Book-Link A Textbook Marketplace Andrew McCabe Senior Project 2003 Advisor: Professor Almstead

BLINK BLINK. Concept/History – Scope of the Project Current System Scenarios Requirements Database Outline for future work…

History / Concept Create an online “marketplace” for students to advertise books or create “want-ads.” Cut out the middle-man (bookstore) Evan White – Sophomore Project 2002 – Evaluated systems for Union – Surveyed students / bookstore manager – Conclusion: Online Intermediary

Current System Bookstore buys books at 50% of retail to a quota if book is being used next term If book isn’t being used, bookstore will pay 5-30% of retail and sell books to wholesalers. Estimated 15% of buybacks are used to fill quotas for the following term. Students stand in line to (hopefully) get 50% of the sticker price of their textbooks – in reality, very few do.

Scenarios (BLINK) Mike Pinch wants to sell his $70 Algorithms textbook – bookstore will pay 5%, or $3.50. Mike lists the text as offered on Blink. Andrew browses the books, finds the one he needs, s Mike, and pays $50 for it. Thus, Andrew pays $20 less than retail, and Mike only loses $20 in using the book for a term.

Scenarios (BLINK) Dan lists all of his CS books, a few of which he lied about Mike finds a book he needs next term, contacts Dan, and they meet in the CC Mike finds that Dan lied about the editions, and doesn’t buy anything Mike rates Dan poorly, and comments on his lying about books. Nobody contacts Dan – ever again.

Functional Requirements Login/logout: address as username, once logged in, stored in session variable – Provide hint for lost passwords Add/remove textbooks: user may add unlimited # of books to system, each has an expiration date at which point it’s removed. Keyword search: searches all aspects of a textbook record Browse books by department (major)

Functional Requirements Modify book properties – Adjust expiration date – URL for picture (amazon.com) Modify user properties – Must provide current password to change account Rate other users only after having contacted them – Only rate a user once for a given book – Store average ratings for each user

Non-functional Requirements No development / software costs PHP MySQL Runs on VU Self – running system: no administrator needed! – Poor ratings = removed from system – Users police other users via ratings – Books must have expiration date, old books are removed automatically

MySQL Database Tables: 1. User: user information 2. Offered: offered books 3. Wanted: wanted books 4. Rating: user ratings and comments 5. Contacts: contact between users 6. System: stores system variables address identifies a user’s records throughout. – + ISBN uniquely identifies a book in wanted or offered Ratings are identified via from- , to- , a date, and ISBN System can identify a book from contact information (user, ISBN, type, either wanted or offered)

Future work… Allow administration; meaning, customization of the site – Fully customizable functionality – Color schemes, pictures – Allow site to be tailored to a school Enter ISBN, system will go to amazon.com / bn.com and get book information, including picture URL.