History places: A case study for relational database and information retrieval system design

ABSTRACT

This article presents a project-based case study that was developed for students with diverse backgrounds and varied inclinations for engaging technical topics. The project, called History Places, requires that student teams develop a vision for a kind of digital library, propose a conceptual model, and use the model to derive a logical model and information retrieval specification. From these two design representations, students implement a data-driven Web site that enables users to browse content and search by exact and best-match queries. The project brief contains a set of general requirements that promote creative solutions, while also bounding the complexity of the solution space. The article includes teaching notes and a conceptual model, expressed as an enhanced entity-relationship model in UML. The model, consisting of approximately ten entities, contains binary, unary, ternary, and specialization/generalization relationships. The article concludes with some reflections based on the experiences of using this project in six classes over four years.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.2 DATABASE MANAGEMENT
      H.2.1 Logical Design

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.5 On-line Information Services
      H.3.7 Digital Libraries

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education

General Terms:
Design, Documentation

Keywords:
Case-based learning, UML, conceptual modeling, database management systems, design, education, informatics, information retrieval, lucene, postgresql