| Phase | Goal | Deliverables | Approx. effort |
|-------|------|--------------|----------------|
| 0 – Prep | Align on scope & compliance | Completed checklist, privacy impact assessment, design mock‑ups | 1‑2 weeks |
| 1 – Core Metadata & Search | Enable searchable archive | • DB schema
• Ingestion hook → DB write
• Elasticsearch index + basic /search API | 3‑4 weeks |
| 2 – UI Prototype | Simple front‑end for testing | • Search bar + result list
• Video player that loads full clip via signed URL | 2‑3 weeks |
| 3 – Performance Optimisation | Meet latency & concurrency goals | • Pagination + caching (Redis)
• Pre‑generated thumbnails & HLS clips
• CDN edge caching rules | 2‑4 weeks |
| 4 – Advanced Enrichment (optional) | Auto‑tagging, OCR, face‑blur | • Run a nightly batch job that calls Rekognition/OCR
• Append tags to Elasticsearch | 4‑6 weeks |
| 5 – Privacy & Access Controls | Ensure lawful operation | • JWT middleware, role‑based policies
• Consent flag handling, automatic face‑blur pipeline | 2‑3 weeks |
| 6 – Bookmarks & Personalisation | User‑specific features | • /bookmarks CRUD endpoints
• UI “star” button, My‑Bookmarks page
• Optional recommendation model | 3‑4 weeks |
| 7 – Analytics & Monitoring | Observe usage & health | • Log aggregation (ELK/Datadog)
• Dashboard for search volume, errors, latency
• Alerting on privacy‑policy violations | 1‑2 weeks |
| 8 – Beta‑Launch & Feedback Loop | Real‑world validation | • Invite power users, collect NPS, iterate on UI/filters | Ongoing |
Numerous communities on platforms like Reddit, Discord, and dedicated forum boards have attempted to create user-generated archives. These often take the form of: reallifecam archive
Reallifecam Inc. actively pursues DMCA takedowns against unauthorized archives. Hosting or downloading full-length past streams can lead to legal action. | Phase | Goal | Deliverables | Approx
| Question | Why it matters | Example answer | |----------|----------------|----------------| | What problem are we solving? | Clarifies the user need and helps keep scope focused. | “Users want to quickly locate a specific moment (e.g., a sunset, a street performer) across months of footage.” | | Who are the primary users? | Determines UI complexity, permission levels, and performance requirements. | “Registered members who have opted‑in to view archived streams; admin staff who moderate content.” | | Core functionality | Lists the exact actions the feature must support. | “Keyword‑based search, time‑range filter, thumbnail preview, and “bookmark” capability.” | | Success metrics | Gives you a way to measure whether the feature is working. | “+30 % increase in archive sessions per user; search latency < 2 s for 1‑year data set.” | | Legal & privacy constraints | Ensures compliance with GDPR, CCPA, or local regulations. | “Only retain footage for 90 days unless the user explicitly opts‑in for longer storage; blur faces automatically unless a consent flag is set.” | | Performance & scalability goals | Guides infrastructure choices early. | “Support 10 000 concurrent viewers, with < 5 % error rate, and < 500 ms page load for the search UI.” | | Integration points | Identify existing services you’ll need to call or extend. | “Existing video ingest pipeline (Kafka → S3), user auth (OAuth2), and CDN (CloudFront).” | | Non‑functional requirements | Reliability, accessibility, i18n, etc. | “WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, 99.9 % uptime SLA.” | | Clarifies the user need and helps keep scope focused
Next step: Fill out the table with your specific answers. That will shape the design decisions that follow.