Affinity Diagram Example

1) Team members

Alessandro Acquisti - acquisti@sims

Alvin Kurniawan - alvink@sims

Wayne Heiser - wheiser@sims

2) Topic

Website: San Francisco Food Ring – “SF FOOD”

3) Intended users

All Bay-area residents who love cooking and eating out good food!

4) Use of information/topic

Website providing "full-coverage" tips, advices and information to eat in and eat out

5) List of original types of information (as presented randomly to other team)

Structure: card (I.E. TOPIC NAME) - explanation (WHEN NEEDED)

Eggs, cheese and diary products Desserts - What mum says to eat last, but you want it first Trattoria - A casual Italian restaurant Cutlery Pizzeria - You know the place… Glassware Diner Bakery Bistro - A casual French restaurant Fast Food - The cheap place you go to eat when you have no job Pots and pans Vegetables Ristorante - A fine Italian restaurant Plates Restaurant - A French fine restaurant Utensils - Spatulas, knives, etc. Deli Kitchen appliances - Coffee machines, toasters, etc. Spices Poultry Café - French, and not a coffee shop! Butcher SF Peninsula Meat Basic ingredients - Flour, salt, basics Cookbooks - Recipes etc. Pasta, rice, noodles SF South Bay Reviews - Third party reviews of individual items (cookbooks, utensils, restaurants, etc.)

Cookware Store Lunch - Eating at midday Fish Dinner - Eating in the evening SF East Bay Fruits SF North Bay Starters - Appetizers, etc. Breakfast - Eating in the morning Caffé - Coffee, wine, desserts, etc. SF Marin County Casual - The less expensive place you go when you have a job (or no tie) Produce Main courses - What takes place after the first course… Grocery Fine dining - The expensive place you go to eat when you have a job Columns - Regular piece of well-known connoisseurs on everything related to food Wine & liquors First courses - What takes place before the main course… GuideBooks - Listings and guides to restaurants and/or food retailers

6) Team components our items were exchanged with:

Darshan: darshan@sims

Allen: alleng@sims

Joan: jgarvin@sims

6) Groupings prepared by other team

A

Regions SF Peninsula SF South Bay SF East Bay SF Marin County

Type of Ingredient Eggs, cheese and diary products Vegetables Spices Poultry Basic ingredients - Flour, salt, basics Meat Pasta, rice, noodles Fish Fruits Produce

Type of Eating Place Trattoria Pizzeria Diner Bakery Bistro Fast Food Ristorante Restaurant Deli Café Caffé Casual Fine dining

Typical Menu Categories Starters Breakfast Lunch Dinner First courses Main Courses Desserts Wine & liquors

Kitchen/Tableware Cutlery Glassware Pots and pans Plates Utensils Kitchen appliances

Resources Butcher Grocery Cookware Store Cookbooks Reviews Columns GuideBooks

B

Food Categories (where to go to buy...) or grocers Eggs, cheese and diary products Vegetables Spices Poultry Butcher Meat Basic ingredients - Flour, salt, basics Pasta, rice, noodles Fish Fruits Produce Grocery Wine & liquors

Restaurant types Trattoria Diner Bakery Bistro Fast Food Pizzeria Ristorante Restaurant Deli Casual Fine dining Café Caffé.

Restaurants By Location SF East Bay SF Peninsula SF South Bay SF North Bay SF Marin County

Restaurants by specialty Breakfast Lunch Dinner Starters First courses Main courses Desserts

Cutlery Glassware Pots and pans Plates Utensils Kitchen appliances Cookware Store

Cookbooks -------------------------Restaurant reviews and guides Reviews Columns Guide Books

C

FOOD AT HOME	FOOD AWAY FROM HOME	ADVICE
Time of Day Breakfast Lunch Dinner	Region SF Peninsula SF South Bay SF East Bay SF North Bay SF Marin County	Reviews Guidebooks Columns
Part of Meal Starters First Courses Main Courses Desserts Caffé	Merchants Grocery Cookware stores Butchers Bakeries
Ingredients Ingredients/Edible Eggs, cheese, dairy Spices Poultry Meat Basic ingredients Pasta, rice, noodles Fish Wine & Liquors Produce -Fruits -Vegetables Ingredients /Non-Edible Cookbooks Kitchen appliances Utensils Plates Pots & pans Glassware Cutlery	Dining Experiences Casual dining Fine dining Diners Fast Food Deli Dining Experiences/Italian Trattoria Pizzeria Ristorante Dining Experiences/French Bistro Restaurant Café

