TaleBlazer analytics: automated anonymous analytics of mobile users' behavior

75 Pages·2014·5.93 MB·English

TaleBlazer Analytics: Automated Anonymous
Analytics of Mobile Users' Behavior
* ASZHSETTVS M E
OF TECHNOLOGY
by
JUL 1 55201
Fidel Sosa
LIBRARIES
S.B, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, (2011)
Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Engineering in Computer Science and Engineering
at the
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
June 2014
@ Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2014. All rights reserved.
Signature redacted
Author .................................................
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
May 23, 2014
Signature redacted
C ertified by .......... ...........................
Professor Eric Klopfer
Director, MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program
Thesis Supervisor
Signature redacted
A ccepted by .............. ...................
Prof. Albert R. Meyer
Chairman, Ma s of Engineering Thesis Committee
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TaleBlazer Analytics: Automated Anonymous Analytics of
Mobile Users' Behavior
by
Fidel Sosa
Submitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
on May 23, 2014, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Master of Engineering in Computer Science and Engineering
Abstract
TaleBlazer is an augmented-reality platform that lets users create location-based
games for their mobile devices. In order to determine the efficacy and use cases
for TaleBlazer games, it is necessary to capture data about user behavior. This thesis
presents TaleBlazer Analytics, an automated system which collects and analyzes mo-
bile users' behavior in TaleBlazer games. It details the development of the TaleBlazer
Analytics system, comprised of the backend data collection service and the front-end
data analysis user interface.
Thesis Supervisor: Professor Eric Klopfer
Title: Director, MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program
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Acknowledgments
I'd like to thank Eric Klopfer, Lisa Stump, and Judy Perry for giving me the oppor-
tunity to work on this project. It has been an eye-opening and rewarding experience
that would not be possible without them.
I'd like to thank Lisa Stump for being a guiding force and great help during the
project, as well as helping me determine a set of achievable goals for the project. I'd
also like to thank Judy Perry for all the guidance and management she provided.
This project would not have been as successful as it was without them.
I'd also like to thank the entire TaleBlazer Development team, including my fellow
M.Engs Tanya Liu, Cristina Lozano, and Stephanie Chang. They provided much help
in testing and making this project fun to work on.
I'd like to thank my academic supervisor, Boris Katz. Without his help during
my undergraduate and graduate years, I would not be where I currently am. A great
thanks to my friends, as well, who have supported me throughout the years.
Finally, I'd like to thank my family, whose sacrifices have allowed me to be where
I am today.
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Contents
List of Figures 11
1 Introduction 15
1.1 Motivations for TaleBlazer Analytics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.2 Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2 Background 17
2.1 TaleBlazer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1.1 Overview of a TaleBlazer Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.1.2 TaleBlazer Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.3 Past Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2 Why Build TaleBlazer Analytics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2.1 Purpose of Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.2.2 Motivations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3 Preliminary Work 29
3.1 Types of Analytics Data to Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.1.1 Log Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.1.2 User Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.1.3 Analytics Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.2 Choice of Server Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2.1 Technical Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2.2 Node.js vs. PHP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
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3.3 U I D esign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3.1 Effect of Mockups on Project Requirements . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.3.2 Partner Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4 TaleBlazer Analytics 39
4.1 System Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.2 Analytics Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.2.1 Technical Overview..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.2.2 Server Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1
4.2.3 REST API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3
4.2.4 Development Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2.5 Installation and Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.3 TaleBlazer Analytics Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.3.1 Technical Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1
4.3.2 API Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.4 TaleBlazer Analytics Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.4.1 Technical Overview..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.4.2 Analytics Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.4.3 Data Download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5 Testing 61
5.1 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.2 Internal Alpha Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.2.1 Effects on Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.3 External Beta Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.3.1 Effects on Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.4 Final User Interface Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.4.1 Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6 Future Work 65
6.1 Data Visualizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
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6.2 Authentication/Authorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6.3 Improved Statistic Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.4 Code Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7 Contributions and Conclusion 69
7.1 Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
7.2 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
A Figures 71
Bibliography 75
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