CultureCompass

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  CultureCompass

Inspiration

Our project was inspired by one of our team members, Abby, who has grown up learning about Indigenous cultures since she was young. Recently, she was involved in a school group project centered around promoting Indigenous learning and reconciliation efforts. Her goal is to help bridge the gap in cultural understanding so people can better appreciate, respect, and treasure Indigenous knowledge and stories. Her passion sparked the idea for CultureCompass, a platform designed to make cultural learning accessible, interactive, and community-driven.

What We Learned

Throughout the project, we learned how vital it is to create safe, respectful spaces for cultural knowledge. We also explored how technology can support cultural preservation, storytelling, and community connection. On the technical side, we strengthened our skills in:

Building interactive interfaces

Working with map-based data visualization

Managing user-generated content

Using design principles that support accessibility and inclusivity

How We Built It

We followed a rapid prototyping approach:

Ideation: Defined our core mission—helping people explore and connect with Indigenous cultures.

Design: Created wireframes for story pages, event listings, and interactive map views.

Development:

Built the frontend using modern web frameworks

Implemented interactive mapping features

Set up a simple backend to store stories, events, and user profiles

Iteration: Continuously refined the user flow to make exploration intuitive and engaging.

Challenges We Faced

Data sensitivity: Indigenous cultural content must be handled with care. We researched how to build a platform that respects cultural protocols and sovereignty.

Design clarity: Creating an interface that works equally well for stories, events, and connections required multiple iterations.

Time constraints: Mapping features and UI polish took longer than expected, so we learned to prioritize effectively.

Despite the challenges, the project strengthened our teamwork, sharpened our technical skills, and reinforced our belief that technology can help bring people closer to the cultures around them.