Inspiration
Many people have shared this sentiment, but personally, the pandemic has made it increasingly difficult to communicate with people I used to be close to. We couldn't safely meet them in common places such as school and work, and our support networks weakened. Though I have so far only discussed the mental strain, those with physical illnesses and/or disabilities could not meet people that shared their struggles either, because they couldn't physically meet up for more traditional support groups.
What it does
I chose to create a platform where people suffering from various illnesses, disorders, disabilities, and addictions could bond with other people who are on the same journey as themselves. They can discuss their journeys in chat rooms, or form one-on-one connections through personal messaging. Many social media platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram could be used to host these support groups; however, it is difficult to make connections with people who could personally give you information to join. This app makes it easier to access all the support needed in just one place, while offering a certain level of anonymity to make users more comfortable with sharing their stories.
How we built it
I used AndroidStudio to build this app, while storing and syncing data using Firebase. Users were authenticated through Firebase's Authentication and a Realtime Database was used to store all information regrading users and messaging in a large JSON tree. The app send queries to the database each time a new entry is added, to ensure that the information in all users' app is updated simultaneously. This is especially important to implement WiFi-based messaging, and I chose to have it accessible over WiFi instead of SMS or other services, just because it is more accessible.
Challenges we ran into
This was my first hackathon, and at first, it seemed very intimidating - especially since I was working alone. Though I've done a couple projects in the past, this was amongst the most complex, so the time limit also seemed daunting. Also, I did not use Firebase before this, so I used a lot of online resources including the documentation to get to know it better. These challenges mainly stemmed from a lack of experience, but that's what hackathons are for!
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I thought it was a cool idea to make the input fields change colours if they were accepted (checking if it is a real email, making sure the password is complex enough).
What we learned
I learned how to use Firebase and some basic HTML, which I used to format some text in the app.
What's next for Checking In
Though a Realtime Database is okay for a small project, if I was to expand this, I would probably transition to using a Firestore Database. Though they have similarities, from what I have learned, Firestore would be a better option since it could better support querying the large amounts of data required to coordinate messaging.
Also, I am hoping to add (many) more groups to encompass a larger range of illnesses.
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