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Discussion Topics
Inspiration
I have had good and bad experiences in contests. However, on a platform that is disorganized in discussion topics it´s difficult to read all the questions to find out if my question already exists or not. In discussion forums I have found very powerful tools and resources to improve my projects, so my inspiration is to improve the quality of Devpost contests through new platform of discussion topics.
What it does
What my solution does is turn the discussion forum into an interactive tool not only between the contestants, but also the sponsors and the contest administrators play an important role in this new organization that I am suggesting. I have divided the discussion topics into: 1) Announcements; 2) General; 3) Free resources (Software, Hardware, etc.); and 4) Technical help.
How we built it
Now I give you more details on how I would organize the discussion topics: 1) Announcements: contest announcements from the admin team such as webinars, deadline extension, surveys; 2) General: submission guidelines, deadlines and other general questions; 3)Free resources: questions and updates on selection and distribution of free resources (hardware, software, licenses, accounts, etc); and 4) Technical help: getting started, hardware and software troubleshooting and project help.
Challenges we ran into
Some challenges in the categories that I suggest are: 1) The contest administrator should be in contact with the sponsor to schedule and organize the webinars; 2) In the case that the contest has little participation or interest, it will be necessary to schedule a deadline extension; 3) The surveys should be focused on problems that the contestant had to do their project; 4) The contestant can ask for technical help when the one can´t progress in the project, doesn´t find enough documentation, etc.; and 5) The contestant can ask for help when they cannot access the free resource or have not received it.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We can be proud of having a more modern platform if there are changes in the organization of the discussion topics.
What we learned
In this new platform of discussion topics we can find everything we´re looking for. I can immediately open a discussion thread and I know that my question is directed in the correct category. In the same way, the sponsor's technical staff can immediately find out if there´re any questions for them, since they will receive the alert immediately.
What's next for Adding Categories in Discussion Topics
The next thing is to implement this idea, and do tests to find out if the users are using it and if they are satisfied. The improvements will be continuous until you are satisfied!
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