Automatic for the People Vol. 1
Jul 03,2006
Welcome back to a new week of the CDJapan blog. This time around I'd like to talk about the system behind our new upgrade, what it allows us to do, and what we still need to work around.
The first step to understanding our new system is to understand how we categorize releases. Each new item gets assigned one genre the moment we input the data into our system. We base our genre categories on each manufacturers suggestions as well as the Oricon database.
Where as our previous system required that we add each product by hand to a given webpage, our new system automates the process by assigning each item to the appropriate webpage for the product's genre.
Now, I've added this rather boring explanation because it helps to understand why we've added some genres and not others.
Basically, the new system works great for anything that has a well-defined genre in our database. For all you Seiko Matsuda, Pink Lady, and Godeigo fans, the new system has allowed us to splendidly create the brand new "Classic Jpop" section of our site.
We're also able to add subgenres to our films section. So, Koki Mitani fans rejoice--we have comedy! Hideo Nakata and Kiyoshi Kurosawa fans shiver for we have horror! "Hana to Hebi" or "Sachiko Hanai" fans dance for we have pink!
On the other hand, pages for our less-well defined genres tend to need a little tweaking. Unfortunately, this means my favorite "J-indie" page is little fried for a while. Japanese indie music includes everything (except visual) that we get from an indie label regardless of genre (dub to ballads to anime soundtracks). R&B and eurobeat share the genre of "Dance & Soul" which is why they also end up together on our site.
We'll be working to clean up these genres for the next few months. However, we do edit the "Recently Added" sections of these pages by hand, so the preorder data should still be up to the level you've come to expect from CDJapan.
Though we were limited to existing genres for the debut of our new system, we'll be working in the coming months to add genres we think you'll enjoy.
I'm looking at you foreign progressive-metal genre.
What's the "Recently Added" section? I'll be back tomorrow to answer that very question.
The first step to understanding our new system is to understand how we categorize releases. Each new item gets assigned one genre the moment we input the data into our system. We base our genre categories on each manufacturers suggestions as well as the Oricon database.
Where as our previous system required that we add each product by hand to a given webpage, our new system automates the process by assigning each item to the appropriate webpage for the product's genre.
Now, I've added this rather boring explanation because it helps to understand why we've added some genres and not others.
Basically, the new system works great for anything that has a well-defined genre in our database. For all you Seiko Matsuda, Pink Lady, and Godeigo fans, the new system has allowed us to splendidly create the brand new "Classic Jpop" section of our site.
We're also able to add subgenres to our films section. So, Koki Mitani fans rejoice--we have comedy! Hideo Nakata and Kiyoshi Kurosawa fans shiver for we have horror! "Hana to Hebi" or "Sachiko Hanai" fans dance for we have pink!
On the other hand, pages for our less-well defined genres tend to need a little tweaking. Unfortunately, this means my favorite "J-indie" page is little fried for a while. Japanese indie music includes everything (except visual) that we get from an indie label regardless of genre (dub to ballads to anime soundtracks). R&B and eurobeat share the genre of "Dance & Soul" which is why they also end up together on our site.
We'll be working to clean up these genres for the next few months. However, we do edit the "Recently Added" sections of these pages by hand, so the preorder data should still be up to the level you've come to expect from CDJapan.
Though we were limited to existing genres for the debut of our new system, we'll be working in the coming months to add genres we think you'll enjoy.
I'm looking at you foreign progressive-metal genre.
What's the "Recently Added" section? I'll be back tomorrow to answer that very question.
Automatic for the People Vol. 1 Comments
That expaleined a lot
Well your explenation sertenly explained a lot and it looks like we can expect more changes and new features in the futur.The automatic system for placing each item in its category/genre seem to be complicated.
I'm not sure how you guys are going to manage it, but I'm sure you'll be able to overcome the difficulties ahead to expand the list of different genres.
by shawurai : Jul 04,2006
Yeah, it was a bit overwhelming the first time I heard the explanation too.
Don't worry though, we'll be adding new genres as soon as things settle down with the new update!
Don't worry though, we'll be adding new genres as soon as things settle down with the new update!
by Dan : Jul 05,2006
neat
Congrats on going automated! (^^ It's a big help to have pages generate themselves, huh. Looking forward to browsing the horror section ^^)v
by rin : Jul 07,2006
Thanks rin! Yeah, automating the site has made updating eveyday a possibility.
And amen for the horror section . . . just in time for "Rinne" and "Siren."
<non-CDJ fanboy mode>
I'm shaking in anticipation of Kurosawa's upcoming "Loft," it's going to be awesome seeing one of his films on the big screen.
</non-CDJ fanboy mode>
And amen for the horror section . . . just in time for "Rinne" and "Siren."
<non-CDJ fanboy mode>
I'm shaking in anticipation of Kurosawa's upcoming "Loft," it's going to be awesome seeing one of his films on the big screen.
</non-CDJ fanboy mode>
by Dan : Jul 07,2006
