[Data-modeling] [Developers] Modeling question

Daniel E. Renfer duck at kronkltd.net
Mon Jan 7 07:53:00 UTC 2008


Well then maybe we need multiple properties that expect the same general 
"producer" type.

Manufacturer
Marketer
Distributor
etc.

Ed Laurent wrote:
> Product brand is a pretty elegant solution. However, I'm having a little 
> trouble conceptualizing how to use the type for a product such as a cell 
> phone that may be produced by one company but sold and marketed by 
> multiple middle men under the umbrellas of different brands.
> 
> -Ed
> 
> On Jan 7, 2008 2:24 AM, Robert Cook <robert at metaweb.com 
> <mailto:robert at metaweb.com>> wrote:
> 
>     Topic granularity for products is a very interesting topic.  People
>     would like to think of the topics "Coke", "Diet Coke", "Diet Coke 1
>     liter bottle" all as type "product" in different circumstances.  This
>     could be handled by a "phylogeny" containment pattern, where the
>     product type pointed to more specific versions of the product, just as
>     the "location" type points to other contained locations.
> 
>     I like the "edible product" idea, although I suspect there might be a
>     more elegant name ;-)  The "beer" type could benefit from your
>     suggested properties:
> 
>     http://www.freebase.com/view/schema/food/beer
> 
>     Also, ASINs, Netflix IDs, ISBNs and UPC codes are exactly the kind of
>     "foreign keys" we would like to get into Freebase.  If anybody has
>     access to such keys, we will help get them loaded.
> 
>     R
> 
>     On Jan 6, 2008, at 11:04 PM, Daniel E. Renfer wrote:
> 
>      > I know this adds another layer to the data, but you might want to go
>      > even further and break it down to the types or brands of a product
>      > and the instances or editions of that brand.
>      >
>      > For instance:
>      >
>      > <The Coca-Cola Bottling Corporation> produces <Coca-Cola>
>      > <Coca-Cola> has an edition <Coca-Cola 20 oz. Bottle>
>      > <Coca-Cola> has an edition <Coca-Cola 2 ltr. Bottle>
>      >
>      > <The Coca-Cola Bottling Corporation> produces <Diet Coke>
>      >
>      > You could then break it down to regional variance in ingredients,
>      > weight, nutritional value, (although this would be a property of the
>      > co-type, Edible Products) etc.
>      >
>      > I don't know how this would fly for most people, but what about a
>      > property to record the ASIN (The key in Amazon's database) of the
>      > item as well.
>      >
>      > Ed Laurent wrote:
>      >> I guess it's growing on me and Shawn's definition helps quite a bit
>      >> except I would replace "organization" with "person, company, or
>      >> other organization". My concern is that the product <-> producer
>      >> concepts are so general that they should be well thought out and
>      >> modeled as generally as possible so that they support all relevant
>      >> co-types now and in the future. For example, are UPC, weight/
>      >> volume, and cost universal properties of a product? Coca-cola for
>      >> example has different combinations of ingredients depending on
>      >> where it is sold. Similarly, my motorcycle model has a different
>      >> gear ratio when sold in Japan compared to the U.S. Maybe these
>      >> versions have different UPCs but their differences in weight/volume
>      >> are insignificant and you might be able to sell each version for
>      >> the same price. I don't know how many topics in Freebase can/will
>      >> be considered products but it's probably a bunch. Any problems
>      >> later on could have big implications.
>      >> -Ed
>      >> On Jan 7, 2008 12:19 AM, Shawn Simister <narphorium at gmail.com
>     <mailto:narphorium at gmail.com> <mailto: narphorium at gmail.com
>     <mailto:narphorium at gmail.com>
>      >> >> wrote:
>      >>    I would define a Product as a tangible object which is sold by an
>      >>    organization under a specific brand name. Therefore corn or
>     people
>      >>    are not products but Corn Flakes and People Magazine are. I know
>      >>    that there are more general definitions of products, but I think
>      >>    they could be accommodated by additional types like Commercial
>      >>    Service, Commodity etc.
>      >>    Shawn
>      >>    Ed Laurent wrote:
>      >>>    The "Products producer" type with a "Products produced" property
>      >>>    sounds pretty good to me. The "Product" type a little less so.
>      >>>    Would every tangible topic (including people) need to be
>     typed as
>      >>>    a product? What defines a product that separates it from other
>      >>>    tangible topics? I agree that this kind of type could be very
>      >>>    useful and there should be reciprocation between product and
>      >>>    producer but I'm not excited about this approach to doing it.
>      >>>
>      >>>    -Ed
>      >>>
>      >>>    P.S. This conversation is probably more relevant to the Data
>      >>>    Modeling list so I'm cc'ing it.
>      >>>
>      >>>
>      >>>    On Jan 6, 2008 10:05 PM, Daniel E. Renfer <
>     duck at kronkltd.net <mailto:duck at kronkltd.net>
>      >>>    <mailto:duck at kronkltd.net <mailto:duck at kronkltd.net>>> wrote:
>      >>>
>      >>>        It would probably make sense to have some sort of "products
>      >>>        producer"
>      >>>        co-type. The producers would have a "products produced" link
>      >>>        to the
>      >>>        "producer" field of the corresponding "product" type.
>      >>>
>      >>>        Not every company produces products, and there are some
>      >>>        products that
>      >>>        are produced by groups other than companies.
>      >>>
>      >>>        Other than that, it sounds like great information to track.
>      >>>
>      >>>        Kavitha Srinivas wrote:
>      >>>        > For companies, is there any interest in linking companies
>      >>> to
>      >>>        their
>      >>>        > major products ( e.g., Pfizer to its key pharma
>     products) as
>      >>>        listed in
>      >>>        > Wikipedia?  I don't mind adding it, but there is no
>      >>>        appropriate slot
>      >>>        > to add it.
>      >>>        > Key products seems to be important information for a
>      >>> company.
>      >>>        > Thanks!
>      >>>        > Kavitha
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