Inspiration
I started a Politcal Science Club at my highschool. The club will be a space where students are able to engage and fact-based, monitored discussions. I created the club with a friend. We noticed that a lot of students didn't tend to have their own political opinions, and rather went along with what their parents believed. Similarly, rather than aligning themselves with individual stances on issues, they would just align themselves with a party rather than researching and learning about issues themselves. It is important that students (especially) are able to base their political opinions based on fact, rather than outside influence.
What it does
When you first enter the website there are differents topics prominent in today's political climate. They include immigration, climate change, gun control, education, and abortion. Users will click on the topic that they would like to learn more about. They will then see a screen with a general overview of the topics as well as a description of important legislations regarding the topic. There will be a button leading them to the candidates views. Here, there will be three boxes regarding to 3 party candidates stances on the topic selected (the names of the candidate will not be revealed). The user will be able to read through the information and select one of the three boxes that they most agree with. After selecting a box, the name of the candidate will be revealed. The user can then go back to the list of topics and select another one. The reasons the names will only be revealed at the end is to teach individuals to focus of their true views and opinions rather than the names of the candidates.
How I built it
I built the program by first doing some quick online courses in HTML, CSS and Bootstrap. My sister then thought me how to set up a GitHub and Azure in order to actually code and design the website.
Challenges I ran into
I am beginner coder, having only learned Java in my high school's AP Computer Science class, and this is my first hackathon. I had to to use a lot of online tools as well as my sisters help to figure out how to actually put together this website. I needed to learn the basics of HTML, CSS and Bootstrap as well as learn how to use programs such as GitHub and Azure.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
I am very happy that I was able to take my interest of Political Science and create something that could be useful for many people. I am proud that I was able to learn new languages and pick up knowledge about web developement that I can most definetly use in the future.
What I learned
I learned the basics of CSS, HTML, and Bootstrap through online courses from codeacademy. I also learned how to use GitHub and AZure to create and design a website for use. I was also able to learn a lot about what goes in to a hackathon as this was my first.
What's next for Aligno
I would like to add more information to the website for other important topics and candidates from other parties. Once the presidential election is complete, it would also be a nice challenge to make the website based on more local elections, and those candidates.
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