CyberSpace

What the Home Page looks like
We have an About Us Page
Example of one our features

Inspiration

As 8th graders who all went through the experience of middle school being online, we were aware of some glaring problems in video-conferencing platforms, specifically Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Though they are well designed for having conferences and buisness meetings, but were lacking in certain ways to be an online classroom. With this goal in mind, we set out to make CyberSpace.

What it does

CyberSpace is a video-conferencing app designed for online education. It enhances existing features on other platforms, as well as adds other features that helps keep students engaged. With all these new features, it is still easily managed by teachers. Some of these features includes a better hand-raising system for meetings, a more accessible social tab, and an easy to use task board. All in all, creating a more engaging online school environment.

How we built it

This problem was something we all have experienced, and we had a lot of ideas that we spilled out to begin our brainstorming. After gathering everything that we think we can fit in the three-day scope of this project, we began taking our approach to make this a real thing. At first, none of us knew how to make a website, or had limited knowledge on how to. We decided to make a powerpoint, but knew it wasn't going to be as interactable as a website. Within an hour of making the powerpoint, we decided to work on the website. Calvin and Michael started doing research and learning html and css, while Brandon and William began work on art and design of our website. Calvin and Michael were creating the homepage while learning how to code, which we found funny yet impressive. William began work in a 3d modeling software called blender, to make an animation for our logo (which unfortunately never made it into the website), and Brandon began work on creating a interface design. After the 2nd day was over, we designed a simple website that showed off everything that CyberSpace was intended to do. As of the third day, we began recording a presentation and finished the project.

Challenges we ran into

We ran into two major challenges during our work. Firstly, was making an original name. We want to center this around how is was similar to a regular classroom, but online, so we quickly created DigiRoom. But upon discovery of a DigiRoom company that was already trademarked, we changed the name to CyberSpace, that had a fairly similar meaning. The second challenge we faced was how none of us knew how to design a website. As said in the How we built it section, we overcame this problem by watching tutorials on html and css. Fortunately, it was easy to pick-up, and we were able to make a website.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were very proud of being able to design a website, but were more proud of the ideas that we came up with and solved. These ideas help solved the problems that were all on our minds. By cooperating and coordinating, we were able to overcome all of our challenges.

What we learned

Many things went into making this project, but more came out of it. We learned how to design a website and how to work together effeciently. We believe this hackathon has greatly increased our knowledge in the world of STEM.

What's next for CyberSpace

CyberSpace is just like the blueprint of a building. It has everything planned out, but nothing has been built. We hope to complete this project after the Hackathon ends, and finish what we are able to innovate.