CPSC 547 Project 3 : WebGrid

Exploration

The grid that I created was on the domain of cars, context focusing on sports cars. I chose sports cars because alot of people wish they could drive a sports car, and sports cars usually catch people's attention. The elements I chose are specific examples of sports cars, which is as follows : Viper, Corvette, Lamborghini, Porsche, Stealth, Mustang, and Camaro. All these particular types of cars have the reputation as being fast and stylish.

Next, I tried to choose constructs that best describe the characteristics of a sports car, or what a sports car is well known for, for example, quick acceleration and short stopping distance. Below is a list of the constructs that I have come up with, and a brief explanation of each :

1) Automatic vs. standard transmission - some cars only come in one flavour,
    standard, while others come in both.

2) High cost vs. low cost - some sports cars are relatively cheap, while
    some are downright expensive.

3) Fast acceleration vs. slow acceleration - all sports cars accelerate
    quickly, but when comparing against other sports cars in the list, 
    how does it rate in comparison with the other sports cars.

4) Reliable vs. lemon - does the car breakdown after a short drive, or
    does it keep going, and going, and going ...

5) High torque vs. low torque - this has alot to do with how the engine is
    designed.  The more torque, the more power transferred to the driving
    wheels.  This translates into power that can turn the tires and drive the
    car.

6) Stop on a dime vs. poor brakes - does the car stop in a short distance,
    or will it take a long time to stop the car.

7) Heavy in weight vs. lite weight - is the car heavy, or does it weigh
    a tonne.

Upon closer inspection of my Focus grid, I ranked the Viper as the best all around sports car, but, it is a rather heavy car. As well, I found that price has nothing to do with performance, for example, the Viper is an expensive car and it performs like a sports car should, but on the other hand the Porsche is quite expensive but only ranked fourth.

After careful analysis the PrinCom grid, I found that in general, a car that is high in cost tend to have good acceleration and cornering abilities, but at the same time tend to be heavy in weight. On the other side of the coin, cars that are relatively low in cost tend to be slow in acceleration and has poor stopping distance. I guess the old saying "you get what you pay for" is true, especially when it comes to cars. As well, it appears that the Stealth is an all around general sports car, for it is situated pretty close to the middle of the PrinCom grid.

My first impression of webgrid is that it kinda sucked. For one thing, if you want to update any of your elements or constructs, and then you want to see the new additions in the picture in princom or Focus, it is not updated. You get the same picture as before the addition. The interface was alright, but if you have alot of elements, rating then for a particular construct can become very tedious. As well, the window that displays the construct when you are rating each element would only expand to a certain length, so if the construct you are using was too long, you could not see it all.

Another bad point about webgrid was the picture at the end was a GIF, I personally do not use GIF because of its low colour depth, and poor picture quality, but I must admit, it was pretty sharp. Besides the picture the quality, reading and interpreting these pictures is quite a chore in itself. There is lines coming this way and that in the princom picture which made it very difficult to interpret.

Even though Webgrid does try to be useful when you are creating constructs, it can only be of assistance so far. Just thinking up of constructs for the particular elements can be quite a task, for you have to think of how the elements are different and how they are the same, and how not to conflict with previous constructs already made up.

Links to the grid created, PrinCom grid, and Focus Grid, all using webgrid to create.

Elements and constructs grid.
A jpg that shows the elements and constructs that was created in webgrd.

PrinCom grid.
The PrinCom grid for the grid that was created.

Focus grid.
The Focus grid for the grid that was created.

Navigator

To : Table of contents.
Takes you back to the table of contents.

To : Ellicitation of constructs on my own topic.
Takes you to the discussion on how I created my own webgrid using my own topic. Includes an explanation on how I created my own constructs, comparison between my own grids and Chris Kliewer's grids, and a link to these grids.

To : Ellicitation of constructs on my presentation topic.
Takes you to the discussion on how I created a webgrid based upon my presentation topic. Includes a good discussion of the grid, an analysis of the grids (Focus, PrinCom), and a link to these grids.