Diaspora Duo

Inspiration

As African immigrants ourselves, we always found that moving around the world came at a cost. The extra layer of culture shock and ignorance made our experiences burdensome to say the least. In the US alone, over 100,000 immigrants arrive yearly and share this difficult experience alone. We recognized this and thus the creation of ‘Diaspora Duo ’ came about. A project that addresses the hardships immigrants face every day. With Diaspora, a trusty AI buddy, the burden of teaching oneself the cultures, languages and even how to get around in a foreign country is alleviated. We wanted to offer a helping hand where we did not have one ourselves coming to this country.

What it does

Diaspora Duo is a website that provides users access to valuable information concerning their travel destination in their native language. This information is tailored to each individual user and offers personalized insights and navigation tips based on the user's country of origin. It offers a user-centric approach and innovation of technology that aims to address the challenges faced by both immigrants and foreigners moving to a new country, ultimately fostering a sense of community and ditching the initial "lost phase" .

How we built it

The website was built using HTML and CSS as the front-end, Flask as the back-end, OpenAI as the API. The user’s country of origin and language are considered to provide crucial insight on the destination country and how to navigate it by explaining it in their respective languages. With a combination of other technologies including Canva, Python and html we were able to design and create a platform that enhanced the traveler experience.

Challenges we ran into

The major challenge we encountered was trying to incorporate a database into the web servers. Initially, MySQL was used but we were unable to successfully input the data in a way that was meaningful and implemented seamlessly. We struggled to both gather the information needed to educate the user on things like cultural nuances and opted to utilize AI technology to solve this problem of accessing a wide database.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are most proud of creating a platform that builds bridges and connects communities while providing access to all, not just a specific demographic. By using AI and several technologies, we were able to combine our efforts in a way that was meaningful to a common goal.

What we learned

We learned a lot about not giving up when it felt like we were so close. The drive to create something that was also meaningful to our own experiences allowed us to push through especially when there was no solution in sight. As beginners we learnt the use of APIs and Flask technology.

What's next for Diaspora Duo

We hope to further enhance user experiences by implementing features that makes the experience more seamless. We hope to create a login platform for users in order to save the users past travels. We hope to also to compare different travel destinations. We hope to reach a global audience and explore partnerships with other corporations that need to diversify how their users interact with their platforms.

Built With

• canva
• chat-gpt
• css
• flask
• html
• javascript
• openai
• python
• vs-code