The Goal Of The Projects Throughout This Semester Is To Impl

The Goal Of The Projects Throughoutthis Semesteris To Implement A P

The goal of the projects throughout this semester is to implement a “prototype” database system application for an eCommerce social-network system called UCOnline where users can explore information about books/music/software, rate their purchases, identify purchase prices, and see ratings of their friends. This project requires team collaboration, with specific group member assignments, to develop an ERD (Entity-Relationship Diagram) that meets the outlined requirements.

UCOnline is designed to manage comprehensive data about multimedia items—including books, music, and software—as well as user interactions and social features. The core business requirements across all assignments focus on enabling users to explore detailed information about media items, rate their experiences, and engage with friends within a social network framework. The system must accommodate multiple categories, editions, and associations between authors, publishers, artists, and record companies, reflecting real-world complexities in multimedia publishing and production.

In terms of media-specific data, each book includes attributes such as a unique id, title, publication date, publisher, ISBN, functional category (fiction, non-fiction, specialty), page count, price, and product description. Music items, like songs and albums, are classified as digital or media-based, with editions such as EPs, LPs, CDs, or DVDs. Authors and musicians can be associated with multiple works and organizations, including publishers and music houses. Publishers and record companies can have multiple authors and artists linked to them, reflecting their collaborative relationships.

The system must incorporate detailed tracking of ratings, allowing users to rate each item on a scale from 1 (dislike) to 5 (awesome). Users are uniquely identified and their demographic data (name, gender, age, location) are stored. Each rating is timestamped and linked to the specific item and edition, facilitating separate ratings per edition when applicable. Users can submit multiple ratings for different editions of the same item but cannot rate the same edition multiple times, ensuring accuracy and preventing redundancy.

Furthermore, UCOnline includes social networking features, where users can send and respond to communication requests—such as instant messages or emails—regarding their social interactions. Requests are tracked with timestamps for when they are sent, when they are responded to, and the outcome (accepted or ignored). Once accepted, the users become ‘book buddies,’ forming a mutual social connection within the platform. Users can also resend requests if initially ignored, creating an interactive and engaging social environment.

Paper For Above instruction

The development of a comprehensive ERD for UCOnline involves capturing complex relationships among multimedia items, users, ratings, and social interactions. The ERD must accommodate the intricacies of authorship, editions, publishers, and record labels, reflecting real-world publishing and music industry structures. It should also support detailed rating mechanisms and social networking features critical to delivering an engaging user experience.

Fundamentally, the ERD should represent entities such as Users, Items (Books, Music, Software), Editions, Publishers, Authors, Musicians, Record Companies, and Social Requests. The relationships among these entities include many-to-many associations, such as authors writing multiple books or artists producing multiple songs/albums, and record companies managing many artists and albums.

Users are central to the system and will be linked to ratings, social requests, and friend relationships. Ratings are associated with specific items and their editions, capturing user feedback on each. The social network features must record communication requests, including timestamps of sent, responded, or ignored statuses, and establishment of ‘book buddies’ upon acceptance.

Designing this ERD involves several key considerations:

• Multiple editions for each item: Entities must support different versions (e.g., EPs, LPs, DVDs).
• Associations among authors, publishers, and media items: Many-to-many relationships with appropriate junction tables.
• Ratings management: Ensuring users cannot rate the same edition multiple times, with separate ratings for editions.
• Social interactions: Capturing requests with timestamps, status, and user responses, maintaining a dynamic social graph.

Addressing these requirements will enable the database to support rich querying capabilities, such as retrieving a user’s ratings history, social connections, or details about media editions and their relationships. Proper normalization and relationship cardinality will ensure data integrity and facilitate future scalability of UCOnline.

References

• Fundamentals of Database Systems (7th ed.). Pearson.
• Database Systems: Design, Implementation, & Management (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.
• Journal of Information Systems, 14(2), 89-102.
• Database System Concepts (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
• An Introduction to Database Systems (8th ed.). Pearson.
• Modern Database Management (12th ed.). Pearson.
• Database Management Systems. McGraw-Hill.
• MIS Quarterly Executive, 16(2), 89-106.
• Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 36-68.
• Database Systems (6th ed.). Addison-Wesley.