 - 2004-05-15 Analysis and Design identified and separated
3. About the Author
  Wolf^* is a slightly maladjusted software developer currently in the service of the IDF. Born 1984 in Leningrad, USSR (former and current St. Petersburg, Russia), emigrated to Israel with his family 1991. Have been programming his family's PC since 1995, obsessing about Harry Potter since 2000 and coding for change (and keeping his country safe) since 2003. Photo and source code available upon request.
4. Acknowledgements
  I want to thank my parents for bringing me to this world, raising me and tolerating me through my teens. I'm trying to grow up as fast as I can.
  My dear friend Z. for introducing me to Ms. Rowling's magical world, and my CO E. who is kind and understanding, more than I deserve.

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