RabbitHole

I think it's safe to assume that most of us have listened to music. New or old, there's at least a few artists out there that captivate us. However, we also tend to get caught up in the big names-- the headliners. Haven't you ever wondered who sets up the framework, and where else they're connected? RabbitHole can do exactly that, by graphing out connections between Artists, their work, and the people that are behind it all.

What it does

It interactively maps and lays out connections between Musicians, Producers, Songs, Albums, and more.

How we built it

Nithin and Aidan: Frontend Design

We mainly worked with HTML and CSS flex, learning new skills over the course of the hackathon to create an efficient and visually appealing frontend design for the client. We also designed the logo, capturing the essence of the project in a compact and memorable image.

Giovanni: AI & Systems

Built a fully functional 'future' model that allowed us to properly understand the systems and see where Rabbit Hole could go in the future. Alongside working on the front and back end.

Jordan: Backend

I designed the API calling system, including specifying rate-limits due to the amount of calls needed to run the cytoscape graph. Also implemented the express server needed to run backend locally, and tested it all using Vite.

Challenges

Oh boy... let me tell you about Discogs API

Working with Discogs API for this project was like trying to fit a hexagon in a circle hole. It simply didn't have the capabilities that were necessary to make RabbitHole work as we imagined it. Specifically, the filtering system made it so that we would have to make 4 to 5 API calls per node.

Yikes.

That means we had to shift gears. Instead of using Discogs, we looked for another API, and landed on MusicBrainz alongside the LastFM API. These APIs would allow us to to get API calls down to just 1 to 2. Allowing RabbitHole to increase its depth almost twofold...

But we didn't get to implement it. Restructuring the entire API in the late stages of the project was too far out of scope, so the version you still here still runs off of Discogs.

What we learned

Building RabbitHole taught us a variety of skills, including:

Back and Frontend Design
For those who hadn't used it, HTML & CSS
Using Vercel, Express, and Vite
The ideas behind Rate-Limiting and Budgets
How dynamic generation works on a live website

What's Next?

RabbitHole has potential outside of just a 36 hour hackathon. With more time, we could implement:

A self-hosted database for faster connections and no limitations
AI-Integration which would explain connections in-detail, and answer any questions a user has about them
Implementation of separate industries, including Film, Video Games, and TV