7) Structure/Rational

The three responses - labeled A, B, C - to our food items can be broadly characterized like this:

· A was flat, with six categories grouping all items, but one category, “Resources”, featured an implied hierarchy with two distinct groups of items (stores and guides/books)

· B was too flat, six categories, but also included an implied hierarchy (three categories for restaurants, and one category with two distinct groups, labeled “Food Categories or Groceries”

· C was explicitly hierarchical, with items grouped into two higher levels (closely matching our original scheme)

The three most striking features of the classifications are this range in hierarchy (especially since the example explicitly mentioned a three-level hierarchy); the broad agreement for major categories (all three respondents devised groupings highlighting ingredients, cookware, merchants, restaurants, and resources to some extent), and the lack of agreement on particular groups of items, namely regions, meals, and courses.

In response to these three classifications, we devised a two-level hierarchy as shown above and explained below; we attempted to follow the consensus on the groupings but interpreted the lack thereof as a signal of possible confusing items that called for more attention/refinement in classification.

First Level

The first level consists of four categories, “General”, “Eating In”, “Eating Out”, and “Resources”.

GENERAL

“General” is the top-level category with the three categories of items in our original schema that engendered the widest variation in categorization. These categories are

· “Type of Meal” (“Breakfast”, “Brunch”, “Lunch”, “Dinner)

· “Type of Course” (“Desserts”, “Starters”, “First Courses”, “Main Courses)

· “Region” (“SF East Bay”, “SF North Bay”, “SF Marin County”, “SF Peninsula”, “SF South Bay)

We anticipated this, given these items are of a different sort, essentially “empty” and intended for classifying other items, either as top- or second-level categories. For example, Restaurant by Type>Region, or Region>Restaurant, Merchants. Apparently, people decided there could be no multiple instances of items, so “flattened” the hierarchy suggested by these categories:

· A used “Regions” as general category

· B applied the idea of regions only to restaurants, as “Restaurants by Location”

· C applied idea of regions to “Food away from Home”, equal to “Merchants” and “Dining Experiences”, clearly relating them but not subordinating one to the others

Similar variations occurred for the ideas of “Meals” and “Courses”, again intended by us as categories that could be applied to all items. For example, A categorized both meals and courses under “menu”, B categorized them under “Restaurant by specialty”, and C under “Part of Meal” and “Time of Day.” As a result, we simply generalized them into further sub-categories of “Course” and “Meal”. For site design, we would use the “General” categories to allow access to the classification in different ways. For example, “Eating In” and “Eating Out” are fairly clear for organizing items like restaurants and produce stores, but people might also want to view items group by region, or course, or meal.

EATING IN

“Eating In” (“Ingredients”, “Cookware”, “Merchants”) groups items related to cooking at home. A, B, and C all grouped these items in categories appropriate to cooking at home: something about ingredients, something about stores, and something about utensils and tools.

· A had “Type of Ingredient”, “Kitchen/Tableware”, and “Resources” (with items grouped but not labeled as stores and guides)

· B had one category, “Food Categories or Grocers”, clearly two categories, and one unlabelled category containing utensil-type items

· C had “Food at Home>Ingredients/Edible, Ingredients/Non-edible”, and “Food away from Home>Merchants”. The latter we moved to “Eating In” as logically, if not geographically related. (You go to the merchants to buy food to prepare at home.)

EATING OUT

“Eating Out” groups items related to dining in restaurants.

· A had “Type of Eating Place”

· B had “Restaurant Types”, “Restaurants by Location”, and “Restaurants by Specialty”, clearly implying a top-level category of “Restaurant”

· C had “Food away from Home>Dining Experiences/Italian, Dining Experiences/French”

Our original schema included the categories “Regions” and “Restaurants”, with the latter implying other groupings by nationality (French, Italian, Chinese, etc.) and type (diner, cafe, etc.). Our original list featured more nationalities (cut to reduce the number of items) and hinted at sub-categories, that is, restaurants could be ordered by type then nationality or by nationality and type. Though A and B grouped all restaurants under a single category, C recognized the possibility of hierarchy, which seemed reasonable to keep.

