Competency E

Preparation and Evidence

INFO 202 Information Retrieval System Design and INFO 246 Information Technology Tools and Applications Advanced Topic: XML taught me a lot about information retrieval systems, and the order in which I took these courses guided my understanding of the subject. I took INFO 202 Information Retrieval System Design in my first semester and learned how rigorous the preliminary stages are and how crucial it is to keep users in mind throughout the process. In the initial stages, the primary focus is the metadata because these are the documents that will add value to the system created. The metadata needs to be accessible and identifiable by future users so that they can retrieve all aggregated materials. Several assignments helped me learned terminology that would guide my understanding of the subject as we tested them in projects where we created database systems.

XML is the markup language more commonly used to create information retrieval systems. INFO 246 Information Technology Tools and Applications Advanced Topic: XML is where I learned most about XML and information retrieval systems. For this class, I used Oxygen, a software that allows you to create system documents using multiple markup languages. I did struggle in this course because I did not have any prior experience using markup languages; needless to say, I learned plenty in this course. Each assignment encompassed more metadata which challenged students into creating a design that organized the information in a format that was understandable to potential users.

In the following sections, we visit the assignments that encouraged and strengthened my learning of the subject.

Exercise 1B/1C: PTD 1

For INFO 202 Information Retrieval System Design, I collaborated on a group project (Exercise 1B/1C) that required us to use WebDataPro (WDP) to create a basic data structure and rules that would guide users in navigating our database. The group consisted of four members and we each pitched ideas for a theme for our database. After careful consideration, we agreed to focus our database on candles. We saw a lot of potential working with candles in helping us identify attributes, field names and field values. The initial prototype database included six field names which were shape, size, fragrance, material, color, and wick. For database design, it is crucial to distinguish attributes, and this is done by aggregating concepts and identifying if they are field names or field values. Think of field names as the umbrella that holds the water, and the water droplets being the field values. In our database, the wick is a field name that represents the following field values, hemp, cotton, wool, and wood. The field name wick is a record that contains a string of data for the subject candles.

The target audience for this database are people interested in purchasing candles. After analyzing our prototype, we concluded that our database did not have any record regarding dimensions, cost, and aesthetics, so we incorporated more field names. Our second design had more attributes and included a dropdown menu for field names that had set field values and a set of rules. Including rules to our design threw me off, but in this class, we learned that they are necessary elements for the design process. Rules give recognition to its users as it aggregates and organizes the information in the database. Rules are what make navigating databases easy.

The attached document, PTD1, named after our group, is the sample I chose from INFO 202 Information Retrieval System Design for Competency E. I chose this collaborative project as proof of evidence for this competency because I learned how to design an information retrieval system. Using WDP challenged our tech abilities, and taught us that there is a lot of planning and structure in constructing a database. Also, our first attempt did not include twelve field names. After evaluating our work, we decided to aggregate more filed names that would help targeted users find the product they desired, thus serving as a learning point that trained us to think more about the potential user. After adding more field names, we felt more comfortable using WDP, which created more depth and structure to our final design.

PDT 1 Candles

Mayor DTD2 and Mayor DTD3

Mayor DTD2 and Mayor DTD3 are assignments that demonstrate my understanding of Competency E. This assignment required us to sort information regarding past and present mayors in Los Angeles, and the purpose of this assignment was to test an XML document against a DTD (Document Type Definition) file. The DTD document was an essential component as it instructs the XML file about essential elements, attributes, and named entities. In the Mayor DTD2 file, there are several element declarations. It begins with the element name declaration, lamayors, which is the root element the will help the XML file test for validity against the DTD file. The element declarations that proceed are content models defined by the elements in parentheses, and their purpose is to organize the information in a structure that is understandable. The Mayor DTD3 file references the doctype that it is being tested against, as seen in my file, and organizes the information. In my first attempt, I had not defined the root element properly. There were also problems with the factors defining the content models. My second attempt had improvement in element declarations, and those are the documents I present to you in this section.

I use databases often for research, but I did not predict that I would one day learn about the diverse type of markup languages that makeup database systems. After taking this course, I am content with my newly acquired skills; however, I do not foresee myself entering a field of XML schemas.