Editing Features

==Planned Features to End User==

'''Introduction'''

In the starting phase of the project it is important to chart the possible features so that the demand analysis can be done as precisely as possible before work is begun on the markup language that describes products and their production process and on the software components.    

Below is a preliminary list of features and data to be delivered to the consumer. Each consumer can define to their [[Consumer Agent]] what information they wish to browse in an everyday situation and what criteria the Agent checks and compares automatically.  

All product analyses done by the system should yield such results that can be automatically compared against each other by the Agent. The agent bases its overall analysis on those precalculated analyses that the consumer has chosen as points of interest.   This necessarily implies having trusted mediators (NGOs mainly) who the consumer has chosen to trust, and which makes moral distinctions that the consumer cares about.

Information that has to be gathered about products and production processes and analyses and indicators based on the raw data (for all types of products eg. foodstuffs, clothing, household items etc.):

'''Essential Picks:''' [[Feedback]], [[Advertisement Video]]s, [[Energy Assessment]], [[Materials Assessment]], [[Recyclability]] 

----

==Raw data==

* [[Manufacturer]]

* [[Comment]]s and [[score]]s given by other [[consumer]]s to this [[product]] and its [[quality|qualities]]. (In this [[store]] -> In this [[country]] -> In the whole [[w:World|World]]) Possibility to compose comments and scores.

* [[w:NGO|NGO]]s' knowledge on the manufacturer

* [[Trader]]s ([[export]]er,[[import]]er, [[wholesale]]r etc.)

* [[Point-of-Production]] (Exact [[location]] of manufacture [[country]] -> [[village]] -> [[factory]])

* Exact listing of [[raw material]]s 

* Manufacturers of raw materials

* Locations of raw material manufacturing ([[PoP]])

* Is a raw material gene manipulated ([[GM]])

* [[w:Organic|Organic]] raw materials? (where applicable)

* [[Usage instructions]]

* [[Caring instructions]]

* [[Reuse]], [[Recycling]] or [[waste disposal]] instructions

* Is the product suitable for [[w:vegan|vegan]]s?

* [[Ownership]] relations of the manufacturing chain (Companies participating in production or trading), '''if available'''. See [[Research]] for efforts in figuring out how feasible this is

* [[w:Monopoly|Monopoly]]: is the company now or has it ever been in a monopoly situation? Has it come to a market where someone holds an monopoly?

* Does an [[Oligopoly]] situation exist in the market of some [[product group]]? This is important for evaluating price information in the correct context.
----
==Indicators of Environmental Friendliness==

* [[Recyclability|Recyclability Assessment]]

* [[Energy Assessment]] (includes [[production]] and [[transport]]) ([[energy|type]]s and [[amount]]s of [[energy|energies]])

* [[Materials Assessment]] - materials consumption in manufacturing ([[type]]s and [[amount]]s of [[material]]s)

* [[Emission]]s during production

* [[Waste]] generated during production

* Assessment of environmental effects of the [[product group]]. Attempts to  describe environmental effects common to all products of same product group. This is necessary, because it'll be very difficult to aquire this information for a reasonable amount of [[product]]s so we must do with generic assesments.

* Assessment of environmental effects of the product comparable to other products in same category (Automatic Product Comparison). This is rather [[depracated]] due to the Revised [[Design paradigm]].

----
==Indicators of ethical aspects and social responsibility==
* Is the product or parts of it [[fair trade|fairly traded]]?

* Is the Point-of-Production [[SA8000]] certified?

* [[Company size]]

* [[Workers' rights]] - Information about how well or how badly the production chain treats it's [[employee]]s. This information has quite different meanings in countries of different development stages. For example in Finland the right to and the ability to belong to a trade union can be taken for granted. Also laws exist to ensure equality and work place safety, prohibit discrimination and granted is also the right to have maternal and parental leaves without the fear of losing one's job and so forth. In less developed coutries such laws may not exist or they are not upheld. If this is the case, then examination of these matters  should be conducted on a regional or per company level. Due to the radically varying worker's rights situation in different parts of the world it seems impossible to form a unified, comparable indictor.

* [[Greedy lay off]]s

* Assessment of [[ethical]]ity of the product group
** Information about how [[animal]]s are treated, if the product contains animal based raw materials.

* Track record of [[Charitable contribution]]s or [[Social service]]s done by the [[company]]. For example some Jordanian merchants donated 40 [[transport|truckloads]] of [[food]] and other supplies to Iraq after the war, which could be used as a reason for [[endorsement]] of the companies responsible
----
==Other services==
* [[Automatic Product Comparison]] - price, grading, ecologicality and ethicality comparison to other similar products sold '''in the same store'''. This is rather [[depracated]] due to the Revised [[Design paradigm]].

* [[Intra-shop navigation]] in the store. 

* [[Inter-shop navigation]]. 

* Possibility to watch [[Advertisement Video]]s and [[Informational Video]]s on the product and producer created by the [[producer]], [[import]]er or [[marketer]]. This requires terminals equipped with color displays and powerful video decoding features, which are projected to hit the mass markets in the first decennium of the 21st century. Big producers can utilize their tv-adverts with minor changes, so that they can be streamed to mobile terminals. Small producers enjoy the benfits of being able to convey marketing materials to consumers in a video-form with extremely low cost. Informational videos could deal with eg. working conditions, treatment of production animals and the enviromental and other principles of the company.

* [[Wiktionary|Internationalization]]. Foreigners and travellers can use the system in their own language, which is a big help when doing shopping in a foreign store. 
*[[Multi-language support]] - Immigrants can have the system function in two languages simultaneously, which makes adapting to their new homeland and language swifter and less troublesome.

* Information on consumption [[endorsement]]s or [[boycott]]s ([[campaigns]]) targeted at companies in the [[supply chain]], or their [[Research|owner]]s. 

* Sending [[feedback]] to the producer. (I bought / I didn't buy your product because... arguments prepared by NGOs, opinions for and against. Of course there is the possibility to compose your own text, but it takes time and effort on a mobile telephone. [[Bluetooth|Bluetooth keyboards]] are emerging to markets at the moment. If retailers offer these for use, then it makes feedback more versatile. 
** You can give feed-back anonymously or with your e-mail address included.) Delievery method of the feed-back is e-mail or direct transfer to the company's database if this has been arranged.
** You can give feedback on your user experience (after you've bought the product). This can accelerate the product development.

* [[Product substitution]] information: Information on what less destructive alternatives there are for some [[Product]] or [[Product Group]].
----
==Special group: Food stuffs==

* Connection to the databases containing [[Recipies]].

* Is the product suitable for [[w:vegetarian|vegetarian]]s, [[w:vegan|vegan]]s, people with [[w:allergy|allergies]], [[w:Lactose intolerance|lactose intolerant]]s or people with [[w:list of religions|religious dietary customs]] etc.

* Calculation of [[nutritional value]] of the product

* Calculation of nutritional value of [[recipies]]

* Calculation of [[material-cost]]s for recepies