Implementing social networking features in a web environment

• Main Author: Mohit Khandelwal.
• Other Authors: Ong Yew Soon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computer systems organization::Special-purpose and application-based systems
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52789
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This report has been written with the aim of providing the reader with a vivid summary of the author’s work and learning experience during completion of the Final Year Project at School of Computer Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. For the purpose of this project, a website built by a PhD student- Knowledge Web for Memetic Computing- was enhanced to include social networking features and connect memetic scientists. The project draws inspiration from the impact of social networking on the World Wide Web. Social network, a relatively new aspect to the Internet, has engulfed many people into the realm of virtual interaction. Leading this online rage are the Internet sites Facebook and Twitter. The reach of social network has gone into the academic and professional world as well with sites like Research Gate and LinkedIn rising up the user count chart. Knowledge Web for Memetic Computing is an academic database of journals, related software and glossary of terminology. However, this website is at its infant stage with a potential for expanding into a full-fledged specialized social network for the academia in this expansive research field. The purpose of this project is to study the given website- Knowledge Web for Memetic Computing, identify the shortcomings, propose additional features that would enhance the networking ability of the site’s users and then implement those features. Several features have been proposed to create a well-connected network of researchers dedicated to the field of memetic computing. Firstly, a login page was created which would connect the user’s facebook account to the website, hence providing them with a profile to work with. A Facebook application that invites all your friends was envisioned. Secondly, there were no actual research papers on the website and merely details that were manually entered. This feature was considered crucial, and two ways of uploading/downloading papers were planned- a manual function and a web crawler. Thirdly, the website was empowered to send emails to all the tagged users in a paper so that they can collaborate with the author on the research.