Our initial idea for Proteus was a Pandora-esq website that would let allow people at parties to enter different genres of music so everyone would be happy. We decided to call the project Proteus, the Greek god of versatility. We decided that collecting 200 songs from 6 different genres would be a good place to start because it was an obtainable ammount of songs to collect, but also allowed variety when listening to genres.

Creating the database

We decided to use a website called Django to create our database which held all of our music. We had to add tags to every song which took hours upon hours to complete. We used Pandora's Music Genome Project to aid us with the tags. The Genome Project is how Pandora works. Music experts have categorized every song on Pandora into hundreds of tags, and when a listener tends to like certain tags, Pandora spits out more songs with those tags. We used the tags that were availiable for those songs to our songs.

Coding

To create the actual website, we had to use HTML, the language that creates web pages. We designed a website where you would input 3 tags, and then a screen would open and start playing music from the genres you entered. A video plays that displays colors with a kaleidoscope effect. We used python to code that actual sorting part. Python is a multi-purpose coding language that coders use around the world. 

Originally we thought that the genres should be indie rock, electronic, pop, rap, reggaetron, and dancehall. In the end we added country because of mass appeal. 

Challenges

Challenges included learning two difficult languages in a short time, getting 200 songs, tagging them all, and learning how to create a website that played music. Luckily we got past all of these and created a working project. 

Next Steps

We would like to add more genres, more songs, and make the website run a little smoother. 

Decisions are an important component to one's day whether or not it is noticed. One makes a decision when eating breakfast or simply picking out an outfit in the morning. For some, decisions come easily like second nature while for others it may take longer depending on the situation. This studio allowed the members to study decision making and what current programs or systems exist that ease decision making for people. For example, on Youtube the decision making process of what video one should watch next is made easier by presenting the user with a recommended video list. The Proteus group decided that since music is universal the system we created would be related to music and easier decision making. When people are at a party or are at home trying to compose a playlist it is difficult to decide which songs to incorporate in the playlist. What if there are people with numerous music interests? What if the music doesn't fit the the mood? Proteus has came to save their day! With Proteus one can sign on the website and have multiple people at the gathering to input their genre interest, most relatable tag or mood. Once the party of people submit their inputs Proteus will begin to calculate the playlist from its database of 140 songs. It arranges it's song choice based on which tag matches the song the user input. The students in this group created a large database in order to provide variety. Once Proteus gathers all of its information it quickly creates a playlist that is equally divided by the genres. For example, if the people at the event have a misxed interest in Hip Hop, Indie and Reggae Proteus will formulate a shuffled playlist that equally divides the interests allwoing everyone at the party to be pleased, interested and have a great time. Proteus was highly successful and after numerous hours of uploading, tagging songs, and coding on python our creation has been successful!