Org Database Overview

[Phade]

Hey Everyone,

I've started fleshing out the details of the new Org database. It will be similar to the old one, mainly because our core mission hasn't changed. This diagram shows the relationships between the major sections, each of which will have a lead curator (the same person can curate more than one section, but these are the major sections).



The Org News section is self-explanatory; it's the news that currently goes on the home page.

The Org Wiki will be a phase 2 addition to replace the "how-to" guides.

The site Members section is also generally self-explanatory. The trick here, though, will be integrating or replicating user information into the forum tables; members should be forum users and forum users should be members.

The Anime section is likely to be complicated. One reason is that the anime titles should be standardized and not a haphazard jumble of names. There are existing anime databases available that we can replicate, providing additional details such as the overarching franchise, seasons, episodes, characters, and thumbnails for display. The trick will be curating and updating the list regularly as new anime is released.

The Music section will be similarly complicated but also similarly standardized with external databases we can replicate.

There are big plans for the AMV Events section with a better buildout of event organizer tools and ease of management all around.

The AMV Feedback section will continue with star ratings as well as an improved review and quick comments tools.

Org Banners have been an ongoing breath of fresh air ever since they were launched and they should continue for sure!

Finally, the Donations Management will be improved for timely responses and accurate accountability.

Each of these sections will need a lead curator. Do you need to know how to program? No. Do you need to have a deep understanding of how databases work? Not really. Do you need to be a passionate nerd about a particular topic? That's the thing we need for a curator!!

If you would like to help curate one or more of these sections, please let me know! We need your help!! The programming nerds will help you out.

Thanks again and have fun!!

Phade.

[Phade]

If we zoom into the Members section, here is what the database will likely look like.

While the main members table may be expanded by the forum technical details, the information listed here directly relates to the Org's member information. Splitting the stats to its own table will allow calculations to take place, but not affect the main table itself. Member images will allow for historical views of what your member profile banner was, so that you can switch it up and switch it back as needed. The preferences section will allow us to add preference options without having to redraw the schema later on. Social media links, followers, and playlists round out the rest of the fun stuff.

Unlike a general username and password check, authentication will be a separate service of its own, allowing greater flexibility in how and with whom users can authenticate. The main feature will be authenticating via external sources such as Google. This will allow us to definitively verify who belongs to which YouTube channel.

If you have any questions or comments, please share now so that we can easily make adjustments now if needed; fixing things later will require much more effort.

[Phade]

The video information schema in the database is so large that I had to split it into two images!

The first section here is the general video information that the AMV creator will provide. The base information consists of the usual stuff like the video title, description, thumbnail image, premiere date, and so on. Since an AMV can have more than one video source (anime and/or non-anime), audio source, collaborator, or category, the listings for those are in separate tables. Now that we have extra storage space, an AMV can have multiple files uploaded for multiple purposes, such as a general distribution version, a contest version, a high-res archive version, and so on. Links to external streaming sites like YouTube are also available.

The feedback section focuses on members interacting with the video itself. The tried and true star rating will remain a staple of general feedback section as well as the more formal text-based reviews. Members will be able to add videos to playlists and choose whether the playlist is public or private. Finally, there are general video warnings that the video creator or member can give to the AMV. These warnings are for general categories like language, violence, nudity, and so on, as well as a "specific warning" for content that doesn't fit into a general category, like snakes, vomit, overt racism, sexual assault, and other specific content that viewers may find objectionable. Having members provide this feedback can help average out what the true warnings should be so that search results can be more accurate.

More schema diagrams to come!!

[Phade]

Here is a draft of the next section: AMV Contest Events

Admittedly, this is a Phase 2 feature. But, I wanted to give a preview of things to come. This section will allow AMV contest coordinators to create the base entry for their contest (or exhibition), the events in their contest, rules going around each of them, participants, awards, and winners.

The grayed-out videos and video files tables are the same as the original Videos section of the schema. The new portion here is the submission of a particular video file to an event. Often, contests require that a video submission be "clean", meaning that there are no bumpers, watermarks, or other visually identifiable markings to reveal who the video creator is. This method will allow a "clean" copy to be available to contests, but not make it available for general download.