RESOURCES

“Resources” about cooking and eating, cookbooks, guidebooks, reviews, is similar to our “General” categories in that it could “span” other categories. But in this case, all three respondents recognized that these items were somehow distinct from those grouped variously under restaurant- or ingredient-related categories and used a separate category for them. Accordingly, we left the “Resources” category at the top-level.

Second Level

The second level consists of the following categories, grouped under the main four and in turn comprising individual items.

GENERAL

“General” consists sub-categories “Course”, “Meal”, and “Region”.

As the initial purpose of the website is for those who love cooking and eating, this categorization will aid addressing users’ needs who love cooking. Group A, B, and C are particularly unique in arranging the lists/items in the “General” category.

COURSE

Desserts

Starters

First courses

Main courses

MEAL

Lunch

Dinner

Breakfast

Brunch

REGION

SF East Bay

SF North Bay

SF Marin County

SF Peninsula

SF South Bay

EATING IN

“Eating In” is for preparing food at home. This category serves all purposes ranging from basic ingredients to stores where one can buy all the necessary ingredients.

It further sub-divides into three sub-categories so that individual users can quickly find what they need such as basic items, tools, or where to purchase them. C considered ingredients as necessity to prepare food made up of edible ingredients and inedible ingredients (cookware, utensils). A and B categorized these ingredients separately into ingredients and cookware. Thus, our sub-categories, which consist of ingredients and cookware, will address users of different purposes. It would be hard for a user if ingredients should consists of both edible and inedible ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

Spices

Poultry

Fish

Pasta, rice, noodles

Vegetables

Fruits

Meat

Eggs, cheese and diary products

Basic ingredients

COOKWARE

Pots and pans

Glassware

Cutlery

Plates

Utensils

Kitchen appliances

MERCHANTS

Butcher

Produce

Grocery

Deli

Bakery

Wine & liquors

Cookware Store

Note that “produce” was put by A in the ingredients category – a “lexical” error that we have overridden.

A put also “Merchants” together with items like guidebooks and reviews in a category called “Resources”. Also B, even though gathering together the items, mixed them with food categories. We preferred to follow C who grouped them in a distinct category (even though in the eating “away from home” class).

Interestingly, the item “Wine and Liquor” created some lexical problems as it was intended by A and C as a part of meal rather than as a vendor place. Similarly, B grouped “Cookware Store” together with kitchen utensils and appliances – we followed the consensus between A and C who placed this item together with other merchants.

For what referrers to “region” C and A used is as a top-level, spanning category – and we followed their consensus.

EATING OUT

“Eating Out” is for finding restaurants by type and nationality, accordingly with these two sub-categories. Note each could in fact be a sub-category of the other.

TYPE

Diner

Fine dining

Casual

Fast Food

NATIONALITY

Trattoria

Ristorante

Pizzeria

Caffé

Bistro

Restaurant

Café French

Both A and B recognized (using the provided item’s explanation) “caffé” as a place rather than a part of meal; C treated it as part of a meal. We followed the consensus.

C split type and nationality. Even if C was alone doing so, we preferred to follow this classification since decisions of eating out are made on type AND/OR cuisine nationality.

RESOURCES

“Resources” are additional information that users might need, such as cookbook recipes and guides as well as third-party recommendations of restaurants and food.

Cookbooks/Recipes

Guide Books

Reviews

Columns

A, B, and C all agreed that resources category refer to reviews, guide books, and columns. Cookbooks were classified in the same or very close categories by A and B – we followed this consensus.

GENERAL	COURSES	Desserts Starters First courses Main courses
	MEALS	Lunch Dinner Breakfast Brunch
	REGION	SF East Bay SF North Bay SF Marin County SF Peninsula SF South Bay
EATING IN	INGREDIENTS	Spices Poultry Fish Pasta, rice, noodles Vegetables Fruits Meat Eggs, cheese and diary products Basic ingredients
	COOKWARE	Pots and pans Glassware Cutlery Plates Utensils Kitchen appliances.
	MERCHANTS	Butcher Produce Grocery Deli Bakery Wine & liquors Cookware Store
EATING OUT	TYPE	Diner Fine dining Casual Fast Food
	NATIONALITY	Trattoria Ristorante Pizzeria Caffé Bistro Restaurant Café
RESOURCES		Cookbooks Guide Books Reviews Columns