Status Update #8

This Week:

• This week, we got to the python code to compile on the web server using the common gateway interface.
• We have fixed the bugs in the classification algorithm.
• We expanded our training set, however, we still need a lot more documents in our training set to improve the performance of our classifier.

Current Status:

• Our website is now fully functional. We have fixed most of the bugs. To improve the relevance of the results found, we need to keep adding articles into our train set.

Next Week:

• Starting next week, our main area of focus will be the Windows 7 phone application development.
• After some research, we came to know that IronPython can be used to compile Python codes on windows 7 phone environment. We need to get acquainted with the functionalities of IronPython.

Spring Break March 12 - March 20

Status Update #6

This Week:

• Previously, we were hosting our website and wiki on CSE Cisco Server. However, anyone who needs to access the website needs VPN access into the CSE firewall, so we decided to move our website on a different web server.
• Now, our website is hosted on my desktop computer running apache webserver. The website can be reached using this link: http://74.194.129.16/ethicheck/ethicheck.html
• Classification algorithm has been implemented and we have a working prototype of our website. There are a few bugs in the implementation of the classification algorithm which we are trying to fix.
• Limitations: The training set (test bench) is currently limited.

Current Status:

• We almost have a working prototype of the website. (We do have a few minor bugs that need to be fixed) However, it is somewhat crude since the information sources are limited (NY times and Wikipedia). Also, the test bench is relatively small. Information can be manually added later into our wiki which we are using as our database.

Next week:

• Add information into the wiki and also crawl the wiki.
• Start developing the windows 7 phone application. We don't plan to stop the work during the spring break, however, the work might slow down due to the team members being in different cities during the week.
• Research: getting python code to compile on windows 7 mobile platform.

Status Update #5

Website Screenshot

Wiki Screenshot

This Week:

• Setup the web server.
• Installed Python and MediaWiki on the Web Server.
• Host the Ethicheck website on CSE Linux Web Server.
• Host the Wiki on CSE Linux Web Server.
• Researched the best classification tool to be used.
• Currently in the process of implementing the classification algorithm.
• Met with Dr. Gill and got ideas about collecting information about companies.

Current Status:

• We are close to develop a working prototype of the website which will show how users can search information and contribute to information using our wiki.

Next Week:

• Connect the python code with the web interface using either Common Gateway Interface (CGI) or Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI). This step will be the final step towards creating a working prototype.
• Implement the classification algorithm using the Natural Language Tool Kit (NLTK).
• Start researching about how to develop the phone app and deploy it on windows phone platform.

Status Update #4

 Current status:

What did you work on this week?

     We set up the MediaWiki website on our local computers and started playing with it and adding information to it. We are retrieving info/articles from Wikipedia and NYTimes, which we will eventually manipulate with a classification algorithm. We met with Dr. Caverlee, who was very helpful regarding different classification algorithms and also recommended us to scope down our goals, as we are working on a very big project and we are only two people. We continue to compile info.

What problems did you run into?

      We believe it is not possible to incorporate information retrieval code with the MediaWiki site, which means we will have  two websites. One to hold the wikis and one to display our info and results. Also, the NYTimes API doesn't give us the complete article but only their first paragraph, which is not ideal. 

What is the current overall project status?

        The project is on its way and we are working hard to make sure we don't fall behind.

What new ideas did you have? These ideas can be beyond the scope of this semester.

       We are know aware of the fact that we will probably need two different websites to make out idea work. We are also dividing all the info in two major sections: environmental and human rights/social justice.

      

The look ahead:

What is planned for next week?

       Have the website displaying the information we are retrieving from Wikipedia, NYTimes, and our own wiki whenever the consumer enters the name of a company. Parse and make sense of all the information we have in order to feed it into a classification algorithm. Start looking into the phone app. Meet with our mentor, Dr. Gill.

         

Status Update #3

Current status:

What did you work on this week?

       Carla did a lot of reading on the API’s we will need in order to extract information about companies and make sense of it. She  also started coding the extraction of NYTimes info from articles. Jaideep did some research on MediaWiki and how to use it in order to set up our website with it.  We have also been compiling info from companies in order to be able to trace back a specific product to its company. We have been organizing as well and selecting milestones we will like to achieve by the end of each week. Finally, we determined which software do we need and sent an email to Chris about it.

What problems did you run into?

      The only problem we ran into is that the software needed was not installed on the lab computers. Also, Jaideep has been really busy with interviews and that has slowed us down.

What is the current overall project status?

        I think the idea of what we want is pretty establish already. Also, the research made has been very helpful. We believe next week will be a very productive one.

What new ideas did you have? These ideas can be beyond the scope of this semester.

       This week was mostly about making sure all the resources we need are in place.

      

The look ahead:

What is planned for next week?

       Crawl the web with a couple API’s (probably NYTimes and BBC) and extract the information we will need. Set up the website with MediaWiki. Meet with Dr. Gill and Dr. Caverlee.

What received feedback will you be incorporating in the future?

          Nothing yet. 

Status Update #2: Week 1 Progress

This week, we allowed ourselves to gain familiarity with the technologies we will be using. Since we have never used these technologies and the development platform before, we thought it would be a better idea to look at the syntax and a few examples before we started coding.

The details are as follows:

• Downloaded and played around with the windows phone developer tools.
• Downloaded and tried a few small simulations on windows 7 phone emulator.
• We were able to download Microsoft XNA studio and silver light, but we haven't really looked into it since developing the website is our top priority. So we are currently focusing on the tools that we will need to develop the website.
• Downloaded the Microsoft Web Developer for designing the website using Microsoft technology. Since we have always used JavaScript and CSS to develop websites, it'll take a couple of days to familiarize ourselves with ASP.NET and other Microsoft technologies used for developing websites.
• We have purchased the domain to host our project - www.ethicheck.info

Plan for next week:

Since the website development remains the top priority, we would like to have .NET server up and running. We will start working on the web development and we also plan to start working on the search algorithm, and we'll focus on crawling various databases using the different APIs.